James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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620. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will provide a list of census small area data for Wexford district electoral divisions and the average population loss for each area, comparing data in each of the periods 1926 to 2002, 1926 to 2006, 1926 to 2011 and 1926 to 2016, respectively, in tabular form, to ascertain CLÁR eligibility; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36272/17]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The CLÁR programme (Ceantair Laga Árd-Riachtanais) was originally launched in October 2001 to provide for targeted investment in disadvantaged rural areas. The National Institute for Spatial Analysis (NIRSA) in Maynooth University was engaged at that time to carry out an analysis of population census data at District Electoral Division (DED) level for the years 1926 and 1996.

The areas originally selected for inclusion in the CLÁR programme were those which suffered the greatest population decline from 1926 to 1996, with the exception of the Cooley Peninsula which was included on the basis of the serious difficulties caused in that area by Foot and Mouth disease. The average population loss in the original CLÁR regions over the period 1926 to 1996 was 50%.

In 2006, an analysis of the 2002 Census data was carried out by the National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA) at NUI Maynooth and the programme was extended to include areas with an average population loss of 35% per county between 1926 and 2002. Parts of five counties were added (Carlow, Kilkenny, Laois, Offaly, Wicklow), increasing the total number of counties covered by the programme at that stage from 18 to 23.

The only data available within my Department which is relevant to the Deputy's question is the population change by Wexford DED between 1926 and 2002. This information is provided in the following table.

The Central Statistics Office might be in a position to provide the additional data sought by the Deputy.

Table 1 - Wexford population change 1926-2002 by District Electoral Division (DED)