Counties Of Ireland

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For much of its history, the island of Ireland was divided into 32 county (Irish language contae or condae, pronounced ). Two historical counties, County Desmond and County Coleraine, no longer exist, while several county names have changed.

After the partition of Ireland in 1921, what became the Republic of Ireland comprised 26 of these, with Northern Ireland comprising the Counties of Northern Ireland. The counties of Northern Ireland are no longer used for local government, and two former counties in the Republic have been subdivided, giving a modern total of 29 administrative counties rather than 26. The newer counties, such as Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and Fingal, are often ignored as much as possible (outside administrative matters) as being non-traditional. In addition, the larger Cities in Ireland are administratively equivalent to counties.

The traditional 32 counties had previously been adopted by sporting and cultural organisations such as the Gaelic Athletic Association, which organises its activities on county lines, and today they still attract strong loyalties, particularly in the sporting field.

In Irish usage, the word county nearly always comes before rather than after the county name; thus "County Clare" in Ireland as opposed to "Clare County, Michigan" in Michigan. The former "King's County" and "Queen's County" were exceptions; these are now County Offaly and County Laois.

Map of traditional counties These do not correspond exactly to the counties used as political units.{| align="center" cellpadding="10"|| style="font-size: 90%;" |Republic of Ireland

County Dublin

County Wicklow

County Meath

County Cavan

County Laois

| style="font-size: 90%;" |

County Kerry

County Limerick

County Tipperary

County Clare

County Galway

County Mayo

County Roscommon

County Sligo

County Leitrim

County Donegal

Northern Ireland

County Fermanagh

County Tyrone

County Londonderry1

County Antrim

County Down

County Armagh

|}

1. Often called Derry: see Derry-Londonderry name dispute

Historical evolution The political geography of Ireland can be traced with some accuracy from the seventh century. At that time Ireland was divided into about 150 different units of government, each one called a tuath (pl. tuatha). A tuath was an autonomous group of people of independent political jurisdiction under a chief called sub-rege (Rí Tuaithe, tribal king. often the chief of a clan).Michael Richter, Medieval Ireland, Revised edition, Dublin 2005

Cúigí (Provinces) In the sixth century, Ireland was divided into cúigí or fifths (sing. cúige). The four current provinces of Ireland were named after four of these cúigí, Ulaidh (Ulster), Laighin (Leinster), Connachta (Connacht) and An Mhumha(ain) (Munster). The fifth cúige, Mídhe (Meath), corresponded to the present-day counties of Meath, Westmeath, County Longford, Offaly and south County Louth in present-day Leinster. North County Louth was considered to be part of Ulster. In bard, the "fifths of Ireland" corresponded to the five provinces: learning was in the west, war in the north, wealth in the east, music or art in the south and kingship in the centre (Meath).

Shiring and Counties In the 12th century, the Norman Kings of England began their first of many invasions (commonly referred to in Ireland as the Norman Invasion). The English governed Ireland in a like structure as they did themselves, by dividing the country into shires or counties in the late 12th and early 13th centuries.

The counties were made up, in general, from an amalgamation of various smaller Gaelic territories which suited the colonial administration at the time and had little basis in older tribal boundaries. In many cases this involved dividing a Gaelic territory in two. For example, the kingdom of Uí Mhaine was split to form south County Roscommon and most of east County Galway. Many of the counties of Ulster roughly correspond to the territories controlled by the principal clan in that particular area such as the O Donnells of Tír Conaill whose political power was concentrated in what would become the County of Donegal.

The counties evolved over time, with the earliest defined being set out by King John, including a then much larger County Dublin. By 1200 there were also shires of Connacht, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Louth, Tipperary and Waterford. Kilkenny and Wexford apparently date from this time, too. The County of Roscommon was separated from Connacht before 1292, and the parliament of 1297 created the new shires of Kildare, Meath and Ulster. Carlow probably dates from around 1306.Desmond Roche, Local Government in Ireland, Dublin, 1982

The Tudor administrations finalised the division of Ireland into counties. Westmeath was separated from Meath in 1543, and in 1556 King’s County and Queen’s County were created as part of the policy of plantation. The old shire of Connacht was broken up into the Counties of Galway, Mayo and Sligo, while Leitrim was separated from Roscommon in 1565. At the same time County Clare was created and moved from Munster to Connacht. It returned there in 1602. In 1583 County Longford was formed from part of Westmeath and transferred to the Province of Connacht.John G. Crawford, Anglicising the Government of Ireland: The Irish Privy Council & the Expansion of Tudor Rule 1556-1578, Blackrock, 1993

The Province of Ulster was the last to be shired. The counties of Antrim and Down originated early in the sixteenth century. These were joined in 1584/5 by the Counties of Armagh, Coleraine (later Londonderry), Donegal, Fermanagh, Monaghan and Tyrone. County Cavan was also formed in 1584 and transferred from Connacht to Ulster.

The last county to be formed was County Wicklow in 1606, taking in the southern part of Dublin (with the exception of three "islands" of (mainly) church property), and the northern part of "Catherlough" or Carlow, including Arklow.

The counties were initially used for judicial purposes, but in 1836 their first use as local government units occurred. The Grand Jury (Ireland) Act 1836 imported a system already operating in England and Wales into Ireland. The grand jury consisted of the principal landowners of the county and had responsibility for bridges, roads and public works. In 1838 the number of counties was increased to thirty-three when Tipperary was divided into North and South Ridings. The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 introduced elected county councils taking over the powers of the grand juries.

Former counties Former counties include: County Coleraine which formed the basis of County Londonderry, and Nether Tyrone and Upper Tyrone which were merged, and County Desmond which was, in 1606, split between Counties Cork and Kerry. Other names seen on old maps include Caterlaugh or Caterlagh, archaic designations of County Carlow, in the days before much of the north of that county was taken into Wicklow in the early 1600's. In 1777, the ancient Norman town of Carrickfergus lost its status of county town - there was formerly a county of Carrickfergus which extended further than the modern borough of Carrickfergus.

Subdivisions To correspond with the subdivisions of the English shires into honors or barony, Irish counties were granted out to the Anglo-Norman noblemen in cantreds, later known as barony (Ireland), which in turn were subdivided, as in England, into manors or townlands. (However, in many cases, both baronies and townlands correspond to earlier, pre-Norman, divisions.) While there are 331 baronies in Ireland, divided first into civil parishes, there are around 60,000 townlands that range in size from one to several thousand acres. Townlands were often traditionally divided into smaller units called quarters, but these subdivisions are not legally defined.

Administrative division of counties County Tipperary was split into North and South Riding (division) in 1838. More recently, in 1994, County Dublin was split into Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, and South Dublin.

Republic of Ireland The "traditional" 26 counties are no longer the main basis for local government, planning and community development purposes, although unlike the Traditional counties of the British Isles, the Republic's traditional county boundaries are still generally respected for other purposes (counties on occasion being sub-divided). The administrative borders have subsequently been altered to include various towns originally split between two counties wholly within one.

In the Republic of Ireland, six of the original 26 counties have more than one local authority area, producing a total of 34 "county-level" authorities. The two ridings of County Tipperary were renamed North Tipperary and South Tipperary in 2002. In 1994 County Dublin was split into Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, and South Dublin. By 2002 however, upon the establishment of County Development Boards, the definition of "local government" expanded to include the need for a proper identity in each of the new counties; the development of which is ongoing. Of the administrative structures established under the 1898 Local Government Act, the only type to have been completely abolished was the Rural District, which was rendered void in the early years of the Irish Free State amidst widespread allegations of corruption. On the other hand, administrative structures such as Town Councils and Regional Authorities (created to comply with requirements of the EU) exist in parallel with the county system.

Administration Administration follows the 34 "county-level" counties and cities of Ireland. Of these twenty-nine are counties, governed by county councils while the five cities of Dublin, Cork (city), Limerick, Galway and Waterford have city councils, (previously known as corporations), and are administered separately from the counties bearing those names. The City of Kilkenny is the only city in the republic which does not have a "city council"; it is still a borough but not a county borough and is administered as part of County Kilkenny. The most recent local government legislation states that Kilkenny may retain the title of "city" for ornament only.

Education The Vocational Education Committee system is based on the traditional counties of the Republic of Ireland except that County Tipperary is separated into North Tipperary and South Tipperary. Also each of the cities of Dublin, Cork (city), Limerick, Galway and Waterford have their own committee separate from the county. Dún Laoghaire is unique in that it is the only town with a committee.

The Regional Technical College system was organised on the committee areas or "functional areas", these still remain legal but are not as important as originally envisioned as the institutes are now more national in character and are only really applied today when selecting governing councils, similarly Dublin Institute of Technology was originally a group of several colleges of the City of Dublin committee.

Elections Where possible, parliamentary constituencies in the Republic of Ireland follow county boundaries. Under the Electoral Act 1997 a Constituency Commission is established following the publication of census figures every five years. The Commission is charged with defining constituency boundaries, and the 1997 Act provides that the breaching of county boundaries shall be avoided as far as practicable. Electoral Act 1997 This provision does not apply to the boundaries between cities and counties, or between the three counties in the Dublin area.

This system usually results in more populated counties having several constituencies: Dublin city and county is subdivided into twelve constituencies, Cork into five. On the other hand, smaller counties such as Carlow and Kilkenny or Laois and Offaly may be paired to form constituencies. An extreme case is the splitting of Ireland's least populated county of Leitrim between the constituencies of Sligo-North Leitrim (Dáil Éireann constituency) and Roscommon-South Leitrim (Dáil Éireann constituency).

Each county or city is divided into Local Electoral Areas for the election of councillors. The boundaries of the areas and the number of councillors assigned are fixed from time to time by order of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Ireland), following a report by the Local Government Commission, and based on population changes recorded in the census. Local Government Act 2001, Section 23 (acccessed September 3, 2007)

Northern Ireland In Northern Ireland, a major re-organisation of local government in 1973 replaced the six traditional counties and two county boroughs (Belfast and Derry) by 26 "single-tier" Districts of Northern Ireland for local government purposes, and these cross the traditional county boundaries. The six counties and two county-boroughs remain in use for some purposes, including Lists of Lord Lieutenancies#Ireland, British car number plates#Northern Ireland, and the Royal Mail Postcode Address File.

Alphabetical list {| cellpadding="10"|style="font-size: 100%;"|{| class="wikitable sortable"|-!County!Irish name!Former name!Province!State!Additional local government|-|County Antrim|Aontroim
(Contae Aontroma)||Ulster||-|[County Armagh|Ard Mhacha
(Contae Ard Mhacha)||Ulster||-|[County Carlow|Ceatharlach
(Contae Cheatharlach)|Caterlaugh|[Republic of Ireland|An Cabhán
(Contae an Chabháin)||[Ulster||-|[County Clare|An Clár
(Contae an Chláir)|County Thomond|Munster||-|[County Cork|Corcaigh
(Contae Chorcaí)|(see County Desmond)|Munster|[Cork (city)|-|County Donegal|Dún na nGall
(Contae Dhún na nGall)|County Tyrconnel, TirconaillOfficially designated as "County Tirconaill" from 1922 to about 1929 |Ulster||-|[County Down|An Dún
(Contae an Dúin)||Ulster||-|[Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown,Fingal,South Dublin|[Leinster|[City of Dublin,]|Fear Manach
(Contae Fhear Manach)||Ulster||-|[County Galway|Gaillimh
(Contae na Gaillimhe)||Connacht|[City of Galway]|Ciarraí
(Contae Chiarraí)|(see County Desmond)|Munster||-|[County Kildare|Cill Dara
(Contae Chill Dara)||Leinster||-|[County Kilkenny|Cill Chainnigh
(Contae Chill Chainnigh)||Leinster||-|[County Laois|Laois
(Contae Laoise)|Queen's County, Ireland, County Leix, Laoighis|Leinster||-|[County Leitrim|Liatroim
(Contae Liatroma)||Connacht||-|[County Limerick|Luimneach
(Contae Luimnigh)||Munster|[City of Limerick]|Doire
(Contae Dhoire)|(see County Coleraine)|Ulster||-|[County Longford|An Longfort
(Contae an Longfoirt)||Leinster||-|[County Louth|Lú
(Contae Lú)||Leinster||-|[County Mayo|Maigh Eo
(Contae Mhaigh Eo)||Connacht||-|[County Meath|An Mhí
(Contae na Mí)||Leinster||-|[County Monaghan|Muineachán
(Contae Mhuineacháin)||Ulster||-|[County Offaly|Uíbh Fhailí
(Contae Uíbh Fhailí)|King's County, Ireland|Leinster||-|[County Roscommon|Ros Comáin
(Contae Ros Comáin)||Connacht||-|[County Sligo|Sligeach
(Contae Shligigh)||Connacht||-| valign=top|[North Tipperary,South Tipperary|[Munster||-|[County Tyrone|Tír Eoghain
(Contae Thír Eoghain)||Ulster||-|[County Waterford|Port Láirge
(Contae Phort Láirge)||Munster|[City of Waterford]|An Iarmhí
(Contae na hIarmhí)||Leinster||-|[County Wexford|Loch Garman
(Contae Loch Garman)||Leinster||-|[County Wicklow|Cill Mhantáin
(Contae Chill Mhantáin)||[Leinster||}

See also

List of Irish counties by population
List of Irish counties by area
County Town#Traditional counties of the Republic of Ireland
Provinces of Ireland
Counties of Northern Ireland
Districts of Northern Ireland
Counties of the United Kingdom
Irish Vehicle Registration Plates
Irish topics
ISO 3166-2:IE
GAA county colours

References

External links

Central Statistics Office - 2002 census results
Family history links to traditional counties of Ireland

Flags

Flags of Ireland - includes county flags
Flags of the World - Ireland - includes more flags

Baronies, Civil Parishes and Townlands

The Baronies of Ireland -Clans and Baronies
Connacht Baronies -Map
Leinster Baronies -Map
Munster Baronies -Map
Ulster Baronies -Map
IreAtlas Townland Search

Representatives of local government

Association of Municipal Authorities of Ireland
General Council of County Councils
Local Authority Members Association

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