Towns in Galway have been ranked third in Ireland based on their economic strength in relation to the collapse of the celtic tiger in the past six years.
The national advisory body, Teagasc, ranked 300 towns and villages across the 26 counties in a surveys examining how the recession has affected population centres across the country.
The town of Barna comes out on top in the country for the prosperity rating, based on its high rate of employment and the inward migration of people to the area.
But the further away the towns from Galway City the picture is not as optimistic. Gort is rated 296th out of 302 surveyed centres, this is due to being badly hit by unemployment with very little inward migration into the town.
Coming after Barna, the most prosperous towns in Galway are Clarinbridge, Oranmore, Carnmore, Craughwell, Clifden and Moycullen, and compared to the rest of the country the counties of Sligo and Cork did better than the towns in Galway.