The Irish Padel Court Density League 2026: Every County in the Republic Ranked
Updated 25 August 2026 · Openplay Research · Data from our verified national court tracker + CSO Census 2022. Every venue's court count individually verified against its own booking system, planning record or published information. Free to cite with attribution and a link to this page.
Which county in the Republic of Ireland is best served for padel? We divided the number of open, bookable padel courts (individual courts, not venues) in each of the 26 counties by its Census 2022 population. The results upend most assumptions — the padel capital of the Republic isn't Dublin, Cork or Galway.
The numbers at a glance: our tracker follows 140 locations across the island of Ireland → 87 venues are open today with 303 courts between them → of those, 64 venues with 193 courts are in the Republic. This page ranks the Republic.
- Clare was listed with zero open courts. That was wrong. Banner Padel Ennis is open with six indoor courts and is selling memberships. Clare enters the table in joint 7th on 4.7 courts per 100,000 — and is no longer one of the counties with nothing open.
- Monaghan was over-counted. We had four open courts across two venues; Padel 100 at Monaghan United FC is not yet open. Monaghan has one open court and falls from 3rd to 19th.
- Kildare was over-counted. PadelZone Celbridge has five courts, not eight. Kildare falls from 8th to 13th.
- Dublin is 61 open courts, not 62. We could not independently verify padel at West Wood Club Westmanstown — the club's own padel page returns a 404 and West Wood directs members to Leopardstown — so it has been removed from the count pending confirmation.
Venues we cannot independently verify are now excluded from every figure on this page. Ten such venues, holding 40 courts between them, sit outside these counts.
Key findings
- Limerick is the padel capital of the Republic, and it is not close. 11.5 courts per 100,000 people: 24 courts across five venues, after Padel Tennis Ireland opened eight full-size courts at Garryowen FC in late July. That is three times the national average and nearly double second place.
- Laois holds second — 6.5 per 100k. A county of 91,000 people with six open courts across three venues.
- Louth is third at 5.7 per 100k — eight courts across three venues, including District 4's four-court indoor club in Dundalk.
- Clare enters at joint seventh on 4.7 per 100k. Banner Padel Ennis opened six indoor courts, taking the county from nothing to mid-table in a single venue — the clearest illustration on this page of how much one facility changes a small county.
- Dublin ranks joint 11th of 26. Its 61 open courts are by far the country's most — but divided by 1.46 million people that is 4.2 per 100k, barely above the national average. Dublin also has the largest pipeline in Ireland at 23 courts. Today, the capital is where demand outstrips supply the most.
- Cork ranks 17th at 2.6 per 100k, with 15 pipeline courts including the consented six-court club at St Patrick's Woollen Mills in Douglas.
- The national average is 3.75 courts per 100k — 193 open courts across 64 venues, for 5.15 million people (Census 2022).
- Five counties still have zero open courts — Leitrim, Meath, Offaly, Roscommon and Sligo. All but Offaly have courts in build, granted or applied for.
- For scale: Spain has roughly 35.5 courts per 100k — nine times the Republic's density — while Britain has ~2.2. Ireland is already ahead of Britain per head, with years of runway left. See the international benchmark.
The league table — Republic of Ireland
| # | County | Open courts | Venues | Courts per 100k | Pipeline courts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Limerick | 24 | 5 | 11.5 | 3 |
| 2 | Laois | 6 | 3 | 6.5 | 0 |
| 3 | Louth | 8 | 3 | 5.7 | 0 |
| 4 | Wexford | 9 | 4 | 5.5 | 4 |
| 5 | Westmeath | 5 | 2 | 5.2 | 0 |
| 6 | Wicklow | 8 | 3 | 5.1 | 0 |
| 7= | Waterford | 6 | 2 | 4.7 | 10 |
| 7= | Clare | 6 | 1 | 4.7 | 3 |
| 9 | Kerry | 7 | 2 | 4.5 | 1 |
| 10 | Longford | 2 | 1 | 4.3 | 0 |
| 11= | Donegal | 7 | 2 | 4.2 | 0 |
| 11= | Dublin | 61 | 21 | 4.2 | 23 |
| 13 | Kildare | 9 | 3 | 3.6 | 12 |
| 14 | Carlow | 2 | 1 | 3.2 | 0 |
| 15= | Mayo | 4 | 1 | 2.9 | 8 |
| 15= | Galway | 8 | 3 | 2.9 | 2 |
| 17 | Cork | 15 | 3 | 2.6 | 15 |
| 18 | Cavan | 2 | 1 | 2.4 | 0 |
| 19 | Monaghan | 1 | 1 | 1.5 | 3 |
| 20 | Tipperary | 2 | 1 | 1.2 | 4 |
| 21 | Kilkenny | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 13 |
| 22= | Leitrim | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 22= | Meath | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 22= | Offaly | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22= | Roscommon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 22= | Sligo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
The chasing pack
The pipeline column is where the next 12 months get decided. Dublin (23 pipeline courts) and Cork (15) are building fastest in absolute terms; Kilkenny (13 pipeline against 1 open) and Sligo (13 against zero) are the counties about to jump furthest — Sligo's ten-court Let's Go Padel development alone would take it from bottom of the table straight into the top five. Kildare's 12 are dominated by a single project, the approved nine-court Arena Padel centre at Greenhill backed by former Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given. Offaly is now the only county in the Republic with no open court and nothing verified in the pipeline.
North of the border, for context: our island-wide tracker also covers Northern Ireland, where density is higher again — Derry alone has 24 open courts (9.5 per 100k on NISRA Census 2021 figures), and NI accounts for 110 of the island's 303 open courts on six counties.
Methodology & sources
Court counts: Openplay's national padel court tracker — 140 tracked locations across the island; venue statuses and per-venue court counts individually verified against operator booking systems, planning authority records, venue announcements and local press, August 2026. "Open courts" = individual courts — doubles and singles courts both counted — at venues currently operating; counts include private members' clubs, so not every court is publicly bookable. Venues we cannot independently verify are excluded from all figures on this page — ten venues holding 40 courts currently sit in that category. "Pipeline" = courts at venues in build, with planning granted, or with a live planning application lodged; unverified venues are excluded from pipeline figures too. Pipeline projects can and do change, and applications can be refused or withdrawn. County classification follows traditional counties; Dublin combines its four local authorities, and Cork, Galway and Limerick combine city and county. Population: CSO Census 2022, table FY003B — data.cso.ie/table/FY003B. Northern Ireland context figures: NISRA Census 2021 — nisra.gov.uk. International comparisons: Spain ~17,300 courts, FIP World Padel Report 2025, Dec 2025 — padelfip.com (population: World Bank 2024); Britain 1,553 courts, LTA, April 2026 — ltapadel.org.uk. Per-100k figures are indicative — court-count methodologies differ between countries.
Spotted an error or a court we're missing? Tell us — corrections are made within days, and published openly when we get something wrong. © Openplay Research 2026 — free to cite with attribution and a link to this page.
Explore more: the live court map · the international benchmark · the Irish Padel Price Index · the planning register · State of Padel in Ireland 2026.