Patron Saint: Ailbe of Emly[3]
a. ^ Munster is part of the South constituency; the six Munster counties contain 67.7% of the population of this constituency.[4]
Munster (Irish: an Mhumhain[əˈwuːnʲ] or Cúige Mumhan[ˌkuːɟəˈmˠuːnˠ]) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (Irish: rí ruirech). Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into counties for administrative and judicial purposes. In later centuries, local government legislation has seen further sub-division of the historic counties.
Munster has no official function for local government purposes. For the purposes of the ISO, the province is listed as one of the provincial sub-divisions of the State (ISO 3166-2:IE) and coded as "IE-M". Geographically, Munster covers a total area of 24,675 km2 (9,527 sq mi) and has a population of 1,373,346,[2] with the most populated city being Cork. Other significant urban centres in the province include Limerick and Waterford.
By the 9th century, the Gaels had been joined by NorseVikings who founded towns such as Cork, Waterford and Limerick, for the most part, incorporated into a maritime empire by the Dynasty of Ivar, who periodically would threaten Munster with conquest in the next century. Around this period Ossory broke away from Munster. The Eóganachta dominated Munster until the 10th century,[5] which saw the rise of the Dalcassian clan, who had earlier annexed Thomond, north of the River Shannon to Munster. Their leaders were the ancestors of the O'Brien dynasty and spawned Brian Boru, perhaps the most noted High King of Ireland, and several of whose descendants were also high kings.
The area of Munster was then colonized in the mid to late 16th century by the British plantations of Ireland during the Tudor conquest of Ireland, a group known as the West Country Men played a role in the colonization of Munster,[6][7] attempts to settle a joint stock colony at Kerrycurrihy in 1568 was made and Richard Grenville also seized lands for colonization at Tracton, to the west of Cork harbour. The Munster plantation was the largest colonial venture of the English at the time.[8][9]
Noted for its traditions in Irish folk music, and with many ancient castles and monasteries in the province, Munster is a tourist destination. During the fifth century, St. Patrick spent seven years founding churches and ordaining priests in Munster, but a fifth-century bishop named Ailbe is the patron saint of Munster.
The province has long had trading and cultural links with continental Europe. The Corcu Loígde had a trading fleet active along the French Atlantic coast, as far south as Gascony, importing wine to Munster. The Eóganachta had ecclesiastical ties with Germany, which show in the architecture of their ceremonial capital at the Rock of Cashel.
The majority of Irish ogham inscriptions are found in Munster, principally in areas occupied by the Iverni, especially the Corcu Duibne.[11] Later, Europe's first linguistic dictionary in any non-Classical language, the Sanas Cormaic, was compiled by Munster scholars, traditionally thought to have been directed by the king-bishop Cormac mac Cuilennáin (d. 908).
The School of Ross in Munster was one of Europe's leading centres of learning in the Early Middle Ages.
Sport
Several sports in Munster are organised on a provincial basis, or operate competitions along provincial lines. This includes traditionally popular sports such as hurling, Gaelic football, rugby union and soccer, as well as cricket (Munster Cricket Union), hockey (Munster Hockey Union), and others.
Rugby is a popular game in the cities of Limerick and Cork. Munster Rugby is an Irish Rugby Football Union representative side which competes in the United Rugby Championship competition, winning in 2003, 2009, 2011 and 2023 and in the Heineken Cup, winning in 2006 and 2008. Until 2016, the Munster side was the only Irish side to have defeated the New Zealand All Blacks.
Soccer
Cricket being played at the Mardyke in Cork, the home venue of the Munster Reds
The Irish language, or more specifically Munster Irish, is spoken as a first language in Gaeltachtaí (Irish speaking areas) in a number of areas in the province. This includes West Kerry (Corca Dhuibhne), South Kerry (Uíbh Ráthach), West Cork (Múscraí), south-west Cork (Oileán Cléire), and parts of Waterford (Gaeltacht na Rinne or Gaeltacht na nDéise).
There are about 35,000 Irish language speakers in Munster, with 9,737 native speakers in the Munster Gaeltacht areas of Cork, Kerry and Waterford. There are also 12,219 pupils attending 45 Gaelscoils (Irish language primary schools) and 15 Gaelcholáiste (Irish language secondary schools) in the province.[13] As of the Census of Ireland 2011 there were 13,193 daily speakers outside the education system in Munster.
The province is divided into six traditional counties: Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford. Munster is the largest of Ireland's four provinces by land area, and the third largest by population.
Cork City QuaysLimerick City QuaysWaterford City Quays
Munster has many large towns, including a number of growing satellite towns, and is the province with the most cities (three) in Ireland.[16] The following is a list of urban areas in Munster in order of size (2022 census figures), with cities and county towns bolded:[17]
2014 CSO figures indicated that GDP per capita in the province ranged from €28,094 in the South Tipperary/Waterford (South-East) region, to €50,544 in Cork and Kerry (South-West).[18] Disposable income in the province was approximately €22,000 per person in 2008 - behind the Eastern and Dublin region (€25,000 per person) and ahead of the Border, Midland and Western regions (€20,000 per person).[19]
Munster's agricultural industry centres around the Golden Vale pasturelands which cover counties Cork, Limerick and Tipperary. Kerry Group manufactures dairy products from the dairy cows of the region, and Glanbia is a food producer which operates an "innovation centre" in the region.[21] Dawn Meats also operate from County Waterford.[22]
Retail
Irish-owned retailer Dunnes Stores was founded in Cork, and Ireland's largest supermarket group, the Musgrave Group, is also based in Munster.
A number of television companies and studios have (or had) a Munster-focus. These include RTÉ Cork (RTÉ's regional studio in Cork), South Coast TV and Channel South. The latter transmitted local programming to Cork, Limerick, and parts of Kerry, Waterford, Clare and Tipperary.
Apart from the local city or regional newspapers, a number of print outlets focus or market themselves on a provincial basis. These include the Avondhu (covering parts of Cork, Waterford, Limerick and Tipperary),[23] the Nationalist & Munster Advertiser, the Munster Express,[24] and others.
^Challoner, Richard. A Memorial of Ancient British Piety: or, a British Martyrology, p. 128Archived 29 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine. W. Needham, 1761. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
^Census of Ireland 2016: 1,280,394 out of 1,890,982 total.
^Somerset, Anne (2003), Elizabeth I (1st Anchor Books ed.), London: Anchor Books, ISBN 978-0-385-72157-8
^Falkiner, Caesar Litton (1904). Illustrations of Irish history and topography, mainly of the 17th century. London: Longmans, Green, & Co. p. 117. ISBN 1-144-76601-X.
^Moody, T. W.; Martin, F. X., eds. (1967). The Course of Irish History. Cork: Mercier Press. p. 370.
^In 1841, before the Great Famine, there were just under three million people living in the province, but the population dropped devastatingly low due to mass emigration in the 1840s and continued emigration up until the 1980s.
^The ruins of the Iron Age mountaintop fortress Caherconree, preserving the name of Cú Roí, can also be found in their lands.
