Barna


Bearna is a coastal village in Connemara, west of Galway city in County Galway, Ireland, on the R336 regional road. Once a satellite of Galway city, the village is now rapidly becoming one of its suburbs. Officially, the village is regarded as Irish speaking and is therefore a constituent part of the regions of Ireland that make up the Gaeltacht. However, because of its absorption into the city, it has recently become a mainly English-speaking village. Nonetheless, Irish is still the main language of its western and northern hinterland and the village has now effectively become the gateway to the largest Irish-speaking region in the country.
To try to control the major development which has been undertaken in recent years, a very strongly supported local action group has been set up. In 1976 a community development group called Comharchumann Bearna Teo was formed after five local men put up the purchase money for at Troscaigh Thiar to be used for community purposes and has succeeded in developing several recreational facilities.

Irish language

There are 1,500 native Irish speakers in the Bearna ED. According to the 2011 census, 24% of Bearna's locals use Irish as a daily language.

International links

Bearna is twinned with Esquibien, Brittany, France.

Population

At the time of the 2011 Census, the total population in this settlement was 1,878, of which males numbered 920 and females were 958. The total housing stock was 772, of which vacant households numbered 98. With an approximate area of 1.89 km2, this settlement has a 2011 population density of 994 persons per km2.

Electoral District

The total population of the Bearna Electoral District designated as 27044 was 3,630, of which males numbered 1,804 and females were 1,826. The total housing stock was 1,363, of which vacant households numbered 142.

Sport

Sports clubs in the Bearna area include Bearna GAA, which fields gaelic football teams in men's and ladies' competitions. Other clubs in the locality are Galway Bay Rugby Club, Bearna/Na Forbacha hurling club and Bearna United soccer club. Cormac Folan of Freeport in Bearna represented Ireland in Rowing at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Bearna Golf Club, two miles north of the village, is a moorland 18-hole golf course.

Townlands of Bearna

Most townlands are anglisations of the original Irish language names.