THERE are only four Irish Travellers over the age of 80 living in Co Clare, according to new figures released by the Central Statistics Office.

The four octogenarians are divided equally between the sexes with two men and two women.

In 2016, there were 910 Travellers living in Clare, compared to 870 in 2011.

There was only one member of the Travelling Community between the ages of 75 and 79 last year, a woman.

There was almost a fifty-fifty split between traveller men and women, with 441 women and 469 men.

According to the latest CSO figures, almost half of all Travellers living in Co Clare are under the age of 14, with the exact figure stands at 48.3 per cent.

This is much higher than the national average, which currently stands at 39.7 per cent.

There is a slight reduction on the 2011 figure of Travellers under the age of 14, which stands at 48.9 per cent.

Only 2.7 per cent of the Irish Traveller population living in Clare are over the age of 65, which is slightly lower than the national average of 3 per cent.

Only 49 per cent of members of the Travelling Community living in Co Clare are between the ages of 15 and 64.

This is much lower than the national average, which currently stands at 57.3 per cent.

Almost two per cent of all people living in Ennis identify themselves as a member of the travelling community, at a rate of 19.4 per 1,000.

This also means that over half of all Irish Travellers in Clare are living in Ennis.

The population per 1,000 of population in Shannon is much lower, standing at 6.7 per 1,000.

The Traveller Community of Shannon is much more reflective of the national average, which is exactly 6.7 per 1,000.

Of the 910 Irish Travellers living in Clare in 2016, almost all of them were living in permanent private housing.

CSO figures state that 795 Travellers lived in private housing, while 63 lived in temporary private housing.

This is a big jump from 2011, when 23 Irish Travellers were living in temporary private housing.

The numbers living permanently living in private houses are pretty much on a par with 2011, with 789 members of the travelling community living in permanent private housing.

A further 23 respondents didn’t state where they were living.