the constituency was created for the 1981 general election. it is a large rural 3 seat constituency. due to its size and landscape it is considered one of the most difficult constituencies to canvass in ireland. the constituency itself encompasses the western part of ireland's largest county of cork. it runs from charleville and rockchapel in the north to ballingeary, crookstown and crossbarry in the south. the constituency also takes in parts of the mallow and fermoy electoral areas. at the 2016 general election, the townlands of dromore, kilcullen, kilshannig and mountrivers were moved from the cork north-central constituency.