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This is an alphabetical list of the main rivers on the island of Ireland. It includes rivers that flow through the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Rivers that flow through Northern Ireland are marked with an asterisk (*). There are over 70,000 km of waterways in the Republic of Ireland contained in 3,192 river water bodies including rivers, streams, and tributaries.^[1] The major rivers have their length (in miles and kilometres) given. Also shown are two tables. Table 1 shows the longest rivers in Ireland with their lengths (in miles and kilometres), the counties they flow through, and their catchment areas (in km²). Table 2 shows the largest rivers in Ireland (by mean flow) in cubic meters per second.

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

TABLE 1

a

• The length of the River Shannon from the Shannon Pot to Limerick City is 258 kilometres (160 mi)^[10] with a basin area of 11,700 km².
• The River Shannon's overall length (to Loop Head), using the Owenmore River (County Cavan) as source, is 372 kilometres (231 mi),^[11] 11 km (7 mi) longer than the Shannon Pot source.
• The River Shannon's overall length (to Loop Head), using the Boyle River's furthest source, is 392.1 kilometres (243.6 mi),^[12] making the Boyle-Shannon river the longest natural stream flow (source to sea) in Ireland, 31.6 km (19.5 mi) longer than the Shannon Pot source.
• The River Shannon is a traditional freshwater river for just about 45% of its total length. Excluding the 102.2-kilometre (63.5 mi) tidal estuary from its total length of 360 kilometres (224 mi), if one also excludes the lakes (L. Derg 39 kilometres (24 mi), L. Ree 29 kilometres (18 mi), L. Allen 11 kilometres (7 mi)^[13] plus L. Boderg, L. Bofin, L. Forbes, L. Corry) from the Shannon's freshwater flow of 258.3 kilometres (160.5 mi), the Shannon as a freshwater river is only about 160 kilometres (100 mi) long.

b

• The total basin area of the Three Sisters (Barrow, Nore and Suir) is 9,207 km².

c

• The traditional length given for the River Bann is 80 miles (129 km) which is the combined total length of Upper and Lower Bann rivers and doesn't include Lough Neagh.
• The total length of the Ulster Blackwater from its source to the sea via L. Neagh and the Lower Bann is 186.3 km (115.75 mi),^[14] surpassed, in Ireland, only by the Shannon and Barrow rivers. This is the longest stream flow (source to sea) in Ulster.^[15]

d

• The total basin area of the 6 km River Corrib is 3,138 km^2[2]
• The total length of the River Robe's journey from its source near Ballyhaunis to Galway Bay (via Lough Mask, Cong canal and river, Lough Corrib and River Corrib) is 72 miles (116 km).^[16] This is the longest stream flow (source to sea) within the Corrib Basin.^[15]

Largest Irish Rivers (by flow)