Town comparison · Dunshaughlin vs Oldcastle

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Dunshaughlin or Oldcastle?

Both towns measured at town level, not the wider Eircode area, on the same 52 figures: prices, schools, amenities, social life, commute, affluence and safety.

Dunshaughlin, Co. Meath · A85 · 4,810 people | Oldcastle, Co. Meath · A82 · 813 people

Dunshaughlin is the stronger town on the data. It leads on 5 of the 7 dimensions to Oldcastle’s 2.

Dunshaughlin leads on
affluenceeducation levelsschools & amenitiespublic transportaccess to its nearest city
Oldcastle leads on
safetyaffordability
291310

Dunshaughlin aheadlevel or not comparableOldcastle ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
DunshaughlinOldcastle
iDunshaughlin sits in A85, Oldcastle in A82. Each figure below is tagged with the geographic level it’s actually measured at. The town ahead on a row is the one in green. Scores and percentages are charted against a true 0 to 100 scale; every other row is charted against the larger of the two towns, so the bars compare but don’t imply a ceiling.

Outlines are each town’s CSO Small Areas — the exact footprint every figure is measured over.

Dunshaughlin
Oldcastle

Size

TOWN · census

Resident population at the 2022 CSO census, summed over the Small Areas that make up each town. Not scored: a bigger town isn’t a better one, it just explains why the counts below differ.

4,810
Population
813

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€419k
Median sale pricelower is better
€300k
Oldcastle leads
€400k – €463k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€208k – €326k
439
Sales (24m)
83
-0.4%
Price momentum (YoY)
N/A
71.5%
New-build share
24.1%

Schools, health & amenities

TOWN · counts

Facilities in and around each town — each counted once, for the town it’s closest to. Bigger towns naturally score higher — read alongside population.

3 prim · 2 sec
Schools
1 prim · 1 sec
Dunshaughlin leads
Dunshaughlin · 5 schools (largest first)
Community College Dunshaughlin Secondary
1,135 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · INTER DENOMINATIONAL
Coláiste Rioga Secondary
193 pupils · 60% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
S N Seachnaill Naofa Primary
623 pupils · Catholic
Scoil Na Rithe Primary
218 pupils · Catholic
Dunshaughlin Community National School Primary
116 pupils · Multi Denominational
Oldcastle · 2 schools (largest first)
St Oliver Post Primary Secondary
641 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
Gilson National School Primary
227 pupils · CatholicDEIS
8
Creches
1
Dunshaughlin leads
N/A
GP practices
1
3
Pharmacies
2
Dunshaughlin leads
0
Hospitals
1
Oldcastle leads
11
Bus stops
1
Dunshaughlin leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
9
Gyms & leisure
4
Dunshaughlin leads
9
Parks & playgrounds
1
Dunshaughlin leads
27
Sports pitches
8
Dunshaughlin leads

Social life

TOWN · counts

Places to eat, drink and go out in and around each town — each counted once, for the town it’s closest to. The residents per venue row is the fairer read — raw counts just track town size, so a big town wins by being big.

3
Restaurants
2
Dunshaughlin leads
6
Cafés
2
Dunshaughlin leads
5
Pubs & bars
9
Oldcastle leads
8
Takeaways
3
Dunshaughlin leads
1
Nightclubs
0
Dunshaughlin leads
0
Cinema & theatre
1
Oldcastle leads
209
Residents per venuelower is better
48
Oldcastle leads

Day-to-day

TOWN · counts

The errands you run without thinking about them. Same caveat — read the residents-per-service row alongside the counts.

3
Supermarkets
2
Dunshaughlin leads
5
Convenience shops
4
Dunshaughlin leads
3
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
2
Dunshaughlin leads
2
Banks
2
1
Post offices
1
8
Hairdressers
6
Dunshaughlin leads
3
Dentists
0
Dunshaughlin leads
1
Vets
1
3
Filling stations
4
Oldcastle leads
1
EV charging
0
Dunshaughlin leads
3
Library & community centre
1
Dunshaughlin leads
146
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
35
Oldcastle leads

Commute by car

TOWN · from centre

Drive time from the town centre to each city centre — typical off-peak, with an estimated weekday rush hour. OSRM road routing.

33m · ~65 rush
Dublinlower is better
76m · ~110 rush
Dunshaughlin leads
129m · ~145 rush
Waterfordlower is better
172m · ~185 rush
Dunshaughlin leads
142m · ~165 rush
Galwaylower is better
139m · ~165 rush
Oldcastle leads
151m · ~170 rush
Limericklower is better
167m · ~185 rush
Dunshaughlin leads
190m · ~210 rush
Corklower is better
215m · ~235 rush
Dunshaughlin leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
4.2
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-9.8
Dunshaughlin leads
Dunshaughlin · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
+2DunshaughlinAbove average
+6DunshaughlinAffluent
Oldcastle · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-11OldcastleDisadvantaged
-8OldcastleDisadvantaged
47.9%
Third-level educated
23.8%
Dunshaughlin leads
49.7%
Professional class
27.5%
Dunshaughlin leads
7.2%
Unemploymentlower is better
14.1%
Dunshaughlin leads
82.1%
Owner-occupier
64.1%
Dunshaughlin leads
12.5%
Private rental
18.7%
4.6%
Social housing (LA)
15.1%

Liveability & safety

AREA · A85 / A82

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (DunshaughlinA85, OldcastleA82); safety & crime are the Meath Garda division.

72/100
Quality of Life
62/100
Dunshaughlin leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (A85 / A82) from official data — Garda crime, CSO income & census, OPW flood, EPA water, and transport/healthcare/broadband coverage. Refreshed quarterly. The dashed line is each town’s overall score (that average) — dimensions to its right beat the average, to its left fall short. Two towns can share a score with a very different mix.

DunshaughlinOldcastleOverall (avg)
Safety72476274
Affordability5694
Infrastructure8926
Family8683
Education6642
Environment8284
Economic7634
020406080100020406080100
#4
National ranklower is better
#66
Dunshaughlin leads
#1
County rank
#1
47/100
Safety
74/100
Oldcastle leads
76
Crime / 1,000lower is better
40
Oldcastle leads

Affluence range

Pobal HP deprivation index, published per Electoral Division, so the spread shows the town’s poorest to richest ED. A town that is a single ED shows one mark, no range.

Dunshaughlin Affluent+4.2
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Dunshaughlin +2 (least affluent) → Dunshaughlin +6 (most affluent). Even its least-affluent neighbourhood is above the national average.
Oldcastle Disadvantaged-9.8
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Oldcastle -11 (least affluent) → Oldcastle -8 (most affluent). Every neighbourhood is below the national average.

How accurate is this, and at what level?

TOWN
Prices, amenities and commute are exact and town-specific.

Prices come from individual PPR sales inside the town’s Small-Area boundary; schools, GPs, transport, gyms and parks are counted the same way; commute is routed from the town centre.

ED
Affluence, profile and tenure are Electoral-Division level.

Published per Electoral Division and averaged across the town’s EDs, with a range where the town spans several.

AREA
Liveability and safety are wider-area, not the town.

Quality of life and rank are per Eircode routing key; safety and crime are the Garda division (Meath), coarser than a town, so two towns in the same county read the same.

Population growth isn’t shown: the 2016 and 2022 censuses don’t use the same Small Areas, and the areas that were re-cut are the ones that grew, so a like-for-like comparison understates growth badly. Rent and yield are still too sparse to show per town. Built from 17 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Dunshaughlin

The stronger town on the data.

Compare somewhere else

Put any two Irish towns head to head, or step up to the wider Eircode areas.