# Administrative counties of Ireland

Administrative counties were a unit of local government created by an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for use in Ireland in 1899. Following the separation of the Irish Free State from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, administrative counties continued in use in the two parts of the island of Ireland under their respective sovereign jurisdictions. They continued in use until 1973 in Northern Ireland and until 2002 in the Republic of Ireland.

## History

The administrative counties were created by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898. The Act established a new system of local government in Ireland, consisting of county councils, similar to the systems created for England and Wales by the Local Government Act 1888 and for Scotland by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889.
As in England and Wales, the Act created county boroughs of Ireland's largest towns which were independent of their surrounding county councils, but in contrast to England, the county boroughs were deemed to be administrative counties themselves. Thus there were 38 administrative counties, of which 8 were county boroughs. After the separation of the Irish Free State, eight administrative counties remained in Northern Ireland (including two county boroughs), while the Irish Free State had 30 administrative counties (including four county boroughs).
The administrative counties of Northern Ireland were abandoned as local government areas by the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972. The Act came into effect in 1973.
Galway city become a county borough in 1986. In 1994 the administrative county of Dublin was abolished and its area was divided into three parts for the purposes of local government: Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin.
In the Republic of Ireland, the 1898 Act was replaced by the Local Government Act 2001, which came into operation on 1 January 2002. The Act adopted the simple title county in place of administrative county.

## Former administrative counties of Northern Ireland

The administrative counties in the area now constituting Northern Ireland were created as follows:
| Administrative county | Components |
| County of Antrim | The existing judicial county of Antrim less the portion of the City of Belfast situated therein |
| County of Armagh | The existing judicial county of Armagh less the portion of the town of Newry situated therein |
| County of Down | The existing judicial county of Down less the portions of the City of Belfast and the town of Lisburn situated therein Part of the judicial county of Armagh (the portion of the town of Newry situated therein) |
| County of Fermanagh | The existing judicial county of Fermanagh |
| County of Londonderry | |
| County of Tyrone | The existing judicial county of Tyrone |

### County boroughs

| County borough | Year |
| Belfast County Borough | 1899 |
| Londonderry County Borough | 1899 |

## Former administrative counties of the Republic of Ireland

The administrative counties in the area now constituting the Republic of Ireland were created as follows:
| Administrative county | Components |
| County of Carlow | The existing judicial county of Carlow So much of Queen's County as forms part of the town of Carlow |
| County of Cavan | The existing judicial county of Cavan |
| County of Clare | The existing judicial county of Clare Part of the judicial county of Galway (Drummaan, Inishcaltra North and Mountshannon EDs) |
| County of Cork | The existing judicial county of Cork |
| County of Donegal | The existing judicial county of Donegal |
| County of Dublin | The existing judicial county of Dublin less the portion of the township of Bray situated therein |
| County of Galway | The existing judicial county of Galway less the Ballinchalla, Inishcaltra North, Mountshannon, Owenbrin and Rosmoylan EDs Part of the judicial county of Roscommon (the portion of the town of Ballinasloe situated therein) The judicial County of the Town of Galway |
| County of Kerry | The existing judicial county of Kerry |
| County of Kildare | The existing judicial county of Kildare |
| County of Kilkenny | The existing judicial county of Kilkenny less the portion of the town of New Ross situated therein The judicial County of the City of Kilkenny Part of the judicial county of Waterford (Kilculliheen ED) |
| King's County | The existing judicial county of King's County |
| County of Leitrim | The existing judicial county of Leitrim |
| County of Limerick | The existing judicial county of Limerick |
| County of Longford | The existing judicial county of Longford |
| County of Louth | The existing judicial county of Louth The judicial County of the Town of Drogheda |
| County of Mayo | The existing judicial county of Mayo less Ballaghaderreen, Edmondstown EDs Part of the judicial county of Galway (Ballinchala, Owenbrin EDs) Part of the judicial county of Sligo (Ardnaree North, Ardnaree South Rural, Ardnaree South Urban EDs) |
| County of Meath | The existing judicial county of Meath |
| County of Monaghan | The existing judicial county of Monaghan |
| Queen's County | The existing judicial county of Queen's County less the portion of the town of Carlow situated therein |
| County of Roscommon | The existing judicial county of Roscommon less the portions of the towns of Athlone and Ballinasloe situated therein Part of the judicial county of Galway (Rosmoylan ED) Part of the judicial county of Mayo (Ballaghaderreen, Edmondstown EDs) |
| County of Sligo | The existing judicial county of Sligo less Ardnaree North, Ardnareee South Rural, Ardnaree South Urban EDs |
| County of Tipperary, North Riding | The existing judicial county of the North Riding of Tipperary less Cappagh, Curraheen, Glengar EDs |
| County of Tipperary, South Riding | The existing judicial county of the South Riding of Tipperary Part of the judicial county of the North Riding of Tipperary (Cappagh, Curraheen, Glengar EDs) Part of the judicial county of Waterford (the portions of the town of Carrick-on-Suir and of the borough of Clonmel situated therein) |
| County of Waterford | The existing judicial county of Waterford less Kilculliheen ED and the portions of the town of Carrick-on-Suir and the borough of Clonmel situated therein. |
| County of Westmeath | The existing judicial county of Westmeath Part of the judicial county of Roscommon (the portion of the town of Athlone situated therein) |
| County of Wexford | The existing judicial county of Wexford Part of the judicial county of Kilkenny (the portion of the town of New Ross situated therein) |
| County of Wicklow | The existing judicial county of Wicklow Part of the judicial county of Dublin (the portion of the township of Bray situated therein) |

### County boroughs

| County borough | Year |
| Cork | 1899 |
| Dublin | 1899 |
| Galway | 1986 |
| Limerick | 1899 |
| Waterford | 1899 |

## County and county borough boundaries

The Act placed a number of townlands in a different administrative county from their parent county, following a policy to keep each urban sanitary districts and poor law union within a single administrative county.
The boundaries of the counties and county boroughs, which came into effect on 18 April 1899, were defined by orders of the Local Government Board for Ireland.