The island of Ireland is divided into two countries; the southern and northwestern regions constitute the Republic of Ireland, an independent, democratic country. The northeast is Northern Ireland and presently is a part of the United Kingdom. Historically, Ireland is divided into four ancient provinces, LEINSTER, MUNSTER, CONNACHT and ULSTER. There are thirty-two counties within those provinces. For tourism the country is divided into regions which may cross over provinces. The following information will give you a short description of the regions and the cities within those regions. Heritage towns are noted under the cities.

Throughout the entire island of Ireland are thousands of lakes and rivers that are natural wonders. In addition, Ireland's ancient past makes it an archeological paradise, with many sites dating back thousands of years. There is so much to explore and experience, that no matter where you travel in Ireland, it will be a fantastic exploration, with unsurpassed hospitality. The scenery is ever changing, simply spectacular, and literally unfolds before your eyes. All over Ireland you can enjoy the outdoors from fishing to golf, horse riding to water sports. Local eateries offer a wide range of food from simple to fine dining. However, whether plain or fancy, the fare is usually fresh, often home grown, and absolutely fantastic. A wide variety of accommodations await you and there are many modes of transportation throughout, including rental cars, chauffeur drive, motor coach, boats, trains, and even planes from one part of the country to another.

The universal language of music is performed in local pubs, large concert halls, on the street with buskers, or in the parlor with your hosts. Anywhere and everywhere there is music, from traditional to contemporary, and rock. Listen to the songs of Ireland and you can learn much of her history!

County Clare (Contae an Chláir in Irish) is in the Irish province of Munster. It is located on the west coast of Ireland, northwest of the River Shannon and bordering Lough Derg. Area: 3,147 km² (1,215 square miles). Its capital is the town of Ennis.

County Clare has a strong history of Traditional music. It is home of the Kilfenora Céilí Band, Stockton's Wing, Sharon Shannon, Eoin O'Neill, Eamon Cotter, Peadar O'Loughlin, Martin Hayes and legendary tin-whistlist Micho Russell. Ennis in County Clare is also the birthplace of Grammy-nominated songtress Maura O'Connell whose grandmother started a fish market in the Town. The county has many traditional music festivals and one of the most well known is the Willie Clancy Summer School, which is held every July in the town of Miltown Malbay in memory of the renowned uilleann piper, Willie Clancy. On the more contemporary music scene you have The Walls who are from Ennistymon.

Many Clare surnames are derived from the powerful septs which ruled over the area. Common surnames are O'Brien, McNamara, O'Grady, McInerney, Hickey, Griffin, Whelan, McMahon, Clancy and Considine. In addition many unusual surnames such as Talty, Lillis, O'Halloran, Minogue, Clune, Finucane, Ginnane, O'Davoren, McGann, McLysaght, and O'Loughlin can be found due to the isolated nature of the county. Clare county was also featured in the sketch "Where in the world is Matt Lauer?".

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County Cork (Irish: Contae Chorcaí) is the most southwesterly and the largest of the modern counties of Ireland. Cork is nicknamed "The Rebel County", as a result of the support of the townsmen of Cork in 1491 for Perkin Warbeck, a pretender to the throne of England during the Wars of the Roses. In more recent times, the name has referred to the prominent role Cork played in the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921) and its position as an anti-treaty stronghold during the Irish Civil War (1922-23). Attractions include the Blarney Stone and Cobh (formerly Queenstown), the port where many Irish emigrants boarded for their voyage to the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or South Africa and also the last stop of the Titanic, before departing on its doomed journey. The city of Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and capital of the province of Munster.[1]

The remote western area of the county, known as West Cork, is a popular destination for tourists, who visit the small villages and islands including Sherkin Island, Oileán Chléire or Cape Clear Island and Dursey Island. Mizen Head, the "southwesternmost point in Ireland" is also in West Cork, as is Sheep's Head.

In recent years land in the far west of the county has become in high demand internationally, and large numbers of EU citizens have settled in the area, along with celebrities such as Jeremy Irons. West Cork is noted for its rugged natural beauty, fine beaches and distinct social atmosphere.

West Cork has a disproportionately large population of artisans, musicians, poets and playwrights.

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County Donegal (Irish: Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county in the northwest of Ireland. It is one of three counties in the province of Ulster that does not form part of Northern Ireland. The name "Donegal" comes from the Irish, meaning "the fort of the foreigners". The county was named after the former administrative centre of Donegal Town. When first created, it was sometimes referred to as County Tyrconnel (Irish: Tír Chonaill), after the Tyrconnel earldom it succeeded. Calling the whole county Tír Conaill is technically incorrect as the Inishowen peninsula (Irish: Inis Eoghain) was historically distinct from Tír Chonaill.

Uniquely, Donegal only shares a border with one county in the Republic of Ireland, namely County Leitrim in north Connacht. The rest of its land border is shared with the United Kingdom (the Northern Irish counties of Londonderry, Tyrone and Fermanagh). This apparent isolation has led to Donegal people and their customs being considered distinct from the rest of the country and has been used to market the county with the slogan Up here it's different.[1] Despite Lifford being the county town (and there also being a Donegal town), the largest town is Letterkenny.

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County of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Dun Laoghaire–Rathdown[1] (Irish: Dún Laoghaire–Ráth an Dúin) is a county in the Republic of Ireland formed from part of the traditional county of Dublin. Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown is located to the south-east of the City of Dublin, and has its administrative centre in the town of Dún Laoghaire. In 1994, the area of the Corporation of Dún Laoghaire, the Deansgrange Joint Burial Board and the south-east part of County Dublin were merged to create the county of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown.

The motto on the coat of arms of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown reads "Ó Chuan go Sliabh", meaning "From the Harbour to the Mountain". The crown in the shield is that of King Laoghaire, the High King of Ireland in the fifth century, who resided in the area.

Now the smallest county in Ireland in terms of area, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown is also the county with the longest name. Further, the official legal name of the county, in English, is spelt without a síneadh fada on the "u" in "Dún Laoghaire",[1] although the current style within the county council is to use the síneadh fada on the name in both Irish and English.[2] The reason for this is that the titles of the new Dublin county councils were never examined at committee stage in the Houses of the Oireachtas, and were last altered under the 1991 Local Government Act which was infamously rushed into effect. Both parliamentary debates and Dublin County Council’s own reorganisation report published in 1992 concluded that the name Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown was “unacceptable”. A one year proviso contained in the 1993 Local Government (Dublin) Act for changing the name of the county at local level was allowed to expire by the new council. The elected members of the council are still in a position to make representations for additional legislation altering the name of the county.

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County Galway (Irish: Contae na Gaillimhe) is located on the west coast of Ireland. It is in the Irish province of Connacht. The county takes its name from the city of Galway, which is the county's capital. It is the second largest county in Ireland, after County Cork. There are several strongly Irish-speaking areas in the west of the county.

The county comprises a number of distinct territories which predate the formation of the county by the English colonial administration in Ireland in the late 1500s. The major ones are Iar Connacht, or 'West Connacht', which covers the portion of the county (and also a small part of County Mayo) west of Loch Corrib and which contains Connemara in the far west and Joyce Country in the north-west. The territory of Aidhne lies in the south of the county and is coextensive with the diocese of Kilmacduagh.

The territory of what was once known as Uí Maine or Tír Maine covers most of the east of the county but also covers south County Roscommon. Maigh Seola covers the portion of the county along the eastern side of Loch Corrib. A number of inhabited islands are administered by the county; they include Oileáin Árann (Aran Islands) and Inis Bó Fine (Inishbofin).

County Galway is home to Lough Corrib (the largest lake in the Republic of Ireland) the Na Beanna Beola (Twelve Bens) mountain range, Na Sléibhte Mhám Toirc (the Maum Turk mountains), and the low mountains of Sliabh Echtghe (Slieve Aughty).

The population of the county as a whole at the April 2006 census was 231,052; however, when the city of Galway, which forms a separate administrative unit, was excluded, the population of the area under the control of Galway County Council was 159,052.

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County Kerry (Irish: Contae Ciarraí) is a county in the south west of Ireland, in the Munster province of the Republic of Ireland, informally referred to as The Kingdom. It has an area of 4,746 km² (1,832 sq mi), and is bordered by County Limerick to the east and by County Cork to the south-east. The county town is Tralee.

One of Ireland's most famous towns, Killarney, is located in Kerry. The county has two national parks, the Killarney Lakes and Dingle Peninsula. The tip of the Dingle Peninsula is the most westernly point in mainland Ireland.

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County Kildare (Irish: Contae Chill Dara) is an Irish county located to the southwest of Dublin in the province of Leinster. The name comes from the Irish, meaning church (Cill) of the oaks (Dara).

Kildare is bordered by the counties of Carlow, Laois, Meath, Offaly, Dublin and Wicklow. Kildare is part of the "Greater Dublin Area", a regional area surrounding Dublin.

Kildare was shired in 1297 and assumed its present borders in 1832.

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County Kilkenny (Contae Chill Chainnigh in Irish) is located in the south east of Ireland in the province of Leinster. It is named after Kilkenny, the main city in the region.

Inhabitants of Kilkenny are often referred to as "Kilkenny Cats"; the phrase is also used to describe the Kilkenny Hurling team, one of the strongest in the country.

It was formerly the Kingdom of Osraige, which existed from at least the 2nd century A.D. until the 13th century. The current Catholic ecclesiastical dioceses of that area is still known as Ossory however the original kingdom was bounded by two of the Three Sisters the rivers Barrow and Suir. The northern limit was, generally, the Slieve Bloom Mountains.

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County Limerick (Contae Luimnigh in Irish) is a county in the province of Munster, located in the mid-west of Ireland with County Clare to the north, County Cork to the south, County Kerry to the west and County Tipperary to the east. The River Shannon flows through the city of Limerick and into the Atlantic Ocean at the north of the county. Below the city, the waterway is known as the Shannon Estuary. Because the estuary is shallow, the county's most important port is several kilometres west of Limerick city, at Foynes.

Newcastle West is the most important county town outside of Limerick city. Other towns mainly lie along the Limerick – Tralee roads (N21,N69) and Limerick – Cork road (N20)

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County Mayo (Irish: Contae Mhaigh Eo, lit. the plain of the yew trees) is a county in the province of Connacht, located on the west coast of Ireland. The county town of Mayo is Castlebar. Mayo is bordered to the south by Galway, to the east by Roscommon, and to the north-east by Sligo. Castlebar and Ballina are by far the two most populous towns in the county, with 10,729 and 10,146 residents respectively according to the 2006 census; with Castlebar being much larger by land area. These are followed by Westport, a popular tourist town, which has 5,140 residents. The fourth largest town is Claremorris with a population of 3,170. Other towns include Ballinrobe, Ballyhaunis and Swinford.

The shrine of Knock is in Mayo, close to the border with County Roscommon. Mayo is also home to Croagh Patrick, a mountain where St Patrick is said to have fasted for forty days and nights, although worship connected with the mountain is believed to have preceded the arrival of Christianity.

The highest point in Mayo and Connacht is Mweelrea (814 metres). The river Moy in the northeast of the county is renowned for its salmon fishing. Ireland's largest island, Achill, lies off Mayo's west coast.

Mayo is also noted for its Gaelic football team, and their struggle to capture the All-Ireland Football Title in recent years. They last won the Sam Maguire Cup in 1951, when the team was captained by Seán Flanagan. Mayo's most recent All-Ireland final losses have been in 1989, 1996, 1997, 2004 and 2006. They defeated a hotly tipped Dublin team in the 2006 All Ireland Semi Final; In what match commentators said was one of the best games ever in Croke Park, Mayo won by one point.

Michael Davitt, founder of the Land League, was born in Mayo, the bridge to Achill is named after him. Also born in Mayo was Patrick Browne (1720–1790), Doctor and botanist of Jamaica.

For over two years in Erris in the northwest of the county, the Shell to Sea campaign has organised protests at the decision of the Shell oil company to refine raw gas from the Corrib Gas Field onshore. This would entail piping the gas through inhabited areas at an abnormally high pressure and without the chemical that allows people to smell the gas when there is a leak. This has never been tried before anywhere, as gas has always been processed offshore. Five men were jailed in 2005 for refusing to allow the pipeline through their lands, and protests at the refinery site continue daily.

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County Meath (Irish: Contae na Mí) is a county in the Republic of Ireland, often informally called The Royal County. The county town is Navan, where the county hall and government is located, although Trim, the former county town, has historical significance, and remains a sitting place of the circuit court, along with Ireland's largest castle (Norman) and was the setting for an Anglo-Norman parliament. Meath is also home to Kells, with its round tower and monastic past, and Slane, known for its castle and annual rock concert and the Ledwidge Cottage Museum.

Meath (the "middle") was formed from the eastern part of the province of Midhe - see Kings of Mide - but now forms part of Leinster. Historically this province of Meath included all of the current county as well as all of Westmeath and parts of Cavan, Longford, Louth and Offaly, and possibly Dublin and Kildare. The High King of Ireland sat at Tara in Meath. The archaeological complex of Brú na Bóinne, including the 5,000-year-old Bru na Boinne complex, including the burial sites of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, in the northeast of the county, is a UNESCO designated World Heritage Site.

The seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Meath, is located in Mullingar, County Westmeath - outside the county but within the historic diocese of Meath.

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County Roscommon (Irish: Contae Ros Comáin) is a county located in central Ireland. Area: 2547 km² (983 square miles). Roscommon is in the province of Connacht. It is the only county in Connacht (or Connaught) that does not have a sea shore.

Roscommon is also the name of the county town. Athlone, on the River Shannon, which lies partly in Roscommon and partly in County Westmeath (in the neighbouring province of Leinster), is considered to be Ireland's most central town. Tulsk is the nearest village to the mythological site of Rath Cruachán, home of Queen Medb (Maebh, Maeve) and the Morrigan, which was the starting point for an epic tale in Irish Literature of the Táin Bó Cúailgne, or Cattle Raid of Cooley, famously translated by Thomas Kinsella. Roscommon has much to interest those interested in Irish heritage or history.

Lough Key in north Roscommon is noted for having thirty-two islands. This is, coincidentally, the number of counties on the island of Ireland.

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County Sligo (Irish: Contae Shligigh; lit. Shelly River) is a county in the province of Connacht in the west of the Republic of Ireland. Area: 1,836 km² (709 square miles). Sligo is bordered to the west by Mayo, to the south by Roscommon, and the east by Leitrim.

County Sligo has a strong history of traditional music. The south of the county is particularly noted with such musical luminaries as James Morrison, Michael Coleman, Paddy Killoran, the band Dervish and tin-whistle player Carmel Gunning. The county has many traditional music festivals and one of the most well known is the Queen Maeve International Summer School, a traditional Irish Music summer school of music and dance which is held annually in August in Sligo Town. On the more contemporary music scene you have Westlife, Tabby Callaghan and The Conway Sisters who are from Sligo. Strandhill, about 9km west of Sligo, hosts the Strandhill Guitar Festival [1]each year, featuring a wide varierty of guitar music and musicians.

The poet and Nobel laureate W. B. Yeats (1865-1939) spent much of his childhood in northern Sligo and the county's landscapes (particularly the Isle of Innisfree, in Lough Gill) were the inspiration for much of his poetry. Yeats said, "the place that has really influenced my life most is Sligo."

The megalithic cemetery landscape of Carrowmore is located in County Sligo.

The county town is Sligo (population: 17,892 [2]), which is home to the Institute of Technology, Sligo.

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County South Tipperary (Tiobraid Árann Theas in Irish), known until 2002 as Tipperary South Riding, is an administrative county in the Republic of Ireland, consisting of 52% of the land area of the historical county of Tipperary. South Tipperary was established in 1898 and has had a county council ever since, with separate assize courts since 1838. The main town and capital is Clonmel. Other important urban centres include Carrick-on-Suir, Cashel, Cahir, and Tipperary Town. South Tipperary's motto is Vallis Aurea Siurensis - The Golden Vale of the Suir.

Brendan McSherry, the Heritage Officer with South Tipperary County Council has stated that "Although local people's identification is generally with the historic (and sporting) county, nevertheless we are two completely separate counties, in different government regions, for all administrative purposes". The different regions refer to the fact that South Tipperary is legally defined as being in the South-East and falls under the control of that regional authority, while North Tipperary is regarded as being in the Mid-West.

Vital statistics for 2004 released by the Central Statistics Office show that South Tipperary has the lowest rate of neo-natal mortality in the country, at 0.9 occurrences per 1000 people. This compares with 2.9 for North Tipperary, and 3.4 for Dublin City.

County North Tipperary (Irish: Tiobraid Árann Thuaidh), known until 2002 as Tipperary North Riding, is an administrative county in the Republic of Ireland, consisting of 48% of the land area of the traditional county of Tipperary. North Tipperary was established in 1898 and has had a county council ever since, with separate assize courts since 1838. The main town is Nenagh. Other important places include Borrisokane, Newport, Templemore, Thurles, and Roscrea.

North Tipperary County Council promotes North Tipperary as an independent local government area and regards the county as having its own distinctive culture and identity. The Council also claim the title of the Premier County1, a title which is sometimes used to refer to both North and South Tipperary." North Tipperary is legally defined as forming part of the Mid-West region, and falls under that regional authority, whereas South Tipperary is defined as being in the South-East.

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County Waterford (Irish: Contae Phort Láirge) is a county in the province of Munster on the south coast of Ireland. Administratively, the city of Waterford is a county-level authority. Dungarvan is the administrative centre for the rest of the county.

County Waterford is known locally as "The Decies" (An Déise). Sometime between the 4th and 8th centuries, a tribe of native Gaelic people called the Déisi were driven from the southern parts of the country, conquering and settling here. The ancient principality of the Déise is today roughly coterminous with the current Diocese of Waterford and Lismore.

The Deise region has two mountain ranges, rivers and lakes and over 30 beaches along a volcanic coast line. It is one of the few regions in Ireland with a Gaeltacht, an area with native Irish speaking people. The Deise has a rich history from megalithic tombs and ogham stones, to Vikings, to remnants of English occupancy, including the Gaulstown Dolmen, Reginalds Tower and The Ballysaggartmore Towers respectively.

The people that live in the Deise today are known to thrive on Irish traditions such as hurling and eating blaas (a type of floury bread roll, unique to the region).

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County Wexford (Irish: Contae Loch Garman) is a maritime county in the south-east of Ireland, in the province of Leinster. Area: 2,352 km² (908 mi²). It takes its name from the principal town, Wexford, founded by Vikings and named by them 'Waesfjord', meaning 'inlet of the mud-flats' in the Old Norse language. It is known as 'Ireland's sunny south-east' for its high amount of sunshine

Wexford was the site of an invasion by Normans in 1169 at the behest of Diarmuid MacMurrough Kavanagh, King of Leinster, which led to the subsequent colonisation of the country by the English.

Wexford, particularly the baronies of Bargy and Forth, saw one of the most heavy concentrations of medieval English settlements in Ireland. An old dialect of English, known as Yola, was spoken uniquely in Wexford up until the 19th century. The north of the county remained Gaelic Irish in character, predominantly under the control of the MacMurrough Kavanagh clan.

County Wexford produced strong support for Confederate Ireland during the 1640s. A fleet of Confederate privateers was based in Wexford town. As a result, the town was sacked by the English Parliamentarians during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.

County Wexford was one of the main areas in which the 1798 rebellion was fought. There were significant battles at Enniscorthy and New Ross, the famous ballad Boolavogue was written in remembrance of the Wexford rising.

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County Wicklow (Irish: Contae Chill Mhantáin) is a county on the east coast of the Ireland, immediately south of Dublin. Area: 2,024 km² (781 square miles). The county is bordered by the Irish Sea and the counties of Carlow, Kildare, Wexford and two parts of what was County Dublin, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and South Dublin. The county is part of the "Greater Dublin Area". Wicklow is known as "The Garden of Ireland" because of its scenery.

The county town is Wicklow (pop. 9,355), although the largest urban centre is Bray (pop. 31,901), on the northern border and effectively a Dublin suburb. Other main towns include Greystones (pop. 11,913) and Arklow (pop. 11,721). All of these towns are situated on the east coast.

County Wicklow is sometimes known as 'the last county' as it was the last of the original counties to be established - in 1606 from land previously part of County Dublin and County Carlow (which then ran to the sea and included Arklow). Establishment as a distinct county was aimed at controlling local groups such as the O'Byrnes.

The Military Road, stretching from Rathfarnham to Aughavannagh crosses the mountains, north to south, and was built by the British army to assist them in crushing rebels still active in the Wicklow Mountains following the failed 1798 rebellion. It provided them with access to an area that had been a hotbed of Irish rebellion for centuries. Several barracks to house the soldiers were built along the route and the Glencree Reconciliation Centre was built alongside the remains of barracks there. Battalions of the Irish Army use firing ranges in County Wicklow for tactical exercises, especially the largest one in the Glen of Imaal which was previously used by the British Army prior to independence.

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The Provences of Ireland

When under Gaelic rule, Ireland was divided into provinces to replace the earlier system of the túatha.

The four provinces are:

Originally there were five provinces but over the course of time the smallest one, Meath, was absorbed into Leinster. These provinces began as little more than loosely federated kingdoms with somewhat flexible boundaries, but in modern times they have become associated with groups of specific counties though they have no legal status. They are today seen in a sporting context, as Ireland's four professional rugby teams play under the names of the provinces, and the Gaelic Athletic Association has separate provincial championships.

The provinces were supplanted by the present system of counties after the Norman occupation in the twelfth century. The Irish word for province, "cúige", means "portion" and/or "fifth", reflecting the original division.

Six of the nine Ulster counties form modern-day Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland is often referred to as a province of the United Kingdom. These two inconsistent usages of the word "province" (along with the use of the term "Ulster" to describe Northern Ireland) can cause confusion.

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Counties Ranked by Population

Taken from latest Census Data for North and South 2004

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