Irish county where one goes, in a failed state (4,3,6)

I believe the answer is:

down the toilet

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'in a failed state' is the definition.
(down the toilet means in a terrible condition)

'irish county where one goes' is the wordplay.
'irish county' becomes 'downthe' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'where one goes' becomes 'toilet' (go to the toilet).
'downthe'+'toilet'='DOWN THE TOILET'

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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