Counties of Ireland and the counties they consisted off remained uncertain. In 1598 Meath is considered a province in Hayne's "Description of Ireland", and included the counties of Cavan, East Meath, Longford, and Westmeath. This contrasts to George Carew's 1602 survey where there were only four provinces with Longford part of Connaught and Cavan not mentioned at all with only three counties mentioned for Ulster. During Perrot's tenure as Lord President of Munster before he became Lord Deputy, Munster contained as many as eight counties rather than the six it later consisted of. These eight counties were: the five English counties of Cork,
County Offaly covering radio, print and online. The radio station that covers Offaly is Midlands 103 which broadcasts across three counties, Offaly, Laois and Westmeath. The main online resource for news and sport for the county is the Offaly Express, www.offalyexpress.ie The print edition of the newspaper ceased publication in July 2012. The three main newspapers are the Midland/Tullamore Tribune, Offaly independent and Offaly Topic. The Midland/Tullamore Tribune and the Offaly Topic are published each Wednesday while the Offaly Independent is distributed across the county on Fridays. The 2006 population figure for County Offaly is the highest for the county since 1881.