Swords (from the Irish: Sord Cholm Cille) is a suburban town and the county town of Fingal, and is located about 13 km from Dublin's city centre. The town can trace its origins back to 560, having been founded by Saint Colmcille (521-567). Legend has it that the saint blessed a local well, giving the town its name, Sord, meaning "clear" or "poor". Swords is a socio-economically mixed area with the local housing stock being made up of private and local authority housing. Since the mid 1990s Swords has seen improvements in shop fronts, public buildings, footpaths and the restoration of Swords Castle. The 2009 Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) Survey scored Swords the 6th cleanest town in Ireland in their independently assessed nationwide survey of all towns with a population of 6,000 and over.Notable residents include Ed Byrne (comedian) and Ronan Keating (singer-songwriter).

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Area Statistics

Area:	17.8 square km
Population:	22756
Population Density:	1278 people/km 2

Age

Under 15 :	22.0 %		National 20.4 %
15 - 24 :	16.1 %		14.9 %
25 - 34 :	22.0 %		17.0 %
35 - 44 :	17.1 %		14.7 %
45 - 54 :	11.6 %		12.3 %
55 - 64 :	6.8 %		9.6 %
65 & Over :	4.3 %		11.0 %

Marital Status

Single :	57.6 %		National 54.7 %
Married :	35.9 %		36.9 %
Separated :	2.6 %		2.5 %
Divorced :	1.7 %		1.4 %
Widowed :	2.0 %		4.5 %

Commuter Type

Car :	55.9 %		National 63.7 %
Walk :	21.8 %		17.5 %
Bicycle :	1.5 %		2.2 %
Bus :	18.6 %		13.2 %
Rail :	1.4 %		2.9 %
Motorbike :	0.7 %		0.6 %

Commute Time

< 15 mins :	33.1 %		National 37.7 %
15 - 29 mins :	26.6 %		30.5 %
30 - 44 mins :	14.4 %		16.6 %
45 - 59 mins :	7.5 %		6.1 %
60 - 89 mins :	13.6 %		6.4 %
> 90 mins :	4.8 %		2.7 %

Social Class

Managerial & Technical :	25.8 %		National 26.4 %
Professional :	4.7 %		6.5 %
Non-manual :	22.8 %		17.0 %
Skilled-manual :	18.1 %		17.1 %
Semi-skilled :	11.2 %		11.1 %
Unskilled :	3.5 %		4.3 %
Other :	13.9 %		17.6 %

Religion

Catholic :	85.9 %		National 88.3 %
Other :	9.0 %		7.2 %
None :	5.1 %		4.5 %

Housing

House :	88.2 %		National 89.2 %
Apartment :	11.1 %		9.7 %
Bedsit :	0.2 %		0.6 %
Mobile home :	0.5 %		0.5 %

Education (Highest Achieved)

Secondary :	46.2 %		National 41.7 %
No formal :	0.3 %		0.6 %
Primary :	10.4 %		18.3 %
Technical or Vocational :	10.4 %		9.0 %
Non-Degree :	12.7 %		11.1 %
Primary Degree :	7.1 %		6.1 %
Professional Qualification :	6.1 %		6.3 %
Postgraduate Cert. or Diploma :	3.5 %		3.3 %
Masters :	2.9 %		3.1 %
Ph.D. :	0.3 %		0.5 %

Third Level Qualification

Social Sciences, Business Law :	25.8 %		National 21.3 %
Education :	5.7 %		7.6 %
Arts & Humanities :	9.1 %		10.1 %
Science :	5.0 %		5.2 %
Computing :	8.1 %		6.8 %
Engineering :	13.0 %		12.5 %
Agricultural & Veterinary :	1.8 %		2.6 %
Health :	9.3 %		12.3 %
Social Services :	3.7 %		3.2 %
Services :	8.4 %		6.2 %
Multiple Subjects :	10.1 %		12.3 %

Employment (by Industry)

Commerce & Trade :	39.3 %		National 29.1 %
Forestry & Fishing :	1.2 %		1.5 %
Construction :	7.6 %		10.2 %
Manufacturing :	11.9 %		15.6 %
Public Service :	7.9 %		6.6 %
Professional Services :	14.4 %		19.7 %
Other :	17.7 %		17.4 %

Household

Couple with Children :	39.8 %		National 35.2 %
One Person :	16.2 %		22.4 %
Couple without Children :	17.7 %		18.3 %
Single Parent :	9.4 %		10.4 %
Other :	16.8 %		13.7 %

Ethnicity

White Irish :	82.8 %		National 89.5 %
White other :	10.9 %		7.1 %
Black :	2.7 %		1.1 %
Asian :	2.2 %		1.3 %
Other :	1.4 %		1.1 %

Nationality

Irish :	84.3 %		National 89.8 %
British :	1.8 %		2.7 %
Polish :	2.4 %		1.5 %
Lithuanian :	1.0 %		0.6 %
Other E.U. :	4.8 %		1.8 %
Rest of the world :	5.7 %		3.5 %

House Age

1981 - 2000 :	43.6 %		National 29.7 %
Before 1919 :	0.6 %		11.1 %
1919 - 1960 :	3.1 %		18.0 %
1961 - 1980 :	27.6 %		23.4 %
After 2001 :	25.1 %		17.9 %

Area Statistics are compiled from the latest Census data for the following DEDs: 036 Swords-Forrest, 037 Swords-Glasmore, 040 Swords Village.

Getting here:

Bus

1. 33b
2. 33a
3. 33x
4. 33
5. 41
6. 41c
7. 41x
8. 41b
9. 43
10. 102
11. 142

Parking

1. Carnegie Court Hotel Car...
2. Forster Way Car Park
3. Pay & Display Car Park
4. Plaza Swords Car Park
5. Swords Central Car Park

Car

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