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Ireland is often referred to as the 32 counties, with its two states, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, being nicknamed respectively the Six Counties and the 26 Counties. The counties were in fact a creation of British rule in Ireland and were first set up in the 19th century to provide a framework for local government. Subsequently adopted by sporting and cultural organisations such as the Gaelic Athletic Association, which organises its activities on county lines, today they attract strong loyalties, particularly in the sporting field.
| Republic of Ireland | Northern Ireland |
Some of the 32 counties are no longer used for local government purposes, although unlike the Counties of England, the Republic's counties have merely been subdivided.
In Northern Ireland, a major re-organisation of local government in 1973 replaced the six large counties and two county boroughs (Belfast and Derry) by 26 "single-tier" districts. These cross county boundaries. The six counties and two county-boroughs remain in use for purposes such as Lieutenancy.
In the Republic of Ireland, six of the original 26 counties have more than one local authority area, producing a total of 34 "county-level" authorities.
Tipperary has long been administered in two parts: Tipperary North Riding and Tipperary South Riding. Dublin, Cork Galway, Limerick City and Waterford have "city councils" or "corporations" and are administered separately from the counties bearing those names.
The remaining rural part of County Dublin was split in 1994 for administrative purposes into Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, and South Dublin. The current pattern of local government was established by Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, although rural districts have been abolished.
Outside the field of local government, the "traditional" 32 counties remain in universal use as the basis of local identity and loyalties. Electoral areas in the Republic of Ireland also mostly follow county boundaries - maintaining links to the county system is a mandatory consideration in the re-organisation of electoral boundaries. This system usually results in more populated counties having several electoral areas - while others, such as Sligo and Leitrim, constitute an electoral area of two counties.
Below is a list of the traditional 32 counties, as created under British rule.
Former counties include: County Coleraine which formed the basis of County Londonderry, and Nether and Upper Tyrone which were merged at that time; County Desmond which was split between Counties Cork and Kerry; and the County of Caterlaugh occupying the southern part of what is now County Wicklow.
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