Rivers of Ireland

Shown here are all the major rivers and tributaries of Ireland with their lengths (in kilometres and miles). Starting with the Northern Ireland rivers, and going in a clockwise direction, the rivers (and tributaries) are listed in regard to their entry into the different seas: the Irish Sea, the Celtic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Also shown are two tables. Table 1 shows the longest rivers in Ireland with their lengths (in kilometres and miles), the counties they flow through, and their catchment areas (in square kilometres). Table 2 shows the largest rivers in Ireland (by mean flow) in cubic metres per second.

The longest river in Ireland is the River Shannon, at 360.5 kilometres (224.0 mi). The river develops into three lakes along its course, Lough Allen, Lough Ree and Lough Derg. Of these, Lough Derg is the largest. The Shannon enters the Atlantic Ocean at the Shannon Estuary. Other major rivers include the River Liffey, River Lee, River Swilly, River Foyle, River Lagan, River Erne, River Blackwater, River Nore, River Suir, River Barrow (The Three Sisters), River Bann, River Slaney, River Boyne, River Moy and River Corrib.

Longest Irish Rivers (with Basin areas)

Lengths obtained from the Ordnance Survey of Ireland: Rivers and their Catchment Basins 1958 (Table of Reference), and for the rivers Bann and Erne - Notes on River Basins by Robert A. Williams

River Counties Length Basin Area
1 River Shannon (including estuary and flow through lakes)a Cavan, Leitrim, Roscommon, Longford, Westmeath, Galway, Offaly,

Tipperary, Clare, Limerick, Kerry

360 km (224 mi) 16,800 km2[1]
2 River Barrowb Laois, Kildare, Kilkenny, Carlow,

Wexford, Waterford

192 km (119 mi) 3,067 km2[1]
3 River Suirb Tipperary, Waterford, Kilkenny, Wexford 184 km (114.5 mi) 3,610 km2[1]
4 River Blackwater (Munster) Kerry, Cork, Waterford 168 km (104.5 mi) 3,324 km2[1]
5 River Bann (including flow through L. Neagh)c Down, Armagh, Antrim, Londonderry 159 km (99 mi) 5,808 km2[2]
6 River Noreb Tipperary, Laois, Kilkenny 140 km (87 mi) 2,530 km2[1]
7 River Suck (Shannon) Roscommon, Galway 133 km (83 mi) 1,600 km2[3]
8 River Liffey Wicklow, Kildare, Dublin 132 km (82 mi) 1,256 km2[1]
9 River Erne Cavan, Fermanagh, Donegal 129 km (80 mi)[4] 4,372 km2[1]
10 River Foyle (including Rivers Mourne, Strule & Camowen) Tyrone, Londonderry, Donegal 129 km (80 mi) 2,925 km2[2]
11 River Slaney Wicklow, Carlow, Wexford 117 km (73 mi) 1,762 km2[1]
12 River Boyne Kildare, Offaly, Meath, Louth 113 km (70 mi) 2,695 km2[1]
13 River Moy Sligo, Mayo 101 km (62.5 mi) 2,086 km2[1]
14 River Clare (Corrib)d Mayo, Roscommon, Galway 93 km (58 mi) 1,108 km2[5]
15 River Blackwater (Ulster) (Bann) c Tyrone, Monaghan, Armagh 92 km (57 mi) 1,507 km2[2]
16t River Inny (Shannon) Cavan, Longford, Westmeath 89 km (55.5 mi) 1.254 km2[3]
16t River Lee Cork 89 km (55.5 mi) 1,253 km2[1]
18 River Lagan Down, Antrim 86 km (53.5 mi) 565 km2[2]
19 River Brosna (Shannon) Westmeath, Offaly 79 km (49 mi) 1,248 km2[3]
20 River Laune (includes Lough Leane and River Flesk) Kerry 76 km (47.25 mi) 829 km2
21 River Feale (Shannon) Cork, Limerick, Kerry 74 km (46 mi) 1,170 km2[6]
22 River Bandon Cork 72 km (45 mi) 608 km2[1]
23 River Blackwater (Boyne) Cavan, Meath 68 km (42.5 mi) 733 km2[7]
24 River Annalee (Erne) Monaghan, Cavan 66.8 km (41.75 mi) 522 km2[7]
25 River Bride (M. Blackwater) Cork, Waterford 64 km (40 mi) 419 km2
26 Boyle River (including Lung River) (Shannon) Mayo, Sligo, Roscommon 64 km (40 mi)[8] 725 km2
27 River Deel (Shannon) Cork, Limerick 63.2 km (39.5 mi) 481 km2[7]
28 River Robe (Corrib)d Mayo 62.8 km (39.25 mi) 320 km2
29 River Finn (County Donegal) (Foyle) Donegal, Tyrone 62.8 km (39.25 mi) 505 km2[7]
30 River Maigue (Shannon) Cork, Limerick 62 km (38.75 mi) 1,000 km2
31 Fane River Monaghan, Armagh, Louth 61.2 km (38.25 mi) 350 km2
32 Ballisodare River Sligo 60.8 km (38 mi) 650 km2[2]
33 River Dee (Louth) Cavan, Meath, Louth 60.4 km (37.75 mi) 392 km2[7]
34 River Fergus (Shannon) Clare 58.4 km (36.5 mi) 1,043 km2
35 Little Brosna River (Shannon) Offaly, Tipperary 57.6 km (36 mi) 662 km2
36 Mulkear River (including Bilboa River) (Shannon) Tipperary, Limerick 55.9 km (34.75 mi) 650 km2
37 River Glyde (Co. Louth) Cavan, Meath, Louth 55.9 km (34.75 mi) 348 km2

TABLE 1

a

b

c

d

Rivers in Northern Ireland

With length in miles (and km)

Rivers in the Republic of Ireland, flowing into the Irish Sea

With length in miles (and km)

Rivers in the Republic of Ireland, flowing into the Celtic Sea

With length in miles (and km)

Rivers in the Republic of Ireland, flowing into the Atlantic Ocean

With length in miles (and km)

Largest Irish Rivers (by flow)

River

(River Basin)

Mean Discharge

(m³/s)

1 River Shannon[1]a 209 (300)
2 River Corrib[1] 104
3 River Bann[18]b 92 (102.5)
4 River Foyle[19] 90
5 River Blackwater (Munster)[1] 87
6 River Erne[1] 85
7 River Suir[1]c 68
8 River Moy[1] 63
9 River Barrow[1]c 44
10 River Laune[1] 43
11 River Nore[1]c 42
12 River Lee[1] 40
13 River Boyne[1] 38
14 River Cong[7] (Corrib) 37.6
15 River Slaney[1] 37
16 River Feale[20] (Shannon) 34.6
17 River Fergus[20] (Shannon) 25.7
18 River Clare[21] (Corrib) 22.9
19 River Suck[21] (Shannon) 22.2
20 River Bandon[1] 21.5
21 River Mourne[21] (Foyle) 21.1
22 River Blackwater (Ulster)[21] (Bann) 19.7
23 River Ballisodare[7] 18.25
24 River Inny[21] (Shannon) 18.4
25 River Avoca[1] 18
26 River Liffey[1] 17
27 River Derg[21] (Foyle) 16.2
28 River Maigue[20] (Shannon) 15.6
29 River Main[21] (Bann) 15.4
30 River Blackwater (Boyne)[7] (Boyne) 15.08
31 Aille River (Connacht)[22] (Corrib) 15.0
32 Owenmore River (County Mayo)[21] 14.7
33 Boyle River[7] (Shannon) 13.57
34 River Deel[7] (Shannon) 12.56
35 Mulkear River[7] (Shannon) 12.55

TABLE 2

a The River Shannon's 209 m3/s is to Limerick City (Catchment area: 11,700 km2). If the discharges from all of the rivers and streams into the Shannon Estuary (including the rivers Feale 34.6m3/s, Maigue 15.6m3/s, Fergus 25.7m3/s, and Deel 7.4m3/s)[20][23] are added to the discharge at Limerick giving a total catchment of 16,865 km2, the total discharge of the River Shannon at its mouth at Loop Head reaches 300 m3/s

b The River Bann's 92 m3/s is to Movanagher Gauging station (Basin area 5209.8 km2).[24] The 102.5 m3/s is based on the total basin area of 5808 km2[2] .

c The Three Sisters (Barrow, Nore & Suir) total flow into Waterford Harbour is 154 m3/s and the combined flow of the Barrow and Nore rivers is 86 m3/s before joining the river Suir near Waterford City.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Riverine Inputs and Direct Discharges to Convention Waters Annex V Statistical information on river catchment areas P. 70
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 Ordnance Survey of Ireland: Rivers and their Catchment Basins 1958 (Table of Reference)
  3. 1 2 3 Dublin Marine Institute 1998: Studies of Irish Rivers and Lakes: Moriarty, Christopher
  4. 1 2 3 Notes on River Basins: Page 67
  5. Western CFRAM Units of Management
  6. Biology and Management of European Eel p.29
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 http://www.irishhydro.com/rivers.htm
  8. 1 2 Notes on River Basins: Page 69
  9. 1 2 Ordnance Survey (Ireland) Educational Facts
  10. Shannon River Basin: Furthest sourceShannon River Basin#Furthest sources
  11. Boyle River (Ireland)
  12. Ask about Ireland
  13. Ulster BlackwaterRiver Blackwater, Northern Ireland
  14. 1 2 European Commission Rivers Map
  15. River Robe
  16. Notes on River Basins: Page 68
  17. Notes on River Basins: Page 64
  18. http://nrfa.ceh.ac.uk/data/station/info/203040
  19. http://www.ecowin.org/smile/loughfoyle.htm
  20. 1 2 3 4 Long-term effects of hydropower installations and associated river regulation on River Shannon eel populations: mitigation and management
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Royal Irish Academy, Atlas of Ireland (Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, 1979) Hydrology P. 23 - Rivers: Mean Discharge
  22. http://www.opw.ie/hydro/index.asp?mpg=main.asp
  23. SFPC Maintenance Dredging Application: Table 3-7
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