Leitrim households face longest distances to fuel stations in Ireland

Relatively poor access to essential services in Leitrim, particularly fuel stations and frequent public transport, has been highlighted in recent statistics released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The statistics, released on October 28, showed that households in Leitrim have the furthest distance to travel to access their nearest fuel station, with half of all households located more than 6.5km away.

This was more than four times the comparable national distance of 1.4km. Furthermore, the CSO found that one in four households in Leitrim were located more than 10.7km from a fuel station.

The Local Electoral Area (LEA) of Ballinamore, recorded the longest median distance to fuel stations at 6.9km, followed by Manorhamilton LEA at 6.1km.

Accessibility varied considerably within the Carrick-on-Shannon LEA, where one quarter of households were located within one kilometre of their nearest fuel station, while one quarter were located more than 12.2km away.

In terms of public transport, Roscommon County Council recorded the longest median distances to both bus stops, at 2.1km, and high-frequency bus stops, at 7.2km.

High-frequency bus stops were defined as those served 10 or more times between 6am and 8pm on a weekday.

Leitrim County Council also recorded a relatively large median distance of 6.9km to bus stops served more than 10 times during a midweek day, while the median distance to a bus stop was 1.3km.

According to the CSO, the findings indicate that, while basic bus infrastructure is relatively widespread, frequent midweek services are less readily available.

Nationally, three in four households were located within 1.4km of either a bus, rail, or luas stop.