The Irish Padel Court Density League 2026: Every County in the Republic Ranked
July 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 or published information, July 2026. 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 132 locations across the island of Ireland → 81 venues are open today with 276 courts between them → of those, 60 venues with 176 courts are in the Republic. This page ranks the Republic.
Key findings
- Limerick is the padel capital of the Republic — 7.6 courts per 100,000 people: 16 courts across four venues (Padel LK's eight-court centre, the Radisson Blu's new Padel 100 courts, Castle Oaks and Adare Manor), more than double the national average.
- Monaghan punches hardest for its size — second at 6.1 per 100k: a county of 65,000 people with four open courts.
- Dublin ranks just 13th of 26. Its 54 open courts are by far the country's most — but divided by 1.46 million people that's 3.7 per 100k, barely above the national average. Dublin's 24-court pipeline is the biggest in Ireland; today, the capital is where demand outstrips supply the most.
- Cork ranks 17th at 2.6 per 100k — but its 23-court pipeline (including the six-court Douglas project) is the largest build programme outside Dublin.
- The national average is 3.4 courts per 100k — 176 open courts across 60 venues, for 5.15 million people (Census 2022).
- Six counties still have zero open courts — Clare, Leitrim, Meath, Offaly, Roscommon and Sligo. Five of the six have courts in build or planning. Leitrim is the last county in Ireland with no padel court open, in build, or in planning.
- For scale: Spain has roughly 35.5 courts per 100k — ten times the Republic's density — while Britain has ~2.2. Ireland is already ahead of Britain per head, with years of runway left.
The league table — Republic of Ireland
| # | County | Open courts | Venues | Courts per 100k | Pipeline courts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Limerick | 16 | 4 | 7.6 | 3 |
| 2 | Monaghan | 4 | 2 | 6.1 | 2 |
| 3 | Louth | 8 | 3 | 5.7 | 0 |
| 4 | Wexford | 9 | 4 | 5.5 | 6 |
| 5 | Westmeath | 5 | 2 | 5.2 | 2 |
| 6 | Wicklow | 8 | 3 | 5.1 | 0 |
| 7 | Kildare | 12 | 3 | 4.8 | 3 |
| 8 | Waterford | 6 | 2 | 4.7 | 10 |
| 9 | Kerry | 7 | 2 | 4.5 | 0 |
| 10 | Laois | 4 | 2 | 4.4 | 0 |
| 11 | Longford | 2 | 1 | 4.3 | 0 |
| 12 | Donegal | 7 | 2 | 4.2 | 0 |
| 13 | Dublin | 54 | 19 | 3.7 | 24 |
| 14 | Carlow | 2 | 1 | 3.2 | 0 |
| 15 | Mayo | 4 | 1 | 2.9 | 10 |
| 16 | Galway | 8 | 3 | 2.9 | 9 |
| 17 | Cork | 15 | 3 | 2.6 | 23 |
| 18 | Cavan | 2 | 1 | 2.4 | 0 |
| 19 | Tipperary | 2 | 1 | 1.2 | 6 |
| 20 | Kilkenny | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 12 |
| 21 | Clare | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 22= | Meath | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 22= | Sligo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 22= | Offaly | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 22= | Roscommon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 26 | Leitrim | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The chasing pack
The pipeline column is where the next 12 months get decided. Dublin (24 pipeline courts) and Cork (23) are building fastest in absolute terms; Kilkenny (12 pipeline vs 1 open) and Clare (10 vs 0) are the counties about to jump furthest up this table; Waterford's 10 pipeline courts are quietly the third-biggest build programme in the country; and Sligo's ten planned courts would take it from zero straight into the top ten.
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).
Methodology & sources
Court counts: Openplay's national padel court tracker — 132 tracked locations across the island; venue statuses and per-venue court counts individually verified against operator booking systems, venue announcements and local press, July 2026. "Open courts" = individual courts — doubles and singles courts both counted — at venues currently operating; counts include private members' clubs (six of Dublin's 19 open venues are members-only), so not every court is publicly bookable. "Pipeline" = courts at venues in build, announced or with planning granted — pipeline projects can and do change. 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. © Openplay Research 2026 — free to cite with attribution and a link to this page.
Explore more: the live court map · State of Padel in Ireland 2026 · find a coach.