Limerick - City of Ireland

Limerick is a city and the county seat of County Limerick in the province of Munster, in the midwest of Ireland. The city lies on the River Shannon, with three main crossing points near the city centre and has a 2006 population of 91,000 inhabitants within the Limerick urban area and is one of the constituent cities of the Cork-Limerick-Galway corridor with a population of 1 million people.

Luimneach originally referred to the general area along the banks of the Shannon Estuary, which was known as Loch Luimnigh. The earliest settlement in the city Inis Sibhtonn was the original name in the annals for King's Island during the pre-Viking and Viking eras. This island was also called Inis an Ghaill Duibh The Dark Foreigner's Island.

The Waterford and Limerick Railway linked the city to the Dublin-Cork main line in 1848 and to Waterford in 1853. The opening of a number of secondary railways in the 1850s and 1860s developed Limerick as a regional centre of communications.

Limerick City is one of the country's main tourist destinations, the city is only a 15 minute drive from Shannon Airport. Currently tourism is growing at a spectacular rate with over 1,000 new beds being opened in the city in 2006 thanks to the opening of 5 new hotels. 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.

The Jim Kemmy Municipal Museum, also known as Limerick Museum, is to be found next to King John's Castle. It contains displays on Limerick's history and manufactures.

Limerick is an important centre of higher education in Ireland after Dublin and Cork. It is home to 10 higher institutes of learning and has a student population of over 20,000.

Technical and continuation education within the City traces its beginning back to the formation of the Limerick Athenaeum Society in 1852. The Society's aims included "the promotion of Literature, Science, Art and Music".

Primary and secondary education in the city is organised similarly to the rest of Ireland.

The Model School is one of the gaelscoils in Limerick. It is primary and has over 500 students. It is over 150 years old, and is the only school in Munster with the educlick education system.

Limerick has a mild climate, with the average daily maximum in July at 20°C ( and the average daily minimum in January at 4°C . The highest temperature recorded in the city was 31.6°C in 1995, and the lowest was -11.2°C.