Leitrim: On the sun-splashed marinas along the river Shannon in Leitrim yesterday they shrugged their shoulders in a knowing way as the census results confirmed what has long been obvious in the county.
After 150 years of poverty and forced emigration, the tide has turned and the people of Leitrim are coming home.
Others are coming too of course. The tax incentives which expired at the end of 2004 sparked an unprecedented rush of planning applications as those with money to spare and a yen for a bolt-hole in a scenic location splashed out on a holiday pad in the county. Opinion was divided between those who felt rural communities deserved more than houses and apartments which are empty for most of the year and those who believed any development was welcome in a county which in 2002 recorded its first population increase since the Famine.
What has baffled the local planners and the politicians is that the incentive-fuelled rush of 2004 has, if anything, been surpassed this year with planning applications - many for one-off rural homes - set to double in the 12 months to the end of 2006.
"We aren't surprised by the census figures because the planners had already alerted us," explained Drumshanbo-based Fine Gael councillor Enda McGloin.
He pointed out that by close of business yesterday, 916 planning applications had been lodged with the council - only marginally less than the figure for all of 2005.
The biggest factor in the population surge is that native sons and daughters of Leitrim are returning not just from London and New York, but also from Dublin and Galway - lured by the easier lifestyle, cheaper property and a more hopeful economic outlook.
"People are coming back to the towns and villages and many are commuting to jobs in Sligo, Longford and Enniskillen," explained Cllr McGloin. Riverside towns and villages like Carrick-on-Shannon, Leitrim and Keshcarrigan have been transformed. Ten years ago natives of the county would have laughed at the notion of exclusive hotels going up in villages like Drumshanbo and Leitrim, but both are now thriving.
Not everyone is bowled over by the rosy picture the preliminary results paint. Pat Love, spokesman for the County Leitrim Community Forum which has already investigated population trends in the county, said some townlands are gradually being wiped out.
While welcoming the increasing prosperity evident in Carrick, Manorhamilton and Dromahair he believes steps must be taken to help those parishes which are losing their post offices and fighting to keep teachers in national schools where in some cases only one or two children enrol each year.