Squirrels in Ireland

My american friends are always amazed at the delight i express if i see a squirrel in Ireland; squirrels being the most plentiful and visible animal in the US. Some of you will know that there is a bit of a squirrel war going on in Ireland (and Britian I think) at the moment between those who wish to see the native Red Squirrel survive and the new arrival - The grey. My advice? Catch Kill and Eat the grey. Apparently they're tasty. 

Bees in Ireland

Judging by this it would appear that Beekeeping is mostly a leinster and Munster thing. Unless of course there is separate Northern Ireland Association? 

Railways currently (2013) and at their height (1906)

As one can see the area's around Cork and Northern Ireland are the most covered. My time in the North has had me seeing a significantly increased presence of people with an interest in trains. - no wonder. I don't know the real reasons why the railways are not as extensive as they were but I'm assuming that partition of the island was not helpful! Currently as with the roads all trains in the Republic lead to Dublin. Only one intercity route exists (has it opened yet?) that does not go to Dublin and that is the Waterford to Limerick route. Sometimes in my daydreams I imagine a world where tunnelboring technology has developed to the stage where its quick and commonplace so that one could put all roads and trains underground. Every city would have a direct line to all the other ones.. Would be cool yeah?

New Northern Ireland Councils

Middle map shows the old system.  Below is the wikipedia summary of the changes. I'm guessing that fear politics are behind the fact that belfast is not taking in parts of "natural belfast" such as forestside.

1.	Belfast City		Belfast City Council plus parts of Castlereagh, Lisburn and North Down
2.	North Down and Ards District	102,313	Ards and North Down, except for a small part of the Knocknagoney area of North Down District which was to be transferred to Belfast
3.	Antrim and Newtownabbey District	120,496	Antrim and Newtownabbey
4.	Lisburn City and Castlereagh District	83,369	Lisburn and Castlereagh, though with the transfer of "the localities of Gilnahirk, Tullycarnet, Braniel, Castlereagh, Merok, Cregagh, Wynchurch, Glencregagh and Belvoir, Collin Glen, Poleglass, Lagmore, Twinbrook, Kilwee and Dunmurry" to Belfast
5.	Newry City, Mourne and Down District	107,233	Newry and Mourne and Down together with half of Slieve Croob
6.	Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon District	124,996	Armagh City and District, Banbridge and Craigavon, though with the loss of half of Slieve Croob to Newry City and Down District
7.	Mid and East Antrim District	89,832	Ballymena, Larne, and Carrickfergus
8.	Causeway Coast and Glens District	88,654	Ballymoney, Coleraine, Limavady and Moyle
9.	Mid-Ulster District	86,591	Magherafelt, Cookstown and Dungannon and South Tyrone
10.	Derry City and Strabane District	92,593	Derry and Strabane.
11.	Fermanagh and Omagh District	74,414	Fermanagh and Omagh

Percentage of Protestants in County Cavan 2006

Got this from a crowd called the "Cavan protestant network" . I am curious to find out more about the area in the dark red that is greater than 40% so if you know anything about it please comment. The website had a few batches of stats and some commentary, one interesting thing was that they said that protestants near the border had been forced to move from their homes. This is something i have heard had happened in the north but not in the republic. I have asked Northerners about it and i have got mixed answers. All the people i asked where protestants so i have to assume that im not getting a biased answer. I feel i really need to ask a lot more people to get a better picture so i aint saying anything here this time.

N.Ireland Protestant Catholic Other demographics and Nationality results from Census 2011

These are some of the best maps that ive found on the subject at hand. I'll put any other good ones i find up here as well.  The biggest news for me has been the emergence of a "northern Irish" identity. Whatever else this might mean i think its actually good news for unionists as a northern Irish identity is essentially an identity that is ok with the current constitutional situation. On that I think that the current protests by loyalists actually feed into this identity.. underneath the anger against the loyalists is a recognition that republicans have stirred the shit here on this issue..those who have been pushed away from loyalists by their recent actions have also been pushed away from republicans who (all though staying quiet currently) have been tarnished by this aswell because their actions started this off..(not to mention the naming a playground after an IRA guy)  The alliance are going to do well out of all of this which is ironically a good thing for unionists/loyalists cause a vote for alliance is ultimately a vote for the union (or independence I guess). Unionists and loyalist will just have to start to learn how to live where they are a minority.

Next Gen broadband usage in the Republic

Where the next the generation of Broadband is likely to take off. Interesting in that this is in someways the clearest representation of urban Ireland I've come across giving a truer (as i understand them) picture of the sizes of Irish cities and towns. For example Cork city is recorded as having decreased in size in the last census yet the reality is that the small towns (ballincollig, glanmire, carrigaline) around significantly increased. This pattern is replicated in other areas as well. I wonder if city boundaries will be redrawn in the future? 

I have forgotten where i found this map.