North Tipperary

North Tipperary Tiobraid Árann Thuaidh
—  County  —
Country	Ireland
Province	Munster
County seat	Nenagh
Government
– Type	County Council
Area
– Total	2,046 km2 (790 sq mi)
Population (2011)	70,219
Car plates	TN
Website	www.tipperarynorth.ie

North Tipperary (Irish: Tiobraid Árann Thuaidh) is a county in Ireland. North Tipperary County Council is the local authority for the county and it is part of the Mid-West Region. It consists of 48% of the land area of the traditional county of Tipperary. It is located in the province of Munster and is named after the town of Tipperary. It was established in 1898 and has had a county council ever since, with separate assize courts since 1838. The county seat is Nenagh. Other population centres include Borrisoleigh, Templemore, Thurles and Roscrea.

Geography and political subdivisions

Lough Derg.

Keeper Hill

The region is part of the central plain of Ireland, but the diversified terrain contains several mountain ranges: the Arra Hills, the Silvermine and the Devil's Bit. No part of the county touches the coast. The southern part of county is drained by the River Suir; the northern part is drained by tributaries of the River Shannon which widens into Lough Derg. The centre is known as 'the Golden Vale', a rich pastoral stretch of land in the Suir basin which extends into counties Limerick and Cork.

Baronies

There are six historic baronies in North Tipperary: Eliogarty, Ikerrin, Ormond Upper, Ormond Lower, Owney and Arra and Kilnamanagh Upper.

Civil parishes and townlands

Main article: List of civil parishes of North Tipperary

Civil parishes in Ireland were delineated after the Down Survey as an intermediate subdivision, with multiple townlands per parish and multiple parishes per barony. The civil parishes had some use in local taxation and were included on the nineteenth century maps of the Ordnance Survey of Ireland.^[1] For poor law purposes District Electoral Divisions replaced the civil parishes in the mid-nineteenth century. There are 86 civil parishes in the county.^[2]

Politics and local government

The administrative county of Tipperary (North Riding) was established in 1898 and continued in existence until 2002. The area also had a separate existence as a judicial county following the establishment of assize courts in 1838. The council's name changed to North Tipperary County Council under the Local Government Act 2001. The Council oversees the county as an independent local government area. Per Schedule 8 of the same Act, the Council resolved to give to the office of its chairperson and vice-chairperson the title of “Mayor” or “Deputy Mayor”, respectively. The Council is made up of 21 representatives, directly elected through the system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote. The present Council was elected at the local elections held in June 2004.

The functions of the Council are divided into reserved and executive functions. Reserved functions are carried out by the members and relate primarily to policy issues, including the county development plan and the annual budget. Executive functions are the responsibility of the county manager. These include the day to day administration of services.

Under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1991, (Regional Authorities) (Establishment) Order, 1993,^[3] the territory of North Tipperary is defined as being in the Mid-West Region. This region is a NUTS III region of the European Union. The county of South Tipperary, by contrast, is part of the South-East Region. At a NUTS II level, both counties are in the Southern and Eastern region.

The county forms the bulk of the constituency of Tipperary North along with portions of counties South Tipperary and Offaly. The constituency returns 3 deputies to Dáil Éireann. For elections to the European Parliament, the county is part of the South constituency which returns 3 MEPs.

The Council also claims the title of The Premier County,^[4] a title which was usually taken to refer to the undivided territory of both north and south Tipperary. Following the split with the original count, North Tipperary was never granted its own coat of arms.

References

1. ^ "Interactive map (civil parish boundaries viewable in Historic layer)". Mapviewer. Ordnance Survey of Ireland. http://ims0.osiemaps.ie/website/publicviewer/main.aspx. Retrieved 9 March 2010. 
2. ^ Placenames Database of Ireland - Tipperary civil parishes.
3. ^ Official Irish Statues website. Local Government Act 1991, (Regional Authorities) (Establishment) Order.
4. ^ Introduction to North Tipperary

External links

• North Tipperary County Council
• Tipp Tatler magazine