# Cities in Ireland:I see Sligo and Drogheda referred to as cities not provincial towns



## Olly64 (6 Jun 2007)

just wondering have some towns in ireland been given city status, i see sligo and drogheda referred to as cities, i thought these were provincial towns?


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## Welfarite (6 Jun 2007)

*Re: cities in ireland*

Where have you seen these referred to as cities? They're still towns AFAIK


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## HighFlier (6 Jun 2007)

*Re: cities in ireland*

AFAIK Official cities are Dublin, Cork,Limerick, Galway,Waterford and i think Kilkenny.


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## Olly64 (6 Jun 2007)

*Re: cities in ireland*

saw them recently called cities in newspapers, thought there were towns given city status due to the population boom.


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## HighFlier (6 Jun 2007)

*Re: cities in ireland*

I think the official cities were given royal charters back in the year dot. However I live in Clonmel and at a recent roadworks the council had a big sign saying "Diversion to City Centre"!!!


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## Hel_n (6 Jun 2007)

*Re: cities in ireland*



HighFlier said:


> I think the official cities were given royal charters back in the year dot. However I live in Clonmel and at a recent roadworks the council had a big sign saying "Diversion to City Centre"!!!


 
Clonmel is definitely not a city! I didn't think Sligo was either but a recent thread on this site referred to it as a city?


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## csirl (6 Jun 2007)

*Re: cities in ireland*

Most of the places called "cities" in Ireland are little more than medium sized towns. Only have "city" status due to historic reasons. Consequently there are "towns" that are larger due to increased in population. Dublin is the only real city in Ireland - rest are at most large towns with strong provincial atmospheres. There are only 15 places in Ireland with populations more than 20k. Population figures betray most places - here's the top 5 from recent census. 

1. Dublin - 1m
2. Cork - 190k
3. Limerick - 91k
4. Galway - 73k
5. Waterford - 49k.

Clonmel has only 17k people.

Dont let names on a map deceive you either. Many places in rural parts of Ireland appearing on maps of Ireland would not be on the map if they were in the east of the country e.g. a typical map of Ireland would usually include Tullamore (pop only 13k) & Thurles (pop only 8k), but may omit the likes of Swords (pop 34k) & Navan (pop 25k).


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## Caveat (6 Jun 2007)

*Re: cities in ireland*



csirl said:


> Most of the places called "cities" in Ireland are little more than medium sized towns. Only have "city" status due to historic reasons. Consequently there are "towns" that are larger due to increased in population. Dublin is the only real city in Ireland - rest are at most large towns with strong provincial atmospheres. There are only 15 places in Ireland with populations more than 20k. Population figures betray most places - here's the top 5 from recent census.
> 
> 1. Dublin - 1m
> 2. Cork - 190k
> ...


 
Some of this is I think, debatable.

'city status due to historic reasons'  what other reasons are there??
I've never heard of city status being conferred purely due to population if that is what you are saying...

'dublin is the only real city' what do you mean? If it's the population point again then see above - there are many large towns in e.g. England or Germany (200K +) that are not 'cities' but yet other much smaller urban centres _are_ because of 'historic reasons'...

Can I ask, what as far as you know defines a city in this country?


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## Purple (6 Jun 2007)

*Re: cities in ireland*

See here for details


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## ajapale (6 Jun 2007)

*Re: cities in ireland*

moved from  Location, Location, Location to Miscellaneous Non-financial Questions


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## Leo (6 Jun 2007)

And to be pedantic, figures above are way off as well. [broken link removed] states population of Dublin City is 506,211, Cork is 119,418, etc.


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## Guest127 (6 Jun 2007)

I thought that any place with a 'Borough' council was classed as a city. 
Dundalk has the 8th largest population in the country 
Dublin, Cork. Limerick, Galway, Waterford, Drogheda and Swords being the only centres with greater populations. 
_However it will always be know as 'The Town' _ 

( assume Swords is just an overflow from Dublin city itself?)


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## Purple (6 Jun 2007)

Leo said:


> And to be pedantic, figures above are way off as well. [broken link removed] states population of Dublin City is 506,211, Cork is 119,418, etc.


Yes, that is being pedantic.


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## Protocol (6 Jun 2007)

In the census, the CSO seems to define the top five urban areas as cities, and everything else down to 1500 population as towns.

See page 15 of this census report:

http://www.cso.ie/census/documents/Final Principal Demographic Results 2006.pdf


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## csirl (7 Jun 2007)

Usually a city has a charter from royalty or government, depending on who was in charge when it was given city status. Thing about city status is that it is never withdrawn when the place declines in importance over the centurys. Ireland is not the only country guilty in this regard - there are insignificant places all across europe with "city" status.

My point about the map is that the typical map that primary school kids learn in school and is given to tourists is deceptive. It gives the impression that certain towns are larger than they really are - their inclusion on the map gives the impression that they are significant population centres. These maps should list all towns/cities over a certain population to give an accurate picture of where the centres of population are. 

My personal opinion on international standard for town and city sizes:

Large city = 3m+
City = 500k to 3m.
Large Town = 100k to 500k.
Town = 10k to 100k.
Village = <10k


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## RonanC (7 Jun 2007)

cuchulainn said:


> I thought that any place with a 'Borough' council was classed as a city.
> Dundalk has the 8th largest population in the country
> Dublin, Cork. Limerick, Galway, Waterford, Drogheda and Swords being the only centres with greater populations.
> _However it will always be know as 'The Town' _
> ...


 

Eh what about Tallaght Village ??? Last population figure I saw was over the 100,000 mark !!!

and according to this site Clondalkin, Lucan and Blanchardstown have bigger populations than Swords or Dundalk...


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## Trafford (7 Jun 2007)

I don't know about Drogheda but Sligo was given "City Status" in around 2003. Not sure by whom!! There was great heralding of the event anyway and it now offically calls itself Sligo city. I suppose it just reached a certain population threshold.


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## Protocol (7 Jun 2007)

I live in Sligo, and suspect that the local authorities simply use the term themselves to promote the city.

The town has its own Borough Council, separate from the County council, if that means anything.


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## Olly64 (7 Jun 2007)

were they trying to take the city status off kilkenny a few yeays ago, i remember posters in shops and pubs about it.


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## Megan (7 Jun 2007)

Drogheda has a website called www.droghedacity.com. I know its not a city.
Sligo has city status.


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## Welfarite (7 Jun 2007)

Megan, have you proof that Sligo has "city status"? Who gave them the status? Was it just themselves?


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## Delber (7 Jun 2007)

*Re: cities in ireland:i see sligo and drogheda referred to as cities not provincial t*

I thought it was down to the Gateway Status given to it by the goverment in the spatial strategy ie some were cities some were towns


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## Welfarite (7 Jun 2007)

Ah Ha! That may the reason we're all so confused about this! Making Gateway Cities out of towns!


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## Megan (7 Jun 2007)

Welfarite said:


> Megan, have you proof that Sligo has "city status"? Who gave them the status? Was it just themselves?


From www.sligcoco.ie/Publications
A series of tax incentives encouraged new developments manifested in the regeneration of Rockwood Parade, Kennedy Parade, Kempten Parade and Riverside. However, the certainty generated from the Sligo & Environs Development Plan 2004-2010, the designation of Sligo as a Gateway City together with the restoration and refurbishment of key public buildings such as City Hall, Model Arts & Niland Gallery and the Courthouse have significantly contributed to the preservation of key landmarks in a time of change.


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## csirl (7 Jun 2007)

Was just themselves - no legislation or charter.

Bit of a joke when a town of 20k people tries to call itself a city.


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## Leo (7 Jun 2007)

Olly64 said:


> were they trying to take the city status off kilkenny a few yeays ago, i remember posters in shops and pubs about it.


 
Yeah, seems to have died down a bit now. Might be way off, but the reason I heard for the attempted demotion was that it would mean less money central government would have to allocate.


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## Guest127 (8 Jun 2007)

RonanC said:


> Eh what about Tallaght Village ??? Last population figure I saw was over the 100,000 mark !!!
> 
> and according to this site Clondalkin, Lucan and Blanchardstown have bigger populations than Swords or Dundalk...


 
for Dublin city to have the figures it has it obviously includes clondalkin, blanch and tallaght. ( is Tallaght not DN 24?) I heard one of the census guys on the radio and what he said was that Swords ( obviously not part of Dublin city) was now the 7th largest centre of population behind Drogheda and before Dundalk. He also stated that Drogheda had now passed Dundalk in population but this happened a long time ago. I have friends in Coolock who refer to 'Coolock Village'
 all the time and no doubt it is classed in Coolock as such but its still D5 and therefore included in the Dublin City figures. 
Don't know where Lucan is included though.


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## Olly64 (8 Jun 2007)

kilkenny city has only 20k people living there, i think even carlow town is bigger, so its definetly not on population figures they go by.


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## RonanC (8 Jun 2007)

Olly64 said:


> kilkenny city has only 20k people living there, i think even carlow town is bigger, so its definetly not on population figures they go by.


 

Kilkenny was granted a Royal Charter in 1609... Meaning it can call itself a city..


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## shesells (8 Jun 2007)

I always thought cities had to do with having a Cathedral?


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## slamdunkin (27 Jul 2007)

shesells said:


> I always thought cities had to do with having a Cathedral?


 
Sligo has two cathedrals - however, its embrassing when it refers to itself as a city


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## Joe1234 (27 Jul 2007)

shesells said:


> I always thought cities had to do with having a Cathedral?



I rhought that too - hence Armagh city.  but there are also Cathedrals in Monaghan, Letterkenny, Cobh, Carlow, Cavan and Longford (among many others, of course).  None of them are cities.


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