Munster

Munster
An Mhumhain (Irish)
Coordinates: 52°15′N 9°00′W / 52.250°N 9.000°W / 52.250; -9.000
StateIreland
CountiesClare
Cork
Kerry
Limerick
Tipperary
Waterford
Government
  Teachtaí Dála15 Fianna Fáil TDs
9 Fine Gael TDs
8 Sinn Féin TDs
5 Independent TDs
3 Independent Ireland TDs
3 Labour Party TDs
3 Social Democrat TDs
  MEPs[a]1 Fine Gael MEP
2 Fianna Fáil MEP
1 Sinn Féin MEP
1 Independent MEP
Area
  Total
24,684 km2 (9,527 sq mi)
  Rank1st
Population
 (2022)
  Total
1,373,346
  Rank3rd
  Density56/km2 (140/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC±0 (WET)
  Summer (DST)UTC+1 (IST)
Eircode routing keys
Beginning with E, H, P, T, V, X (primarily)
Telephone area codes02x, 05x, 06x (primarily)
ISO 3166 codeIE-M
Patron Saint: Ailbe of Emly a. ^ Munster is part of the South constituency; the six Munster counties contain 67.7% of the population of this constituency.

Munster (Irish: an Mhumhain [ə ˈwuːnʲ] or Cúige Mumhan [ˌkuːɟə ˈmˠuːnˠ]) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west 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, with the most populated city being Cork. Other significant urban centres in the province include Limerick and Waterford.