Munster

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For other places with the same or similar names, and other uses of the word, see Munster (disambiguation).

Munster
Cúige Mumhan

Location

Statistics

Area:

24,607.52

Population (2006)

1,172,170

Munster (Irish: An Mhumhain, IPA: [ənˈvuːnʲ]) is the southernmost of the four provinces of Ireland. It comprises the counties of;

Clare (110,800)
Cork, (480,909)
Kerry, (139,616)
Limerick, (183,863)
Tipperary (149,050)
Waterford. (107,942)

The largest city in Munster is Cork.

The name is derived from the Celtic goddess, Muma. The province was once divided into six regions: Tuadh Mhuman (north Munster), Deas Mhuman (south Munster), Urh Mumhan (east Munster), Iar mumhan (west Munster), Ernaibh Muman (the Ernai tribe's portion of Munster), and Deisi Muman (the Deisi tribe's portion of Munster). Ultimately, these were all subsumed into the kingdoms of Thomond (north), Desmond (south), and Ormond (east), all of which were eventually subsumed by surrender and regrant as Earldoms in the Peerage of Ireland. The names exist only indirectly today, particularly in the case of Thomond. The three crowns represent these three kingdoms. This flag can easily be confused with the flag of Dublin which has three castles in a similar pattern on a blue background; it also resembles the lesser coat-of-arms of Sweden.

In 1841 before the Great Famine, there were just under 3 million people living in the province of Munster, but the population had dropped devastatingly low due to mass emigration in the 1840's and continued emigration up until the 1980's.

For 30 days during the Irish Civil War, the province of Munster broke away from the Irish Free State and established the Munster Republic in opposition to the acceptance of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The Munster Republic was short lived and subsequently crushed by heavily-armed Irish Free State forces.

Munster is also an Irish Rugby Football Union representative side which competes in the Celtic League and for the Heineken Cup, winning in 2006.

1 Cities
2 Large Towns
3 Economy
4 International Airports
5 Irish Language
6 Munster Media
7 Munster Stadia
8 External links
9 See also

[edit] Cities

Cork is the largest city conurbation, which has a population of 186,239 (2002) and 380,000 within the Greater Cork Area.(See Cork Co. Council population report below)

Other important cities are Limerick 86,998 (2002) which also has over 100,000 people in the greater Limerick area and Waterford 46,736 (2002).

[edit] Large Towns

Tralee (22,190)
Ennis (18,830)
Killarney (16,931)
Clonmel (16,910)
Carrigaline (16,664)*
Cobh (12,887)*
Mallow (11,195)
Midleton (10,336)*
Shannon/Clenagh (9,774)
Dungarvan (9,254)
Nenagh (9,219)
Thurles (8,987)
Tramore (8,799)
Youghal (7,195)
Newcastle West (5,915)

(* towns in Metropolitan Cork area)

(All figures - 2002 Census)

[edit] Economy

The province of Munster contributes 40 billion euro(US$52.57bn) to Irish GDP(25% of total Irish GDP).(2004) (greater than the GDP of Northern Ireland) (See "GDP stats" below)

The following are some of the more important employers in the region: AOL, Bausch & Lomb, Dell, Amazon, Motorola, Amgen, Pfizer, Analog Devices, Vistakon, Waterford Crystal, Apple Computer, Intel, Novartis, O2, Lufthansa Technik, Kerry Group, Siemens, Sony. The largest employment hub in Munster is Metropolitan Cork, with many large multinational firms located in the area. The second most important is the Shannon Free Zone with over 120 international firms based there employing over 7,500 people.

The province is continuing to play an ever greater role in the bio-pharmaceutical industry and fighting off stiff competition from Switzerland and Singapore for inward investments in the bio-pharmaceutical area such as Amgen and Pfizer. Munster is becoming increasingly important as one of Ireland's most important I.T. hubs outside of Dublin with such multinationals as Apple Computer, Intel, Amazon and Dell locating their operations in the province.

[edit] International Airports

Shannon International Airport

Cork International Airport

Kerry International Airport

[edit] Irish Language

The Irish language is spoken as a first language in Gaeltachtaí (Irish speaking areas);

in West Kerry (Corca Dhuibhne)
in South Kerry (Uíbh Ráthach). Here, the language died out in the 1950's.
in West Cork (Múscraí)
in south-west Cork (Oileán Cléire)
in south-west Waterford (Gaeltacht na Rinne or Gaeltacht na nDeise)

Within the past thirty years, there has been a big increase in the amount of Gaelscoileanna (Irish language schools) outside of the Gaeltachtaí. Children learn Irish, and leave Irish, in the Gaelscoileanna. Despite being in vogue for over 30 years, these schools have failed to halt the decline of Gaelic.

[edit] Munster Media

[edit] Television

RTÉ Cork - Cork based television broadcasting studios for RTÉ
South Coast TV - Cork based television company

[edit] Newspapers

The Irish Examiner - Cork based National Newspaper
The Avondhu - covers North East Cork, West Waterford, South Limerick and South Tipperary.
The Munster Express - covers the South East.
Nationalist & Munster Advertiser

The Limerick Leader (covers the Mid West)

[edit] Clare

Clare Champion
Clare People
Clare Courier

[edit] Cork

The Imokilly People (East Cork)
The Carrigdhoun
The Mallow Star
The Southern Star
The Vale Star
The Avondhu[1]
Evening Echo

[edit] Kerry

The Kerryman
The Kingdom
The Kerryseye

[edit] Limerick

Limerick Leader
Limerick Post
Limerick Independent

The Vale Star (South & East Limerick) The Weekly Observer (West Limerick)

[edit] Tipperary

The Nenagh Guardian
The Tipperary Star

[edit] Waterford

The Waterford News and Star
The Munster Express

[edit] Radio

Red FM - Cork Youth-driven service.
Clare FM - County Clare
Tipp FM - County Tipprary
Radio Kerry - County Kerry
WLR FM - Waterford City and County
96FM and 103FM County Sound (dual franchise) - General service for Cork
Live 95FM - Limerick City and County
West Limerick 102 - Limerick city and County
Beat 102-103 - Youth-driven service. Counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, Wexford and South Tipperary.
RTÉ Ráidió na Gaeltachta "Camchuairt" - Tralee, County Kerry