This article is from page 21 of the 2009-02-03 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 21 JPG
POTENTIAL problems facing the Clare workforce are visible in a new Oireachtais Report.
Contained in the Constituency Pro- file of Clare is the fact that in 2006 the share of people in the county employed in manufacturing and con- struction was higher then the nation- al average.
As both industries come under sev- er pressure, these statistics must be ringing alarm bells for local politi- Ee
The Dail Constituency Profiles
compiled by the Oireachtais Library and Research Service using infor- mation gleaned from the 2006 cen- sus, showed that 13.8 per cent of the Clare work force was in manufac- turing, with a further 9.4 per cent in construction and building. Despite securing the ‘Telecom Eireann information age town in 1997, which included a £15 million investment and a promise that virtu- ally every home and business in the county town would receive a person- al computer with e-mail and internet access, County Clare households are less likely to have broadband Internet access than households nationally.
Households in Clare are close to the national average in terms of PC own- ership and access to the Internet.
However, this Internet access 1s much less likely to be via broadband as just 13.4 per cent of households in Clare had broadband Internet access compared with 20 per cent for the
State as a whole in 2006.
People in Clare are more likely to volunteer than individuals national- ly. Clare men in particular are more likely to volunteer to sport organisa- tions.
In Clare 15,590 people aged 15 years and older volunteer for at least
one activity. Nationally 16.4 per cent of people volunteer in some way, but this figure is 18.8 in the Banner county.
The age profile in Clare is more balanced than nationally with the share of O to 19 year olds and 20 to 39 year olds in the population quite
close together in contrast to the na- tional situation.
The profiles in the report, provide an insight into the social, cultural, and economic differences of the country’s 43 electoral constituencies.
By including data on key metrics such as nationality, education, em-
ployment, housing and demographics the profiles offer a detailed picture of the distinct make-up and traits of each constituency.