Carlow is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Ireland, 84 km from Dublin. At the 2022 census, it had a population of 27,351, the twelfth-largest urban center in Ireland. The River Barrow flows through the town and forms the historic boundary between counties Laois and Carlow. However, the Local Government Act 1898 included the town entirely in County Carlow. The settlement of Carlow is thousands of years old and pre-dates written Irish history.