Editing Provinces of Ireland (section)

==Usage==
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In modern times the provinces have become associated with groups of counties, although they have no [[Law of the Republic of Ireland|legal status]]. They are today seen mainly in a sporting context. Ireland's four professional rugby teams in the [[United Rugby Championship]] play under the names of the provinces. The [[Gaelic Athletic Association]] (GAA) has separate [[Provincial council (Gaelic games)|provincial council]]s and its [[county team]]s contest [[provincial championships]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gaa.ie/the-gaa/about-the-gaa/structures|title=GAA Structures|date=10 January 2016 }}</ref>

Six of the nine Ulster counties form modern-day Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. Many of Northern Ireland's unionist political parties use "Ulster" in their names such as the [[Ulster Unionist Party]] (UUP) and the [[Ulster Democratic Party]] (UDP). The ITV regional service is known as [[Ulster Television]] but generally abbreviated to UTV, while [[BBC Radio Ulster]] is the main BBC radio station from [[BBC Northern Ireland]].

In education [[Munster Technological University]] and [[Ulster University]] both use the provinces in which they are located in their name.

Many hotels also use the name of the province in which they are situated.

In media many local and regional newspapers use their province in their names such as ''[[The Munster Express]]'' in Waterford, ''[[Leinster Leader]]'' in Kildare, ''[[Connacht Tribune]]'' in Galway and ''[[Ulster Herald]]'' in Fermanagh.

In modern times politically the four provinces were referred to in the proposal of {{lang|ga|[[Éire Nua]]}} ("New Ireland"), which was supported by the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|Provisional IRA]] and [[Sinn Féin]] during the 1970s and early 1980s for a [[Federation|federal]] [[United Ireland]]. The proposal was particularly associated with the [[Dublin]]-based leadership group centred on [[Ruairí Ó Brádaigh]] and [[Dáithí Ó Conaill]], who were the authors of the policy. {{lang|ga|Éire Nua}} envisaged a united Ireland that would be created when the British withdrew from Northern Ireland, and the creation of a [[Federation|federal]] state with assemblies for each of its four historic provinces.

The song [[Ireland's Call]] is used as a national anthem for sports teams representing the entire island (e.g. [[Ireland national rugby union team]] and [[Ireland cricket team]]). The first verse says "We have come to answer our country's call from the four proud provinces of Ireland".