List of loughs of Ireland

This is an alphabetical list of loughs (lakes) on the island of Ireland. It also shows a table of the largest loughs. The word lough is pronounced like loch and comes from the Irish loch, meaning lake.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, there are an estimated 12,000 lakes in the Republic of Ireland, covering an area of more than 1,200 square kilometres. The largest lough, by area, in Ireland is Lough Neagh. Lough Corrib is the second largest, and is the largest in the Republic. The largest lough, by water volume, is Lough Neagh, with Lough Mask being the largest in the Republic.

The list below contains only those loughs that are of geographic, geological, or historical importance and almost all of them are over a square kilometre in area. It includes loughs that are in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Those partly or wholly within Northern Ireland are marked with an asterisk (*).

Largest Irish lakes
The largest freshwater loughs in Ireland are:

Muckross Lake (the middle lake of the Killarney lakes) is the deepest Irish lake, with a maximum depth of 75 metres.

(Volume = Area * Mean Depth)

Freshwater lakes


Lakes with the county/counties where they are situated and their area in square kilometres. Most of the Republic of Ireland lake areas are taken from the Environmental Protection Agency's A Reference based Typology and Ecological Assessment System for Irish Lakes (pp. 10–13)

Brackish loughs
An example of a brackish lagoon is Lady's Island Lake, County Wexford

Turloughs

 * Loughareema, County Antrim*
 * Glenamaddy Turlough, County Galway
 * Rahasane Turlough, County Galway
 * Shannon Pot, County Cavan

Reservoirs

 * Poulaphouca Reservoir, County Wicklow
 * Silent Valley Reservoir, County Down*
 * Spelga Reservoir, County Down*
 * Vartry Reservoir, County Wicklow

Sea loughs

 * Belfast Lough, between County Antrim and County Down*
 * Strangford Lough, County Down*
 * Lough Foyle, between County Donegal and County Londonderry*
 * Galway Bay, County Galway
 * Lough Hyne, County Cork
 * Larne Lough, County Antrim*
 * Lough Mahon, County Cork
 * Shannon Estuary, Munster
 * Tralee Bay, County Kerry
 * Waterford Harbour, County Waterford
 * Wexford Harbour, County Wexford

Fjords

 * Carlingford Lough, between County Louth and County Down*
 * Lough Swilly, County Donegal
 * Killary Harbour, between County Mayo & County Galway