Leinster

For other uses, see Leinster (disambiguation).

Leinster
Laighin[1]
Flag of Leinster
Flag
Coat of arms of Leinster
Coat of arms
Location of Leinster
StateIreland
Counties
Area
 • Total19,801 km2 (7,645 sq mi)
 • Rank3rd
Population
 (2022)[2]
 • Total2,870,354
 • Rank1st
 • Density140/km2 (380/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC±0 (WET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+1 (IST)
Eircode routing keys
Beginning with A, C, D, K, N, R, W, Y (primarily)
Telephone area codes01, 04x, 05x, 090 (primarily)
ISO 3166 codeIE-L
Patron Saint: Brigid[3] a. ^ Leinster contains the entirety of the Dublin constituency and parts of the South and Midlands–North-West constituencies; Leinster contains 44.4% of the population of the Midlands–North-West constituency and 32.3% of the population of the South constituency.[4]

Leinster (/ˈlɛnstər/ LEN-stər; Irish: Laighin [ˈl̪ˠəinʲ] or Cúige Laighean [ˌkuːɟə ˈl̪ˠəinˠ]) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland.

The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ireland, the historic "fifths" of Leinster and Meath 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 prompted further sub-division of the historic counties.

Leinster has no official function for local-government purposes. However, it is an officially recognised subdivision of Ireland and is listed on ISO 3166-2 as one of the four provinces of Ireland. "IE-L" is attributed to Leinster as its country sub-division code. Leinster had a population of 2,858,501 according to the preliminary results of the 2022 census, making it the most populous province in the country.[2] The traditional flag of Leinster features a golden harp on a green background.

  1. ^ "ISO 3166-2 Newsletter II-1" (PDF). Iso.org. 19 February 2010. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 February 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2016. which gives Leinster as the official English name of the Province and Laighin as the official Irish name of the Province and cites "Ordnance Survey Office, Dublin 1993"
  2. ^ a b "Population and Actual and Percentage Change 2011 to 2016 by Sex, Province County or City". Central Statistics Office. 2016. Archived from the original on 31 August 2017. Retrieved 17 November 2016.[failed verification]
  3. ^ Koch, John (2006). Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781851094400. Archived from the original on 4 August 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2016. Brigit (Goddess)
  4. ^ Census of Ireland 2016