More than one-sixth of private homes in the State were built between 2001 and 2006, according to new figures released by the Central Statistics Office. And 15 per cent of all housing was vacant on census night.
Housing statistics from the 2006 census, released yesterday by the CSO, also show a wide geographical disparity in the numbers of households with broadband access to the internet.
The figures show that 249,000 homes were built between 2001 and 2006, some 94,000 more than in the previous five years.
The satellite towns around Dublin city experienced huge growth, according to the census. At the time it was taken, on April 23rd, 2006, one-quarter of all occupied private homes in Meath and Fingal had been built between 2001 and 2006, with 75 per cent of all private dwellings in Stamullen, Co Meath, and 62 per cent in Lusk, Co Dublin, built in the five-year period.
However, the same growth was not experienced within the city. Only 8 per cent of Dublin city's housing stock was built over the period.
The figure for Cork city was just over 7 per cent, and was 9 per cent for the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown local authority area.
On census night, 266,000 homes were classified as vacant. Of that number, two-thirds were houses and almost one-fifth were holiday homes.
Co Leitrim had the highest percentage of vacant homes, at just under 30 per cent; two-thirds of these were empty houses and not holiday homes.
In contrast, the vacancy rate for the south Dublin local authority area was 6.2 per cent. The Dublin city rate was 11.7 per cent.
The area with the highest percentage of holiday homes in the State was Donegal, the census found, with almost 12 per cent of its housing stock of more than 70,000 classified as holiday homes. This was followed closely by Wexford, at 11 per cent.
The number of homes that are owner-occupied has declined.
Just under 75 per cent of all housing units were owner-occupied in 2006, compared to more than 77 per cent in 2002.
Migrant workers are experiencing difficulty getting on the property ladder; fewer than 5 per cent of Polish residents owned their own home.
There was also a 38 per cent increase in the number of rented dwellings. And rents varied widely across the State, with people in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown paying an average of €275 a week, while those in Donegal and Leitrim paid €115.
The census also found that one in five homes had broadband in 2006, but access varied widely.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown had the highest rate, with just under 40 per cent of households there connecting to the internet using broadband. In the same local authority area, 70 per cent of households owned personal computers.
In Co Leitrim only 7.8 per cent of households had broadband access and in Limerick city fewer than 40 per cent of households had any access to the internet and only 45 per cent had personal computers.
