‘Young families are outpriced’: Why Dingle is the town with the oldest population in Ireland

It is of little surprise to locals in Dingle-Daingean Uí Chúis in Co Kerry in the southwest that it has the oldest population in the country alongside Ballyshannon, Co Donegal at the extreme northwest of the country.

The average age in Dingle is 44.4, the latest census figures show. In Kerry as a whole it is 41.5, while nationally the mean age is 38.8.

Much of the western seaboard has an ageing population, and in Dingle there is consensus as to the reason.

Local GP and native Dr Peadar Ó Fionnáin points to an “imbalance” whereby commercial interests and retirees with high incomes and money released from property sales in cities outbid younger people.

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Citing “two reasons” for Dingle’s rising age profile, he said, first, there was the “the retirement phenomenon” whereby older people from cities were buying a house in the town in which to retire, or were permanently moving into what was once a holiday home for them.

Second, commercial interests were buying properties for Airbnb and short-term letting for tourists, meaning young people could not access accommodation in the town.

“There is the hollowing out of tourist towns so there are only older residents in the towns,” Dr Ó Fionnáin said.

[ Census 2022: Covid-driven flight from Dublin did not materialise, according to figures ]

“Young families are outpriced. It is a very hostile environment for young people. It’s how you kill a town,” said the GP who recently announced his intention of running for the Green Party in the next local elections.

Retirees and tourists were welcome in Dingle but “the fundamental” of shelter and primary residence must be met or the future of tourist towns would be at risk, he said.

There were 1,000 properties billed as Airbnbs in and around Dingle in a search he did recently. Plans to regulate Airbnbs and short-term letting by creating a register would help to free up housing for younger people, he said. “We don’t have a problem with housing stock in Dingle – we have a problem with distribution.”

Michael O’Shea, an auctioneer and a Fianna Fáil municipal district councillor said “the indigenous people” of Dingle could not afford a house, nor could they get planning to build one, and this was creating the problem in Dingle where commercial interests were buying up new properties to let.

Young people who wanted to live in Dingle town typically had to stay with their parents, and he had come across situations where three, or even four, generations were living in one house across the peninsula from Camp to Annauscaul.

[ ‘It’s a wonderful little village’: Saggart locals say the youngest town in Ireland has changed for the better ]

Dingle was virtually “a no-go area” for planning it was so difficult to get permission to build, and at the same time any property coming on the market in the town was being bought up for letting as an Airbnb, he said.

Mr O’Shea has called for more affordable housing, rather than just social housing and has said the option of boat accommodation for summer staff should be looked into.

Young staff working in hospitality in Dingle had to travel from Tralee each day because there was no accommodation in Dingle.

“The situation in west Kerry is down to greed and no local person can rent or purchase a home there,” Mr O’Shea said.

In Census 2022, out of the 164 towns with a population of 1,500-10,000, there were 12 with an average age above 42. Out of these 12 towns, seven were in Munster, two in Leinster, two in Connacht and one in Ulster.