Northern Ireland guide

Northern Ireland at a glance

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom. It has six traditional counties — Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone — although they haven’t been used for local government since 1973.

Councils and cities

Since 1 April 2015 Northern Ireland has had 11 local councils, which replaced the previous 26. Belfast City Council is one of them.

Northern Ireland’s cities are Armagh, Bangor, Belfast, Derry~Londonderry, Lisburn and Newry. Bangor was given city status in 2022.

Public services

nidirect is the official government website for Northern Ireland citizens. It covers topics such as local councils, rates and contacting the police.

Rate bills for both homes and businesses are issued and collected by Land & Property Services (LPS).

Getting around Northern Ireland

Translink is Northern Ireland’s main public transport provider. It runs Metro and Glider buses in Belfast, Ulsterbus and Goldline coaches, NI Railways, Foyle Metro in Derry~Londonderry and — jointly with Iarnród Éireann — the Enterprise train between Belfast and Dublin.

Business support

Invest Northern Ireland (Invest NI) is Northern Ireland’s regional business development agency, sponsored by the Department for the Economy.

Go Succeed is a free business support service run by Northern Ireland’s 11 councils. It helps people start, grow or scale a business, and replaced the Go For It programme in November 2023.

Read our guide to starting a business in Northern Ireland.

Sources

We checked this guide against these official sources on 10 October 2026. Details such as timetables, opening times and prices change, so check the source before you travel or apply.

• nidirect — Local councils
• GOV.UK — List of cities
• nidirect — About nidirect
• nidirect — How rate bills are calculated
• Translink — Route maps
• Invest NI — About us
• Department for the Economy — Local Growth Fund awards for Invest NI and Go Succeed
• Wikipedia — Counties of Northern Ireland