1.
Republic of Ireland
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Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, is a sovereign state in north-western Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the part of the island. The state shares its land border with Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, Saint Georges Channel to the south-east, and it is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The head of government is the Taoiseach, who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President, the state was created as the Irish Free State in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It was officially declared a republic in 1949, following the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, Ireland became a member of the United Nations in December 1955. It joined the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union, after joining the EEC, Ireland enacted a series of liberal economic policies that resulted in rapid economic growth. The country achieved considerable prosperity between the years of 1995 and 2007, which known as the Celtic Tiger period. This was halted by a financial crisis that began in 2008. However, as the Irish economy was the fastest growing in the EU in 2015, Ireland is again quickly ascending league tables comparing wealth and prosperity internationally. For example, in 2015, Ireland was ranked as the joint sixth most developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index and it also performs well in several national performance metrics, including freedom of the press, economic freedom and civil liberties. Ireland is a member of the European Union and is a member of the Council of Europe. The 1922 state, comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland, was styled, the Constitution of Ireland, adopted in 1937, provides that the name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland. Section 2 of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 states, It is hereby declared that the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland. The 1948 Act does not name the state as Republic of Ireland, because to have done so would have put it in conflict with the Constitution. The government of the United Kingdom used the name Eire, and, from 1949, Republic of Ireland, for the state, as well as Ireland, Éire or the Republic of Ireland, the state is also referred to as the Republic, Southern Ireland or the South. In an Irish republican context it is referred to as the Free State or the 26 Counties. From the Act of Union on 1 January 1801, until 6 December 1922, during the Great Famine, from 1845 to 1849, the islands population of over 8 million fell by 30%
2.
Limerick
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Limerick is a city in county Limerick, Ireland. It is located in the Mid-West Region and is part of the province of Munster. Limerick City and County Council is the authority for the city. The city lies on the River Shannon, with the core of the city located on Kings Island, which is bounded by the Shannon. Limerick is also located at the head of the Shannon Estuary where the river widens before it flows into the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 95,854, Limerick is the third most populous area in the state. There are 102,161 people living in the Limerick City Metropolitan District, on 1 June 2014 following the merger of Limerick City and County Council a new Metropolitan District of Limerick was formed within the united council which extended the city area. The Metropolitan District includes the city area and extends outwards towards Patrickswell in the west. The City Metropolitan Area however excludes city suburbs located within County Clare, when included this increases the overall city and metropolitan area by a further 5,000 with a combined total population of 107,161. Limerick is one of the constituent cities of the Cork–Limerick–Galway corridor which has a population of 1 million people and it is located at a strategic position on the River Shannon with four main crossing points near the city centre. To the south of the city is the Golden Vale, an area of rich pastureland, historically, much of the citys industry was based on this rich agricultural hinterland and it is particularly noted for Limerick Ham. Luimneach originally referred to the area along the banks of the Shannon Estuary known as Loch Luimnigh. The earliest settlement in the city, Inis Sibhtonn, was the name for Kings Island during the pre-Viking and Viking eras. This island was also called Inis an Ghaill Duibh, The Dark- Foreigners Island, the name is recorded in Viking sources as Hlymrekr. Antiquitys map-maker, Ptolemy, produced in 150 the earliest map of Ireland, history also records an important battle involving Cormac mac Airt in 221 and a visit by St. Patrick in 434 to baptise an Eóganachta king, Carthann the Fair. Saint Munchin, the first bishop of Limerick died in 652, in 812 the Vikings sailed up the Shannon and pillaged the city, burned the monastery of Mungret but were forced to flee when the Irish attacked and killed many of their number. The Normans redesigned the city in the 12th century and added much of the most notable architecture, such as King Johns Castle, one of the kingdoms most notable kings was Brian Boru, ancestor of the OBrien Clan of Dalcassians. The word Thomond is synonymous with the region and is retained in place such as Thomondgate
3.
Waterford
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Waterford is a city in Ireland. It is in the South-East Region, Ireland and is part of the province of Munster, the city is situated at the head of Waterford Harbour. It is the oldest and the fifth most populous city in the Republic of Ireland and it is the eighth most populous city on the island of Ireland. Waterford City and County Council is the government authority for the city. Waterford is known for Waterford Crystal, a legacy of the citys former glass-making industry, according to the 2011 Census,65,928 people live in the Waterford Metropolitan District, however this figure does not include its suburbs in County Kilkenny and County Wexford. There are over 80,000 people within a 15 km radius of the city centre, with a population of 51,519, Waterford is the fifth most populous city in the State and the 32nd most populous area of local government. Following the Local Government Reform Act 2014, Waterford City and County Council is the government authority for the city. The authority came into operation on 1 June 2014, prior to this the city had its own local council, Waterford City Council. The new Council is the result of a merger of Waterford City Council, the Council has 32 representatives who are elected from five electoral areas. The city itself forms three of the electoral areas – which when combined form the Metropolitan District of Waterford –, residents in these areas are restricted to voting for candidates located in their ward for local elections. The office of the Mayor of Waterford was established in 1377, a mayor is then elected by the councillors from the two electoral areas of the Metropolitan District of Waterford every year, and there is no limit to the number of terms an individual may serve. Mary OHalloran who was mayor during 2007–2008 was the first woman to hold the post, the current mayor is Adam Wyse. The constituency elects four deputies to Dáil Éireann, there are no such ward restrictions for these elections and voters are entitled to vote for any candidate throughout the city and county. The name Waterford comes from Old Norse Veðrafjǫrðr, meaning ram fjord, the Irish name is Port Láirge, meaning Lárags port. Viking raiders first established a settlement near Waterford in 853 and it and all the other longphorts were vacated in 902, the Vikings having been driven out by the native Irish. Among the most prominent rulers of Waterford was Ivar of Waterford, in 1167, Diarmait Mac Murchada, the deposed King of Leinster, failed in an attempt to take Waterford. He returned in 1170 with Cambro-Norman mercenaries under Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, together they besieged, in furtherance of the Norman invasion of Ireland, King Henry II of England landed at Waterford in 1171. Waterford and then Dublin were declared cities, with Dublin also declared capital of Ireland
4.
Tallaght
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Tallaght is the largest town, and county seat, of South Dublin, Ireland. The village area, dating from at least the 1st century, held one of the earliest settlements known in the part of the island. Suburban development began in the 1970s and a town area has been developing since the late 1980s. There have been calls in recent years for Tallaght to be declared a city, the place name Tallaght is said to derive from támh-leacht, meaning plague pit in Irish, and consisting of támh, meaning plague, and leacht, meaning grave. The earliest mention of a Tallaght is in Lebor Gabála Érenn and he and many of his followers were said to have died of the plague. The burials that have found in the Tallaght area, however, are all normal pre-historic interments, mainly from the Bronze Age. The Annals of the Four Masters record the event as follows. Cúig míle dferoibh, & ceithre míle do mnáibh, conadh de sin ata Taimhleacht Muintere Parthalain. Trí ced bliadhain ro caithsiot i n-Erinn, in translation, Nine thousand of Parthalóns people died in one week on Sean Mhagh Ealta Edair, namely, five thousand men, and four thousand women. Whence is named Taimhleacht Muintire Parthalóin and they had passed three hundred years in Ireland. Upon Mount Seskin can be seen numerous stone structures, the one that lies a top this mountain is commonly referred to as The Hell Fire Club and was built by a man called Speaker Conolly. It was built upon a tomb, this one known locally as a fairy ring. Thus was created the location for very many myths and legends, as the destruction of these structures. Today all across the countryside of Ireland can be found random mounds of earth, such fairy rings are avoided by farmers, as they would rather leave them than risk the wrath of the good people, the Sí. Places near Tallaght featured in the ancient legends of the Fianna, with the foundation of the monastery of Tallaght by St. Maelruain in 769 A. D. we have a more reliable record of the areas early history. The monastery was a centre of learning and piety, particularly associated with the Céli Dé spiritual reform movement and it was such an important institution that it and the monastery at Finglas were known as the two eyes of Ireland. St. Aengus, an Ulsterman, was one of the most illustrious of the Céli Dé, wherever he went he was accompanied by a band of followers who distracted him from his devotions. He secretly travelled to the monastery at Tallaght where he was not known and he remained unknown for many years until his identity was discovered by Maeilruain
5.
Dublin
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Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland. Dublin is in the province of Leinster on Irelands east coast, the city has an urban area population of 1,345,402. The population of the Greater Dublin Area, as of 2016, was 1,904,806 people, founded as a Viking settlement, the Kingdom of Dublin became Irelands principal city following the Norman invasion. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire before the Acts of Union in 1800, following the partition of Ireland in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, later renamed Ireland. Dublin is administered by a City Council, the city is listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network as a global city, with a ranking of Alpha-, which places it amongst the top thirty cities in the world. It is a historical and contemporary centre for education, the arts, administration, economy, the name Dublin comes from the Irish word Dubhlinn, early Classical Irish Dubhlind/Duibhlind, dubh /d̪uβ/, alt. /d̪uw/, alt /d̪u, / meaning black, dark, and lind /lʲiɲ pool and this tidal pool was located where the River Poddle entered the Liffey, on the site of the castle gardens at the rear of Dublin Castle. In Modern Irish the name is Duibhlinn, and Irish rhymes from Dublin County show that in Dublin Leinster Irish it was pronounced Duílinn /d̪ˠi, other localities in Ireland also bear the name Duibhlinn, variously anglicized as Devlin, Divlin and Difflin. Historically, scribes using the Gaelic script wrote bh with a dot over the b and those without knowledge of Irish omitted the dot, spelling the name as Dublin. Variations on the name are found in traditionally Irish-speaking areas of Scotland, such as An Linne Dhubh. It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. Baile Átha Cliath, meaning town of the ford, is the common name for the city in modern Irish. Áth Cliath is a name referring to a fording point of the River Liffey near Father Mathew Bridge. Baile Átha Cliath was an early Christian monastery, believed to have been in the area of Aungier Street, there are other towns of the same name, such as Àth Cliath in East Ayrshire, Scotland, which is Anglicised as Hurlford. Although the area of Dublin Bay has been inhabited by humans since prehistoric times and he called the settlement Eblana polis. It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. The subsequent Scandinavian settlement centred on the River Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey in an area now known as Wood Quay, the Dubhlinn was a small lake used to moor ships, the Poddle connected the lake with the Liffey. This lake was covered during the early 18th century as the city grew, the Dubhlinn lay where the Castle Garden is now located, opposite the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin Castle
6.
County borough
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County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, in the Republic of Ireland they remain in existence but have been renamed cities under the provisions of the Local Government Act 2001. The Local Government Act 1994 re-introduced the term for certain areas in Wales. Scotland did not have county boroughs but instead counties of cities and these were abolished on 16 May 1975. All four Scottish cities of the time — Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, there was an additional category of large burgh in the Scottish system, which were responsible for all services apart from police, education and fire. Some cities and towns were already independent counties corporate, and most were to become county boroughs, the Local Government Act 1888 as eventually passed required a population of over 50,000 except in the case of existing counties corporate. This resulted in 61 county boroughs in England and two in Wales, several exceptions were allowed, mainly for historic towns, Bath, Dudley and Oxford were all under the 50,000 limit in the 1901 census. Various new county boroughs were constituted in the decades as more boroughs reached the 50,000 minimum. The granting of county status was the subject of much disagreement between the large municipal boroughs and the county councils. County boroughs to be constituted in this era were a bag, including some towns that would continue to expand such as Bournemouth. Other towns such as Burton upon Trent and Dewsbury were not to increase in population much past 50,000, the threshold was raised to 100,000 by the Local Government Act 1958. The viability of the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil came into question in the 1930s. Due to a decline in the industries of the town, by 1932 more than half the male population was unemployed. At the same time the population of the borough was lower than when it had created in 1908. A royal commission was appointed in May 1935 to investigate whether the status of Merthyr Tydfil as a county borough should be continued. In the event county borough status was retained by the town, after the Second World War the creation of new county boroughs in England and Wales was effectively suspended, pending a local government review. The policy in the paper also ruled out the creation of new county boroughs in Middlesex owing to its special problems, the Local Government Boundary Commission was appointed on 26 October 1945, under the chairmanship of Sir Malcolm Trustram Eve, delivering its report in 1947. The report envisaged the creation of 47 two-tiered new counties,21 one-tiered new counties and 63 new county boroughs, although the Commissions did not complete their work before being dissolved, a handful of new county boroughs were constituted between 1964 and 1968
7.
County council
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A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has different meanings in different countries. County councils were formed in the late 19th century, in the various constituent countries of the United Kingdom councils had different powers and different memberships. Following local government reforms in the 1970s, county councils no longer exist in Scotland or Northern Ireland, in England they generally form the top level in a two-tier system of administration, in Wales they are unitary authorities. In England county councils were introduced in 1889, and reformed in 1974, since the mid-1990s a series of local government reorganisations has reduced the number of county councils as unitary authorities have been established in a number of areas. Until the 1990s they also ran colleges of education and the careers services. That decade also saw the privatisation of some services, such as highway maintenance, cleaning. County councils were created by the Local Government Act 1888, largely taking over the functions of the unelected county courts of quarter sessions. County councils consisted of councillors, directly elected by the electorate, there was one county alderman for every three councillors. The first elections to the councils were held at various dates in January 1889, and they served as provisional or shadow councils until 1 April, elections of all councillors and half of the aldermen took place every three years thereafter. The areas over which the councils had authority were designated as administrative counties, the writ of the county councils did not extend everywhere, large towns and some historic counties corporate were constituted county boroughs by the same act. County borough councils were independent of the council for the county in which they were geographically situated, the new system was a major modernisation, which reflected the increasing range of functions carried out by local government in late Victorian Britain. A major accretion of powers took place when education was added to county council responsibilities in 1902, County councils were responsible for more strategic services in a region, with smaller urban district councils and rural district councils responsible for other activities. The Local Government Act 1929 considerably increased the powers of county councils, in 1965 there was a reduction in the number of county councils. The London Government Act 1963 abolished those of London and Middlesex, Greater London was declared to be an area and not to lie in any county. The Local Government Act 1972 completely reorganised local authorities in England, County boroughs were abolished and the whole of England was placed in a two-tier arrangement with county councils and district councils. In the six largest conurbations metropolitan county councils, with increased powers, were created, the post of county alderman was abolished, and the entire council was thereafter directly elected every four years. In 1986 the six county councils were abolished, with their functions transferred to the metropolitan boroughs
8.
Ancient borough
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The ancient boroughs were a historic unit of lower-tier local government in England and Wales. The ancient boroughs covered only important towns and were established by charters granted at different times by the monarchy and their history is largely concerned with the origin of such towns and how they gained the right of self-government. Ancient boroughs were reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, which introduced directly elected corporations, Municipal boroughs ceased to be used for the purposes of local government in 1974, with borough status retained as an honorific title granted by the Crown. Throughout western Europe, the effect of the Germanic invasions which completed the decline of the Roman Empire was to destroy the Roman municipal organisation, after the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, the ruins of Roman colonies and camps were used by the early English to form tribal strongholds. Despite their location, burhs on the sites of Roman colonies show no continuity with Roman municipal organisation, the resettlement of the Roman Durovernum under the name burh of the men of Kent, Cant-wara-byrig or Canterbury, illustrates this point. The burh of the men of West Kent was Hrofesceaster, Rochester, the tribal burh was protected by an earthen wall, and a general obligation to build and maintain burhs at the royal command was enforced by Anglo-Saxon law. Offences in disturbance of the peace of the burh were punished by higher fines than breaches of the peace of the hām or ordinary dwelling. Some of the royal vills eventually entered the class of boroughs, but by another route, and for the present the private stronghold and it was the public stronghold and the administrative centre of a dependent district which was the source of the main features peculiar to the borough. Many causes tended to create conditions in the boroughs built for national defence. Typically, the fortification of a burh consisted of earth faced with timber. The concept of a network of burhs as a defence in depth is usually attributed to Alfred, the solution that Alfred devised for this apparently intractable predicament was nothing short of a revolution and that revolution began now in the 880s. If the Vikings could attack anywhere at any time, then the West Saxons had to be able to defend all the time. To make this possible Alfred ordered the construction of a network of defended centres across his kingdom, some built on refortified Roman and Iron Age sites, some built completely from scratch. These burhs were to be distributed so that no West Saxon was more than twenty or so miles – a days march – from one of them. This network is described in a document which has survived in later iterations, named by scholars the Burghal Hidage. Most of these survived into the post Norman Conquest era and are the core of later Parliamentary Boroughs, the burhs drew commerce by every channel, the camp and the palace, the administrative centre, the ecclesiastical centre, all looked to the market for their maintenance. The burh was provided by law with a mint and royal moneyers and exchangers, with a scale for weights. At least from the 10th century the burh had a moot or court, at these great meetings the borough reeve presided, declaring the law and guiding the judgments given by the suitors of the court
9.
Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840
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The Municipal Corporations Act 1840, An Act for the Regulation of Municipal Corporations in Ireland, was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 10 August 1840. It was one of the Municipal Corporations Acts 1840 to 1888, the Act followed similar lines to the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 which reformed municipal boroughs in England and Wales. The Act dissolved all but ten of the corporations, under section 13 of the Act, the remaining 58 borough corporations were dissolved on 25 October 1840. The extinguished boroughs were listed in schedules B and I of the Act, boroughs in schedule B could petition for a grant of a charter restoring borough status, as could any town with a population of more than 3,000. Boroughs in Schedule I were already extinct at the time of the passing of the Act. Wexfords application for restoration of its charter was granted in 1846, cashel also applied, but without success. Where such a body existed, it was deemed to be the successor to the corporation, in most cases, the commissioners appointed under the terms of the 1840 Act eventually adopted the terms of the 1828 Act or its replacement, the Towns Improvement Act 1854. By 1876, only Carrickfergus was still governed by commissioners appointed under the 1840 Act, the Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Mark Callanan & Justin F Keogan, Local Government in Ireland Inside Out, Dublin,2003 Desmond Roche, Local Government in Ireland, Dublin,1982
10.
Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland)
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In England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an urban district council, which shared local government responsibilities with a county council. In England and Wales, urban districts and rural districts were created in 1894 as subdivisions of administrative counties and they replaced the earlier system of urban and rural sanitary districts the functions of which were taken over by the district councils. The district councils also had powers over local matters such as parks, cemeteries. An urban district contained a single parish, while a rural district might contain many. Urban districts were considered to have problems with public health than rural areas. Urban districts usually covered smaller towns, usually with populations of less than 30,000, originally there were 1013 urban districts. Under the Local Government Act 1929206 urban districts were abolished, many were merged with surrounding rural districts, and so many urban districts often covered some rural areas as well. Larger towns became municipal boroughs which had a higher status. Many parish councils in England were created for towns previously covered by urban districts, in Wales, all urban and rural areas are now covered by communities. In Ireland urban districts were created in 1898 by the Local Government Act 1898 based on the sanitary districts created in 1878. Urban districts had powers greater than towns with town commissioners but less than the municipal boroughs preserved by the Municipal Corporations Act 1840 or created subsequently, a few places were promoted or demoted between these three categories in subsequent decades. After the partition of Ireland in 1920–22 urban districts continued in both the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland, the rural and urban districts in Northern Ireland were abolished in 1973, and replaced with a system of unitary districts. In the Republic, while rural districts were abolished in 1925 and 1930, urban districts continued to exist but were renamed simply towns under the Local Government Act 2001
11.
Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898
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The Act effectively ended landlord control of local government in Ireland. From the 1880s the issue of government reform in Ireland was a major political issue. Questions of constitutional reform, land ownership and nationalism all combined to complicate matters, eventually, the Conservative government of Lord Salisbury found it politically expedient to introduce the measures in 1898. Each county and county corporate of Ireland was administered before the 1898 Act by a grand jury and these bodies were made up of major landowners appointed by the assizes judge of the county. As well as their judicial functions the grand juries had taken on the maintenance of roads, bridges and asylums. The grand jury made proposals for expenditure known as presentments which required the approval of the assizes judge, the money to pay for the presentments was raised by a county cess levied on land owners and occupiers in the county, a form of rate tax. A second tier of administrative division below the county was the barony, a similar system operated at this level, with the justices of the area empowered to meet in baronial presentment sessions to raise a cess to fund minor works. This was because they had represented and were chosen from the actual taxpayers since the Middle Ages, the understanding was that larger taxpayers had a greater motive to see that the tax money was spent properly. The Representation of the People Act 1884 created a larger electorate that had very different needs. By now public works such as roads and bridges were being funded increasingly by central government via the Office of Public Works, in 1838 Ireland was divided into poor law unions, each consisting of a geographical area based on a workhouse. The union boundaries did not correspond to those of any existing unit, the unions were administered by Boards of Guardians. The boards were in part elected, with one guardian elected for each electoral division. With the growth of population a need to create authorities to administer health and provide or regulate such services as sewerage, paving. The Public Health Act 1878 created sanitary districts, based on the already existing in England. Larger towns were created urban districts, the existing local council became the urban sanitary authority. The remainder of the country was divided into rural sanitary districts and these were identical in area to poor law unions, and the rural sanitary authority consisted of the poor law guardians for the area. Directly elected county councils were introduced to England and Wales by the Local Government Act 1888, attempts to bring about similar reforms in Ireland were delayed because of the civil unrest caused by the Plan of Campaign. The government argued that before they could bring in reforms, law
12.
Counties of Ireland
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The counties of Ireland are sub-national divisions that have been, and in some cases continue to be, used to geographically demarcate areas of local government. These land divisions were formed following the Norman invasion of Ireland in imitation of the then in use as units of local government in the Kingdom of England. The older term shire was historically equivalent to county, the principal function of the county was to impose royal control in the areas of taxation, security and the administration of justice at the local level. Cambro-Norman control was limited to the southeastern parts of Ireland. The powers exercised by the Cambro-Norman barons and the Old English nobility waned over time, new offices of political control came to be established at a county level. In the Republic of Ireland, some counties have been resulting in the creation of new counties. Along with certain defined cities, counties form the basis for the demarcation of areas of local government in the Republic of Ireland. Currently, there are 26 county level,3 city level and 2 city and county entities – the modern equivalent of counties corporate – that are used to demarcate areas of government in the Republic. In Northern Ireland, counties are no longer used for local government, upon the partition of Ireland in 1921, the county became one of the basic land divisions employed, along with county boroughs. The word county has come to be used in different senses for different purposes, in common usage, many people have in mind the 32 counties that existed prior to 1838 – the so-called traditional counties. However, in usage in the Republic of Ireland, the term often refers to the 28 modern counties. The term is also conflated with the 31 areas currently used to demarcate areas of government in the Republic of Ireland at the level of LAU1. In Ireland, usage of the county nearly always comes before rather than after the county name, thus County Roscommon in Ireland as opposed to Roscommon County in Michigan. The former Kings County and Queens County were exceptions, these are now County Offaly and County Laois, the abbreviation Co. is used, as in Co. There appears to be no official guidance in the matter, as even the local council uses all three forms, the synonym shire is not used for Irish counties, although the Marquessate of Downshire was named in 1789 after County Down. Parts of some towns and cities were exempt from the jurisdiction of the counties that surrounded them and these towns and cities had the status of a County corporate, many granted by Royal Charter, which had all the judicial, administrative and revenue raising powers of the regular counties. The political geography of Ireland can be traced with accuracy from the 6th century. At that time Ireland was divided into a patchwork of petty kingdoms with a political hierarchy which
13.
Square kilometre
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Square kilometre or square kilometer, symbol km2, is a multiple of the square metre, the SI unit of area or surface area. For example,3 km2 is equal to 3×2 =3,000,000 m2, topographical map grids are worked out in metres, with the grid lines being 1,000 metres apart. 1,100,000 maps are divided into squares representing 1 km2, each square on the map being one square centimetre in area, for 1,50,000 maps, the grid lines are 2 cm apart. Each square on the map is 2 cm by 2 cm, for 1,25,000 maps, the grid lines are 4 cm apart. Each square on the map is 4 cm by 4 cm, in each case, the grid lines enclose one square kilometre. The area enclosed by the walls of many European medieval cities were about one square kilometre, the approximate area of the old walled cities can often be worked out by fitting the course of the wall to a rectangle or an oval. Examples include Delft, Netherlands 52°0′54″N 4°21′34″E The walled city of Delft was approximately rectangular, the approximate length of rectangle was about 1.30 kilometres. The approximate width of the rectangle was about 0.75 kilometres, a perfect rectangle with these measurements has an area of 1. 30×0.75 =0.9 km2 Lucca 43°50′38″N 10°30′2″E The medieval city is roughly rectangular with rounded north-east and north-west corners. The maximum distance from east to west is 1.36 kilometres, the maximum distance from north to south is 0.80 kilometres. A perfect rectangle of these dimensions would be 1. 36×0.80 =1.088 km2, Brugge 51°12′39″N 3°13′28″E The medieval city of Brugge, a major centre in Flanders, was roughly oval or elliptical in shape with the longer or semi-major axis running north and south. The maximum distance from north to south is 2.53 kilometres, the maximum distance from east to west is 1.81 kilometres. A perfect ellipse of these dimensions would be 2.53 ×1.81 × =3.597 km2. Chester United Kingdom 53°12′1″N 2°52′45″W Chester is one of the smaller English cities that has a city wall. The distance from Northgate to Watergate is about 855 metres. The distance from Eastgate to Westgate is about 589 metres, a perfect rectangle of these dimensions would be × =0.504 km2. Parks come in all sizes, a few are almost exactly one kilometre in area. Here are some examples, Riverside Country Park, UK. Brierley Forest Park, rio de Los Angeles State Park, California, USA Jones County Central Park, Iowa, USA. Using the figures published by golf course architects Crafter and Mogford, assuming a 6,000 metres 18-hole course, an area of 80 hectares needs to be allocated for the course itself
14.
Irish local elections, 2009
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The election results were significant for a number of reasons, Fine Gael gained 88 seats and became the largest party at local level for the first time ever. Fianna Fáil lost 135 seats and became the second largest party nationally, the Labour Party increased its seat total by 43 seats, and is the largest party in Dublin City Council. It also has the most seats in the four Dublin local authorities, sinn Féin support remained at the almost same level, gaining 2 seats. The Green Party lost 14 seats and had 3 county councillors, people Before Profit Alliance won 5 seats in their first local elections. The Socialist Party won 6 seats, a gain of 2 seats, the total number of the Irish electorate eligible to vote in election was 3,259,253. A total of 1,880,589 first preference votes were cast, the Progressive Democrats and Independent Fianna Fáil did not compete in the elections. As they competed in the elections, totals for vote. People Before Profit Alliance figures are compared to Socialist Workers Party figures from the local elections. Local government in the Republic of Ireland Category, Irish local government councils Department of the Environment, Heritage, Local Elections 2009, Results, Transfer of Votes and Statistics. Volume 1, City and County Councils Volume 2, Borough and Town Councils 2009 Local elections result – ElectionsIreland. org
15.
County Dublin
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County Dublin is a former county in Ireland. It is conterminous with the Dublin Region and is in the province of Leinster and it is named after the city of Dublin, which is the regional capital and the capital city of Ireland. County Dublin was one of the first parts of Ireland to be shired by John, prior to 1994 County Dublin was also an administrative unit covering the whole county outside of Dublin City Council. In 1994 Dublin County Council was abolished and replaced with three separate administrative county councils, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin, the total population of the three aforementioned counties and Dublin city was 1,345,402 according to the census of 2016. Since the abolition of the Dublin Regional Assembly by statutory instrument No, 573/2014, the Eurostat statistical region known as Dublin Region falls under the remit of the wider Eastern and Midland Regional Authority. There are four local authorities whose remit collectively encompasses the area of the county and city of Dublin. These are Dublin City Council, South Dublin County Council, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, prior to the enactment of the Local Government Act 1993, the county was a unified whole even though it was administered by two local authorities - Dublin County Council and Dublin Corporation. They rank equally as first level administrative units of the NUTS3 Dublin Region for Eurostat purposes. There are 34 LAU1 entities in the Republic of Ireland, each local authority is responsible for certain local services such as sanitation, planning and development, libraries, the collection of motor taxation, local roads and social housing. Dublin County Council was abolished in 1994 and the area divided among the counties of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Fingal. To these areas may be added the area of Dublin city which collectively comprise the Dublin Region, the area lost its administrative county status in 1994, with Section 9 Part 1 of the Local Government Act,1993 stating that the county shall cease to exist. I am not sure whether Dubliners realise that that is what we are about today, the county is part of the Dublin constituency for the purposes of European elections. Together they return 44 deputies to the Dáil, despite the legal status of the Dublin Region, the term County Dublin is still in common usage. Many organisations and sporting teams continue to organise on a County Dublin or Dublin Region basis, the term Greater Dublin Area, which might consist of some or all of the Dublin Region along with counties of Kildare, Meath and Wicklow, has no legal standing. The Dublin Region is a NUTS Level III region of Ireland, the region is one of eight regions of the Republic of Ireland for the purposes of Eurostat statistics. It is co-extensive with the old county, the regional capital is Dublin City which is also the national capital. The latest Ordnance Survey Ireland Discovery Series 1,50,000 map of the Dublin Region, Sheet 50, shows the boundaries of the city and three surrounding counties of the region. Extremities of the Dublin Region, in the north and south of the region, Local radio stations include 98FM, FM104,103.2 Dublin City FM, Q102, SPIN1038, Sunshine 106.8, TXFM, Raidió Na Life and Radio Nova
16.
Fingal
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Fingal is a county in Ireland. It is located in the province of Leinster and, within that, is part of the Dublin Region and its name is derived from the medieval territory of Scandinavian foreigners that settled in the area. Fingal County Council is the authority for the county. In 2011 the population of the county was 273,991, Fingal is one of three areas into which County Dublin was divided in 1994. Large urban centres include Blanchardstown, Swords, Balbriggan, Castleknock, Howth, Malahide, small rural settlements exist in the northern and western parts of the county. The motto of the arms of Fingal reads Flúirse Talaimh is Mara meaning Abundance of Land, the motto reflects the strong farming and fishing ties historically associated with the area. It also features a Viking longboat, which represents the arrival of the Norse in Fingal, Fingal is bordered by County Meath to the north, by Kildare to the west and by Dublin city to the south. At the Strawberry Beds, the River Liffey separates the county from South Dublin, Fingal varies enormously in character, from densely populated suburban areas of the contiguous Dublin metropolitan to remote rural villages and almost-unpopulated agricultural townlands. Fingal County Council is also responsible for the northern-most parts of Ballymun, Santry, the part of Kilbarrack now known as Bayside, along with Sutton and Howth, were transferred from the city of Dublin in a somewhat controversial move. The name Fingal derives from the territory of Fine Gall. The Vikings referred to the hinterland of Dublin as Dyflinarskiri and it has also been claimed that the origin is from the distinction between Dubgaill and Finngaill, Fionn Gall means fair foreigners while Dub Gaill means dark-haired foreigners. Seventeenth-century historians were generally of the view that the Dubgaill were Danish while the Finngaill were Norwegian, the Dubgaill, dominated by the Danish Vikings, expelled the Fionngaill from Dublin town in 851. In Ireland, the usage of the county nearly always comes before rather than after the county name, thus County Clare in Ireland as opposed to Clare County in Michigan. The local authority uses all three forms, fingallian is an extinct language, a hybrid of Old and Middle English and Old Norse, with Gaelic influences. It was spoken by the people of Fingal until the mid-19th century, not until the Norman invasion of Ireland did the settlement and its hinterland become an administrative area. In 1208 the Lordship of Fingal was granted to Walter de Lacy by King John of England, the modern county of Fingal was established on 1 January 1994 with the division of the administrative county of Dublin under the Local Government Act,1993. The four entities collectively comprise the former entity known as County Dublin, the former County Dublin, which had been created as a feudal entity in the 12th century, was abolished under the Acts. Fingal is within the remit of the Eastern and Midland Region, established in 2015, in the 2nd century AD, Ptolemy identified Eblana as the capital of a people called the Eblani
17.
Cork (city)
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Cork is a city in Ireland, located in the South-West Region, in the province of Munster. It has a population of 125,622 and is the second largest city in the state, the greater Metropolitan Cork area has a population exceeding 300,000. In 2005, the city was selected as the European Capital of Culture, the city is built on the River Lee which splits into two channels at the western end of the city, the city centre is divided by these channels. They reconverge at the end where the quays and docks along the river banks lead outwards towards Lough Mahon and Cork Harbour. The citys cognomen of the city originates in its support for the Yorkist cause during the English 15th century Wars of the Roses. Corkonians often refer to the city as the capital in reference to the citys role as the centre of anti-treaty forces during the Irish Civil War. Cork was originally a settlement, reputedly founded by Saint Finbarr in the 6th century. Cork achieved an urban character at some point between 915 and 922 when Norseman settlers founded a trading port and it has been proposed that, like Dublin, Cork was an important trading centre in the global Scandinavian trade network. The citys charter was granted by Prince John, as Lord of Ireland, the city was once fully walled, and some wall sections and gates remain today. Neighbouring Gaelic and Hiberno-Norman lords extorted Black Rent from the citizens to them from attacking the city. The present extent of the city has exceeded the boundaries of the Barony of Cork City. Together, these baronies are located between the Barony of Barrymore to the east, Muskerry East to the west and Kerrycurrihy to the south, the medieval population of Cork was about 2,100 people. It suffered a blow in 1349 when almost half the townspeople died of plague when the Black Death arrived in the town. The then mayor of Cork and several important citizens went with Warbeck to England, oBrien published a third local newspaper, the Cork Free Press. In the War of Independence, the centre of Cork was burnt down by the British Black and Tans, during the Irish Civil War, Cork was for a time held by anti-Treaty forces, until it was retaken by the pro-Treaty National Army in an attack from the sea. The climate of Cork, like the rest of Ireland, is mild oceanic and changeable with abundant rainfall, Cork lies in plant Hardiness zone 9b. Met Éireann maintains a weather station at Cork Airport, a few kilometres south of the city. It should be noted that the airport is at an altitude of 151 metres and temperatures can often differ by a few degrees between the airport and the city itself, there are also smaller synoptic weather stations at UCC and Clover Hill
18.
County Cork
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County Cork is the largest and southernmost county of Ireland. It lies in the province of Munster and is named after the city of Cork, Cork County Council is the local authority for the county. Its largest settlements are Cork City, Ballincollig and Carrigaline, in 2016, the countys population was 542,196, making it the third most populous county in Ireland. There are two local authorities whose remit collectively encompasses the area of the county and city of Cork. The county, excluding Cork city, is administered by Cork County Council, both city and county are part of the South-West Region. For standardized European statistical purposes both Cork County Council and Cork City Council rank equally as first-level local administrative units of the NUTS3 South-West Region, there are 34 such LAU1 entities in the Republic of Ireland. For elections to Dáil Éireann, the county is divided into five constituencies—Cork East, Cork North–Central, Cork North–West, Cork South–Central, together they return 19 deputies to the Dáil. The county is part of the South constituency for the purposes of European elections, for purposes other than local government, such as the formation of sporting teams, the term County Cork is often taken to include both city and county. County Cork is located in the province of Munster and it borders four other counties, Kerry to the west, Limerick to the north, Tipperary to the north-east and Waterford to the east. Cork is the largest county in the state by land area and it is the largest of Munsters 6 counties by both population and area. The population of Cork city stood at 125,622 in 2016, the population of the entire county is 542,196 making it the states second most populous county and the third most populous county on the island of Ireland. The remit of Cork County Council includes some suburbs of the city not within the area of Cork City Council, there are 24 historic baronies in the county—the most of any county in Ireland. While baronies continue to be officially defined units, they are no longer used for administrative purposes. Their official status is illustrated by Placenames Orders made since 2003, there are 253 civil parishes in the county. Townlands are the smallest officially defined geographical divisions in Ireland, there are approximately 5447 townlands in the county, the Shehy Mountains are on the border with Kerry and may be accessed from the area known as Priests Leap, near the village of Coomhola. The Galtee Mountains are located across parts of Tipperary, Limerick, the upland areas of the Ballyhoura, Boggeragh, Derrynasaggart and the Mullaghareirk Mountain ranges add to the range of habitats found in the county. Important habitats in the uplands include blanket bog, heath, glacial lakes, Cork has the 13th highest county peak in Ireland. The three great rivers, the Bandon, the Blackwater and the Lee, and their valleys dominate central Cork, habitats of the valleys and floodplains include woodlands, marshes, fens and species-rich limestone grasslands
19.
County Limerick
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County Limerick is a county in Ireland. It is located in the province of Munster, and is part of the Mid-West Region. It is named after the city of Limerick, Limerick City and County Council is the local council for the county. The countys population at the 2016 census is 195,175 of which 58,319 live in Limerick City, Limerick borders four other counties, Kerry to the west, Clare to the north, Tipperary to the east and Cork to the south. It is the fifth largest of Munsters six counties in size, the River Shannon flows through the city of Limerick 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 countys most important port is several kilometres west of the city, at Foynes. Limerick City is the county town and is also Irelands third largest city and it also serves as a regional centre for the greater Mid-West Region. Newcastle West, Killmallock & Abbeyfeale are other important towns in the county, there are fourteen historic baronies in the county. While baronies continue to be officially defined units, they are no longer used for administrative purposes. Their official status is illustrated by Placenames Orders made since 2003, the highest point in the county is located in its south-east corner at Galtymore, which separates Limerick from County Tipperary. The county is not a simply a plain, its topography consists of hills, the eastern part of the county is part of the Golden Vale, which is well known for dairy produce and consists of rolling low hills. This gives way to flat land around the centre of the county. Towards the west, the Mullaghareirk Mountains push across the county offering extensive views east over the county, tributaries of the Shannon drainage basin located in the county include the rivers Mulkear, Loobagh, Maigue, Camogue, Morning Star, Deel, and the Feale. It is thought that humans had established themselves in the Lough Gur area of the county as early as 3000 BC, the arrival of the Celts around 400 BC brought about the division of the county into petty kingdoms or túatha. The OBriens retained their power until late in the 1100s. The ancestors of both Michael Collins and the famous OConnells of Derrynane were also among the septs of the Uí Fidgenti. As the Ui Fidgenti were the clan in the Limerick after 400 a. d. the Uí Fidgenti still made a substantial contribution to the population of the central. Their capital was Dún Eochair, the earthworks of which still remain and can be found close to the modern town of Bruree
20.
County Clare
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County Clare is a county in Ireland, in the Mid-West Region and the province of Munster. Clare County Council is the local authority, the county had a population of 117,196 at the 2011 census. Clare is north-west of the River Shannon covering an area of 3,400 square kilometres. Clare was founded by the noble Luke Fitzgerald, A knight of Internal Audit, Clare is the 7th largest of Irelands 32 traditional counties in area and the 19th largest in terms of population. It is bordered by two counties in Munster and one county in Connacht, County Limerick to the south, County Tipperary to the east, clares nickname is the Banner County. The county is divided into the baronies of Bunratty Lower, Bunratty Upper, Burren, Clonderalaw, Corcomroe, Ibrickan, Inchiquin, Islands, Moyarta, Tulla Lower and these in turn are divided into civil parishes, which are divided into townlands. These divisions are cadastral, defining land boundaries and ownership, rather than administrative, bodies of water define much of the physical boundaries of Clare. To the southeast is the River Shannon, Irelands longest river, the border to the northeast is defined by Lough Derg which is the third largest lake on Ireland. To the west is the Atlantic Ocean, and to the north is Galway Bay, County Clare contains The Burren, a unique karst region, which contains rare flowers and fauna. At the western edge of The Burren, facing the Atlantic Ocean, are the Cliffs of Moher, the highest point in County Clare is Moylussa,532 m, in the Slieve Bernagh range in the east of the county. Clare is one of the richest places for these tombs in Ireland, the most noted one is in The Burren area, it is known as Poulnabrone dolmen which translates to hole of sorrows. The remains of the people inside the tomb have been excavated and dated to 3800 BC, Ptolemy created a map of Ireland in his Geographia with information dating from 100 AD, it is the oldest written account of the island with geographical features. Within his map Ptolemy names the Gaelic tribes inhabiting it and the areas in which they resided and it was renamed Thomond, meaning North Munster and spawned Brian Boru during this period, perhaps the most noted High King of Ireland. From 1118 onwards the Kingdom of Thomond was in place as its own petty kingdom, after the Norman invasion of Ireland, Thomas de Clare established a short-lived Norman lordship of Thomond, extinguished at the Battle of Dysert ODea in 1318 during Edward Bruces invasion. There are two hypotheses for the origins of the county name Clare. One hypothesis is that the name is derived from Thomas_de_Clare, _Lord_of_Thomond who was embroiled in local politics. An alternative hypothesis is that the county name Clare comes from the settlement of Clare whose Irish name Clár refers to a crossing over the River Fergus. In 1543, during the Tudor conquest of Ireland, Murrough OBrien by surrender, Henry Sidney as Lord Deputy of Ireland responded the Desmond Rebellion by creating the presidency of Connaught in 1569 and presidency of Munster in 1570
21.
Galway
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Galway is a city in the West of Ireland in the province of Connacht. Galway City Council is the authority for the city. Galway lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay and is surrounded by County Galway and it is the fourth most populous urban area in the Republic of Ireland and the sixth most populous city in the island of Ireland. According to the 2016 Irish Census, Galway city has a population of 79,504, however, Galway will be European Capital of Culture in 2020, alongside Rijeka, Croatia. The citys name is from the Irish name for Abhainn na Gaillimhe, historically, the name was Anglicised as Galliv, which is closer to the Irish pronunciation as is the citys name in Latin, Galvia. The city also bears the nickname The City of the Tribes because of the fourteen merchant families called the tribes of Galway led the city in its Hiberno-Norman period. The term tribes was a one, because the merchants saw themselves as Anglo-Irish and were loyal to the King during the English Civil War. They later adopted the term as a badge of honour and pride in defiance of the towns Cromwellian occupier, residents of the city refer to themselves as Galwegians. Dún Bhun na Gaillimhe was constructed in 1124, by the King of Connacht, eventually, a small settlement grew up around this fort. During the Norman invasion of Connacht in the 1230s, Galway fort was captured by Richard Mor de Burgh, as the de Burghs eventually became Gaelicised, the merchants of the town, the Tribes of Galway, pushed for greater control over the walled city. This led to their complete control over the city and to the granting of mayoral status by the English crown in December 1484. Galway endured difficult relations with its Irish neighbours, a notice over the west gate of the city, completed in 1562 by Mayor Thomas Óge Martyn, stated From the Ferocious OFlahertys may God protect us. A by-law forbade the native Irish unrestricted access into Galway, saying neither O’ nor Mac shall strutte nor swagger through the streets of Galway without permission, during the Middle Ages, Galway was ruled by an oligarchy of fourteen merchant families. These were the The Tribes of Galway, the city thrived on international trade, and in the Middle Ages, it was the principal Irish port for trade with Spain and France. The most famous reminder of days is ceann an bhalla, now known as the Spanish Arch. In 1477 Christopher Columbus visited Galway, possibly stopping off on a voyage to Iceland or the Faroe Islands, seven or eight years later, he noted in the margin of his copy of Imago Mundi, Men of Cathay have come from the west. During the 16th and 17th centuries Galway remained loyal to the English crown for the most part, even during the Gaelic resurgence, however, by 1642 the city had allied itself with the Catholic Confederation of Kilkenny during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. During the resulting Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian forces captured the city after a nine-month siege, the great families of Galway were ruined
22.
County Galway
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County Galway is a county in Ireland. In the West of Ireland, it is part of the province of Connacht and is named after the city of Galway, there are several Irish-speaking areas in the west of the county. The population of the county is 258,552 according to the 2016 census, while it is named after the city of Galway, a different authority governs that territory. The county proper is administered by Galway County Council, the first inhabitants in the Galway area arrived over 7000 years ago. Shell middens indicate the existence of people as early as 5000 BC, the county originally comprised several kingdoms and territories which predate the formation of the county. These kingdoms included Aidhne, Uí Maine, Maigh Seóla, Conmhaícne Mara, Soghain, County Galway became an official entity around 1569 AD. In modern times, a number of inhabited islands are administered by the county. With the arrival of Christianity many monasteries were built in the county, monasteries kept written records of events in the area and of its people. These were followed by a number of law-tracts, genealogies, annals, extant manuscripts containing references to Galway include, Nearly 20% of the population of County Galway live in the Gaeltacht. County Galway is home to the largest Gaeltacht Irish-speaking region in Ireland, there are over 48,907 people living within this region which extends from Galway city westwards through Connemara. The region consists of the following Irish speaking areas, Galway City Gaeltacht, Gaeltacht Cois Fharraige, Conamara Theas, Aran Islands, all schools within the Gaeltacht use the Irish language for classroom instruction. There is also a constituent college of NUIG called Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge in Carraroe. Spiddal is the largest town in the region, Galway city is also home to Irelands only Irish-language theatre Taibhdhearc na Gaillimhe. There is a strong Irish-language media presence in this area too, the Aran Islands are also part of the Galway Gaeltacht. There are about 30,000 -40,000 Irish speakers in County Galway, there are 3,006 attending the ten Gaelscoil and three Gaelcholáiste outside of the Galway Gaeltacht. According to the Irish Census 2006 there are 10,788 in the county who identify themselves as being daily Irish speakers outside of the education system. Prior to the enactment of the Local Government Act 2001, the county was a whole despite the presence of two local authorities. Since that time, the administrative re-organisation has reduced the extent of the county by the extent of the area under the jurisdiction of Galway City Council
23.
County Waterford
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County Waterford is a county in Ireland. It is part of the South-East Region and is located in the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Waterford, which is derived from the Old Norse name Veðrafjǫrðr or Vedrarfjord, there is an Irish-speaking area, Gaeltacht na nDéise in the south-west of the county. Waterford City and County Council is the authority for the county. The population of the county at large, including the city, is 113,795 according to the 2011 census, County Waterford has two mountain ranges, the Knockmealdown Mountains and the Comeragh Mountains. The highest point in the county is Knockmealdown, at 794m and it also has many rivers, including Irelands third longest river, the River Suir, and Irelands fourth longest river, the Munster Blackwater. There are over 30 beaches along Waterfords volcanic coast line, a large stretch of this coastline, known as the Copper Coast has been designated as a UNESCO Geopark, a place of great geological importance. The area around Ring is a Gaeltacht, an Irish-speaking area, Waterford City is the county seat, prior to the merger of the 2 Waterford authorities in June 2014 Dungarvan was the county seat for Waterford County Council. There are eight historic baronies in the county, Coshmore and Coshbride, Decies-within-Drum, Decies-without-Drum, Gaultiere, Glenahiry, some time between the 4th and 8th centuries, a tribe of native Gaelic people called the Déisi were driven from southern county Meath/north Kildare, conquering and settled there. The ancient principality of the Déise is today roughly coterminous with the current Roman Catholic Diocese of Waterford, the westernmost of the baronies are Decies within Drum and Decies without Drum, separated by the Drum-Fineen hills. There are many tombs and ogham stones in the county. The Viking influence can still be seen with Reginalds Tower, one of the first buildings to use a brick, woodstown, a settlement dating to the 9th Century was discovered 5.5 kilometres west of Waterford city. It was the largest settlement outside of Scandinavia and the only large-scale 9th Century Viking settlement discovered to date in Western Europe, other architectural features are products of the Anglo-Norman Invasion of Ireland and its effects. As of 1 June 2014, Waterford City and County Council is the government authority for Waterford. The authority was formed following the merger of Waterford City Council, the merger occurred following the Local Government Reform Act 2014. Each local authority ranks equally as first level administrative units of the NUTS3 South-East Region for Eurostat purposes. There are 31 LAU1 entities in the Republic of Ireland, the local authority is responsible for certain local services such as sanitation, planning and development, libraries, the collection of motor taxation, local roads and social housing. The county is part of the South constituency for the purposes of European elections, for elections to Dáil Éireann, the county is part of two constituencies, Waterford and Tipperary South
24.
County Kilkenny
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County Kilkenny is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the South-East Region and it is named after the city of Kilkenny. The county was based on the historic Gaelic kingdom of Ossory, Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the county. According to the 2011 census the population of the county is 95,419, Kilkenny is the 16th largest of the traditional 32 Counties of Ireland in area and the 21st largest in terms of population. It is the third largest country in the province Leinster and seventh largest in terms of population, the county is subdivided into called nine baronies which are in turn divided into civil parishes and townlands. There are about 800 townlands in Kilkenny, each barony was made up of a number of parishes or parts of parishes. Both civil parishes and baronies are now obsolete and are no longer used for local government purposes. Every parish had at least one church, the barony boundaries and the parish boundaries were not connected. From the 17th to mid-19th centuries, civil parishes were based on early Christian and medieval monastic, the civil parishes are divided into townlands. As the population grew, new parishes were created and the parish covered the same area as the established Church of Ireland. The Roman Catholic Church adapted to a new structure based on towns, there 2,508 civil parishes in Ireland, which often break both barony and county boundaries. Brandon Hill is the highest point with an elevation of 515 m, most of the county has a hilly surface of moderate elevation with uplands in the north-east, the north-west and the South of the county, the middle is lower by comparison. The county is located at 52°35′N 7°15′W and has an area of 512,222 acres which contains a population of 87,558. The county extends from 52 degrees 14 minutes to 52 degrees 52 minutes north latitude, Kilkenny extends southward from Laois to the valley of the Suir and eastward from the Munster–Leinster border to the River Barrow. The River Nore bisects the county and the River Barrow and River Suir are natural boundaries to the east, County Kilkenny is bordered by Laois, Carlow, Wexford, Waterford and Tipperary. The geology of Kilkenny includes the Kiltorcan Formation which is early Carboniferous in age, the Formation is located around Kiltoncan Hill near Ballyhale in the Callan and Knocktopher areas. It forms the uppermost part of the Old Red Sandstone and is the distinctive Upper Devonian–Lower Carboniferous unit in southern Ireland and it contains non-red lithologies, green mudstones, siltstones, fine sandstones and yellow sandstones. There is a fossil assemblage containing Cyclostigma and Archaeopteris and Archaeopteris hibernica, most of the county is principally limestone of the upper and lower group, corresponding with the rest of Ireland
25.
Drogheda
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Drogheda is one of the oldest towns in Ireland, known for its tourism and as a centre of industry, and medical care. It is located in County Louth on the Dublin-Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland,49 km or 30 miles north of Dublin. It is the last bridging point on the River Boyne before it enters the Irish Sea. The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Newgrange is located 8 km to west of the town. As the River Boyne divides the dioceses of Armagh and Meath, in 1412 these two towns were united and Drogheda became a County Corporate, styled as the County of the Town of Drogheda. With the passing of the County of Louth and Borough of Drogheda Provisional Order,1976, the boundary was further altered in 1994 by the Local Government Regulations 1994. The 2007–2013 Meath County Development Plan recognises the Meath environs of Drogheda as a growth centre on a par with Navan. In recent years Droghedas economy has diversified from its traditional industries, with an number of people employed in the retail, services. The town also has a community of independent artists and musicians who have been looking to the economy rather than Dublin for employment. Drogheda was also selected to host Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann 2018, Drogheda has a hinterland of 70, 000+ within a 15 kilometres radius covering County Louth and County Meath. According to the 2011 Irish Census, there are 30,393 in Drogheda town, the results of the numerous and often large-scale excavations carried out within the area of the medieval town in the past ten years appear to have confirmed this statement. The wall on the east side of Rosemary’s Lane is the oldest stone structure in Drogheda and it was completed in 1234 as the west wall of the first castle guarding access to the northern crossing point of the Boyne. The earliest known charter is that granted to Drogheda-in-Meath by Walter de lacy in 1194. In the 1600s the name of the town was also spelled Tredagh in keeping with the common pronunciation, Drogheda was an important walled town in the English Pale in the medieval period. It frequently hosted meetings of the Irish Parliament at that time and it later came to light, that the Queen herself was implicated in the orders given. The parliament was moved to the town in 1494 and passed Poynings Law, the most significant legislation in Irish history and this effectively subordinated the Irish Parliaments legislative powers to the King and his English Council. The town was besieged twice during the Irish Confederate Wars, in his own words after the siege of Drogheda, When they submitted, their officers were knocked on the head, and every tenth man of the soldiers killed and the rest shipped to Barbados. The Earldom of Drogheda was created in the Peerage of Ireland in 1661, the Battle of the Boyne,1690, occurred some 6 km west of the town, on the banks of the River Boyne, at Oldbridge. In 1790 Drogheda Harbour Commissioners established, later Drogheda Port Company In 1825 the Drogheda Steam Packet Company was formed in the town, in 1837 the population of Drogheda area was 17,365 of whom 15,138 lived in the town
26.
County Louth
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County Louth is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Border Region and it is named after the village of Louth. Louth County Council is the authority for the county. The population of the county is 122,897 according to the 2016 census, County Louth is colloquially known as the Wee County as it is Irelands smallest county by area (826 km2. It is the 18th-largest in terms of population and it is the smallest of Leinster’s 12 counties by size and the sixth-largest by population. Despite its fairly average total population, Louth is the second most densely populated county in Ireland behind Dublin, County Louth is named after the village of Louth, which in turn is named after Lugh, a god of the ancient Irish. Historically, the placename has had various spellings, Lugmad, Lughmhaigh, lú is the modern simplified spelling. The county is steeped in myth, legend and history, and is a setting in the Táin Bó Cúailnge, later it saw the influence of the Vikings as seen in the name of Carlingford Lough. They also established a longphort at Annagassan in the ninth century, at this time Louth consisted of three sub-kingdoms each subject to separate over-kingdoms, Conaille, Fir Rois, and, the Fir Arda Ciannachta. The whole area became part of the OCarroll Kingdom of Airgialla early in the 12th century, a number of historic sites are in the county, including religious sites at Monasterboice, Mellifont Abbey and the St Mary Magdalene Dominican Friary. The Normans occupied the Louth area in the 1180s, and it known as English Oriel. The latter became the McMahon lordship of Oriel of Monaghan, in the early 14th century, the Scottish army of Edward Bruce was repulsed from Drogheda. Edward was finally defeated, losing his claim to the High Kingship of Ireland along with his life, in the Battle of Faughart near Dundalk, by a chiefly local force led by John de Bermingham. In 1189 AD, a charter was granted to Dundalk after a Norman nobleman named Bertram de Verdun erected a manor house at Castletown Mount. Later in 1412, a charter was granted to Drogheda. This charter unified the towns of Drogheda-in-Meath and Drogheda-in-Uriel as a County in its own right, oliver Cromwell attacked Drogheda in 1649 slaughtering the Royalist garrison and hundreds of the towns citizens. Drogheda held for James II under Lord Iveagh, but surrendered to King William of Orange the day after the battle of the Boyne. They were betrayed by informers, notably a Dr. Conlan, who came from Dundalk, the priest and scientist Nicholas Callan was from Darver
27.
County Meath
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County Meath is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Mid-East Region and it is named after the historic Kingdom of Meath. Meath County Council is the authority for the county. The population of the county is 194,942 according to the 2016 census, the county is drained by the River Boyne. Meath is the 14th largest of Ireland’s 32 counties in area and it is the second largest of Leinster’s 12 counties in size and third largest in terms of population. The county town is Navan, where the county hall and government are located, although Trim, County Meath also has the only two Gaeltacht areas in the province of Leinster, at Ráth Cairn and Baile Ghib. There are eighteen historic baronies in the county and they include the baronies of Morgallion and Ratoath. While baronies continue to be officially defined units, they are no longer used for administrative purposes. Their official status is illustrated by Placenames Orders made since 2003, There are 40 elected members in Meath County Council. Fine Gael hold 13 seats, Fianna Fáil hold 10, Sinn Féin hold 8, There are 2 Dáil constituencies, Meath West and Meath East. Before, there was only one constituency, the two current constituencies are within the borders of the county. The constituencies also include part of the county of Westmeath. Together they return 6 deputies to Dáil Éireann, part of the county along the Irish Sea coast, known as East Meath which includes Julianstown and Laytown-Bettystown-Mornington are part of the Louth constituency for general elections. Fianna Fáil currently hold no seats, Fine Gael have 2 in each constituency, Labour has 1 in the East constituency, the county is colloquially known by the nickname The Royal County due to its history as the seat of the High King of Ireland. It formed from the part of the former Kingdom of Mide. The seat of the High King of Ireland was at Tara, the archaeological complex of Brú na Bóinne is 5,000 years old and includes the burial sites of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, in the north-east of the county. It is a UNESCO designated World Heritage Site, the Hill of Tara, an ancient historical site. Castles at Trim, Slane, Dunsany, Killeen, religious ruins at Trim, Bective, Slane, Dunsany, Skryne
28.
Kilkenny
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Kilkenny is a city in south-east part of Ireland and the county town of County Kilkenny. It is on banks of the River Nore in the province of Leinster. The boroughs population is 8,711, but the majority live outside the borough boundary, Kilkenny is a popular tourist destination. In 2009 the City of Kilkenny celebrated its 400th year since the granting of city status in 1609, though referred to as a city, Kilkenny is the size of a large town relative to Irish urban population centres. Kilkenny is well known for its culture with craft and design workshops, annual events include Kilkenny Arts Festival, the Cat Laughs comedy festival and music at the Rhythm and Roots festival and the Source concert. It is a base for exploring the surrounding towns, villages. Controversy exists at the moment around the Kilkenny Central Access Scheme which is a proposed to be built through the town centre. Kilkenny began with a sixth century ecclesiastical foundation within the kingdom of Ossory. Following Norman invasion of Ireland, Kilkenny Castle and a series of walls were built to protect the burghers of what became a Norman merchant town, William Marshall, Lord of Leinster, gave Kilkenny a charter as a town in 1207. By the late thirteenth century Kilkenny was under Norman-Irish control, the Statutes of Kilkenny passed at Kilkenny in 1367, aimed to curb the decline of the Hiberno-Norman Lordship of Ireland. In 1609 King James I of England granted Kilkenny a Royal Charter giving it the status of a city. Following the Rebellion of 1641, the Irish Catholic Confederation, also known as the Confederation of Kilkenny, was based in Kilkenny, Kilkenny was a famous brewing centre from the late seventeenth century, and houses multiple breweries still. In the late twentieth century Kilkenny is a tourist and creative centre, the Heritage Council offices are at Church Lane. The seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Ossory is at St. Marys Cathedral, nearby larger cities include Waterford 45 kilometres south-southeast, Limerick 93 kilometres west and Dublin 101 kilometres northeast. Kilkenny is the version of the Irish Cill Chainnigh, meaning Cell/Church of Cainneach or Canice. This relates to a built in honour of St. Canice on the hill now containing St. Canices Cathedral. This seems to be the first major settlement, the early Christian origin of the round tower suggests an early ecclesiastical foundation at Kilkenny. The Annals of the Four Masters recorded Kilkenny in 1085, prior to this time the early 6th century territory was known as Osraighe, referring to the whole district or the capital
29.
Wexford
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Wexford is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 National Primary Route, and it has a population of 19,913 according to the 2011 census. The town was founded by the Vikings in about 800 AD and they named it Veisafjǫrðr, meaning inlet of the mud flats, and the name has changed only slightly into its present form. Veisa in modern Norwegian means Way, so Veisafjǫrðr could have meant inlet of the way or Way Fjord. The resulting loch was thus named Loch Garman, for about three hundred years it was a Viking town, a city state, largely independent and owing only token dues to the Irish kings of Leinster. However, in May 1169 Wexford was besieged by Dermot MacMurrough, King of Leinster and his Norman ally, the Norse inhabitants resisted fiercely, until the Bishop of Ferns persuaded them to accept a settlement with Dermot. Wexford was an Old English settlement in the Middle Ages, an old dialect of English, known as Yola, was spoken uniquely in Wexford up until the 19th century. The Yola name for Wexford was Weiseforthe, following the Crusades, the Knights Templar had a presence in Wexford. Up to the present, their name is perpetuated in the old Knights Templars chapel yard of St. Johns Cemetery, County Wexford produced strong support for Confederate Ireland during the 1640s. A fleet of Confederate privateers was based in Wexford town, consisting of sailors from Flanders and their vessels raided English Parliamentarian shipping, giving some of the proceeds to the Confederate government in Kilkenny. As a result, the town was sacked by the English Parliamentarians during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649, many of its inhabitants were killed and much of the town was burned. In 1659 Solomon Richards was appointed Governor, but he was dismissed and imprisoned following the Restoration the next year, County Wexford was the centre of the 1798 rebellion against British rule. Redmond Square, near the station, commemorates the elder John Edward Redmond who was Liberal MP for the city of Wexford. The inscription reads, My heart is with the city of Wexford, nothing can extinguish that love but the cold soil of the grave. His nephew William Archer Redmond sat as an MP in Isaac Butts Home Rule Party from 1872 until 1880, Willie Redmond sat as an MP for Wexford from 1883 until 1885. The younger John Redmond, was a follower of Charles Stewart Parnell. He is interred in the Redmond family vault, at the old Knights Templars chapel yard of St. Johns Cemetery, Upper St. Johns Street
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County Wexford
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County Wexford is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the South-East Region and it is named after the town of Wexford and was based on the historic Gaelic territory of Hy Kinsella, whose capital was Ferns. Wexford County Council is the authority for the county. The population of the county is 145,273 according to the 2011 census, the county is rich in evidence of early human habitation. Portal tombs exist at Ballybrittas and at Newbawn — and date from the Neolithic period or earlier, remains from the Bronze Age period are far more widespread. Early Irish tribes formed the Kingdom of Uí Cheinnsealaig, an area that was larger than the current County Wexford. County Wexford was one of the earliest areas of Ireland to be Christianised, later, from 819 onwards, the Vikings plundered many Christian sites in the county. Wexford town became a Viking settlement near the end of the 9th century, the native Irish began to regain some of their former territories in the 14th century, especially in the north of the county, principally under Art MacMurrough Kavanagh. Under Henry VIII the great houses were dissolved, 1536–41, in County Wexford this included Glascarrig Priory, Clonmines Priory, Tintern Abbey. On 23 October 1641, a rebellion broke out in Ireland. Oliver Cromwell and his English Parliamentarian Army arrived 1649 in the county, the lands of the Irish and Anglo-Normans were confiscated and given to Cromwells soldiers as payment for their service in the Parliamentarian Army. At Duncannon, in the south-west of the county, James II, after his defeat at the Battle of the Boyne, embarked for Kinsale, the famous ballad Boolavogue was written in remembrance of the Wexford Rising. At Easter 1916, a rebellion occurred at Enniscorthy town. During World War II, German planes bombed Campile, in 1963 John F. Kennedy, then President of the United States, visited the county and his ancestral home at Dunganstown, near New Ross. Wexford is the 13th largest of Irelands thirty-two counties in area and it is the largest of Leinsters 12 counties in size, and fourth largest in terms of population. The county is located in the south-east corner of the island of Ireland and it is bounded by the sea on two sides—on the south by the Atlantic Ocean and on the east by St. Georges Channel and the Irish Sea. The River Barrow forms its western boundary, the Blackstairs Mountains form part of the boundary to the north, as do the southern edges of the Wicklow Mountains. The adjoining counties are Waterford, Kilkenny, Carlow and Wicklow and this has resulted in Wexford becoming one of the most popular places in Ireland in which to reside
31.
Sligo
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Sligo is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2014, it is the second largest urban centre in the West of Ireland, the Sligo Borough District constitutes 61% of the countys population of 63,000. Sligo is a historic, cultural, commercial, industrial, retail, served by rail, port and road links, Sligo exerts a significant influence on its hinterland. Sligo is also a popular tourist destination, being situated in an area of outstanding beauty, with many literary. Sligo is the anglicisation of the Irish name Sligeach, meaning abounding in shells or shelly place and it refers to the abundance of shellfish found in the river and its estuary, and from the extensive shell middens in the vicinity. The river now known as the Garavogue meaning little one was originally called the Sligeach. It is listed as one of the seven rivers of Ireland in the 9th century AD tale The Destruction of Da Dergas Hostel. The river Slicech is also referenced in the Annals of Ulster in 1188, the Ordnance Survey letters of 1836 state that cart loads of shells were found underground in many places within the town where houses now stand. The whole area, from the estuary at Sligo, around the coast to the river at Ballysadare Bay, is rich in marine resources which were utilised as far back as the Mesolithic period. The importance of Sligos location in prehistory is demonstrated by the abundance of ancient sites close by, for example, Sligo towns first roundabout was constructed around a megalithic passage tomb at Abbeyquarter North in Garavogue Villas. This is an outlier of the group of monuments at Carrowmore on the Cuil Irra peninsula on the western outskirts of the town. The area around Sligo town has one of the highest densities of archaeological sites in Ireland. It is the place in which all classes of Irish megalithic monuments are to be found together. Knocknarea mountain, capped by the cairn of Miosgan Maeve. Cairns Hill on the edge of the town also has two very large stone cairns. This is the oldest causewayed enclosure so far discovered in Britain or Ireland and it consists of a large area enclosed by a segmented ditch and palisade, and was perhaps an area of commerce and ritual. These monuments are associated with the coming of agriculture and hence the first farmers in Ireland, during the early medieval period the site of Sligo was eclipsed by the importance of the great Columban monastery 5 miles to the north at Drumcliff. By the 12th century there was a bridge and small settlement in existence at the site of the present town, the annalists refer to this Sligo as a sraidbhaile which seems to have consisted of the castle and an attached defensive bawn
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County Sligo
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County Sligo is an Irish county and part of the province of Connacht. It is located in the Border Region, Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in the county. Sligo County Council is the authority for the county. The population of the county is 65,393 according to the 2011 census making it the 3rd most populated county in the province and it is noted for Benbulben Mountain, one of Ireland’s most distinctive natural landmarks. The county was formed in 1585, but did not come into effect until the chaos of the Nine Years War ended. Its boundaries reflect the Ó Conchobhair Sligigh overlordship of Lower Connacht as it was at the time of the Elizabethan conquest and this overlordship consisted of the tuatha, or territories, of Cairbre Drumcliabh, Tír Fhíacrach Múaidhe, Tír Ollíol, Luíghne, Corann and Cúl ó bhFionn. Each of these was made into an English style barony, Carbury, Tireragh, Leyny, Tirerril, Corran. The capital of the newly shired county was placed at Sligo, archaeological studies suggest that Sligo may have been one of the earliest places of human settlement in Ireland. The megalithic cemetery of Carrowmore is located in County Sligo, famous medieval manuscripts written in County Sligo include the Book of Ballymote, the Great Book of Lecan, and the Yellow Book of Lecan. The patron of the Annals of the Four Masters was Ferghal O Gadhra of Coolavin in south County Sligo and this crest was adopted by Sligo County Council in 1980. The design on the shield, which shows an open book on which there is a Celtic Cross. These refer to early works as the Books of Ballymote and Lecan. The escallop shells sprinkled on the refer to the origin of the word Sligeach -- a place abounding in shells. The boars head refers to the boar of Benbulben in the Diarmuid. The colour scheme of the crest incorporates the Sligo GAA colours of black, Sligo County Council is the governing body for the county. It is divided into five Local Electoral Areas Ballymote, Dromore, Sligo-Drumcliff, Sligo-Strandhill, there are 25 members elected to Sligo County Council. Sligo is part of the Sligo–North Leitrim constituency and has three representatives in Dáil Éireann, Tony McLoughlin, John Perry and Michael Colreavy, Yeats said, the place that has really influenced my life most is Sligo. He is buried in North County Sligo, Under Ben Bulben, County Sligo has a long history of traditional music
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Clonmel
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Clonmel is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary in Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian army which sacked both Drogheda and Wexford and it is in the former barony of Iffa and Offa East. The name Clonmel is derived from the anglicisation of the Irish name Cluain Meala meaning honey meadow or honey vale. It is not clearly known when it got this name, many suppose that it came from the fertility of the soil, Clonmel grew significantly in medieval times, and many remainders of this period can be found in the town. A small section of the walls remain in place near Old St. Marys Church. This building is one of the architectural features of the town. It was originally built in the 14th century or earlier but has been reconstructed or renovated on numerous occasions, the church was fortified early in its history, the town being strategically important, initially for the Earls of Ormonde, and later the Earl of Kildare. There were originally three gates in the town, North, East and West – with the South being protected by the river Suir. The West Gate is now an open arched entrance on to OConnell street, the present sword and two silver maces date only from Cromwellian times. The sword, of Toledo manufacture, was donated by Sir Thomas Stanley in 1656 and displays the Arms, the larger mace is stamped 1663. Oliver Cromwell laid siege to Clonmel in May 1650, the walls were eventually breached, but Hugh Dubh ONeill, the commander of the towns garrison, inflicted heavy losses on the New Model Army when they tried to storm the breach. That night, ONeill, deciding that further resistance was due to a lack of ammunition, led his soldiers. The story is told that Cromwell became suspicious of ONeills desperate situation when a bullet was discharged by the townspeople at his troops outside the walls. The following morning,18 May 1650, mayor John White was able to surrender the town on good terms as Cromwell was still unaware of the garrisons escape just hours before, although feeling deceived, he did not put the inhabitants to the sword as occurred elsewhere. A permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of Kickham Barracks in 1805, following the failed attempt at rebellion near Ballingarry in 1848, the captured leaders of the Young Irelanders were brought to Clonmel for trial. The event was followed with great interest internationally and for its duration brought journalists from around the country, standing in the dock in the image opposite are Thomas Francis Meagher, Terence MacManus and Patrick ODonoghue. Their co-defendant, William Smith OBrien was also sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, when delivering the guilty verdict, the foreman of the Grand Jury, R. M. The sentences of OBrien and other members of the Irish Confederation were eventually commuted to transportation for life to Van Diemens Land
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County Tipperary
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County Tipperary is a county in Ireland. Tipperary County Council is the government authority for the county. It is located in the province of Munster, the county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early thirteenth century, shortly after the Norman invasion of Ireland. The population of the county was 160,441 at the 2016 census. The largest towns are Clonmel, Nenagh and Thurles, Tipperary is the sixth largest of the 32 counties by area and the 12th largest by population. It is the third largest of Munsters 6 counties by size and it is also the largest landlocked county in Ireland. The region is part of the plain of Ireland, but the diverse terrain contains several mountain ranges, the Knockmealdown, the Galtee, the Arra Hills. Most of the county is drained by the River Suir, the part by tributaries of the River Shannon, the eastern part by the River Nore. No part of the county touches the coast, the centre is known as the Golden Vale, a rich pastoral stretch of land in the Suir basin which extends into counties Limerick and Cork. Parishes were delineated after the Down Survey as a subdivision, with multiple townlands per parish. The civil parishes had some use in local taxation and were included on the nineteenth century maps of the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, for poor law purposes, District Electoral Divisions replaced the civil parishes in the mid-nineteenth century. There are 199 civil parishes in the county, townlands are the smallest officially defined geographical divisions in Ireland, there are 3,159 townlands in the county. Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was claimed as a lordship, by 1210, the sheriffdom of Munster shired into the shires of Tipperary and Limerick. In 1328, Tipperary was granted to the Earls of Ormond as a county palatine or liberty, the grant excluded church lands such as the archiepiscopal see of Cashel, which formed the separate county of Cross Tipperary. The county was divided again in 1838. When the Local Government Act 1898 established county councils to replace the grand jury for civil functions and their names were changed from Tipperary North/South Riding to North/South Tipperary by the Local Government Act 2001, which redesignated all administrative counties as simply counties. The Local Government Reform Act 2014 has amalgamated the two counties and restored a single county of Tipperary, following the Local Government Reform Act 2014, Tipperary County Council is the local government authority for the county. The authority is a merger of two separate authorities North Tipperary County Council and South Tipperary County Council which operated up until June 2014
35.
Dundalk
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Dundalk is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. It is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay and it has associations with the mythical warrior hero Cú Chulainn. The Dundalk area has been inhabited since at least 3500 BC, a tangible reminder of their presence can still be seen in the form of the Proleek Dolmen, the eroded remains of a megalithic tomb located in the Ballymascanlon area to the north of Dundalk. Celtic culture arrived in Ireland around 500 BC and their land now forms upper and lower Dundalk. Dundalk had been developed as an unwalled Sráid Bhaile. The streets passed along a ridge which runs from the present day Bridge Street in the North, through Church Street to Clanbrassil Street to Earl Street. In 1169 the Normans arrived in Ireland and set about conquering large areas, by 1185 a Norman nobleman named Bertram de Verdun erected a manor house at Castletown Mount and subsequently obtained the towns charter in 1189. Another Norman family, the De Courcys, led by John de Courcy, settled in the Seatown area of Dundalk, both families assisted in the fortification of the town, building walls and other fortification in the style of a Norman fortress. The town of Dundalk was developed as it lay close to a bridging point over the Castletown River and as a frontier town. In 1236 Bertrams granddaughter, Rohesia commissioned Castle Roche to fortify the region, the town was sacked in 1315, during the Bruce campaign. Dundalk had been under Royalist control for centuries, until 1647 when it occupied by The Northern Parliamentary Army of Colonel George Monck. The modern town of Dundalk largely owes its form to Lord Limerick in the 17th century and he commissioned the construction of streets leading to the town centre, his ideas came from many visits to Europe. In addition to the demolition of the old walls and castles, in the 19th century the town grew in importance and many industries were set up in the local area, including a large distillery. This development was helped considerably by the opening of railways, the expansion of the area or Quay. The partition of Ireland in May 1921 turned Dundalk into a border town, the Irish Free State opened customs and immigration facilities at Dundalk to check goods and passengers crossing the border by train. The Irish Civil War of 1922–23 saw a number of confrontations in Dundalk, Aiken did not try to hold the town, however, and before withdrawing he called for a truce in a meeting in the centre of Dundalk. The 49 Infantry Battalion and 58 Infantry Battalion of the National Army were based in Dundalk along with No.8 armoured locomotive and two fully armoured cars of their Railway Protection Corps. For several decades after the end of the Civil War, Dundalk continued to function as a town, a regional centre
36.
Bray
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Bray is a coastal town in north County Wicklow, Ireland. Dublin border, with a portion of the suburbs situated in County Dublin. It is situated about 20 km south of Dublin city centre on the east coast, Brays scenic location and proximity to Dublin make it a popular destination for tourists and day-trippers from the capital. Bray is home to Ardmore Studios, hosting Irish and international productions for film, television, some light industry is located in the town, with business and retail parks concentrated largely on its southern periphery. Bray town centre has a range of serving the consumer needs of the surrounding area. Commuter links between Bray and Dublin are provided by rail, Dublin Bus and the M11 and M50 motorways. The name of the town Bray or Bré means hill or rising ground, possibly referring to the incline of the town from the Dargle Bridge to Vevay Hill. In medieval times, Bray was on the border of the Pale. Inland, the countryside was under the control of Gaelic Chieftains, such as the OToole, Bray features on the 1598 map A Modern Depiction of Ireland, One of the British Isles by Abraham Ortelius as Brey. The Earl of Meath purchased the Kilruddery estate in Bray in 1627 with the establishment of the Earl title, in August or September 1649 Oliver Cromwell is believed to have stayed in Bray on his way to Wexford from Dublin. The Dublin and Kingstown Railway, the first in Ireland, opened in 1834 and was extended as far as Bray in 1854, with the coming of the railway, the town grew to become Irelands largest seaside resort. Hotels and extensive residential terraces were built in the vicinity of the seafront, the town continued to thrive following Independence but the outbreak of the Second World War put the industry on hold for its duration. However, during the 1950s tourists from the United Kingdom returned to Bray in great numbers to escape the austerity of Britains post-war rationing, the towns career as a resort declined from the 1960s onwards when foreign travel became an option for holiday-makers. However, day-trippers continued to flock to Bray, particularly during the summer months, the Summer Festival, featuring carnival attractions, fireworks display and an airshow, draws tens of thousands of visitors in July and August. Thousands of people turned out on the seafront to see Olympic boxing champion Katie Taylor, the town is situated on the east coast to the south of County Dublin. Shankill, County Dublin lies to the north, and Greystones, the picturesque village of Enniskerry lies to the west of the town, at the foot of the Wicklow Mountains. The Irish Sea provides scenic views and moderate all year round. People participate in sports as sailing, rowing, swimming
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County Wicklow
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County Wicklow is a county in Ireland. The second last of the traditional 32 counties to be formed, as late as 1606 and it is named after the town of Wicklow, which derives from the Old Norse name Víkingaló, which means Vikings Meadow. Wicklow County Council is the authority for the county. The population of the county is 142,332 according to the 2016 census, Wicklow is colloquially known as the Garden of Ireland. It is the 17th-largest of Irelands 32 counties by area, being thirty-three miles in length by twenty miles in breadth and it is the fourth-largest of Leinsters twelve counties by size and the fifth-largest in terms of population. Between 2011 and 2016 the population of the county grew by 4. 2%, the adjoining counties are Wexford to the south, Carlow to the south-west, Kildare to the west and Dublin to the north. The Wicklow Mountains range is the largest continuous upland region in Ireland, the highest mountain in the range, Lugnaquilla, rises to 925 metres, making Wicklow the second-highest county peak after Kerry. The River Slaney is in the part of the county. The Turlough Hill pumped-storage scheme, a significant civil engineering project, was carried out in the mountains in the 1960s and 1970s, the lakes are small but numerous, located mainly in mountain valleys or glacial corries. They include Lough Dan, Lough Tay, Lough Brae, the lakes of Glendalough as well as the Poulaphouca reservoir, County Wicklow was the last of the traditional counties of Ireland to be shired in 1606 from land previously part of counties Dublin and Carlow. Established as a county, it was aimed at controlling local groups such as the OByrnes. It provided them 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, the ancient monastery of Glendalough is located in County Wicklow. During the Cromwellian invasion of Ireland, local authorities immediately surrendered without a fight, the local government authority is Wicklow County Council which returns 32 councillors from five municipal districts. All of the previous Town Councils were abolished under a new Local Government Act at the 2014 Local Elections, for elections to Dáil Éireann, the entire county in included in the Wicklow constituency along with some eastern parts of County Carlow. The constituency returns five TDs to the Dáil, mermaid, County Wicklow Arts Centre is based in Bray. Two of the festivals take place in Arklow, the Arklow music Festival. The county is a popular film-making location in Ireland, the BBC series Ballykissangel was also filmed in County Wicklow
38.
Navan
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Navan is the county town of County Meath in Ireland. In 2016, the town and its environs had a population of 31,689, making it the 5th largest town, Navan is along the River Boyne and the confluence of the Blackwater and the Boyne is situated in Navan. Navan is one of the few towns that has a palindromic name. Variants of Navan had been in use since Norman times and it is thought to come from Irish an Uamhain, meaning the cave/souterrain, a variant of its more common Irish name an Uaimh. In 1922, when the Irish Free State was founded, an Uaimh was adopted as the only official name. However, it failed to gain popularity in English and in 1971 the name was reverted to Navan in English, Tara Mine, Europes largest lead and zinc mine is located in Navan. The town traditionally was famous for carpets and for a thriving furniture industry, both are now in decline, or have ceased, as a result of the move away from manufacture to cheaper locations like Eastern Europe. Nevertheless, Navan had rapidly expanded with the Celtic Tiger to become a dormitory town due to its proximity to Dublin. Following the Global economic crisis and the collapse of the Celtic tiger in 2008 Navan once again declined, employment in the mining industry remained stable however tertiary industries reliant on consumer spending suffered. The town has a freight railway line which passes the former Navan railway station. Navan was a crossroads, with the GNR line from Drogheda to Oldcastle. The GNR line from Navan to Oldcastle and the MGWR line from Clonsilla to Navan closed in 1963, a spur to Tara Mines on the Navan to Oldcastle trackbed was reinstated in 1977. As of 2005 the railway is used by Iarnród Éireann to bring freight from the local lead and zinc mine, Tara Mines. The line from Kingscourt was used for transport of gypsum until quite recently, the Transport 21 plan envisaged the reopening of Clonsilla services happening in two stages, initially to a park and ride off the M3 at Pace by 2009 and later extending to Navan by 2015. The first stage of the project as far as Pace, Co Meath was completed in 2010, the second stage of the rail link to Navan has been postponed indefinitely as a consequence of cutbacks in the states infrastructural spend announced in July 2010. Navan is served by bus routes. However the town as of yet has no bus station and there are four separate stops in the town. The majority of routes are operated by Bus Éireann, the most frequent route is the 109 to Dublin which departs from the Market Square
39.
Ennis
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Ennis is the county town of Clare, Ireland. The Irish name is short for Inis Cluain Ramh Fhada, the town is on the River Fergus, north of where it enters the Shannon Estuary,19 km from Shannon Airport. In 2011, Ennis had a population of 25,360, making it the largest town in Clare, the name Ennis comes from the Irish word Inis, meaning island. This name relates to an island formed between two courses of the River Fergus on which the Franciscan Friary was built, the past of Ennis is closely associated with the OBrien family, who were descendants of Brian Boru. In the 12th century, the OBriens, who were Kings of Thomond, left their seat of power in Limerick, in 1240, King Donnchadh OBrien ordered the construction of an extensive church which he later donated to the Franciscans. The centuries which followed bore great activity, the Friary was expanded and students came in great flocks to study at the theological college. The Friars, who were free to move about, met the needs of the local population. It was a religious centre until the Dissolution of the Monasteries and it became a thriving market town in the late 18th century and this expansion continued unabated throughout the 19th century, except the period after the Famine c. 1850. in the period, a number of landmark structures were constructed, including the Mill. The town contains a number of old military barracks, most notably the Old Military Barracks on the Kilrush road, many locals served in the British Army in the First World War. The Clare Road and Clonroad areas contain terraced cottages built in the early 20th century to house soldiers, on Station Road, then called Jail Road, a gaol once stood. Politically, Ennis has always considered a Fianna Fáil stronghold. However, in the 2009 local elections the party was reduced to just one out of nine on Ennis Town Council. A monument to Éamon de Valera, founder of the party and former President of Ireland, the River Fergus runs through the middle of Ennis, and is a well-known trout and salmon fishery. At one time, small sailing boats made their way up river from the Shannon, a new pedestrian bridge, Harmony Row Bridge, was built over the river Fergus in June 2009. Clare became a county under the rule of Elizabeth I and Ennis was chosen as its capital by the Earls of Thomond because of its central location and great influence. Ennis received a grant to hold fairs and markets in 1610 and some years later a Charter for a Corporation with a Provost, Free Burgesses, Commonalty, Ennis continued to expand in the following centuries, mainly as a market town and later as a manufacturing and distributing centre. Many commodities were conveyed by river to Clarecastle for shipment abroad, Ennis is an historically important market town
40.
Tralee
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Tralee is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The town is on the side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula. The towns population including suburbs was 23,693 as of the 2011 census making it the 7th largest town, Tralee is well known for the Rose of Tralee International Festival which has been held annually in August since 1959. On this old track is located a large boulder sometimes called Scotias Grave, anglo-Normans founded the town in the 13th century, which became a stronghold of the Earls of Desmond, who built a castle. John Fitz-Thomas FitzGerald founded the monastery of the Dominican order and was buried there in 1260, the medieval town was burnt in 1580 in retribution for the Desmond Rebellions against Elizabeth I. Elizabeth I in 1587 granted Tralee to Edward Denny and it was recognised in 1613 by Royal Charter, Sir Edward was the first of the Dennys to settle in Tralee, the Dennys did not occupy the castle of the Earls of Desmond until 1627. Sir Edwards son was Arthur Denny, in whose lifetime the towns charter was granted by King James, the third English settler, another Sir Edward, married Ruth Roper, whose father Thomas Roper was the lease holder of the Herbert estate centred on Castleisland. This Sir Edward was a royalist and he fought for the King in the wars of 1641. He died in 1646, before the triumph of Oliver Cromwell over affairs in England and Ireland and he granted the circuit of the Abbey to the corporation set up under the charter, in return for the fees of the town clerk. His son Arthur Denny married Ellen Barry, granddaughter of Richard Boyle, the latter held many land titles in West Kerry and also claimed property in Tralee. Sir Edward Denny, 4th Baronet was a landlord in his day, during the time of the Great Famine, he maintained rents to suit his tenants. He was a notable Plymouth Brother, the modern layout of Tralee was created in the 19th century. Denny Street, a wide Georgian street, was completed in 1826 on the site of the old castle, a monument commemorating the 1798 rebellion plus the rebellions of 1803,1848 and 1867 – a statue of a Pikeman - stands in Denny Street. First unveiled in 1905, the original Pikeman stood until the Irish War of Independence, in 1921 the Black and Tans dragged it from its pedestal and destroyed it. In June 1939 a replacement Pikeman was installed, created by renowned Dublin sculptor Albert Power, Tralee Courthouse was designed by Sir Richard Morrison and built in 1835. It has a monument of two cannons commemorating those Kerrymen who died in the Crimean War and the Indian Rebellion, ballymullen Barracks was the depot of the Royal Munster Fusiliers. The Tralee Ship Canal was built to accommodate larger ships sailing into Tralee, the House of Commons authorised an Act of Parliament in June 1829 for the canal, with work beginning in 1832. Issues with funding meant that the canal was not completed until 1846 when it was opened, the canal was 2 miles long with a new canal basin built in Tralee, and lock gates and a wooden swing bridge constructed in Blennerville
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County Kerry
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County Kerry is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county, Kerry County Council is the local authority for the county and Tralee serves as the county town. The population of the county was 147,554 in 2016, Kerry is the fifth-largest of the 32 counties of Ireland by area and the 15th-largest by population. It is the second-largest of Munsters six counties by area, uniquely, it is bordered by only two other counties, County Limerick to the east and County Cork to the south-east. The diocesan see is Killarney, which is one of Irelands most famous tourist destinations, the Lakes of Killarney, an area of outstanding natural beauty are located in Killarney National Park. The tip of the Dingle Peninsula is the most westerly point of Ireland, there are nine historic baronies in the county. While baronies continue to be officially defined units, they are no longer used for administrative purposes. Their official status is illustrated by Placenames Orders made since 2003, the county is bounded on the west by the Atlantic Ocean and on the north by the River Shannon. Just off the coast are a number of islands, including the Blasket Islands, Valentia Island, skellig Michael is a World Heritage Site, famous for the medieval monastery clinging to the islands cliffs. The county contains the extreme west point of Ireland, Dunmore Head on the Dingle Peninsula, or including islands, Tearaght Island, the most westerly inhabited area of Ireland is Dún Chaoin, on the Dingle Peninsula. The River Feale, the River Laune and the Roughty River flow through Kerry, the North Atlantic Current, part of the Gulf Stream, flows north past Kerry and the west coast of Ireland, resulting in milder temperatures than would otherwise be expected at the 52 North latitude. This means that plants such as the strawberry tree and tree ferns, not normally found in northern Europe. Because of the area and the prevailing southwesterly winds, Kerry is among the regions with the highest rainfall in Ireland. Owing to its location, there has been a reporting station on Valentia for many centuries. The Irish record for rainfall in one day is 243.5 mm, in 1986 the remnants of Hurricane Charley crossed over Kerry as an extratropical storm causing extensive rainfall, flooding and damage. Kerry means the people of Ciar which was the name of the tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich, in Old Irish Ciar meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective describing a dark complexion
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Carlow
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Carlow is the county town of County Carlow in Ireland. It is situated in the south-east of Ireland,84 km from Dublin, County Carlow is the second smallest county in Ireland by area, occupying 841 square kilometres. According to the 2016 census there is a population of 56,875 people living in County Carlow, the River Barrow flows through the town, and forms the historic boundary between counties Laois and Carlow, the Local Government Act 1898 included the town entirely in County Carlow. The settlement of Carlow is thousands of old and pre-dates written Irish history. The town has played a role in Irish history, serving as the capital of the country in the 14th century. It was voted the cleanest town in Ireland by Irish Business Against Litter in 2010, the name Carlow is an anglicisation of the Irish language name Ceatharlach. Historically, it was anglicised as Caherlagh, Caterlagh and Catherlagh, according to logainm. ie, the first part of the name derives from the Old Irish word cethrae, which is related to ceathar and therefore signified four-legged. The second part of the name is the ending -lach, some, such as Deirdre Flanagan, believe that the name should be Ceatharloch, since ceathar means four and loch means lake. It is directly translated as Four lakes, although, there is no evidence to suggest that these lakes ever existed in this area. Now part of the diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, several Early Christian settlements are still in evidence today around the county, st Mullins monastery is believed to have been established around the 7th century, the ruins of which are still in evidence today. Old Leighlin was the site of one of the largest monastic settlements in Ireland, st Comhgall built a monastery in the Carlow area in the 6th century, an old church building and burial ground survive today at Castle Hill known as Marys Abbey. Carlow was an Irish stronghold for agriculture in the early 1800s which earned the county the nickname of the scallion eaters, famine wiped out a lot of the population, cutting it in half. Carlow Castle was constructed by William Marshal, Earl of Striguil and Lord of Leinster, c1207-13 and it was also to serve as the capital of the Lordship of Ireland from 1361 until 1374. This imposing structure survived intact until 1814 when it was mostly destroyed in an attempt to turn the building into a lunatic asylum. The present remains now are the West Wall with two of its cylindrical towers, the bridge over the river Barrow – Graiguecullen Bridge, is agreed to date to 1569. Another convent belonging to the Presentation Order of nuns now houses the County Library and beautifully restored, the Cathedral, designed by Thomas Cobden, was the first Catholic cathedral to be built in Ireland after Catholic Emancipation in 1829. Its construction cost £9,000 and was completed in 1833, beside the cathedral, Saint Patricks College dates from 1793. The College, was established in 1782 to teach the humanities to both lay students and those studying for the priesthood, the Carlow Courthouse was constructed in the 19th century
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County Carlow
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County Carlow is a county in Ireland. It is part of the South-East Region and is located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Carlow, which lies on the River Barrow, Carlow County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 54,612 according to the 2011 census, Carlow, or Ceatharlach originally part of the Norman Palantine-county of Leinster, became a separate county probably around 1306. At that time it was larger than today, extending to and including the area around Arklow. These areas were given over to County Wicklow in 1606-07 There are seven historic baronies in the county, Carlow, Forth, Idrone East, Idrone West, Rathvilly, St Mullins Lower and St Mullins Upper. Local government in County Carlow is governed by the Local Government Acts, the top tier of the structure consists of Carlow County Council. The second tier of government consists of town councils. Outside the borough, the county council is responsible for local services. Two towns in the county have town councils, Carlow and Muine Bheag, There are 21 councillors in the county council who are returned from five local electoral areas, Borris, Carlow East, Carlow West, Muine Bheag and Tullow. As the county is part of the South-East Region, some county councillors are also representatives on the South-East Regional Authority, for elections to Dáil Éireann, Carlow is part of the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency which returns 5 TDs. The present form of the constituency was created for the 1948 general election, F. C. Carlow are the local soccer team who compete in the A Championship Carlow GAA are the countys Gaelic Athletic Association body which fields both hurling and football teams. Pierce Butler - soldier, planter, and statesman, recognized as one of United States Founding Fathers and he represented South Carolina in the Continental Congress and the United States Senate. Myles Keogh - American Civil War military officer and later Captain of Company I, U. S. 7th Cavalry Regiment - Fought in Indian Wars and was killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876 and he was born in Orchard, Leighlinbridge in 1840. William Dargan - engineer, often seen as the father of Irish railways, richie Kavanagh - comic songwriter, from Raheenwood, Fenagh, Co. John Tyndall - the 19th century scientist who was the first to explain why the sky is blue, derek Ryan - Country music singer & former member of Pop band D-side Saoirse Ronan - Oscar and Golden Globe nominated actress. Samuel Haughton - polymath, in 1866 published a formula for calculating the drop needed to cause death at hangings. Peter Murphy - radio and television broadcaster, presented RTÉs Cross Country Quiz, was born in Carlow Sean OBrien Leinster, frank OMeara, Carlow-born Irish artist known for his Impressionist, plein air landscape painting
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County Laois
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County Laois is a county in Ireland. It is located in the south of the Midlands Region and is located in the province of Leinster. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom, Laois County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 80,559, according to the 2011 census - 20% higher than it was in the 2006 census, the first people in Laois were bands of hunters and gatherers who passed through the county about 8,500 years ago. They hunted in the forests that covered Laois and fished in its rivers, gathering nuts and these people of the Neolithic period cleared forests and planted crops. Their burial mounds remain in Clonaslee and Cuffsborough, starting around 2500 BC, the people of the Bronze Age lived in Laois. They produced weapons, tools and golden objects, visitors to the county can see a stone circle they left behind at Monamonry, as well as the remains of their hill forts at Clopook and Monelly. Skirk, near Borris-in-Ossory, has a Bronze Age standing stone, the body of Cashel Man indicates that ritual killing took place around 2000 BC. The next stage is known as the pre-Christian Celtic Iron Age, for the first time iron appeared in Ireland, as factions fought bloody battles for control of the land. At Ballydavis, archaeologists have discovered ring barrows that date from this time period, the county name derives from Loígis, of which the modern county is only a part. In the 11th century, its dynastic rulers adopted the surname Ua/Ó Mórdha and they claimed descent from a member of the Red Branch Knights By the first century AD, the western third of Laois was part of the Kingdom of Ossory. The eastern part was divided roughly into seven parts, which were ruled by the Seven Septs of Loígis, O’More, O’Lalor, O’Doran, O’Dowling, O’Devoy, O’Kelly, when Ireland was Christianized, holy men and women founded religious communities in Loígis. St. Ciarán of Saighir founded his monastic habitation in the western Slieve Bloom Mountains as the first bishop of Ossory and his mother Liadán had an early convent nearby at what is now Killyon. Between 550 and 600, St. Canice founded Aghaboe Abbey, an early Christian community lived at Dun Masc or Masc’s fort, on the Rock of Dunamase. The Synod of Rathbreasail that established the Irish dioceses was held near Mountrath in 1111, as religious orders with strong ties to Rome replaced older religious communities, the wooden buildings of the early Christian churches in Laois gave way to stone monasteries. The Augustinians and Dominicans established themselves at Aghaboe Abbey, while the Cistercians took over a religious community at Abbeyleix. The Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169-71 affected Laois as it was a part of the Kingdom of Leinster. In Laois, the fortress on the Rock of Dunamase was part of the dowry of the Irish princess Aoife, advancing Normans surveyed the county from wooden towers built on top of earthen mounds, known as mottes
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