Leinster

For other uses, see Leinster (disambiguation).

Leinster Laighin
Flag
State	Ireland
Counties	Carlow Dublin Kildare Kilkenny Laois Longford Louth Meath Offaly Westmeath Wexford Wicklow
Government
• Teachta Dála	36 Fine Gael TDs 27 Labour Party TDs 8 Fianna Fáil TDs 7 Sinn Féin TDs 6 Independent TDs 4 ULA TDs
Area
• Total	19,800 km2 (7,644 sq mi)
Population  (2011)
• Total	2,504,814 (1st)
• Density	126.5/km2 (328/sq mi)
ISO 3166 code	IE-L
Patron Saint: Brigid

Leinster (/ˈlɛnstər/ — Template:Lang-gle — pronounced [ˈl̪ˠaːjɪnʲ]) is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the east of Ireland. It comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Mide, Osraige and Leinster. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ireland, the historic fifths of Leinster and Mide gradually merged, mainly due to the impact of the Pale, which straddled both, thereby forming the present-day province of Leinster. The ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial purposes. In later centuries, local government legislation has seen further sub-division of the historic counties.

Leinster has no official function for local-government purposes. However, the province is an officially recognised subdivision of Ireland. It is listed on ISO-3166-2 as one of the four provinces of Ireland and "IE-L" is attributed to Leinster as its country sub-division code.

Leinster had a population of 2,504,814 according to the 2011 census, making it the most populous province in the country The traditional flag of Leinster features a golden harp on a green background.

History

Early history

Leinster, province of Ireland (Hogg, 1784)

The Gaelic Kingdom of Leinster before 1171 was considerably smaller than today's province, and usually did not include certain territories such as Meath, Osraige or the Viking cities of Wexford and Kingdom of Dublin. The first part of the name Leinster derives from Laigin, the name of a major tribe that once inhabited the area. The latter part of the name derives either from the Irish tír or the Old Norse staðr, both of which translate as "land" or "territory".

The tribes of Leinster were united by Úgaine Mór (Hugony, the Great), who supposedly built the hill-fort of Dún Ailinne, near Kilcullen, County Kildare. He is a likely, but uncertain candidate as the first historical king of Laigin (Leinster) in the 7th century BC. The kingdom of Laigin was re-founded circa 175/185 AD following a period of civil wars in Ireland by the legendary Cathair Mor. Finn Mac Cool, or Fionn mac Cumhaill, was reputed to have built a stronghold at the Hill of Allen, on the edge of the Bog of Allen, in what was then Leinster.

In the 4th and 5th centuries, after Magnus Maximus left Britain with his legions, leaving a power vacuum, colonists from Laigin settled in North Wales, specifically in Anglesey, Carnarvonshire and Denbighshire. In Wales some of the Leinster-Irish colonists left their name on the Llŷn Peninsula, which derives its name from Laigin. In the 5th century the emerging Uí Néill dynasties from Connacht conquered areas of Westmeath, Meath and Offaly from the Uí Enechglaiss and Uí Failge of the Laigin. Uí Néill Ard Righ attempted to exact the Boroimhe Laighean, or cattle-tribute from the Laigin from that time, in the process becoming their traditional enemies.

By the 8th century, the rulers of Laigin had split into two dynasties:

• Northern Leinster dynasty: Murchad mac Brain (d. 727), King of Uí Dúnlainge, and joint leader of the Laigin
• Southern Leinster dynasty: Áed mac Colggen (d. 738), King of Uí Cheinnselaig, and joint leader of the Laigin

After the death of the last Kildare-based King of Laigin, Murchad Mac Dunlainge in 1042, the kingship of Leinster reverted to the Uí Cheinnselaig sept based in the south east, now County Wexford. This southern dynasty gave all the later Kings of Leinster.

Kingdom of Ireland period

The ancient Kingdom of Mide today encompasses much of counties Meath and Westmeath with five west County Offaly baronies. The Offaly parishes of Annally and Lusmagh were formerly part of Connacht while the baronies of Ballybritt and Clonlisk were part of Éile in Munster. County Louth was formerly part of Ulster. The last major boundary changes occurred with the formation of County Wicklow (1603–1606), from lands in the north of Carlow (which previously extended to the sea) and most of southern Dublin. The provincial borders were redrawn by Cromwell for administration and military reasons. Later minor changes dealt with "islands" of one county in another. By the late 1700s, Leinster looked as shown in the above map of 1784.

Leinster represents the extended "English Pale", counties controlled directly from Dublin, at the beginning of the 1600s. The other Provinces had their own regional Presidency systems, based on a Welsh model of administration, in theory if not in fact from the 1570s and 1580s up to the 1670s, and were considered separate entities. Gradually "Leinster" subsumed the term of "The Pale", as the difference between the old Pale area and the wider province, now under English administration, grew less distinct.

Counties and Counties Corporate

Main article: Counties of Ireland

Following the abolition of County Dublin, three successor counties were created that cover the same area. They are Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin. To these may be added the historic County Corporate of the city of Dublin, which, under the terms of the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 was abolished to be succeeded by the County borough of Dublin. This was in turn abolished under the terms of the Local Government Act 2001 and the area is now under the jurisdiction of Dublin City Council. The remaining counties of the province are Kildare, Offaly, Laois, Wexford, Carlow, Wicklow, Louth, Meath, Westmeath, Longford and Kilkenny. While Kilkenny city was once a county corporate, by the terms of the 1898 Act it became part of the administrative county. although it retains the privilege of calling itself a city.

However, the counties of Galway, London and Antrim play in the Leinster Hurling Championship with Galway winning the title in 2012.

Irish language

There are about 40,000 Irish speakers in the province; 1,299 native speakers in the Meath Gaeltacht and this doesn't count the 19,348 attending the 66 Gaelscoils (Irish language primary schools) and 15 Gaelcholáiste (Irish language secondary schools) all across the province. According to the Irish Census 2011 there are 20,040 daily speakers outside the education system in the province.

Cultural Venues

There are many cultural venues in the province however most are located in the Dublin region.

The list below is all the bigger venues in Leinster.

Venue	County	Capacity
3Arena	Dublin	14,500
Convention Centre Dublin	Dublin	2,000-8,000
Bord Gais Theatre	Dublin	2,111
Gaiety Theatre	Dublin	2,000
Ambassador Theatre	Dublin	1,300
Olympia Theatre	Dublin	1,249
National Concert Hall	Dublin	1,200
The Helix	Dublin	1,200
Vicar Street	Dublin	1,000
National Opera House	Wexford	855
Abbey Theatre	Dublin	629
Tivoli Theatre	Dublin	560
O'Reilly Theatre @ Belvedere College	Dublin	500
Dean Crowe Centre Athlone	Westmeath	455
Mullingar Arts Centre Mullingar	Westmeath	418
Liberty Hall	Dublin	411
Gate Theatre	Dublin	371
Táin Arts Centre Dundalk	Louth	355
Solstice Arts Centre Navan	Meath	355
St. Michaels Theatre New Ross	Wexford	329
Watergate Kikenny	Kilkenny	328
Pavillion Theatre Dún Laoghaire	Dublin	324
Carlow Theatre	Carlow	320
Draíocht Blanchardstonwn	Dublin	286
Lambert Puppet Theatre Monkstown	Dublin	250

Economy

The GDP of the province of Leinster is about 100 bn euro. According to 2012 Eurostat figures, GDP per capita ranges from €20,100 the lowest in the state in the Midlands to the Dublin region with €57,200.

Area	Population	Counties	City	GDP €	GDP per person €
Dublin Region	1.3 m	Dublin	Dublin	€72.4 bn	€57,200
Mid-East Region	475,000	Kildare, Meath & Wicklow	Bray	€13.3 bn	€24,700
Midlands Region	280,000	Laois, Offaly, Westmeath & Longford	Athlone	€5.7 bn	€20,100
South-East Region	460,000	Wexford, Kilkenny, Carlow	Kilkenny	€12.8 bn	€25,600
Source: http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/submitViewTableAction.do

Largest settlements (2011)

#	Settlement	County	Population
1	Dublin City	County Dublin	527,162
2	Tallaght	County Dublin	71,504
3	Blanchardstown	County Dublin	68,156
4	Lucan	County Dublin	45,861
5	Clondalkin	County Louth	44,772
6	Drogheda	County Louth	38,578
7	Dundalk ]	County Louth	37,816
8	Swords	County Dublin	36,924
9	Bray	County Wicklow	31,872
10	Navan	County Meath	28,559
11	Blackrock	County Dublin	28,070
12	Kilkenny	County Kilkenny	24,423
13	Carlow	County Carlow	23,030

See also

• Kings of Leinster
• Duke of Leinster
• Leinster (European Parliament constituency)
• Leinster House
• Leinster GAA
• Leinster Rugby
• Leinster Cricket Union
• New Leinster

References

• Foster, R. F. The Oxford History of Ireland. Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York, 1992. ISBN 0-19-285271-X (references to Irish colony in North Wales, Lleyn Peninsula, page 6)
• Kings, Saints and Sagas, Alfred. P. Smyth, in Wicklow:History and Society, 1994. ISBN 9780906602300
• Settlement patterns in the early historic kingdom of Leinster (seventh-mid twelfth centuries), Mark Clinton, in Seanchas:Studies in Early and Medieval Irish Archaeology, History and Literature in Honour of Francis John Byrne, ed. Alfred P. Smyth, pp. 275–298, Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2000.
• Kings, the kingship of Leinster, and the regnal poems of "laidshenchas Laigen":a reflection of dynastic politics in Leinster, 650-1150, Edel Bhreathnach, Seanchas ...", pp. 299–312.

External links

• 2006 Town population estimates
• CSO Irish Regional Income/GDP 2004 Report
• Gaelscoil stats
• Irish census 2006 -
• Gaeltacht Comprehensive Language Study 2007