a market-town of Ireland, county of Limerick, on the Deel, 16 miles S.W. of Limerick, and 136 S.W. by W. of Dublin. Many of the houses are well built; and there are a parish church, Roman Catholic and other places of worship, a court-house, jail, several schools, hospital, dispensary, and workhouse. The inhabitants are mostly employed in farming, and there is a considerable retail trade. The ruins of an old priory and of two castles are to be seen here. Rathkeale derived much advantage from a colony of German Protestants who settled here in the beginning of the eighteenth century. Pop. (1851) 3029.