Provinces of Ireland

The four provinces of Ireland are Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster. Three of the four provinces—Connacht, Leinster, and Munster–are found entirely within the Republic of Ireland today, while the province of Ulster is located in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The Irish word for this territorial division, , meaning "fifth part", suggests that there were once five, and at times Meath has been considered to be the fifth province. In the medieval period, however, there were often more than five. The number of provinces and their delineation fluctuated until 1610, when they were permanently set by the administration of James I.

The provinces of Ireland no longer serve administrative or political purposes but function as historical and cultural entities. Each province is today represented by its own unique arms and flag which are joined to represent various All Ireland sports teams and organisations via the Four Provinces Flag of Ireland.

Provinces

{| class="wikitable sortable" align="center" style="text-align: center;"

| Connacht || || || || 589,338 || 17,713 || 34 || 5 || Galway

| Leinster || || || || 2,870,354 || 19,801 || 145 || 12 || Dublin

| Munster || || || || 1,373,346 || 24,684 || 56 || 6 || Cork

| Ulster || || || || 2,217,176 || 22,067 || 100 || 9 || Belfast

Coats of arms

Each province is today represented by its own unique arms and flag. These are joined to represent various All Ireland sports teams and organisations via the Four Provinces Flag of Ireland and a four province coat of arms of Ireland, with examples including the Ireland national field hockey team, Ireland national rugby league team, Ireland national rugby union team and Irish Amateur Boxing Association.

History

Etymology

In modern Irish, the word for province is (pl. ). The modern Irish term derives from the Old Irish (pl. ) which literally meant "a fifth". In the 12th century (Book of Rights), the term means province, seemingly having lost its fractional meaning with seven listed.

County Cavan was created in 1584 and transferred from Connacht to Ulster.

Six of the nine Ulster counties form modern-day Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. Many of Northern Ireland's unionist political parties use "Ulster" in their names such as the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Ulster Democratic Party (UDP). The ITV regional service is known as Ulster Television but generally abbreviated to UTV, while BBC Radio Ulster is the main BBC radio station from BBC Northern Ireland.

In education Munster Technological University and Ulster University both use the provinces in which they are located in their name.

Many hotels also use the name of the province in which they are situated.

In media many local and regional newspapers use their province in their names such as The Munster Express in Waterford, Leinster Leader in Kildare, Connacht Tribune in Galway and Ulster Herald in Fermanagh.

In modern times politically the four provinces were referred to in the proposal of ("New Ireland"), which was supported by the Provisional IRA and Sinn Féin during the 1970s and early 1980s for a federal United Ireland. The proposal was particularly associated with the Dublin-based leadership group centred on Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and Dáithí Ó Conaill, who were the authors of the policy. envisaged a united Ireland that would be created when the British withdrew from Northern Ireland, and the creation of a federal state with assemblies for each of its four historic provinces.

The song Ireland's Call is used as a national anthem for sports teams representing the entire island (e.g. Ireland national rugby union team and Ireland cricket team). The first verse says "We have come to answer our country's call from the four proud provinces of Ireland".

Poetic description

thumb|150px|[[coat of arms of Mide|Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Meath]]

Ard Ruide

The poem named (Ruide Headland) poetically describes the five kingdoms of Ireland. Below is a translation from Old Irish:

The Táin

thumb|left|"[[Cú Chulainn|Cuchulain in Battle", illustration by J. C. Leyendecker in T. W. Rolleston's Myths & Legends of the Celtic Race, 1911]]

The epic poem, An Táin Bó Cúailnge (the Cattle Raid of Cooley) describes a war between Connacht and Ulster, and is perhaps best known for CúChulainn's single handed defence of Ulster against the champions of Connacht in turn, while his comrades were disabled by a spell.

Provinces of Ireland

Provinces

Coats of arms

History

Etymology

Poetic description

Ard Ruide

The Táin

See also

Notes

References

Citations

General sources