County Meath (Irish: Contae na Mí) is a county in the Republic of Ireland, known affectionally as the The Royal County. Meath occupies an area of 234,490 hectares. Meath (the "middle") was once a province of Ireland in its own right - see Kings of Mide - but now forms part of Leinster. Historically this province of Meath included all of the current county as well as all of Westmeath and parts of Cavan, Dublin, Kildare, Longford, Louth and Offaly. The High King of Ireland sat at Tara in Meath. The archaeological complex of Brú na Bóinne, including the 5,000-year-old burial site Newgrange, in the northeast of the county, is a UNESCO designated World Heritage Site. Meath's close proximity to Dublin and its market of over 1.5 million people mean that for strategic regional planning purposes, Meath is classified as part of the Greater Dublin Area.

Meath enjoys a diverse low-lying topography, ranging from extensive rich pastures throughout the Boyne and Blackwater River Valleys, some Drumlin hills in the north of the county, tracts of peatlands and raised bog in the southwest and a short coastline of 12 kilometres in the east. The county has five Special Areas of Conservation (SPC's), one Special Protection area for Birds (SPA) along the Boyne estuary in addition to 22 proposed Natural Heritage areas (NHA's). Meath Landscape contains an extremely rich heritage of national monuments, justifying its claim as 'Ireland's Heritage Capital'. Best known are the internationally renowned passage tombs at Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, all located in the valley of the river Boyne, and Loughcrew near Oldcastle in North Meath.

Meath offers industry an ideal mix of access to major transport and communications nodes, proximity to Ireland's leading third level educational institutions, a highly skilled and well educated workforce, high quality infrastructure, and freedom from the traffic congestion, housing shortages, and high costs associated with an urban location.

The M1 and four of Ireland's national primary routes (N1, N2, N3 & N4) traverse the county. Meath is easily accessible to Ireland's main ports and airport and also enjoys inter-city and commuter rail links to the capital. Meath is a highly attractive business location. At the moment, there are many hectares of serviced land available for commercial and industrial development. Almost half of this is in the environs of Drogheda and Laytown.

From rural Lobinstown in the north of the county to the Dublin fringes of Stamullen and Gormanstown, East Meath is one of the most varied parts of our country. It includes some of our most scenic countryside, over 10km of beaches and a World Heritage site at Newgrange. The historic villages of Slane and Duleek attract tourists from Ireland and abroad, as do the holiday villages of Bettystown and Laytown.

The area is changing rapidly. Being so close to Dublin we are subject to internal and external pressures to develop more and more residential land. Our challenge in Meath East is to assist and promote continued economic development in the area, whilst at the same time ensuring that our environment and quality of life is enhanced.

The population in Co. Meath has grown rapidly in recent years, the most recent census in April 2006 indicated that the population was 162,621 an increase of 21.4% since 2002. There have been an explosion in population in some areas in Meath East, such as in St. Mary’s (DED, District Electoral Divison) which includes Laytown and Bettystown with the population up 59.6%, in Ratoath the population is up 54.6%, Duleek is up 48.2% and Julianstown up 42.6%. The 2006 census confirmed that a third of all population growth in the country since 2002 took place in just three counties, Meath, Kildare and Fingal.

• 1861: 110,373
• 1901: 67,497
• 1961: 65,122
• 1981: 95,419
• 1991: 105,370
• 2002: 134,005
• 2006: 162,621

Meath East Constituency (See Map)

The new constituency of Meath East was created by the 2004 Constituency Commission Report on Dáil Constituencies and will come into being in the 30th Irish general election. It spans the eastern portions of County Meath in the province of Leinster. These areas include Nobber, Slane, Dunboyne and Ashbourne, the constituency's biggest town. This territory is currently represented in the unified constituency of Meath, but commuter belt population growth has necessitated the division of Meath from one 5-seater constituency into two 3-seaters.