The limerick, it would appear, / Is a verse form we owe Edward Lear: / Two long and two short / Lines rhymed, as was taught, / And a fifth just to bring up the rear. Lear, in fact, popularized the form, which is known from the 11th-c, and usually consists of five predominantly anapaestic lines rhyming aabba. It is especially used with the opening There was a ... (young man from Dundee, young lady of Cheam, etc).
open ground - of the horses) is a city and the county seat of County Limerick in the province of Munster, in the midwest of the Republic of Ireland. The city lies on the River Shannon, with three main crossing points near the city centre.The population of Limerick including the immediate suburbs and environs is 93,321 (based on the 2002 census carried out by the CSO), which would rank it as the third biggest city in the Republic of Ireland; however, the official population of the city itself according to the city boundary laws is 52,560, according to the most recent census of 2006. This figure has remained virtually unchanged for 25 years, and places it as the fourth largest city in the Republic of Ireland after Dublin, Cork and Galway, and the fifth largest urban area on the island of Ireland (after Dublin, Belfast, Cork and Derry).
Limerick is at the centre of the Midwest region which contributes €8.224 billion (2002) towards Irish GDP.
See also: List of Limerick peopleHistory
The city dates from at least the Viking settlement in 812, but study suggests the presence of earlier settlements in the area. The Waterford and Limerick Railway linked the city to the Dublin-Cork main line in 1848 and to Waterford in 1853.
See also: History of Ireland, Sieges of Limerick, and Cromwellian conquest of IrelandGovernance
Limerick City Council has responsibility for certain local services such as sanitation, planning and development, libraries, collection of motor taxation, local roads and social housing. The City Council comprises elected ward councillors (formerly termed Aldermen) with an appointed (full time) CEO as City Manager.
Despite the rapid growth of the city environs, the city borders have not been changed since the 1960's. A large proportion of what is considered as the population of Limerick City now live in suburbs built after the 1960's and are thus in the Limerick County Council administrative area. There are ever-increasing political demands from City Councillors for a redrawing of the boundary , which is generally deemed antiquated and inaccurate for modern-day Limerick.
For national Dáil elections Limerick city is included in the Limerick East constituency which elects five members on a proportional representation system.
Between April 15 1919, and April 27, 1919 the city had a period of socialist self-rule, which was called the Limerick Soviet (which was parodied several times by the satirical RTE Radio 1 program Scrap Saturday).
See also: Local government in the Republic of IrelandArchitecture
The city centre is divided between the traditional areas of "English Town" on the southern end of King's Island, which includes the castle, "Irish Town" which includes the older streets on the south bank, and the current economic centre called "Newtown Pery". Newtown Pery was built in the late 18th century before the Act of Union and, unusually for an Irish city and unique in Limerick itself, this area is laid out on a grid plan. Limerick city centre is changing rapidly, with the construction of several modern high-rise buildings in the early-2000s.
Much Georgian architecture was evident in the city from about the 1800s onwards. Other architectural buildings of note in the city are King John's Castle and St Mary's Cathedral in English Town and St John's Cathedral, designed by the notable Victorian architect, P.C Hardwick (1822-1892). City Service Routes are as follows (frequencies shown in brackets, in minutes):
301 City Centre to Shannon Banks or Westbury (301A) (30mins) 302 City Centre to Caherdavin (302A Caherdavin-to-University) (20) 303 Carew Park to Ballynanty (30) 304 City Centre to Raheen (Services via Greenfields operate as 304A) (10) 305 Lynwood to Coonagh Roundabout (30–60) 306 Craeval Park to O'Malley Park (30) 308 City Centre to University (Services via Pennywell operate as 308A) (15) 309 Pineview to St. Mary's Park (60) 312 City Centre to Ballycummin (60). These include hourly services to Dublin, Cork and Galway and others cities, as well as a daily service to London via ferry services from Rosslare Europort.Flight
Shannon International Airport, 20 km west of the city in County Clare, has scheduled flights to many European and North American destinations.
See also: Transport in IrelandEducation
Limerick is an important centre of higher education in Ireland after Dublin and Cork, having its own university and several colleges.
The University of Limerick (UL), which is situated about 5 km east of the city centre in the suburb of Castletroy, is an internationally renowned centre for engineering, information technology, materials science, sports science, humanities, social sciences, and music.
Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT), based about 3 km north-west of the city centre, is an important centre for business, engineering, information technology, Humanities and science education. It also has a broad range of art and design courses, offered at Limerick School of Art and Design – its Clare Street campus (near the city centre). 6,500 students
Mary Immaculate College, Limerick (technically a part of the University of Limerick), is an education and arts college situated just south-west of the city centre.
Primary and secondary education in the city is organised similarly to the rest of Ireland.
See also: Education in IrelandMedia and the Arts
Broadcast
Lyric FM, a state-run classical music radio station and part of RTÉ, broadcasts nationally from studios in the city centre, also from RTE you have RTE Radio 1, RTE 2fm and Radio na Gaeltachta, plus the other national radio stations Today FM and Newstalk which are privately owned. Wired FM also has studios in the University of Limerick and Limerick Institute of Technology. Limerick also has an unlicensed radio station, Radio Limerick One, which originally was licensed by the then IRTC.
Several local newspapers are published in the city, including The Limerick Post and The Limerick Leader.
The Limerick City Art Gallery on Pery Square is the city’s chief venue for contemporary art exhibitions. Limerick's major contemporary art event is EV+A (Exhibition of Visual+ Art) which invades the city annually, often in bizarre and controversial ways. The centre of the exhibition is the Limerick City Art Gallery.
Other vibrant Limerick arts groups include Contact Studios (who provide individual studio spaces for visual artists), the Daghdha Dance Company (a contemporary dance company who have adopted a renovated church in John's Square, adjacent to St. John's Cathedral, as a performance space), the Impact Theatre Company (a theatre group based in The Crescent on O'Connell Street) and Limerick Printmakers(who provide printmaking facilities and a venue for exhibitions and events).
The city has a vibrant music scene, which has produced Limerick bands such as The Cranberries (and guitarist Noel Hogans' MonoBand), The Hitchers and many more.
The city served as the setting for Frank McCourt's memoir Angela's Ashes and for the film adaptation of the same name.
See also: Culture of Ireland and Media in IrelandIn 2003 a local film directed by Robert Cunningham and starring well known actors in Limerick called "Somebody's Daughter" was shot in various locations around the city, it had a premiere in King Johns Castle in July 2004.Tourism
Limerick City is one of the countrys main tourist destinations, the city is only a 15 minute drive from Shannon International Airport. The city is the first to provide visitors to the city with 'Street Ambassadors', people designated to help others around and make the stay in Limerick more enjoyable.
When in Limerick, there's plenty to keep visitors occupied including King John's Castle (1212), St. Mary's Cathedral, Limerick (1168), Hunt Museum, Tours (Angela's Ashes walking tour of Limerick City, Hop on-Hop off Sightseeing tour of Limerick City, The historical walking tour of Limerick and Boat tours along the River Shannon *Not all tours are operational year round*), Georgian house and gardens, Treaty Stone, and more in the city centre. The region encompasses County Limerick, County Clare, North County Tipperary and Northwest County Kerry, with its focal point centred on Limerick and its environs within an eight kilometre (5 mile) radius
The area is possibly the main economic region outside of Dublin and Cork.
Retail
The service industry is an important employer in the city. The city centre is one of the main shopping areas, with the pedestrianised Cruises Street being one of the main shopping streets and the soon to be finished Bedford Row. The first two extensive retail parks in the city, the Parkway Retail Park (opened 2002) and Childers Road Retail Park (opened 2005), are located near this shopping centre. This will be the first major leap of faith by external developers in Limerick City Centre as up to now the city has been all but passed over leaing the majority of development to locals.
See also: Economy of IrelandHospitals
Mid Western Regional Hospital St John's Hospital Barringtons Hospital Croom Orthopaedic HospitalClimate
Limerick has a mild climate, with the average daily maximum in July at 23°C (73.4°F) and the average daily minimum in January at -4°C (24.8°F).
Climate Table| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average daily maximum temperature (°C) | 11 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 18 | 20 | 23 | 23 | 19 | 17 | 12 | 11 | 16.1 | |
| Average daily minimum temperature (°C) | -4 | -1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3.3 | |
| Mean total rainfall (mm) | 100 | 70 | 70 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 80 | 80 | 90 | 90 | 100 | 920 | |
| Source: Yahoo! Weather | ||||||||||||||
Crime
The city's crime problem has been the subject of much adverse publicity; In 2001, the then Deputy State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy told the Irish Medical Organisation that Limerick deserved its moniker as 40% of all stabbings in the country, in the previous year, had occurred in Limerick.
Recent years have seen serious crimes in Limerick being linked with feuds between criminal gangs within certain areas of the city, mainly Moyross, Southill and St. Mary's Park.
Despite a relative lull in gang violence between 2004 and the first half of 2006 in Limerick's housing estates, the problem seems to have escalated again in September 2006, with two children suffering extensive burns in the torching of their mother's car in early September, and a series of apparently retaliatory attacks including a drive-by shooting later that month.
Twinned Cities
Limerick is twinned with Quimper in France and Spokane, Washington in the United States. In 2006 it was announced that the city would twin with New York City in the U.S..
1980 — Quimper, Brittany, France 1990 — Spokane, Washington, U.S. 2006 — Starogard Gdański, Eastern Pomerania, Poland 2006 — New York City, New York, U.S.
TriviaThe winner of the largest EuroMillions prize to date, Dolores McNamara, is a native of the Garryowen area of Limerick. ^ One-way ticket out of Stab City — The Observer newspaper article, 7 August 2005 ^ Irish Emigrant Newsletter ^ From 'Stab City' to Fab City — The Irish Independent newspaper article, 28 January 2006 ^ Garda Síochána Annual Report 2005 — Official crime statistics from An Garda Síochána, page 27: Headline offences per 1000 of population 2005 ^ Third gang sets up family rivalries to control drugs — The Observer newspaper article, 2 February, 2003 ^ Victim of Limerick shooting identified ^ Praying for a miracle, from the Irish Examiner ^ 3 major US radio stations broadcast live from Limerick — Shannon Development press release, 16 March 2006External linksMid-West GDP 2002 Limerick City Council LimerickPride The NewsWire -Limerick NewsBlog Architecture of Limerick Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 52.6652° -8.6238° Mapping from Multimap or GlobalGuide or Google Maps Aerial image from TerraServer Satellite image from WikiMapia
Republic of Ireland: Dublin • Cork • Limerick • Galway • Waterford • Kilkenny Northern Ireland: Belfast • Derry • Armagh • Newry • Lisburn
Connacht: Galway ) • Leitrim |
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