Newry is the fourth largest city in Northern Ireland, and ninth in all of Ireland. The River Clanrye, which runs through the city, forms the historic border between County Armagh and County Down : Newry was included entirely in the latter by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898. It is about 60km (37 miles) from Belfast and 108km (67 miles) from Dublin.

Newry was a former United Kingdom Parliament constituency, in Ireland, returning one MP. It was an original constituency represented in Parliament when the Union of Great Britain and Ireland took effect on 1 January, 1801.