Hi well call me weird if you wish but I like to look at maps and create my own pretend country I think ireland is a perfect island size and my country is going to be called Manitobia... anyways I was making Dublin the largest city with a population of 4million so basically 50% of the population will live in the capital but seriously can ireland accommodate a population that size meaning with a major city etc will there be plenty of countryside i don't want a densely populated country i want a peaceful country with plenty of green but a decent population? so could Ireland handle 8million? thanks so much xxx
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The current population of Eire, or the Republic of Ireland is around 4.6 million, the population of Ulster, or Northern Ireland is around 1.7 million, this gives a total for the island of Ireland of around 6.3 million, and therefore is not that far off your 8 million.
The simple answer must therefore be yes, as most of the island is 'green' there would certainly be room, and as for supporting the extra population numbers, there is plenty of production capacity in food production etc to ensure the feeding of that many people.
What you need to consider is how the population grows to 8 million, if it were a gradual process brought about by natural population growth, then there would be no issues. If it were a sudden increase over a matter of days, then this would cause extreme problems as can be been seen elsewhere in the world when there is a mass migration in people.
That said, it would be difficult for 1.5 million people to get to Ireland is a matter of days as the transport connections would not be able to cope with such numbers, maybe this could be tested in some way, evacuate the entire county of Merseyside, population around 1.3 million (this is the area that contains Liverpool and has the best probable connections Ireland) to Ireland in 96 hours.
Then you need a reason why thos people would leave that area, a nuclear blast in Manchester? That may just be wishful thinking on my part!
Always fun to speculate how things could change.
The simple answer must therefore be yes, as most of the island is 'green' there would certainly be room, and as for supporting the extra population numbers, there is plenty of production capacity in food production etc to ensure the feeding of that many people.
What you need to consider is how the population grows to 8 million, if it were a gradual process brought about by natural population growth, then there would be no issues. If it were a sudden increase over a matter of days, then this would cause extreme problems as can be been seen elsewhere in the world when there is a mass migration in people.
That said, it would be difficult for 1.5 million people to get to Ireland is a matter of days as the transport connections would not be able to cope with such numbers, maybe this could be tested in some way, evacuate the entire county of Merseyside, population around 1.3 million (this is the area that contains Liverpool and has the best probable connections Ireland) to Ireland in 96 hours.
Then you need a reason why thos people would leave that area, a nuclear blast in Manchester? That may just be wishful thinking on my part!
Always fun to speculate how things could change.
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In the census of 1841 there were just over 8 million people in Ireland. The 1851 census counted 6.5 million after the famine and emigration. There are about 8 million people on the island of Ireland now, so clearly it is possible but only with food imports.
If I were you I wouldn't bring this up too often. It's still a touchy subject in Ireland.
If I were you I wouldn't bring this up too often. It's still a touchy subject in Ireland.