East bank 4% more British than Irish

According to the latest Census 2011 break down 16,885 people (36 per cent) living on the east bank said they were British-only.

This compared with 15,104 people (32 per cent) who said they were solely Irish and 9,641 people (20 per cent) who said they were solely Northern Irish.

The figures for the Waterside electoral area - comprising of the Caw, Ebrington, Victoria, Clondermot, Altnagelvin, Kilfennan and Lisnagelvin wards - reveal the British-only predominance rising still further.

In the Waterside 9,539 people (42 per cent) were British-only; 6,230 (27 per cent) were Irish-only; and 4,016 (18 per cent) were Northern Irish-only.

However, on the east bank of the Foyle - excluding the Waterside electoral area- more people said they were solely Irish.

Thus across Newbuildings, Hollymount, Eglinton, Enagh, Claudy and Banagher 7,346 (30 per cent) were British-only; 8,874 (36 per cent) were Irish-only and 5,625 (23 per cent) were Northern Irish-only.

But when the Claudy and Banagher wards are excluded and a more urban east bank considered there is once again a predominance of people self-identifying as British-only (15,078; 37 per cent) against Irish-only (12,124; 30 per cent) and Northern Irish-only (7,886; 20 per cent).

The most British ward on the east bank is Caw with 59 per cent of the population saying they were British-only, closely followed by Lisnagelvin (57 per cent).

Although Altnagelvin posted the greatest number of people who said they were British-only (2,129).

The most Irish ward on the east bank was Victoria with 50 per cent of residents saying they were Irish-only, although the greatest number of Irish-only residents lived in Enagh (2,262).

And the most Northern Irish ward on the east bank was Claudy with 26 per cent saying they were Northern Irish-only. This was indeed the greatest percentage in the whole of Londonderry. A greater number of people (1247) in Enagh said they were Northern Irish-only.

Across the river on Londonderry’s west bank more people regard themselves as Irish-only than live on the east bank if Claudy and Banagher are excluded.

A total of 40,319 people (68 per cent) living on the cityside said they were solely Irish; 3,864 (7 per cent) said they were British alone and 11,513 (19 per cent) said they were solely Northern Irish.

The new figures also reveal that there are more people who regard themselves as British-only in Culmore (624), out the back of Creggan in the Crevagh ward (473), down the Strand (359) and in Shantallow West (331) than in The Diamond ward which contains the Fountain (317).

However, The Diamond registers the biggest percentage of British-only residents on the west bank with 13 per cent, compared with the Strand (nine per cent), Crevagh (eight per cent) and Culmore (seven per cent).

Eleven times as many people who regard themselves as British-only living on Londonderry’s west bank lived outside the Fountain as lived within it.

Meanwhile, the Brandywell had the highest percentage of people who regarded themselves as Irish-only in Londonderry (74 per cent) whilst Culmore had the highest number of people who regarded themselves as Irish-only (6004).

Carnhill had the highest proportion of people who regarded themselves as Northern Irish-only on the cityside (24 per cent) whilst Culmore had the highest number (1,716).