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County in Ireland

County Waterford (Contae Phort Láirge) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and is part of the Southern Region. It is named after the city of Waterford. Waterford City and County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county at large, including the city, was 127,363 according to the 2022 census. A large stretch of this coastline, known as the Copper Coast, has been designated as a UNESCO Geopark, a place of great geological importance. To the west of Dungarvan is the Déise Gaeltacht, an Irish speaking region comprising the areas of Ring, County Waterford and Old Parish. Waterford City is the county seat; prior to the merger of the 2 Waterford authorities in June 2014 Dungarvan was the county seat for Waterford County Council.

There are eight historic baronies in the county: Coshmore and Coshbride, Decies within Drum, Decies without Drum, Gaultiere, Glenahiry, Middlethird, Upperthird and Waterford City.

County Waterford is colloquially known as "The Déise", pronounced "day shah" or, in Irish, /dʲe:ʃʲɪ/ (Na Déise). Some time between the 4th and 8th centuries, an Irish tribe called the Déisi were driven from southern county Meath/north Kildare and moved into the Waterford region, conquering and settling there. The ancient principality of the Déise is today roughly coterminous with the current Roman Catholic Diocese of Waterford and Lismore thus including part of south County Tipperary. The westernmost of the baronies are Decies within Drum and Decies without Drum, separated by the Drum Fineen hills. There are many megalithic tombs and ogham stones in the county. The Viking influence can still be seen with Reginald's Tower, one of the first buildings to use a brick and mortar construction method in Ireland. Woodstown, a settlement dating to the 9th century, was discovered west of Waterford city. It was the largest settlement outside Scandinavia and the only large scale 9th century Viking settlement discovered to date in Western Europe. Other architectural features are products of the Anglo Norman invasion of Ireland and its effects.

As of 1 June 2014, Waterford City and County Council is the local government authority for the local government area of Waterford City and County. The authority was formed following the merger of the local government areas of the county of Waterford and the city of Waterford under the Local Government Reform Act 2014, and succeeded the functions of Waterford City Council and Waterford County Council. The local authority is responsible for certain local services such as sanitation, planning and real estate development, libraries, the collection of automobile taxation, local roads and social housing. For elections to Dáil Éireann, the county is represented by the 4 seat constituency of Waterford. For European elections, the city and county are part of the 5 seat South constituency.

Gaeltacht na nDéise is a Gaeltacht area in County Waterford, consisting of the parish of An Rinn and An Sean Phobal. Gaeltacht na nDéise is located from the town of Dungarvan, has a population of 1,816 people (Census 2016) and encompasses a geographical area of 62 km2. According to Census 2016 the percentage of daily Irish speakers in Gaeltacht na nDéise was 45.6%.