NGOs' view: The Irish Planning Institute (IPI) said the population increase confirmed by the census findings would require a "more radical planning solution".
Referring to the large population growth around Dublin and the indications of an expanding commuter belt, the organisation's president, Henk van der Kamp, said: "There is a need for pro-active action to reverse the ever-growing trend and create opportunities for the bulk of future development to take place outside of the greater Dublin area in new identified growth centres."
He also pointed out that the new National Development Plan should take account of the National Spatial Strategy and the population growth so that residential, industrial, infrastructural and other development needed to accommodate a bigger population should be spread throughout the Republic rather than concentrating growth around the Dublin area.
Dublin Chamber of Commerce also suggested that the Government revise the next National Development Plan to provide for the "extraordinary" population growth in the greater Dublin area.
"All these extra people are going to need somewhere to live, a means of getting to work, school places for their children and hospital beds for when they are sick," chief executive Gina Quin said.
"We believe Government must clearly state in the forthcoming NDP how they are going to accommodate for these needs in an explicit and transparent fashion.
"No such publicly available plan exists. We have a transport plan in Transport 21. We need an Environment 21, Health 21, Housing 21 and Education 21."
According to the Irish Home Builders' Association (IHBA), the statistics showed that the planning system had miscalculated demand, particularly in the Dublin area.
"This has huge implications for the amount of land zoned for all types of development and for the resources put aside to service these lands.
"In particular, the IHBA has real concerns about the provision of water, sewerage and road infrastructure to adequately service lands," IHBA director Hubert Fitzpatrick said.
The figures were welcomed by the Western Development Commission.
The organisation said they confirmed that the region was being regenerated by greater numbers of people choosing to relocate there.
"The results show that more than two-thirds of the population increase in the seven western counties is due to inward migration.
"Close to 40,000 people have come to live in the west since the last census four years ago.
"For the first time all our counties are recording more births than deaths, so we have turned around many, many years of population decline," chief executive Lisa McAllister said.
Rural development must be a priority in the new National Development Plan, so that more people can be encouraged to live and work in the region, she added.