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 (/lɒk,lɒx/) and comes from the Irishloch, 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.[1] 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:[2][3][4]
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'sA Reference based Typology and Ecological Assessment System for Irish Lakes (pp. 10–13)[20]
^Heavily Modified Water Bodies – North Western River Basin District P.31 "Archived copy"(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on 25 October 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^Heavily Modified Water Bodies – North Western River Basin District P.29 "Archived copy"(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on 25 October 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)