Dr. Brian Hughes:

It is interesting to compare Naas. I have looked back over the past few censuses, comparing directly Naas with nearby Newbridge. Naas is the county town, yet why has Newbridge been growing at twice the rate of Naas in recent years? It is probably because of the necklace of towns surrounding Naas to some extent diluting the population centring in Naas. The same phenomenon is very evident in the case of Sligo and its surrounding towns. However, the way in which places such as Straffan, Kill and so on have developed suggest to me that to some extent some towns are being diluted. The Irish people - at least, some of them - to a large extent still prefer to live in the countryside if they can then work in Dublin, Naas or wherever. It is fascinating to see the comparable growth of Naas and Newbridge.