Midlands Region, Ireland

The Irish Midlands (Irish Lár na Tire ) is a region in the Republic of Ireland. It consists of the counties of Laois, Longford, Offaly and Westmeath.

Its area is 6524 km ² ( 9.5% of Ireland's land area ), with a population of 251 664 ( 6% of the Irish population ). The main town is Athlone.

The region is sparsely populated and rural; Main industries are the mining of peat and wood (the latter makes a third of the Irish timber industry from ). The landscape is dominated by waterways, especially from Shannon, Ireland's longest river and its lakes (eg Lough Ree ). These ways are today V.A. interesting for tourism (as well as hiking trails along the Grand Canal and the Royal Canal, both of which lead from Shannon to Liffey in Dublin). A monument of the early Christian Ireland is the former monastery of Clonmacnoise near Shannonbridge, Offaly, which lies directly on the River Shannon and a Esker.

Two (former) whiskey distilleries are located here: the oldest whiskey distillery in Ireland (founded 1757, closed since 1957, since then a museum), the Locke 's Distillery, Kilbeggan in, and the former distillery in Tullamore Tullamore Dew ( 1829-1959 ) (now the Tullamore Dew Heritage Centre ).