* CITY: Limerick City is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the county-seat for Limerick County. The population within the Limerick urban area is about 90,000. The city occupies a strategic position as a crossing point on the river Shannon, the longest river in Ireland. There are three bridges within the city and none downriver although a 4-lane tunnel was recently opened about a mile downriver. Below the city, the waterway is tidal, known as the Shannon Estuary and forms the boundary between counties Limerick and Clare, meeting the Atlantic Ocean about 50 miles west from Limerick city.

* EUROPEAN CITY OF SPORT 2011: Limerick City was awarded the title of 'European City of Sport for 2011' by the European Capitals of Sport Association (ACES).

* HISTORY: Limerick's early history is virtually undocumented, other than by oral tradition. The earliest documented settlement dates from 812, however, history suggests the presence of earlier settlements in the area surrounding King's Island, the historical city centre. Antiquity's map-maker, Ptolemy, produced in 150 the earliest map of Ireland, showing a place called "Regia" at the same site as King's Island. History also records an important battle involving Cormac mac Airt in 221 and a visit by St. Patrick in 434 to baptize a king, Carthann the Fair. Saint Munchin, the first bishop of Limerick died in 652, indicating the city was a place of some note. In 812 vikings sailed up the Shannon and pillaged the town, burned the monastery of Mungret but were forced to flee when the Irish attacked and killed many of their number. The earliest record of viking (norse) settlement at Limerick is in 845 and permanent settlement had begun by 922. The last Norse king of Limerick, Ivar, was killed in a battle by Brian Boru in the early 11th century. Norse Limerick was annexed and the O’Briens, Kings of Thomond and Munster, made Limerick their royal seat during the 10th and 11th centuries. At that time Limerick obviously of great importance as evidenced by being a contentious issue between neighbouring chieftains and foreigners who regularly burned and pillaged the city. The arrival of the Normans to the area in 1173 changed everything. Thy redesigned/rebuilt the city and added much of the most notable architecture, such as King John's Castle and St Mary's Cathedral. They developed a medieval city of two walled towns, the English town in the 13th and the Irish town in the 14th century. During the civil wars of the 17th century, the city played a pivotal role, besieged by Oliver Cromwell in 1651 and twice by the Williamites in the 1690s, culminating in the signing of a treaty. The stone upon which the treaty is claimed to have been signed is now a city landmark. An extensive Georgian city replaced the old city in the 18th and 19th centuries. Limerick grew rich through trade in the late 18th century, but the Act of Union in 1800, and the 1840s famines caused a crippling economic decline broken only in the 1990s.