Ireland: Difference between revisions

International rankings
Economy
Politics
Society
Health
Notes
	↓ indicates rank is in reverse order (e.g. 1st is lowest); * joint with one or more other countries; † per capita; ‡ per 1000 people; †† per woman; ‡‡ per 1000 live births; †‡per 100,000 people; ♂ indicates males, ♀ indicates females

Ireland
*Éire*
Ireland Éire
	Flag Coat of arms
	Anthem: [Amhrán na bhFiann] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) ; The Soldier's Song
	Location of Ireland (dark green) – in Europe (light green & dark grey); – in the European Union (light green) – [Legend]
Capital and largest city	Dublin
Official languages	Irish, English
Ethnic groups	87.4% Irish, 7.5% Other White (British, Polish, other) 1.3% Asian, 1.1% Black, 1.1% mixed, 1.6% unspec.
Demonym(s)	Irish
Government	Republic and Parliamentary democracy
• President	Mary McAleese
• Taoiseach	Brian Cowen, TD
• Tánaiste	Mary Coughlan, TD
Independence from the United Kingdom
• Declared	24 April 1916
• Ratified	21 January 1919
• Recognised	6 December 1922
• Current constitution	29 December 1937
Area
• Total	70,273 km2 (27,133 sq mi) (120th)
• Water (%)	2.00
Population
• 2008 estimate	4,422,100
• 2006 census	4,239,848 (121st)
• Density	60.3/km2 (156.2/sq mi) (139th)
GDP (PPP)	2008 estimate
• Total	$188.112 billion
• Per capita	$42,539 (8th)
GDP (nominal)	2008 estimate
• Total	$273.328 billion
• Per capita	$61,809 (6th)
HDI (2008)	0.962; Error: Invalid HDI value (5th)
Currency	Euro (€)¹ (EUR)
Time zone	UTC+0 (WET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (IST (WEST))
Drives on	left
Calling code	353
ISO 3166 code	IE
Internet TLD	.ie2
	Before 2002: Irish pound.; The .eu domain is also used, as it is shared with other European Union Member states.;

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Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɪɚlənd/^ⓘ, locally Error using {{IPA symbol}}: "ˈaɾlənd" not found in list – Template:Lang-ga, Ulster Scots: Airlann, Template:Lang-lat) is the third-largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain. Politically, the sovereign country of Ireland (described as the Republic of Ireland)^[5] covers five-sixths of the island, with Northern Ireland (part of the United Kingdom) covering the remainder in the north-east.

The first settlements in Ireland date from 8000 BC. By 200 BC Celtic migration and influence had come to dominate the island. Relatively small scale settlements of both the Vikings and Normans in the Middle Ages gave way to complete English domination by the 1600s. Protestant English rule resulted in the marginalisation of the Catholic majority, although in the north-east, Protestants were in the majority due to the Plantation of Ulster. Ireland became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. A famine in the mid-1800s caused deaths and emigration. The Anglo-Irish War ended in 1921 with a stalemate and the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, creating the Irish Free State, a Dominion within the British Empire, with effective internal independence but still constitutionally linked with the British Crown.^[6] Northern Ireland, consisting of six of the 32 Irish counties which had been established as a devolved region under the 1920 Government of Ireland Act, immediately exercised its option under the treaty to retain its existing status within the United Kingdom.^[7]The Free State left the Commonwealth to become a republic in 1949. In 1973 both parts of Ireland joined the European Community. Conflict in Northern Ireland led to much unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s, which subsided following a peace deal in 1998.

The population of the island is slightly under 6 million (2006), with 4.2 million in the Republic^[8] and an estimated almost 1.75 million in Northern Ireland.^[9] This is a significant increase from a modern historical low in the 1960s, but still much lower than the peak population of over 8 million in the early 19th century, prior to the Great Famine.^[10]

The name Ireland derives from the name of the Celtic goddess Ériu (in modern Irish, Éire) with the addition of the Germanic word land. Most other western European names for Ireland, such as French Irlande, derive from the same source.^[11]

Name

Article 4 of the Irish constitution, which was adopted in 1937 provides that "the name of the state is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland".^[12] For all official purposes, including international treaties and in other legal documents, where the language of the documents is English, the Irish government uses the name Ireland. The same is true in respect of the name Éire for documents written in Irish. Institutions of the European Union follow the same practice. Since Irish became an official EU language on 1 January 2007, at EU meetings name plates for the state read as Éire - Ireland, just as the two official names are used on Irish passports.^[13]

The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 provided a description of the state as "the Republic of Ireland" (Template:Lang-ga) The Act was intended primarily to declare that Ireland was a republic rather than a form of constitutional monarchy. In 1989 the Irish Supreme Court rejected an extradition warrant that used the name "Republic of Ireland". Justice Walsh ruled: "if the courts of other countries seeking the assistance of this country are unwilling to give this State its constitutionally correct and internationally recognised name, then in my view, the warrants should be returned to such countries until they have been rectified."^[14]

The current sovereign state has been known by a range of other names, all of which are still sometimes used unofficially. The whole island was unilaterally proclaimed an independent republic by rebels in 1916 called the Irish Republic (Template:Lang-ga). Following the 1918 general election, that proclamation was ratified by the Irish Deputies of its First Dáil Parliament. Between 1921 and 1922, when the British government legislated to establish Ireland as an autonomous region of the United Kingdom, it was named Southern Ireland. Following the Anglo-Irish Treaty, from 1922 until 1937, as a dominion in the British Commonwealth, it was styled as the Irish Free State (Template:Lang-ga). That name was abolished with the adoption of the current Irish constitution. Other colloquial names such as the Free State, Twenty-Six Counties and The South (a name frequently used by people in Northern Ireland) are also often used.

Languages

The official languages are Irish and English. Teaching of the Irish and English languages is compulsory in the primary and secondary level schools that receive money and recognition from the state. Some students may be exempt from the requirement to receive instruction in either language. English is the predominant language spoken throughout the country. People living in predominantly Irish-speaking communities, Gaeltacht regions, are limited to the low tens of thousands in isolated pockets largely on the western seaboard. Road signs are usually bilingual, except in Gaeltacht regions, where they are in Irish only.^[15] The legal status of place names has recently been the subject of controversy, with an order made in 2005 under the Official Languages Act changing the official name of certain locations from English back to Irish (e.g. Dingle had its name changed to An Daingean despite local opposition and a local plebiscite requesting that the name be changed to a bilingual version: Dingle Daingean Uí Chúis. Most public notices are only in English, as are most of the print media. Most Government publications and forms are available in both English and Irish, and citizens have the right to deal with the state in Irish if they so wish. National media in Irish exist on TV (TG4), radio (e.g. Raidió na Gaeltachta), and in print (e.g. Lá Nua and Foinse).

According to the 2006 census, 1,656,790 people (or 39%) in the Republic regard themselves as competent in Irish; though no figures are available for English-speakers, it is thought to be almost 100%.

The Polish language is one of the most widely spoken languages in Ireland after English and Irish: there are over 63,000 Poles resident in Ireland according to the 2006 census. Other languages spoken in Ireland include Shelta, spoken by the Irish Traveller population and a dialect of Scots is spoken by some descendents of Scottish settlers in Ulster.

Most students at second level choose one or two foreign languages to learn. Languages available for the Junior Certificate and the Leaving Certificate include French, German, Italian and Spanish; Leaving Certificate students can also study Arabic, Japanese and Russian. Some schools also offer Ancient Greek, Hebrew Studies and Latin at second level.

Politics

Ireland is a republic, with a parliamentary system of government. The President of Ireland, who serves as head of state, is elected for a seven-year term and can be re-elected only once. The president is largely a figurehead but can still carry out certain constitutional powers and functions, aided by the Council of State, an advisory body. The [Taoiseach] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) (prime minister), is appointed by the president on the nomination of parliament. Most Taoisigh have been the leader of the political party which wins the most seats in the national elections. It has become normal for coalitions to form a government, and there has not been a single-party government since 1989.

The bicameral parliament, the [Oireachtas] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), consists of the President of Ireland, a Senate, Seanad Éireann, being the upper House, and a House of Representatives, Dáil Éireann, being the lower House.^[16] The Seanad is composed of sixty members; eleven nominated by the Taoiseach, six elected by two universities, and 43 elected by public representatives from panels of candidates established on a vocational basis. The Dáil has 166 members, [Teachtaí Dála] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), elected to represent multi-seat constituencies under the system of proportional representation by means of the Single Transferable Vote. Under the constitution, parliamentary elections must be held at least every seven years, though a lower limit may be set by statute law. The current statutory maximum term is five years.

Leinster House, the seat of [*Oireachtas Éireann*] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) (the Irish parliament).

The Government is constitutionally limited to fifteen members. No more than two members of the Government can be selected from the Seanad, and the Taoiseach, [Tánaiste] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) (deputy prime minister) and Minister for Finance must be members of the Dáil. The current government consists of a coalition of three parties; Fianna Fáil under Taoiseach Brian Cowen, the Green Party under leader John Gormley and the Progressive Democrats under Senator Ciarán Cannon. The last general election to the Dáil took place on 24 May 2007, after it was called by the Taoiseach on 29 April.

The main opposition in the current Dáil consists of Fine Gael under Enda Kenny, the Labour Party under Eamon Gilmore and Sinn Féin. A number of independent deputies also sit in Dáil Éireann though less in number than before the 2007 election.

Ireland joined the European Union in 1973 but has chosen to remain outside the Schengen Area. Citizens of the UK can freely enter Ireland without a passport thanks to the Common Travel Area, but some form of identification is required at airports and seaports. Ireland has voted against a number of European treaties. On 12 June 2008, Ireland voted in a referendum which rejected the Lisbon treaty. This has caused much controversy within the EU and may affect the future of the Union.^[17]

Currency

Before the introduction of the euro cash in January 2002 the currency in use in the country was the Irish pound or "punt". Ireland along with eleven other EU states launched the euro currency system in January 1999. Euro banknotes are issued in €5, €10, €20, €50, €100, €200 and €500 denominations and share the common design used across Europe, however like other countries in the Eurozone, Ireland has its own unique design on one face of euro coins.^[18] The government of Ireland decided on a single national design for all Irish coin denominations, which show the Celtic harp, a traditional symbol of Ireland, decorated with the year of issue and the word "Éire".

Demographics

Genetic research suggests that the first settlers of Ireland, and parts of North-Western Europe, came through migrations from Iberia following the end of the most recent ice age.^[19] After the Mesolithic, the Neolithic and Bronze Age migrants introduced Celtic culture and languages to Ireland. These later migrants from the Neolithic to Bronze Age still represent a majority of the genetic heritage of Irish people.^[20]^[21] Culture spread throughout the island, and the Gaelic tradition became the dominant form in Ireland. Today, Irish people are mainly of Gaelic ancestry, and although some of the population is also of Norse, Anglo-Norman, English, Scottish, French and Welsh ancestry, these groups have been assimilated and do not form distinct minority groups. Gaelic culture and language forms an important part of national identity. In the UK, Irish Travellers are a recognised ethnic minority group, politically (but not ethnically) linked with mainland European Roma and Gypsy groups,^[22] although in Ireland, they are not, instead they are classified as a "social group".^[23]

Ireland, as of 2007, contains the fastest growing population in Europe. The growth rate in 2006 was 2.5%, the third year in a row it has been above 2%. This rapid growth can be said to be due to falling death rates, rising birth rates and high immigration rates.^[24]

The population of Ireland and Europe relative to population density showing the disastrous consequence of the Great Famine (1845-9).

Ireland has been inhabited for at least 9,000 years, although little is known about the paleolithic and neolithic inhabitants of the island (other than by inference from genetic research in 2004 that challenges the idea of migration from central Europe and proposes a flow along the Atlantic coast from Spain).^[25]^[26] Early historical and genealogical records note the existence of dozens of different peoples that may or may not be "mythological" (Cruithne, Attacotti, Conmaicne, Eóganachta, Érainn, Soghain, to name but a few).

During the past 1,000 years or so, Vikings, Normans, Scots and English have all added to the indigenous gene pool.

Ireland's largest religious group is the Catholic Church (over 73% for the entire island, and about 86.8%^[27] for the Republic), and most of the rest of the population adhere to one of the various Protestant denominations. The largest is the Anglican Church of Ireland. The Irish Muslim community is growing, mostly through increased immigration (see Islam in Ireland). The island also has a small Jewish community (see History of the Jews in Ireland). Over 4% of the Republic's population describe themselves as of no religion.^[27]

Ireland has for centuries been a place of emigration, particularly to England, Scotland, the United States, Canada, and Australia, see Irish diaspora. With growing prosperity, Ireland has become a place of immigration instead. Since joining the EU in 2004, Polish people have been the largest source of immigrants (over 150,000)^[28] from Central Europe, followed by other immigrants from Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Latvia.^[29]

Ireland's high standard of living, high wage economy and EU membership attract many migrants from the newest of the European Union countries: Ireland has had a significant number of Romanian immigrants since the 1990s. In recent years, mainland Chinese have been migrating to Ireland in significant numbers (up to 100,000).^[30] Nigerians, along with people from other African countries have accounted for a large proportion of the non-European Union migrants to Ireland.

Ireland is multilingual but predominantly English-speaking, with Irish, the first official language of the Republic, the second most commonly spoken language.^[31] In the North, English is the de facto official language, but official recognition is afforded to both Irish and Ulster-Scots language. All three languages are spoken on both sides of the border. In recent decades, with the increase of immigration on an all-Ireland basis, many more languages have been introduced, particularly deriving from Asia and Eastern Europe, such as Chinese, Polish, Russian, Turkish and Latvian.

Recent population growth

Ireland's population has increased significantly in recent years. Much of this population growth can be attributed to the arrival of immigrants and the return of Irish people (often with their foreign-born children) who emigrated in large numbers in earlier years during periods of high unemployment. In addition the birth rate in Ireland is currently over double the death rate, which is highly unusual among Western European countries.^[32] Approximately 10% of Ireland's population is now made up of foreign citizens.

Foreign-national groups with populations in Ireland of 10,000 or more in 2006. Non-European Union nationals are shown exploded.

The CSO has published preliminary findings based on the 2006 Census of Population. These indicate:

The total population of Ireland on Census Day, 23 April 2006, was 4,234,925, an increase of 317,722, or 8.1% since 2002
Allowing for the incidence of births (245,000) and deaths (114,000), the derived net immigration of people to Ireland between 2002 and 2006 was 186,000.
The total number of foreign citizens resident in Ireland is 419,733, or around 10% (plus 1,318 people with 'no nationality', and 44,279 people whose nationality is not stated).
The single largest group of immigrants comes from the United Kingdom (112,548) followed by Poland (63,267), Lithuania (24,628), Nigeria (16,300), Latvia (13,319), the United States (12,475), China (11,161), and Germany (10,289).
94.8% of the population was recorded as having a 'White' ethnic or cultural background. 1.1% of the population had a 'Black or Black Irish' background, 1.3% had an 'Asian or Asian Irish' background and 1.7% of the population's ethnic or cultural background was 'not stated'.
The average annual rate of increase, 2%, is the highest on record – compared to 1.3% between 1996 and 2002 and 1.5% between 1971 and 1979.
The 2006 population was last exceeded in the 1861 Census when the population then was 4.4 million The lowest population of Ireland was recorded in the 1961 Census – 2.8 million.
All provinces of Ireland recorded population growth. The population of Leinster grew by 8.9%; Munster by 6.5%; and the long-term population decline of the Connacht-Ulster^[33] Region has stopped.
The ratio of males to females has declined in each of the four provinces between 1979 and 2006. Leinster is the only province where the number of females exceeds the number of males. Males predominate in rural counties such as Cavan, Leitrim, and Roscommon while there are more females in cities and urban areas.

A more detailed breakdown of these figures is available online. Template:PDFlink

Detailed statistics into the population of Ireland since 1841 are available at Irish Population Analysis.

Geography, climate, and environment

Physical geography

A ring of coastal mountains surrounds low central plains. The highest peak is Carrauntoohil (Template:Lang-ga) in County Kerry, which is 1,041 m (3,414 ft).^[34]^[35] The River Shannon, at 386 km (240 miles) is the longest river in Ireland.^[36]^[37] The island's lush vegetation, a product of its mild climate and frequent rainfall, earns it the sobriquet "Emerald Isle". The island's area is 84,412 km²^[34] (32,591 square miles).

Ireland's least arable land lies in the south-western and western counties.^{[citation needed]} These areas are largely mountainous and rocky, with green panoramic vistas.

Climate

Overall, Ireland has a mild but changeable oceanic climate with few extremes. The warmest recorded air temperature was 33.3 °C (91.94 °F) at Kilkenny Castle, County Kilkenny on 26 June 1887, whereas the lowest recorded temperature was −19.1 °C (−2.38 °F) at Markree Castle, County Sligo on 16 January 1881.^[38]

Other statistics show that the greatest recorded annual rainfall was 3,964.9 mm (156.1 in) in the Ballaghbeena Gap in 1960. The driest year on record was 1887, with only 356.6 mm (14.0 in) of rain recorded at Glasnevin, while the longest period of absolute drought was in Limerick where there was no recorded rainfall over 38 days during April and May 1938.^[39]

The climate is typically insular, and as a result of the moderating moist winds which ordinarily prevail from the South-Western Atlantic, it is temperate, avoiding the extremes in temperature of many other areas in the world at similar latitudes.^[40]

Precipitation falls throughout the year, but is light overall, particularly in the east. The west, however, tends to be wetter on average and prone to the full force of Atlantic storms, more especially in the late autumn and winter months, which occasionally bring destructive winds and high rainfall totals to these areas, as well as snow and hail. The regions of North Galway and East Mayo have the highest incidents of recorded lightning annually (5 to 10 days per year).^[39] Munster in the south records the least snow with Ulster in the north more prone to snow. Some areas along the south and southwest coasts have not had any lying snow since February 1991.^{[citation needed]}

Inland areas are warmer in summer and colder in winter – there are usually around 40 days of below freezing temperatures (0 °C/32 °F) at inland weather stations, but only 10 days at coastal stations. Ireland is sometimes affected by heat waves, most recently in 1995, 2003 and 2006.

Geology

Geologically the island consists of a number of provinces – in the far west around Galway and Donegal is a medium to high grade metamorphic and igneous complex of Caledonide (Scottish Highland) affinity. Across southeast Ulster and extending southwest to Longford and south to Navan is a province of Ordovician and Silurian rocks with more affinities with the Southern Uplands province of Scotland. Further south, there is an area along the Wexford coast of granite intrusives into more Ordovician and Silurian rocks with a more Welsh affinity.^[41]^[42]

Carrauntoohil, the highest peak in Ireland, located in Macgillycuddy's Reeks

In the southwest, around Bantry Bay and the mountains of Macgillicuddy's Reeks, is an area of substantially deformed but only lightly metamorphosed Devonian-aged rocks.^[43]

This partial ring of "hard rock" geology is covered by a blanket of Carboniferous limestone over the centre of the country, giving rise to the comparatively fertile and famously "lush" landscape of the country. The west coast district of The Burren around Lisdoonvarna has well developed karst features.^[44] Elsewhere, significant stratiform lead-zinc mineralisation is found in the limestones (around Silvermines and Tynagh).

Hydrocarbon exploration is ongoing. The first major find was the Kinsale Head gas field off Cork/Cobh by Marathon Oil in the mid-1970s.^[45]^[46] More recently, in 1999, Enterprise Oil announced the discovery of the Corrib Gas Field. This has increased activity off the west coast in parallel with the "West of Shetland" step-out development from the North Sea hydrocarbon province. The Helvick oil field, estimated to contain over 28 million barrels (4,500,000 m³) of oil, is another recent discovery.^[47]

Political geography

The island of Ireland is occupied by two political entities:

Ireland (also sometimes 'Republic of Ireland', such as seen on this map, for clarification and national state purposes, not normally used in reference to Ireland), a sovereign country, covers five-sixths of the island. Its capital is Dublin.
Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, covers the remaining sixth. Its capital is Belfast.

All-island traditional subdivisions

Traditionally, the island of Ireland is subdivided into four provinces: Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster; and, in a system developed between the 13th and 17th centuries, thirty-two counties.^[48] Twenty-six of the counties are in the republic, and six counties (six of Ulster's nine counties) are in Northern Ireland. "Ulster" is often used as a synonym for Northern Ireland, although Ulster and Northern Ireland are neither synonymous nor co-extensive, according to boundaries established in the early modern period, as three counties of Ulster (Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan) are part of the republic. Counties Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford and Tipperary have been broken up into smaller administrative areas, but are still considered by Ordnance Survey Ireland to be official counties. The counties in Northern Ireland are no longer used for local government, although their traditional boundaries are still used in sports (such as Gaelic games)^[49] and in some other cultural, ceremonial or tourism contexts.^[50]

Province	Population^[51]	Area (km²)	Largest city
Connacht	504,121	17,713	Galway
Leinster	2,295,123	19,774	Dublin
Munster	1,173,340	24,608	Cork
Ulster	1,993,918	24,481	Belfast

All-island institutions

The island operates as a single entity in a number of areas which transcend constitutional divisions. With a few notable exceptions, the island operates as a single unit in all major religious denominations, in many economic fields despite using two different currencies, and in sports such as hurling, Gaelic football, rugby (union and league), golf, cricket, baseball, american football and hockey.

An exception to this is soccer: following partition, the (previously all-island) Irish Football Association retained control of soccer only in Northern Ireland, with a separate Football Association of Ireland being formed for the remainder of the island. The creation of an all-island soccer league and a single international team (as is the case for rugby union) has been publicly touted by various prominent figures on the island in recent years, such as Irish government minister Dermot Ahern.^[52] More recently, there have been calls for an All-Ireland league, however due to contract commitments with sponsors and lack of interest between the two football associations this is unlikely in the near future.^[53] An all-Ireland club cup competition, the Setanta Cup, was created in 2005.

All major religious bodies are organised on an all-Ireland basis, such as the Roman Catholic Church, the Methodist Church in Ireland, the Anglican Church of Ireland and the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Some trade unions are also organised on an all-island basis and associated with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) in Dublin, while others in Northern Ireland are affiliated with the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in the United Kingdom, and some affiliate to both—although such unions may organise in both parts of the island as well as in Great Britain. The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) organises jointly in Northern Ireland with the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom (NUS), under the name NUS-USI.

Strand 2 of the Belfast Agreement provides for all-Ireland co-operation in various guises. For example, a North-South Ministerial Council was established as a forum in which ministers from the Irish government and the Northern Ireland Executive can discuss matters of mutual concern and formulate all-Ireland policies in twelve "areas of co-operation", such as agriculture, the environment and transport. Six of these policy areas have been provided with implementation bodies, an example of which is the Food Safety Promotion Board. Tourism marketing is also managed on an all-Ireland basis, by Tourism Ireland.

Two political parties, Sinn Féin and the Irish Green Party, contest elections and hold legislative seats in both jurisdictions. The largest party in the Republic of Ireland, Fianna Fáil, registered with the Electoral Commission in Northern Ireland, and has considered extending its organisation into Northern Ireland, perhaps via a merger with another political party, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).^[54]

An increasingly large amount of commercial activity operates on an all-Ireland basis, a development that is in part facilitated by the two jurisdictions' shared membership of the European Union. There have been calls for the creation of an "all-island economy" from members of the business community and policy-makers on both sides of the border, so as to benefit from economies of scale and boost competitiveness in both jurisdictions.^[55] This is a stated aim of the Irish government and nationalist political parties in the Northern Ireland Assembly.^[56] One commercial area in which the island already operates largely as a single entity is the electricity market.^[57] and there are plans for the creation of an all-island gas market.^[58]

17 March is celebrated throughout the island of Ireland as St. Patrick's Day.

Counties

The state of Ireland consists of twenty-six traditional counties which are still used in cultural and sporting contexts, and for postal purposes. These are, however, no longer always coterminous with administrative divisions. Several traditional counties have been restructured into new administrative divisions. County Dublin was divided into three separate administrative counties in the 1990s and County Tipperary was divided into two in the 1890s. This gives a present-day total of twenty-nine administrative counties and five cities. The five cities — Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, and Waterford — are administered separately from the remainder of their respective counties. Five boroughs — Clonmel, Drogheda, Kilkenny, Sligo and Wexford — have a level of autonomy within the county. While Kilkenny is a borough, it is has retained the legal right to be referred to as a city.^[59]

Dáil constituencies are required by statute to follow county boundaries, as far as possible. Hence counties with greater populations have multiple constituencies (e.g. Limerick East/West) and some constituencies consist of more than one county (e.g. Sligo-North Leitrim), but by and large, the actual county boundaries are not crossed.

The counties are grouped together into regions for statistical purposes.

Republic of Ireland

Dublin
— Dublin City
— Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown
— Fingal
— South Dublin
Wicklow
Wexford
— Wexford Town (Borough)
Carlow
Kildare
Meath
Louth
— Drogheda Town (Borough)
Monaghan
Cavan
Longford
Westmeath
Offaly
Laois
Kilkenny
— Kilkenny City (Borough)

Waterford
— Waterford City
Cork
— Cork City
Kerry
Limerick
— Limerick City
Tipperary
— North Tipperary
— South Tipperary
— Clonmel Town (Borough)
Clare
Galway
— Galway City
Mayo
Roscommon
Sligo
— Sligo Town (Borough)
Leitrim
Donegal

The island of Ireland extends over 84,421 Square kilometres (32,556 square miles), of which 83% (approx. five-sixths) belong to the Irish state (70,280 km²; 27,103 sq mi), while the remainder constitute Northern Ireland. It is bounded to the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the northeast by the North Channel. To the east is found the Irish Sea which reconnects to the ocean via the southwest with St George's Channel and the Celtic Sea. The west coast of Ireland mostly consists of cliffs, hills and low mountains (the highest point being Carrauntoohil at 1,038 m or 3,406 ft). The coastline has been remarked to look like a teddy bear facing west. The interior of the country is relatively flat land, traversed by rivers such as the River Shannon and several large lakes or loughs. The centre of the country is part of the River Shannon watershed, containing large areas of bogland, used for peat extraction and production. Ireland also has off-shore deposits of oil and gas.^[60]

The local temperate climate is modified by the North Atlantic Current and is relatively mild. Summer temperatures exceed 30 °C (86 °F) usually once every decade, though commonly reach 29 °C (84 °F) most summers, and freezes occur only occasionally in winter, with temperatures below -6 °C (21 °F) being uncommon. Precipitation is very common, with some parts of the country getting up to 275 days with rain annually.

Chief city conurbations are the capital Dublin (1,045,769) on the east coast, Cork (190,384) in the south, Limerick (90,757) in the mid-west, Galway (72,729) on the west coast, and Waterford (49,213) on the south east coast (see Cities in Ireland).

Education

The education systems are largely under the direction of the government via the Minister for Education and Science. Recognised primary and secondary schools must adhere to the curriculum established by authorities that have power to set them.

The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Ireland's education as the 20th best among participating countries in science, being statistically significantly higher than the OECD average.^[61]

Primary, Secondary and Tertiary (University/College) level education are all free in Ireland for all EU citizens.

Economy

Trawlers sit in Killybegs harbour, in County Donegal, one of Ireland's biggest fishing ports. Over fishing has depleted Ireland's cod stocks in particular.

The economy of Ireland has transformed in recent years from an agricultural focus to a modern knowledge economy, focusing on services and high-tech industries and dependent on trade, industry and investment. Economic growth in Ireland averaged a (relatively high) 10% from 1995–2000, and 7% from 2001–2004. Industry, which accounts for 46% of GDP, about 80% of exports, and 29% of the labour force, now takes the place of agriculture as the country's leading sector.

Exports play a fundamental role in Ireland's growth and over the last 40 years a string of significant base metal discoveries have been made, including the giant ore deposit at Tara Mine. Zinc-lead ores are also currently exploited from two other underground operations in Lisheen and Galmoy. Ireland now ranks as the seventh largest producer of zinc concentrates in the world, and the twelfth largest producer of lead concentrates. The combined output from these mines, three of Europe’s most modern and developed mines, make Ireland the largest zinc producer in Europe and the second largest producer of lead.^[62]

Subsidiaries of US multinationals have located in Ireland due to low taxation. Ireland is the world's most profitable country for US corporations, according to analysis by US tax journal Tax Notes^[63]

The country is one of the largest exporters of software-related goods and services in the world.^[64] In fact, a lot of foreign software, and sometimes music, is filtered through the country to avail of Ireland's non-taxing of royalties from copyrighted goods.^{[citation needed]}

Bord Gáis was established under the Gas Act, and charged with the responsibility for the supply, transmission and distribution of natural gas which was first brought ashore in 1976 from the Kinsale Head Gas Field. New sources of supply are expected to come on stream after 2009/10, including the Corrib gas field and potentially the Shannon Liquefied Natrual Gas (LNG) terminal.^[65] Added to gas supplies, energy exports have the potential to transform Ireland's economy.^[66]

As well as exports the economy also benefits from the accompanying rise in consumer spending, construction, and business investment.

A key part of economic policy, since 1987, has been Social Partnership which is a neo-corporatist set of voluntary 'pay pacts' between the Government, employers and trades unions. These usually set agreed pay rises for three-year periods.

The 1995 to 2000 period of high economic growth led many to call the country the Celtic Tiger.^[67] The economy felt the impact of the global economic slowdown in 2001, particularly in the high-tech export sector — the growth rate in that area was cut by nearly half. GDP growth continued to be relatively robust, with a rate of about 6% in 2001 and 2002. Growth for 2004 was over 4%, and for 2005 was 4.7%.

With high growth came high levels of inflation, particularly in the capital city. Prices in Dublin, where nearly 30% of Ireland's population lives, are considerably higher than elsewhere in the country,^[68] especially in the property market (but property prices are falling rapidly following the recent downturn in the World economy and its knock-on effects on Ireland). At the end of July 2008, the annual rate of inflation was running at 4.4% (as measured by the CPI) or 3.6% (as measured by the HICP)^[69]^[70] and inflation actually dropped slightly from the previous month.

Measuring Ireland's level of income per capita is a complicated issue. Ireland possesses the second highest GDP (PPP) per capita in the world (US$43,600 as of 2006), behind Luxembourg, and the fifth highest Human Development Index, which is calculated partially on the basis of GDP per capita. Another measure, Gross National Income per head, takes account of this and therefore many economists feel it is a superior measure of income in the country. In 2005, the World Bank measured Ireland's GNI per head at $41,140 - the seventh highest in the world, sixth highest in Western Europe, and the third highest of any EU member state. Also, a study by The Economist found Ireland to have the best quality of life in the world.^[71] This study employed GDP per capita as a measure of income rather than GNI per capita.

The positive reports and economic statistics mask several underlying imbalances. The construction sector, which is inherently cyclical in nature, now accounts for a significant component of Ireland's GDP. A recent downturn in residential property market sentiment has highlighted the over-exposure of the Irish economy to construction, which now presents a threat to economic growth.^[72]^[73]^[74] Several successive years of economic growth have led to an increase in inequality^[75] in Irish society (see Economy of Ireland - Recent developments) and a decrease in poverty.^[76] Ireland's Gini coefficient measure of income inequality is 30.4, slightly below the OECD average of 30.7.^[75] Figures show that 6.8% of Ireland's population suffer "consistent poverty".^[77]

However, after a construction boom in the last decade, economic growth is now slowing. There has been a significant fall in house prices and the cost of living is beginning to stabilise, after rising every year during the economic boom. It is now said the Irish economy is rebalancing itself. During the boom, Ireland had developed a reputation as one of the most expensive countries in Europe. The Irish Economy contracted by -1.7% in 2008, down from 4.7% growth in 2007, in 2009 it is predicted by both the Irish government and the ESRI that the economy could contract by over 9% which would be one of the highest economic contractions of any western economy since World War 2. The huge reduction in construction has caused Ireland's massive economic downturn, the construction crash and the Global recession has hit Ireland very hard. The ESRI has recently predicted that Ireland Economy will not recover until 2011 were growth could return to 5% per year until 2015. Ireland now has the second-highest level of household debt in the world, at 190% of household income.^[78]

Ireland is currently (2008) ranked as the world's third most economically free economy in an index created by the Wall Street Journal and Heritage Foundation, the Index of Economic Freedom.

The Financial Crisis of 2008 is currently affecting the Irish economy severely, compounding domestic economic problems related the collapse of the Irish property bubble. Ireland was the first country in the EU to officially enter a recession as declared by the Central Statistics Office.^[79] Ireland was stripped of it`s AAA credit ranking and downgraded to AA+ by Standard & Poor's ratings agency, due to Ireland`s bleak financial outlook and heavy government debt burden.^[80]

Military

Ireland's military are organised as the Irish Defence Forces ([Óglaigh na hÉireann] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)). The Irish Army is relatively small when compared with other armies in the region, but is well equipped, with 8,500 full-time military personnel (13,000 in the reserve army).^[81] This is principally due to Ireland's policy of neutrality,^[82] and its "triple-lock" rules governing participation in conflicts whereby approval must be given by the UN, the Government and the Dáil before any Irish troops are deployed into a conflict zone.^[83] Deployments of Irish soldiers cover UN peace-keeping duties, protection of Ireland's territorial waters (in the case of the Irish Naval Service) and Aid to Civil Power operations in the state. See Irish neutrality.

There is also an Irish Air Corps, Irish Naval Service and Reserve Defence Forces (Irish Army Reserve and Naval Service Reserve) under the Defence Forces. The Irish Army Rangers is a special forces branch which operates under the aegis of the army.

Over 40,000 Irish servicemen have served in UN peacekeeping missions around the world.

Ireland's air facilities were used by the U.S. military for the delivery of military personnel involved in the 2003 invasion of Iraq through Shannon Airport; previously the airport had been used for the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, as well as the First Gulf War.^[84] This is part of a longer history of use of Shannon for controversial military transport, under Irish military policy which, while ostensibly neutral, was biased towards NATO during the Cold War.^[85] During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Seán Lemass authorised the search of Cuban and Czech aircraft passing through Shannon and passed the information to the CIA.^[86]

During the Second World War, although officially neutral, Ireland supplied similar, though more extensive, support for the Allied Forces (see Irish neutrality during World War II ). Since 1999, Ireland has been a member of NATO's Partnership for Peace program.^[87]^[88]

Religion

Ireland's constitution states that the state may not endow any particular religion, and also guarantees freedom of religion. Approximately 86.8% of the population are from a Roman Catholic,^[89] background and the country has one of the highest rates of regular and weekly church attendance in the Western World.^[90] However, there has been a major decline in this attendance among Roman Catholics in the course of the past 30 years. Between 1996 and 2001, regular Mass attendance, declined further from 60% to 48%^[91] (it had been above 90% before 1973), and all but two of its sacerdotal seminaries have closed (St Patrick's College, Maynooth and St Malachy's College, Belfast). A number of theological colleges continue to educate both ordained and lay people.

The second largest Christian denomination, the Church of Ireland (Anglican), was declining in number for most of the twentieth century, but has more recently experienced an increase in membership, according to the 2002 census, as have other small Christian denominations, as well as Hinduism. Other large Protestant denominations are the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, followed by the Methodist Church in Ireland. Between 2002 and 2006 there was a 69% increase in the number of Muslims living in Ireland, which makes Islam the fastest growing and the third largest religion in the country. The very small Jewish community in Ireland also recorded a marginal increase (see History of the Jews in Ireland) in the same period.

The patron saints of Ireland (the island) are Saint Patrick, Saint Bridget and Saint Columba.

According to the 2006 census, the number of people who described themselves as having "no religion" was 186,318 (4.4%), although this fails to differentiate between non-religious people and pagans/spiritual people who simply reject formal dogma. An additional 1,515 people described themselves as agnostic and 929 as atheist instead of ticking the "no religion" box. This brings the total nonreligious within the state to 4.5% of the population. A further 70,322 (1.7%) did not state a religion.^[92]

Religion and politics

St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, the National Cathedral of the Church of Ireland (part of the Anglican Communion).

The original 1937 Constitution of Ireland gave the Catholic Church a "special position" as the church of the majority, but also recognised other Christian denominations and Judaism. As with other predominantly Catholic European states (e.g., Italy), the Irish state underwent a period of legal secularisation in the late twentieth century. In 1972, the article of the Constitution naming specific religious groups, including the Catholic Church, was deleted by the fifth amendment of the constitution in a referendum.

Article 44 remains in the Constitution. It begins:

The State acknowledges that the homage of public worship is due to Almighty God. It shall hold His Name in reverence, and shall respect and honour religion.

The article also establishes freedom of religion (for belief, practice, and organisation without undue interference from the state), prohibits endowment of any particular religion, prohibits the state from religious discrimination, and requires the state to treat religious and non-religious schools in a non-prejudicial manner.

Religion and education

Despite a large number of schools in Ireland being run by religious organisations, a general trend of secularism is occurring within the Irish population, particularly in the younger generations.^[93] Many efforts have been made by secular groups, to eliminate the rigorous study in the second and sixth classes, to prepare for the sacraments of Holy Communion and confirmation in Catholic schools - parents can ask for their children to be excluded from religious study if they wish. However, religious studies as a subject was introduced into the state administered Junior Certificate in 2001, although it is not compulsory and deals with aspects of different religions, not focusing on one particular religion.

Schools run by religious organisations, but receive public money and recognition, are not allowed to discriminate against pupils based upon religion (or lack of). A sanctioned system of preference does exist, where students of a particular religion may be accepted before those who do not share the ethos of the school, in a case where a school's quota has already been reached.

Social issues

Reflected in the policies of successive governments, Ireland is now predominantly progressive in relation to social issues. Though a conservative basis still remains in relation to some issues, there has been a "liberalisation" in some areas in recent decades. The most notably affected areas include changes relating to the legal status of divorce, contraception, gay rights and abortion in Ireland.

For example, while Catholic and Protestant attitudes in 1937 disapproved of divorce - and it was prohibited by the original Constitution - this was repealed in 1995 under the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution. With abortion, the 1983 Eight Amendment to the Constitution recognised "the right to life of the unborn", subject to qualifications concerning the "equal right to life" of the mother. The case of Attorney General v. X subsequently prompted passage of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, guaranteeing the right to travel abroad to have an abortion performed, and the right of citizens to learn about "services" that are illegal in Ireland but legal outside the country.

Ireland also historically favoured conservative legislation regarding sexuality. For example, contraception was illegal in Ireland until 1979.^[94] Similarly, the legislation which outlawed homosexual acts was not repealed until 1993 - although even before this it was generally only enforced when dealing with under-age sex.^[95]^[96] Ireland has since taken steps to change its policies relating to these issues; for instance, discrimination based on sexual orientation is illegal, and same-sex civil partnerships legislation was published in June 2008 (though not yet enshrined in law). A poll carried out in 2008 showed that 84% of Irish people supported civil marriage or civil partnerships for gay and lesbian couples, with 58% supporting full marriage rights in registry offices.^[97] A later Irish Times poll put support for same-sex marriage at 63%, up a further 5%.^[98]

On many issues, Ireland has become very progressive. For instance, in 2002, Ireland became the first country to have an environmental levy for all plastic shopping bags; while in 2004 the country became the first in the world to ban smoking in all workplaces. The country also plans to be the first in Europe to ban incandescent lightbulbs.^[99] The death penalty is constitutionally banned in Ireland, and the country was one of the main nations involved in the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, which was formally endorsed in Dublin.

Culture

Template:IrishArts

Literature and the arts

For an island with a relatively small population, Ireland has made a large contribution to world literature in all its branches, mainly in English.^[100] Poetry in Irish represents the oldest vernacular poetry in Europe with the earliest examples dating from the 6th century. Jonathan Swift, still often called the foremost satirist in the English language, was wildly popular in his day for works such as Gulliver's Travels and A Modest Proposal, and he remains so in modern times. More recently, Ireland has produced four winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature: George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats, Samuel Beckett and Seamus Heaney. Although not a Nobel Prize winner, James Joyce is widely considered one of the most significant writers of the 20th century; Samuel Beckett himself refused to attend his own Nobel award ceremony, in protest of Joyce not having received the award. Joyce's 1922 novel Ulysses is considered one of the most important works of Modernist literature, and his life is celebrated annually on 16 June in Dublin as the Bloomsday celebrations.^[101]

The story of art in Ireland begins with Stone Age carvings found at sites such as Newgrange.^[102] It is traced through Bronze age artifacts, particularly ornamental gold objects, and the religious carvings and illuminated manuscripts of the mediæval period. During the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, a strong indigenous tradition of painting emerged, including such figures as John Butler Yeats, William Orpen, Jack Yeats and Louis le Brocquy.

Modern Irish literature is still often connected with its rural heritage, through writers like John McGahern and poets like Seamus Heaney.

In the performing arts, playwrights such as Seán O'Casey, Brian Friel, Sebastian Barry, Conor McPherson and Billy Roche have placed Ireland on the world stage.^[103] There is a thriving performing arts culture all over the country, performing international as well as Irish plays. In addition, Galway has An Taibhdhearc, the Irish Language Theatre established in 1928.^[104]^[105]

Music and dance

The Irish tradition of folk music and dance is known worldwide,^[106] not least through the phenomenon of Riverdance.^[107]

In the middle years of the 20th century, as Irish society was attempting to modernise, traditional music tended to fall out of favour, especially in urban areas.^[108] During the 1960s, and inspired by the American folk music movement, there was a revival of interest in the Irish tradition. This revival was led by such groups as The Dubliners, The Chieftains, Emmet Spiceland, The Wolfe Tones, the Clancy Brothers, Sweeney's Men, and individuals like Seán Ó Riada and Christy Moore.^[109]

Before too long, groups and musicians including Horslips, Van Morrison, and Thin Lizzy were incorporating elements of traditional music into a rock idiom to form a unique new sound. During the 1970s and 1980s, the distinction between traditional and rock musicians became blurred, with many individuals regularly crossing over between these styles of playing as a matter of course. This trend can be seen more recently in the work of artists like U2, Enya, Flogging Molly, Moya Brennan, The Saw Doctors, Bell X1, Damien Rice, The Corrs, Aslan, Sinéad O'Connor, Clannad, The Cranberries, Rory Gallagher, Westlife, B*witched, BoyZone, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Black 47, VNV Nation, Rob Smith, Ash, The Thrills, Stars of Heaven, Something Happens, A House, Sharon Shannon, Damien Dempsey, Declan O' Rourke, The Frames and The Pogues.

During the 1990s, a subgenre of folk metal emerged in Ireland that fused heavy metal music with Irish and Celtic music. The pioneers of this subgenre were Cruachan, Primordial and Waylander.

Irish music has shown an immense increase in popularity with many attempting to return to their roots. Some contemporary music groups stick closer to a "traditional" sound, including Altan, Téada, Danú, Dervish, Lúnasa, and Solas. Others incorporate multiple cultures in a fusion of styles, such as Afro Celt Sound System and Kíla.

Ireland has done well in the Eurovision Song Contest, being the most successful country in the competition, with seven wins in 1970 with Dana, 1980 and 1987 with Johnny Logan, 1992 with Linda Martin, 1993 with Niamh Kavanagh, 1994 with Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan and in 1996 with Eimear Quinn.^[110]

James Joyce published his most famous work Ulysses, an interpretation of the Odyssey set in Dublin, in 1922. Edith Somerville continued writing after the death of her partner Martin Ross in 1915. Dublin's Annie M. P. Smithson was one of several authors catering for fans of romantic fiction in the 1920s and 1930s. After the war popular novels were published by, among others, Brian O'Nolan, who published as Flann O'Brien, Elizabeth Bowen, Kate O'Brien. In the last few decades of the 20th century Edna O'Brien, John McGahern, Maeve Binchy, Joseph O'Connor, Roddy Doyle, Colm Tóibín and John Banville came to the fore as novelists.

Patricia Lynch (1898–1972) was a prolific children's author, while recently Eoin Colfer has been particularly successful in this genre.

In the genre of the short story, a form favoured by Irish writers, Seán Ó Faoláin, Frank O'Connor and William Trevor are prominent.

Poets include W.B. Yeats, Patrick Kavanagh, Seamus Heaney (Nobel Literature laureate), Thomas McCarthy and Dermot Bolger.

Prominent writers in the Irish language are Pádraic Ó Conaire, Máirtín Ó Cadhain, Séamus Ó Grianna and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill.

Sport

See also: List of Irish sports people

Ireland's national sports are Gaelic football and hurling. Hurling, arguably the world's fastest field team sport in terms of game play is, along with Gaelic Football, administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association; as is Handball. Notable former Gaelic Athletic Association players include the now retired pair of DJ Carey and Peter Canavan. The former Taoiseach Jack Lynch was a noted hurler and All-Ireland winner before entering politics. Well-known current players include Henry Shefflin, Sean Cavanagh and Colm Cooper.

In football, former players include Roy Keane, Johnny Giles, Liam Brady, Denis Irwin, Packie Bonner, Niall Quinn and Paul McGrath, while players whose careers are ongoing include Steve Finnan, Shay Given, Damien Duff, John O'Shea, Aiden McGeady and Robbie Keane. Ireland's national soccer league is the FAI League of Ireland.

In rugby, Ireland has produced world class players such as Brian O'Driscoll, Ronan O'Gara, Paul O'Connell and Keith Wood and most recent achievements include winning the RBS Six Nations and Grand Slam 2009.

In athletics, Sonia O'Sullivan, Eamonn Coghlan, Catherina McKiernan, Ronnie Delaney, John Treacy, David Gillick and Derval O'Rourke have won medals at international events.

In cricket, Ireland played in the 2007 World Cricket League and qualified for the 2007 Cricket World Cup, reaching the last eight.

Ken Doherty is a former World Champion (1997) snooker player.

John L. Sullivan, born 1858 in the United States to Irish immigrant parents, was the first modern world heavyweight champion. Barry McGuigan and Steve Collins were also world champion boxers, while Bernard Dunne was a European super bantamweight champion and is current WBA Super Bantamweight champion. Michael Carruth is also an Olympic gold medallist having won at welterweight at the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992. Current prospects in the middleweight division are the undefeated John Duddy, and Andy Lee who has one defeat. Both fighters are aiming for world championship fights. At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing in China, the Irish team won 3 medals, with Kenneth Egan winning silver and Darren Sutherland and Paddy Barnes earning bronzes. Boxing has proven a successful sport for Ireland in the Olympics and also at professional level.

In motorsport, during the 1990s Jordan Grand Prix became the only independent team to win multiple Formula One races. Rallying also has a measure of popularity as a spectator sport, and in 2007 the Rally of Ireland (which was held in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland) became a qualifying round of the FIA World Rally Championship and attracted an estimated attendance of some 200,000 spectators.^[111]

In cycling, Ireland produced Stephen Roche, the first and only Irishman to win the Tour de France in 1987, and the prolific Seán Kelly.

In golf, the current Open and USPGA champion is Irishman Pádraig Harrington.

In 2002, Dermott Lennon became the first Irish rider to win a Show Jumping World Championship gold medal.

By attendance figures Gaelic football and hurling are by far the most popular sports in Ireland, 34% of total attendances at sports events being to football and 23% to hurling.^[112]^[113]^[114] while golf and soccer (including 5-a-side) are the most played at 17% of the population each.^[115]

The most popular sports in Ireland are Gaelic Football and Association Football.^[116] Together with Hurling and Rugby, they make up the four biggest team sports in Ireland. Gaelic Football is the most popular in terms of match attendance and community involvement,^[117] and the All-Ireland Football Final is the biggest day in Ireland's sporting calendar. Association football, meanwhile, is the most commonly played team sport in Ireland and the most popular sport in which Ireland fields international teams.^[118] Furthermore, there is significant Irish interest in the English and (to a lesser extent) Scottish soccer leagues. Many other sports are also played and followed, particularly golf and horse racing but also show jumping, greyhound racing, swimming, boxing, basketball, cricket, fishing, handball, motorsport, tennis and hockey.

Hurling and Gaelic football, along with camogie, ladies' Gaelic football, handball and rounders, make up the national sports of Ireland, collectively known as Gaelic games. All Gaelic games are governed by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), with the exception of ladies' Gaelic football and camogie, which are governed by separate organisations. The GAA is organised on an all-Ireland basis with all 32 counties competing. The headquarters of the GAA (and the main stadium) is located at the 82,500^[119] capacity Croke Park in north Dublin. Major GAA games are played there, including the semi-finals and finals of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. During the redevelopment of the Lansdowne Road stadium, international rugby and soccer are played there.^[120] All GAA players, even at the highest level, are amateurs, receiving no wages (although they are permitted to receive a certain amount of income from sources such as sponsorship, grants or scholarships).

The Irish Football Association (IFA) was originally the governing body for Association football throughout the island. The game has been played in Ireland since the 1860s (Cliftonville F.C. of Belfast being Ireland's oldest club) but remained a minority sport outside of Ulster until the 1880s. However, some clubs based outside Belfast felt that the IFA largely favoured Ulster-based, Protestant clubs in such matters as selection for the national team. Following an incident in which, despite an earlier promise, the IFA, for security reasons, moved an Irish Cup final replay from Dublin to Belfast,^[121] the clubs based in what would soon become the Free State set up a new Football Association of the Irish Free State (FAIFS) - now known as the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) - in 1921. Despite being initially blacklisted by the Home Nations' associations, the FAI was recognised by FIFA in 1923 and organised its first international fixture in 1926 (against Italy). However, both the IFA and FAI continued to select their teams from the whole of Ireland, with some players earning international caps for matches with both teams. Both also referred to their respective teams as "Ireland". In 1950, FIFA directed the associations only to select players from within their respective territories, and in 1953 FIFA further clarified that the FAI's team was to be known only as "Republic of Ireland", and the IFA's team only as "Northern Ireland" (with certain exceptions). Northern Ireland qualified for the World Cup finals in 1958 (reaching the quarter-finals), 1982 and 1986. Team Republic qualified for the World Cup finals in 1990 (reaching the quarter-finals), 1994, 2002 and the European Championships in 1988.

The Irish rugby team includes players from north and south, and the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) governs the sport on both sides of the border. Consequently in international rugby, the Ireland team represents the whole island. The Irish rugby team have played in every Rugby World Cup, making the quarter-finals at four of them. Ireland also hosted games during the 1991 and the 1999 Rugby World Cups (including a quarter-final). There are four professional provincial sides that contest the Magners League and Heineken Cup. Irish rugby has become increasingly competitive at both the international and provincial levels since the sport went professional in 1994. During that time, Ulster (1999^[122]) and Munster (2006^[123] and 2008)^[124] have both won the Heineken Cup. The Ireland cricket team was among the associate nations which qualified for the 2007 Cricket World Cup, where it defeated Pakistan and finished second in its pool, earning a place in the Super 8 stage of the competition.

The Irish rugby league team is also organised on an all-Ireland basis. The team is made up predominantly of players based in England with Irish family connections, with others drawn from the local competition and Australia. Ireland reached the quarter-finals of the 2000 Rugby League World Cup.

As with rugby and Gaelic games, cricket, golf, tennis, rowing, hockey and most other sports are organised on an all-island basis. Greyhound racing and horse racing are both popular in Ireland: greyhound stadiums are well attended and there are frequent horse race meetings. The Republic is noted for the breeding and training of race horses and is also a large exporter of racing dogs. The horse racing sector is largely concentrated in the central east of the Republic. Boxing is also an all-island sport governed by the Irish Amateur Boxing Association. In 1992, Michael Carruth won a gold medal for boxing in the Barcelona Olympic Games. Irish athletics has seen some development in recent times, with Sonia O'Sullivan winning two notable medals at 5,000 metres; gold at the 1995 World Championships and silver at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Gillian O'Sullivan won silver in the 20k walk at the 2003 World Championships, while sprint hurdler Derval O'Rourke won gold at the 2006 World Indoor Championship in Moscow.

Golf is a popular sport in Ireland and golf tourism is a major industry. The 2006 Ryder Cup was held at The K Club in County Kildare.^[125] Pádraig Harrington became the first Irishman since Fred Daly in 1947 to win the British Open at Carnoustie in July 2007.^[126] He successfully defended his title in July 2008 ^[127] before going on to win the PGA Championship in August.^[128] Harrington became the first European to win the PGA Championship in 78 years (Tommy Armour in 1930), and was the first winner from Ireland.

The west coast of Ireland, Lahinch and Donegal Bay in particular, have popular surfing beaches; being fully exposed to the Atlantic Ocean. Donegal Bay is shaped like a funnel and catches West/South-West Atlantic winds, creating good surf - especially in winter. In recent years, Bundoran has hosted European championship surfing. The south-west of Ireland, such as the Dingle Peninsula and Lahinch, also has surf beaches. Scuba diving is increasingly popular in Ireland with clear waters and large populations of sea life, particularly along the western seaboard. There are also many shipwrecks along the coast of Ireland, with some of the best wreck dives being in Malin Head and off the County Cork coast. With thousands of lakes, over 14,000 kilometres (8,700 mi) of fish bearing rivers, and over 3,700 kilometres (2,300 mi) of coastline, Ireland is a popular angling destination. The temperate Irish climate is suited to sport angling. While salmon and trout fishing remain popular with anglers, salmon fishing in particular received a boost in 2006 with the closing of the salmon driftnet fishery. Coarse fishing continues to increase its profile. Sea angling is developed with many beaches mapped and signposted, and in recent times the range of sea angling species has increased.^[129]

Science

Ireland has a rich history in science^[130] and is known for its excellence in scientific research conducted at its many universities and institutions. Noted particularly are Ireland's contributions to fiber optics technology and related technologies.

The Irish philosopher and theologian Johannes Scotus Eriugena (c. 815–877) was considered one of the leading intellectuals of his era. Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton CVO OBE, (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish explorer who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. He along with his expedition made the first ascent of Mount Erebus, and the discovery of the approximate location of the South Magnetic Pole, reached on 16 January 1909 by Edgeworth David, Douglas Mawson, and Alistair MacKay.

Robert Boyle (1627–1691) was an Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, inventor and early gentleman scientist, largely regarded one of the founders of modern chemistry. He is best known for the formulation of Boyle's law, stating that the pressure and volume of an ideal gas are inversely proportional.^[130]

Irish physicist John Tyndall (1820-1893) discovered the Tyndall effect, explaining why the sky is blue.

Other notable Irish physicists include Ernest Walton (winner of the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics with Sir John Douglas Cockcroft for splitting the nucleus of the atom by artificial means and contributions in the development of a new theory of wave equation),^[131] William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (or Lord Kelvin) which the absolute temperature unit Kelvin is named after. Sir Joseph Larmor a physicist and mathematician who made innovations in the understanding of electricity, dynamics, thermodynamics, and the electron theory of matter. His most influential work was Aether and Matter, a theoretical physics book published in 1900. ^[132] George Johnstone Stoney (who introduced the term electron in 1891), John Stewart Bell (the originator of Bell's Theorem and a paper concerning the discovery of the Bell-Jackiw-Adler anomaly), who was nominated for a Nobel prize, mathematical physicist George Francis FitzGerald, Sir George Gabriel Stokes and many others.^[130]

Notable mathematicians include Sir William Rowan Hamilton (mathematician, physicist, astronomer and discoverer of quaternions), Francis Ysidro Edgeworth (influential in the development of neo-classical economics, including the Edgeworth box), John B. Cosgrave (specialist in number theory, former head of the mathematics department of St. Patrick's College and discoverer of a new 2000-digit prime number in 1999 and a record composite Fermat number in 2003) and John Lighton Synge (who made progress in different fields of science, including mechanics and geometrical methods in general relativity and who had mathematician John Nash as one of his students).

The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) was established in 1940 by the Taoiseach Éamon de Valera.^[133] In 1940, physicist Erwin Schrödinger received an invitation to help establish the Institute. He became the Director of the School for Theoretical Physics and remained there for 17 years, during which time he became a naturalized Irish citizen.^[133]

Theatre

Following in the tradition of Shaw, Wilde and Samuel Beckett, playwrights such as Seán O'Casey, Brian Friel, Sebastian Barry, Conor McPherson and Billy Roche have gained popular success.^[134]

Visual arts

Prominent artists include Jack Butler Yeats, Louis le Brocquy, Anne Madden, Robert Ballagh, James Coleman, Dorothy Cross and John Gerrard.

Music

Ireland is known for its traditional music and song, in origin going back hundreds of years but still played throughout the country. Among the best-known modern performers are groups such as The Chieftains, Clannad and Altan, singers such as Christy Moore, ensembles such as Anúna and Celtic Woman and cross-over artists such as singers Enya and Sinéad O'Connor. Built upon this tradition is the dance company Riverdance.

Ireland has produced internationally influential artists in other musical genres such as rock, pop, jazz and blues including The Pogues, U2, Westlife, Chris de Burgh, Thin Lizzy, The Corrs, The Cranberries, Blues guitarist Rory Gallagher and Academy Award winner Glen Hansard of The Frames.

There are a number of classical music ensembles around the country^[135], such as the RTÉ Performing Groups, and opera lovers are catered for with the annual Wexford Opera Festival.

Cinema

The flourishing Irish film industry, state-supported by Bord Scannán na hÉireann, helped launch the careers of directors Neil Jordan and Jim Sheridan, and supported Irish films such as John Crowley's Intermission, Neil Jordan's Breakfast on Pluto, and others. A policy of tax breaks and other incentives has also attracted international film to Ireland, including Mel Gibson's Braveheart and Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan.

Irish actors who have made it to Hollywood include Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole, Pierce Brosnan, Gabriel Byrne, Brendan Gleeson, Daniel Day Lewis (by citizenship), Colm Meaney, Colin Farrell, Brenda Fricker, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Stuart Townsend and Cillian Murphy.

Modern architecture

The Spire of Dublin symbolises the embracing of new architectural styles in Ireland

In the 20th century, Irish architecture followed the international trend towards modern, sleek and often radical building styles, particularly after independence in the first half of the century. New building materials and old were utilised in new ways to maximise style, space, light and energy efficiency. 1928 saw the construction of Ireland's first all concrete Art Deco church in Turner's Cross, Cork.^[136] The building was designed by Chicago architect Barry Byrne and met with a cool reception among those more accustomed to traditional designs.^[137]

In 1953, one of Ireland's most radical buildings, Bus Éireann's main Dublin terminal building, better known as Busáras, was completed. It was built despite huge public opposition and excessive costs of over £1 million.^[138] Michael Scott, its architect is now considered one of the most important architects of the 20th century in Ireland.^[139]

A significant change in Ireland's architecture has taken place over the last few years, with a major shift towards the European continental ethos of architecture and urbanity.^{[citation needed]} There are currently four buildings in planning that would eclipse the country's current tallest building record - currently held by Cork County Hall in Cork. These projects include the Elysian Building in Cork and the U2 Building, Players Mill and The Tall Building in Dublin. One of the most symbolic structures of modern Irish architecture is the Spire of Dublin. Completed in January 2003, the structure was nominated in 2004 for the prestigious Stirling Prize.

Transport

Air

There are five main international airports in Ireland: Dublin Airport, Belfast International Airport (Aldergrove), Cork Airport, Shannon Airport and Ireland West Airport (Knock). Dublin Airport is the busiest airport in Ireland,^[140] carrying over 22 million passengers per year;^[141] a new terminal and runway is now under construction, costing over €2 billion.^[142] All provide services to Great Britain and continental Europe, while Belfast International, Dublin, Shannon and Ireland West (Knock) also offer a range of transatlantic services. Shannon was once an important stopover on the trans-Atlantic route for refuelling operations^[143] and, with Dublin, is still one of the Ireland's two designated transatlantic gateway airports.

There are several smaller regional airports: George Best Belfast City Airport, City of Derry Airport (Eglinton), Galway Airport, Kerry Airport (Farranfore), (Knock), Sligo Airport (Strandhill), Waterford Airport, and Donegal Airport (Carrickfinn). Scheduled services from these regional points are mostly limited to the rest of Ireland and Great Britain.

Airlines in Ireland include: Aer Lingus (the national airline of Ireland), Ryanair, Aer Arann and CityJet.

Rail

The rail network in Ireland was developed by various private companies, some of which received (British) Government funding in the late 19th century. The network reached its greatest extent by 1920. The broad gauge of 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)^[144] was eventually settled upon throughout the island, although there were also hundreds of kilometres of 914 mm (3 ft) narrow gauge railways.^[144]

Long distance passenger trains in the Republic are managed by Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) and connect most major towns and cities across the country.

In Dublin, two local rail networks provide transportation in the city and its immediate vicinity. The Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) links the city centre with coastal suburbs, while a new light rail system named Luas, opened in 2004, transports passengers to the central and western suburbs. Several more Luas lines are planned as well as an eventual upgrade to metro. The DART is run by Iarnród Éireann while the Luas is being run by Veolia under franchise from the Railway Procurement Agency (R.P.A.).

Under the Irish government's Transport 21 plan, reopening the Navan-Clonsilla rail link, the Cork-Midleton rail link and the Western Rail Corridor are amongst plans for Ireland's railways.^[145]

In Northern Ireland, all rail services are provided by Northern Ireland Railways (N.I.R.), part of Translink. Services in Northern Ireland are sparse in comparison to the rest of Ireland or Britain. A large railway network was severely curtailed in the 1950s and 1960s (in particular by the Ulster Transport Authority). The current situation includes suburban services to Larne, Newry and Bangor, as well as services to Derry. There is also a branch from Coleraine to Portrush. Waterside Station in Derry is the main railway station for Derry as well as County Donegal in Ireland, which no longer has a rail network.

Ireland also has one of the largest dedicated freight railways in Europe, operated by Bord na Móna. This company has narrow gauge railways^[144] totalling nearly 1,400 kilometres (870 miles).^[146]

Roads

Motorists must drive on the left in Ireland, as in Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, India, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Japan, and a number of other countries. Tourists driving on the wrong side of the road cause serious accidents every year.^[147] The island of Ireland has an extensive road network, with a (developing) motorway network fanning out from Belfast, Cork and Dublin. Historically, land owners developed most roads and later Turnpike Trusts collected tolls so that as early as 1800 Ireland had a 16,100 km (10,000 mi) road network.^[148]

In recent years the Irish Government launched Transport 21 which is the largest investment project ever in Ireland's transport system - with €34 billion being invested from 2006 until 2015. Work on a number of road projects has already commenced while a number of objectives have already been completed.^[149] The Transport 21 plan can largely be divided into five categories, Metro / Luas, Heavy rail, roads, buses and airports. The plan for Transport 21 was announced on 1 November 2005 by the then Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen.^[150]

The year 1815 marked the inauguration of the first horsecar service from Clonmel to Thurles and Limerick run by Charles Bianconi.^[151] Now, the main bus companies are Bus Éireann in the Republic and Ulsterbus, a division of Translink, in Northern Ireland, both of which offer extensive passenger service in all parts of the island. Dublin Bus specifically serves the greater Dublin area, and a further division of Translink called Metro, operates services within the greater Belfast area. Translink also operate Ulsterbus Foyle in the Derry Urban Area.

All speed limit signs in the Republic changed to the metric system in 2005. Some direction signs still show distance in miles.^[152] Use of imperial measurements are usually limited to pints of beer in pubs, and informal measurement of human height (feet and inches) and human weight (usually stones, but pounds and ounces for infants).

File:Ireland - Dublin - Tram.jpg

Luas

The country has three main international airports (Dublin, Shannon, and Cork) that serve a wide variety of European and intercontinental routes with scheduled and chartered flights. The national airline is Aer Lingus, although low cost airline Ryanair is the largest airline. The route between London and Dublin is the busiest international air route in Europe, with 4.5 million people flying between the two cities in 2006.^[153]^[154]

Railway services are provided by Iarnród Éireann. Dublin is the centre of the network, with two main stations (Heuston and Connolly) linking to the main towns and cities. The Enterprise service, run jointly with Northern Ireland Railways, connects Dublin with Belfast. Dublin has a steadily improving public transport network of varying quality including the DART, Luas, Bus service and an expanding rail network although the termination of most services at 18:00 remains an area for improvement.

The motorways and national routes (national primary roads and national secondary roads) are managed by the National Roads Authority. The rest of the roads (regional roads and local roads) are managed by the local authorities in each of their areas.

Regular ferry services operate between Ireland and Great Britain, the Isle of Man and France.

Places of interest

There are three World Heritage Sites on the island; these are the Bend of the Boyne, Skellig Michael and the Giant's Causeway.^[155] ^[156] A number of other places are on the tentative list, for example the Burren and Mount Stewart.^[157]

Some of the most visited sites in Ireland include Bunratty Castle, the Rock of Cashel, the Cliffs of Moher, Holy Cross Abbey and Blarney Castle.^[158] Historically important monastic sites include Glendalough and Clonmacnoise, which are maintained as national monuments.^[159]

Dublin is the most heavily touristed region,^[158] and home to several top attractions such as the Guinness Storehouse and Book of Kells.^[158] The west and south west (including the Killarney and Dingle regions in County Kerry, and Galway and the Aran Islands) are also popular tourist destinations.^[158]

The stately homes, built during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries in Palladian, Neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles, such as, Castle Ward, Castletown House, Bantry House, are of interest to tourists, and those converted into hotels, such as Ashford Castle, Castle Leslie and Dromoland Castle can be enjoyed as accommodation.^[160]

Cities

After Dublin (1.7m in Greater Dublin), Ireland's largest cities are Belfast (600,000 in Belfast Metropolitan Area), Cork (380,000 in Greater Cork), Derry (110,000 in Derry Urban Area), Limerick (93,321 including suburbs), Galway (71,983), Lisburn (71,465), Waterford (49,240 including suburbs), Newry (27,433), Kilkenny (23,967 incl. suburbs) and Armagh (14,590).

Energy network

For much of their existence electricity networks in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland were entirely separate. Both networks were designed and constructed independently, but are now connected with three interlinks and also connected through Britain to mainland Europe. The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) in the Republic drove a rural electrification programme in the 1940s until the 1970s.

Ireland, north and south has faced difficulties in providing continuous power at peak load.^{[citation needed]} The situation in the North is complicated by the issue of private companies not supplying NIE with enough power, while in the South, the ESB has failed to modernise its power stations. In the latter case, availability of power plants has averaged 66% recently, one of the worst such figures in Western Europe.

The natural gas network is also now all-Ireland, with a pipeline linking Gormanston, County Meath and Ballyclare, County Antrim.^[161] Most of Ireland's gas now comes through the interconnectors between Twynholm in Scotland and Ballylumford, County Antrim, Gormanston or Loughshinny, County Dublin with a decreasing supply from the Kinsale field.^[162]^[163] The Corrib Gas Field off the coast of County Mayo has yet to come online, and is facing some localised opposition over the controversial decision to refine the gas onshore.

There have been recent efforts in Ireland to use renewable energy such as wind energy with large wind farms being constructed in coastal counties such as Donegal, Mayo and Antrim. What will be the world's largest offshore wind farm is currently being developed at Arklow Bank off the coast of Wicklow. It is predicted to generate 10% of Ireland's energy needs when it is complete. These constructions have in some cases been delayed by opposition from locals, most recently on Achill Island, some of whom consider the wind turbines to be unsightly. Another issue in the Republic of Ireland is the failure of the aging network to cope with the varying availability of power from such installations. The ESB's Turlough Hill is the only energy storage mechanism in Ireland.^[164]

Wildlife

Ireland has fewer animal and plant species than either Great Britain or mainland Europe because it became an island shortly after the end of the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago. Many different habitat types are found in Ireland, including farmland, open woodland, temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, conifer plantations, peat bogs, and various coastal habitats. According to the WWF, the territory of Ireland can be subdivided into two ecoregions: the Celtic broadleaf forests and North Atlantic moist mixed forests.

Fauna

Only 26 land mammal species are native to Ireland, because it was isolated from Europe by rising sea levels after the Ice Age. Some species, such as the red fox, hedgehog, and badger are very common, whereas others, like the Irish hare, red deer and pine marten are less so. Aquatic wild-life, such as species of turtle, shark, whale, and dolphin, are common off the coast. About 400 species of birds have been recorded in Ireland. Many of these are migratory, including the Barn Swallow. Most of Ireland's bird species come from Iceland, Greenland, Africa among other territories. There are no snakes in Ireland and only one reptile (the common lizard) is native to the country. Extinct species include the great Irish elk, the wolf, the great auk, and others. Some previously extinct birds, such as the Golden Eagle, have recently been reintroduced after decades of extirpation.

Agriculture drives current land use patterns in Ireland, limiting natural habitat preserves,^[165] particularly for larger wild mammals with greater territorial needs. With no top predator in Ireland, populations of animals (such as semi-wild deer) that cannot be controlled by smaller predators (such as the fox) are controlled by annual culling.

Flora

Phytogeographically, Ireland belongs to the Atlantic European province of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom. Until mediæval times Ireland was heavily forested with oak, pine, beech and birch. Forests now cover about 9% (4,450 km² or one million acres) of the land.^[166] Because of its mild climate, many species, including sub-tropical species such as palm trees, are grown in Ireland. Much of the land is now covered with pasture, and there are many species of wild-flower. Gorse (Ulex europaeus), a wild furze, is commonly found growing in the uplands, and ferns are plentiful in the more moist regions, especially in the western parts of Ireland. It is home to hundreds of plant species, some of them unique to the island. The country has been "invaded" by some grasses, such as Spartina anglica.^[167]

The algal and seaweed flora is that of the cold-temperate. The total number of species is: 264 Rhodophyta; 152 Heterokontophyta; 114 Chloropyta; and 31 Cyanophyta, giving a total of 574. Rarer species include: Itonoa marginifera (J.Ag.) Masuda & Guiry); Schmitzia hiscockiana Maggs and Guiry; Gelidiella calcicola Maggs & Guiry; Gelidium maggsiae Rico & Guiry and Halymenia latifolia P.Crouan & H.Crouan ex Kützing.^[168] The country has been invaded by some algae, some of which are now well established: Asparagopsis armara Harvey – which originated in Australia and was first recorded by M. De Valera in 1939; Colpomenia peregrina Sauvageau – now locally abundant and first recorded in the 1930s; Sargassum muticum (Yendo) Fensholt – now well established in a number of localities on the south, west, and north-east coasts; Codium fragile ssp. fragile (formerly reported as ssp. tomentosum) – now well established.^[169] Codium fragile ssp. atlanticum has recently been established to be native, although for many years it was regarded as an alien species.

Impact of agriculture

The long history of agricultural production coupled with modern intensive agricultural methods (such as pesticide and fertiliser use) has placed pressure on biodiversity in Ireland. Agriculture is the main factor determining current land use patterns in Ireland, leaving limited land to preserve natural habitats (also forestry and urban development to a lesser extent),^[170] in particular for larger wild mammals with greater territorial requirements. With no top predator in Ireland, populations of animals that cannot be controlled by smaller predators (such as the fox) are controlled by annual culling, i.e. semi-wild populations of deer. A land of green fields for crop cultivation and cattle rearing limits the space available for the establishment of native wild species. Hedgerows, however, traditionally used for maintaining and demarcating land boundaries, act as a refuge for native wild flora. Their ecosystems stretch across the countryside and act as a network of connections to preserve remnants of the ecosystem that once covered the island.

Pollution from agricultural activities is one of the principal sources of environmental damage. Runoff of contaminants into streams, rivers and lakes impacts the natural fresh-water ecosystems.^[171] Subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy which supported these agricultural practices and contributed to land-use distortions are undergoing reforms.^[172] The CAP still subsidises some potentially destructive agricultural practices, however, the recent reforms have gradually decoupled subsidies from production levels and introduced environmental and other requirements.^[172]

Forest covers about 10% of the country, with most designated for commercial production.^[170] Forested areas typically consist of monoculture plantations of non-native species which may result in habitats that are not suitable for supporting a broad range of native species of invertebrates. Remnants of native forest can be found scattered around the country, in particular in the Killarney National Park. Natural areas require fencing to prevent over-grazing by deer and sheep that roam over uncultivated areas. This is one of the main factors preventing the natural regeneration of forests across many regions of the country.^[173]

History

Early history

A long cold climatic spell prevailed until the end of the last glacial period about 9,000 years ago, and most of Ireland was covered with ice. Sea-levels were lower then, and Ireland, as with its neighbour Britain, rather than being islands, were part of a greater continental Europe. Mesolithic stone age inhabitants arrived some time after 8000 BC. Agriculture arrived with the Neolithic circa 4500 to 4000 BC, when sheep, goats, cattle and cereals were imported from southwest continental Europe. At the Céide Fields in County Mayo, an extensive Neolithic field system – arguably the oldest in the world^[174] – has been preserved beneath a blanket of peat. Consisting of small fields separated from one another by dry-stone walls, the Céide Fields were farmed for several centuries between 3500 and 3000 BC. Wheat and barley were the principal crops.^[175]

The Bronze Age, which began around 2500 BC, saw the production of elaborate gold as well as bronze ornaments, weapons and tools. The Iron Age in Ireland was supposedly associated with people known as Celts. They are traditionally thought to have colonised Ireland in a series of waves between the 8th and 1st centuries BC, with the Gaels, the last wave of Celts, conquering the island and dividing it into five or more kingdoms. Many scientists and academic scholars now favour a view that emphasises cultural diffusion from overseas over significant colonisation such as what Clonycavan Man was reported to be.^[176]^[177]

The Romans referred to Ireland as Hibernia^[178] and/or Scotia.^[179] Ptolemy in AD 100 recorded Ireland's geography and tribes.^[180] Native accounts are confined to Irish poetry, myth, and archaeology. The exact relationship between Rome and the tribes of Hibernia is unclear; the only references are a few Roman writings.

In early medieval times, a monarch (also known as the High King) presided over the (then five: the fifth being Meath) provinces of Ireland. These provinces too had their own kings, who were at least nominally subject to the monarch, who resided at Tara. The written judicial system was the Brehon Law, and it was administered by professional learned jurists who were known as the Brehons.

According to early medieval chronicles, in 431, Bishop Palladius arrived in Ireland on a mission from Pope Celestine I to minister to the Irish "already believing in Christ." The same chronicles record that Saint Patrick, Ireland's patron saint, arrived in 432. There is continued debate over the missions of Palladius and Patrick, but the general consensus is that they both existed.^[181]

The druid tradition collapsed in the face of the spread of the new religion.^[182] Irish Christian scholars excelled in the study of Latin and Greek learning and Christian theology in the monasteries that flourished, preserving Latin and Greek learning during the Early Middle Ages.^[182]^[183] The arts of manuscript illumination, metalworking, and sculpture flourished and produced such treasures as the Book of Kells, ornate jewellery, and the many carved stone crosses that dot the island. From the 9th century, waves of Viking raiders plundered monasteries and towns, adding to a pattern of endemic raiding and warfare. Eventually Vikings settled in Ireland, and established many towns, including the modern day cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Waterford.

From 1169, Ireland was entered by Cambro-Norman warlords, led by Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (Strongbow),^[184] on an invitation from the then King of Leinster. In 1171, King Henry II of England came to Ireland, using the 1155 Bull Laudabiliter issued to him by then Pope Adrian IV, to claim sovereignty over the island, and forced the Cambro-Norman warlords and some of the Gaelic Irish kings to accept him as their overlord. From the 13th century, English law began to be introduced. By the late 13th century the Norman-Irish had established the feudal system throughout most of lowland Ireland. Their settlement was characterised by the establishment of baronies, manors, towns and large land-owning monastic communities, and the county system. The towns of Dublin, Cork, Wexford, Waterford, Limerick, Galway, New Ross, Kilkenny, Carlingford, Drogheda, Sligo, Athenry, Arklow, Buttevant, Carlow, Carrick-on-Suir, Cashel, Clonmel, Dundalk, Enniscorthy, Kildare, Kinsale, Mullingar, Naas, Navan, Nenagh, Thurles, Wicklow, Trim and Youghal were all under Norman-Irish control.

In the 14th century the English settlement went into a period of decline and large areas, for example Sligo, were re-occupied by Gaelic septs. The medieval English presence in Ireland (The Pale) was deeply shaken by the Black Death, which arrived in Ireland in 1348.^[185] From the late 15th century English rule was once again expanded, first through the efforts of the Earls of Kildare and Ormond then through the activities of the Tudor State under Henry VIII and Mary and Elizabeth. This resulted in the complete conquest of Ireland by 1603 and the final collapse of the Gaelic social and political superstructure at the end of the 17th century, as a result of English and Scottish Protestant colonisation in the Plantations of Ireland, and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and the Williamite War in Ireland. Approximately 600,000 people, nearly half the Irish population, died during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.^[186]

After the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Irish Catholics and nonconforming Protestants were barred from voting or attending the Irish Parliament. Under the penal laws (introduced from 1691) no Irish Catholic could sit in the Parliament of Ireland, even though some 90% of Ireland's population was native Irish Catholic. This ban was followed by others in 1703 and 1709 as part of a comprehensive system disadvantaging the Catholic community, and to a lesser extent, Protestant dissenters.^[187] The new English Protestant ruling class was known as the Protestant Ascendancy. Towards the end of the 18th century the (entirely Protestant) Irish Parliament attained a greater degree of independence from the British Parliament than it had previously held.

In 1798, many members of the Protestant dissenter tradition made common cause with Catholics in a rebellion inspired and led by the Society of United Irishmen. It was staged with the aim of creating a fully independent Ireland as a state with a republican constitution. Despite assistance from France the Irish Rebellion of 1798 was put down by British forces.

In 1800, the British and subsequently the Irish Parliament passed the Act of Union which, in 1801, merged the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The passage of the Act in the Irish Parliament was achieved with substantial majorities, in part (according to contemporary documents) through bribery, namely the awarding of peerages and honours to critics to get their votes.^[188] Thus, Ireland became part of an extended United Kingdom, ruled directly by the UK Parliament in London.

The Great Famine, which began in the 1840s, caused the deaths of one million Irish people, and caused over a million to emigrate.^[189] By the late 1840s, as a result of the famine, half of all immigrants to the United States originated from Ireland. A total of 35 million Americans (12% of total population) reported Irish ancestry in the 2005 American Community Survey.^[190] Mass emigration became entrenched as a result of the famine and the population continued to decline until late in the 20th century. The pre-famine peak was over 8 million recorded in the 1841 census.^[191] The population has never returned to this level.^[192]

The 19th and early 20th century saw the rise of Irish nationalism among the Roman Catholic population. Daniel O'Connell led a successful campaign for Catholic Emancipation, which was passed by the United Kingdom parliament. A subsequent campaign for repeal of the Act of Union failed. Later in the century Charles Stewart Parnell and others campaigned for self-government within the Union or "Home Rule". Unionists, especially those located in the Northern part of the island, who considered themselves to be British as well as Irish, were strongly opposed to Home Rule, under which they felt they would be dominated by Catholic and Southern Irish interests.^[193] To prevent Home Rule the Ulster Volunteers were formed in 1913 under the leadership of Lord Carson. This was followed by the Irish Volunteers, formed in 1914 to support the enactment of the Home Rule Act, which was suspended on the outbreak of World War I. Under John Redmond the National Volunteers broke away from the Irish Volunteers to serve with the Irish regiments of the New British Army.^[194]

Armed rebellions, such as the Easter Rising of 1916 and the Irish War of Independence of 1919, occurred in this period. In 1921, a treaty was concluded between the British Government and the leaders of the Irish Republic. The Anglo-Irish Treaty recognised the two-state solution created in the Government of Ireland Act 1920. Northern Ireland was presumed to form a home rule state within the new Irish Free State unless it opted out. Northern Ireland had a majority Protestant population and opted out as expected, choosing to rejoin the United Kingdom, incorporating, however, within its border a significant Catholic and nationalist minority.^[195] A Boundary Commission was set up to decide on the boundaries between the two Irish states, though it was subsequently abandoned after it recommended only minor adjustments to the border. Disagreements over some provisions of the treaty led to a split in the nationalist movement and subsequently to the Irish Civil War. The Civil War ended in 1923 with the defeat of the anti-treaty forces.

History since partition

Irish Independence: The Irish Free State, Éire, Ireland

The Anglo-Irish Treaty was ratified by the Dáil in January 1922 by a vote of 64 - 57. The minority refused to accept the result and this resulted in the Irish Civil War, which lasted until 1923. On 6 December 1922, in the middle of the Civil War, the Irish Free State came into being. During its early years the new state was governed by the victors of the Civil War. However, in the 1930s Fianna Fáil, the party of the opponents of the treaty, was elected into government. The party proposed, and the electorate accepted in a referendum in 1937, a new constitution which renamed the state "Éire or in the English language, Ireland" (article 4 of the Constitution).

The state was neutral during World War II, which was known internally as The Emergency. It offered some assistance to the Allies, especially in Northern Ireland. It is estimated^[196] that around 50,000 volunteers from Éire/Ireland joined the British armed forces during the Second World War. In 1949, Ireland declared itself to be a republic.

Leinster House in Dublin, seat of Dáil Éireann.

Ireland experienced large-scale emigration in the 1950s and again in the 1980s. From 1987 the economy improved and the 1990s saw the beginning of unprecedented economic success, in a phenomenon known as the "Celtic Tiger".^[197] By 2007 it had become the fifth richest country (in terms of GDP per capita) in the world, and the second richest in the European Union, moving from being a net recipient of the budget to becoming a net contributor during the next budget round (2007–13), and from a country of net emigration to one of net immigration. In October 2006, there were talks between Ireland and the U.S. to negotiate a new immigration policy between the two countries, in response to the growth of the Irish economy and desire of many U.S. citizens who sought to move to Ireland for work.^[198]

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland was created as an division of the United Kingdom by the Government of Ireland Act 1920. From 1921 until 1972, Northern Ireland enjoyed limited self-government within the United Kingdom, with its own parliament and prime minister.

In the first half of the 20th century, Northern Ireland was largely spared the strife of the Civil War, but there were sporadic episodes of inter-communal violence between nationalists and unionists during the decades that followed partition. Although the Irish Free State was neutral during World War II, Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom was not, and became involved in the British war effort (albeit without military conscription as it was introduced in Great Britain). Belfast suffered a bombing raid from the German Luftwaffe in 1941.

In elections to the 1921–1972 regional government, the Protestant and Catholic communities in Northern Ireland each voted largely along sectarian lines, meaning that the Government of Northern Ireland (elected by "first past the post" from 1929) was controlled by the Ulster Unionist Party. Over time, the minority Catholic community felt increasingly alienated by the regional government, with further disaffection fuelled by practices such as gerrymandering of the local council in Derry, and discrimination against Catholics in housing and employment^[199]^[200]^[201].

In the late 1960s nationalist grievances were aired publicly in mass civil rights protests, which were often confronted by loyalist counter-protests.^[202] The Government's reaction to confrontations was seen to be one-sided and heavy-handed, and law and order broke down as unrest and inter-communal violence increased.^[203]

In August 1969, the regional government requested that the British Army be deployed to aid the police, who were exhausted after several nights of serious rioting. In 1970, the paramilitary Provisional IRA, which favoured the creation of a united Ireland, was formed and began a campaign against what it called the "British occupation of the six counties". Other groups, on both the unionist side and the nationalist side, participated in the violence and the period known as "The Troubles" began, resulting in over 3,600 deaths over the subsequent three decades.^[204] Owing to the civil unrest during "The Troubles", the British government suspended home rule in 1972 and imposed "direct rule" from Westminster.

There were several (ultimately unsuccessful) political attempts to end "The Troubles", such as the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973 and the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985. In 1998, following a Provisional IRA ceasefire and multi-party talks, the Belfast Agreement was concluded and ratified by referendum. This agreement attempted to restore self-government to Northern Ireland on the basis of power-sharing between the two communities. Violence decreased greatly after the signing of the accord, and on 28 July 2005, the Provisional IRA announced the end of its armed campaign and international weapons inspectors supervised what they currently regard as the full decommissioning of the Provisional IRA's weapons.^[205] The power-sharing assembly was suspended several times but restored from 8 May 2007. From 2 August 2007, the British government officially ended its military support of the police in Northern Ireland, and began withdrawing troops (in 1972, British troops numbered more than 25,000 in Northern Ireland; after the withdrawal, a garrison of approximately 1,500 remain on garrison duty).^[206]

Background

From the Act of Union on 1 January 1801 until 6 December 1922, Ireland had been part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. During the Great Famine from 1845 to 1849 the island's population of over 8 million fell by 30 percent. Under British rule, one million Irish died of starvation and another 1.5 million emigrated,^[207] which set the pattern of emigration for the century to come and would result in a constant decline up to the 1960s. From 1874, but particularly from 1880 under Charles Stewart Parnell, the Irish Parliamentary Party moved to prominence through widespread agrarian agitation that won improved tenant land reforms and with its attempts to win two Home Rule Bills, which would have granted Ireland limited national autonomy within the United Kingdom. These nevertheless led to the “grass-roots” control of national affairs under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 previously in the hands of landlord dominated grand juries.

Home Rule statute

Home Rule seemed certain when the Parliament Act 1911 abolished the veto of the House of Lords, and John Redmond secured the Third Home Rule Act 1914. The Unionist movement, however, had been growing since 1886 among Irish Protestants after the introduction of the first home rule bill, fearing that they would face discrimination and lose economic and social privileges if Irish Catholics were to achieve real political power. Though Irish unionism existed throughout the whole of Ireland, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century unionism was particularly strong in parts of Ulster, where industrialisation was more common in contrast to the more agrarian rest of the island. (Any tariff barriers would, it was feared, most heavily hit that region.) In addition, the Protestant population was more strongly located in Ulster, with unionist majorities existing in about four counties.

Mounting resistance

Under the leadership of the Dublin-born Sir Edward Carson of the Irish Unionist Party and the northerner Sir James Craig of the Ulster Unionist Party, unionists became strongly militant in order to oppose the Coercion of Ulster. After the Home Rule Bill passed parliament in May 1914, to avoid rebellion with Ulster, the British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith introduced an Amending Bill reluctantly conceded to by the Irish Party leadership, providing for the temporary exclusion of Ulster from the workings of the bill for a trial period of six years, with an as yet undecided new set of measures to be introduced for the area to be temporarily excluded. Though it received the Royal Assent and was placed on the statute books in 1914, the implementation of the Third Home Rule Act was suspended until after the Great War. (The war at that stage was expected to be ended by 1915, not the four years it did ultimately last.) For the prior reasons of ensuring the implementation of the Act at the end of the war, Redmond and his Irish National Volunteers supported the Allied cause, and 175,000 joined Irish regiments of the 10th (Irish), 16th (Irish), while Unionists joined the 36th (Ulster) divisions of the New British Army.^[208]

In January 1919, after the December 1918 general election, 73 of Ireland's 106 MPs elected were Sinn Féin members who refused to take their seats in the British House of Commons. Instead, they set up an Irish parliament called Dáil Éireann. This Dáil in January 1919 issued a Declaration of Independence and proclaimed an Irish Republic. The Declaration was mainly a restatement of the 1916 Proclamation with the additional provision that Ireland was no longer a part of the United Kingdom. The new Irish Republic was recognised internationally only by the Russian Republic. The Republic's Aireacht (ministry) sent a delegation under Ceann Comhairle Seán T. O'Kelly to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, but it was not admitted.

Establishment of Irish Free State

After the bitterly fought War of Independence and truce called in July 1921, representatives of the British government and the Irish treaty delegates, led by Arthur Griffith, Robert Barton and Michael Collins, negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty in London from 11 October – 6 December 1921. The Irish delegates set up headquarters at Hans Place in Knightsbridge and it was here in private discussions that the decision was taken at 11.15am on 5 December to recommend the Treaty to Dáil Éireann. The Second Dáil Éireann narrowly ratified the Treaty for the Irish side.

In accordance with the Treaty, on 6 December 1922 the entire island of Ireland became a self-governing British dominion called the Irish Free State (Template:Lang-ga). However, Northern Ireland exercised its right under the Treaty to opt out of the new dominion and rejoined the United Kingdom on 8 December 1922. It did so by making an Address to the King requesting "that the powers of the Parliament and Government of the Irish Free State shall no longer extend to Northern Ireland.”^[209]

The Treaty was not entirely satisfactory to either side. The Irish Free State was a constitutional monarchy over which the British monarch reigned. The Irish Free State had a Governor-General, a bicameral parliament, a cabinet called the "Executive Council" and a prime minister called the President of the Executive Council.

Irish Civil War

The Irish Civil War was the direct consequence of the creation of the Irish Free State. Anti-Treaty forces, led by Éamon de Valera, objected to the fact that acceptance of the Treaty abolished the Irish Republic of 1919 to which they had sworn loyalty, arguing in the face of public support for the settlement that the "people have no right to do wrong". They objected most to the fact that the state would remain part of the British Commonwealth and that Teachtaí Dála (members of the legislature) would have to swear an oath of fidelity to King George V and his successors. Pro-Treaty forces, led by Michael Collins, argued that the Treaty gave "not the ultimate freedom that all nations aspire to and develop, but the freedom to achieve it".

At the start of the war, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) split into two opposing camps: a pro-treaty IRA and an anti-treaty IRA. The pro-Treaty IRA disbanded and joined the new Irish Army. However, through the lack of an effective command structure in the anti-Treaty IRA, and their defensive tactics throughout the war, Collins and his pro-treaty forces were able to build up an army with many tens of thousands of WWI veterans from the 1922 disbanded Irish regiments of the British Army, capable of overwhelming the anti-Treatyists. British supplies of artillery, aircraft, machine-guns and ammunition boosted pro-treaty forces, and the threat of a return of Crown forces to the Free State removed any doubts about the necessity of enforcing the treaty. The lack of public support for the anti-treaty forces (often called the Irregulars) and the determination of the government to overcome the Irregulars contributed significantly to their defeat.

In the Northern Ireland question, Irish governments started to seek a peaceful reunification of Ireland and have usually cooperated with the British government in the violent conflict involving many paramilitaries and the British Army in Northern Ireland known as "The Troubles". A peace settlement for Northern Ireland, the Belfast Agreement, was approved in 1998 in referendums north and south of the border. As part of the peace settlement, Ireland dropped its territorial claim to Northern Ireland. The peace settlement is currently being implemented.

1937 Constitution

On 29 December 1937, a new constitution, the Constitution of Ireland (Bunreacht na hÉireann), came into force. It replaced the Constitution of the Irish Free State and created a new state called "Ireland", or, in the Irish language, "Éire". The former Irish Free State government had taken steps to formally abolish the Office of Governor-General some months before the new Constitution came into force.^[210] Although the Constitution of Ireland established the office of President of Ireland, between 1937 and 1949 Ireland was not technically a republic. This was because the principal key role possessed by a head of state, that of symbolically representing Ireland internationally remained vested under statutory law, in the British King as an organ of the Irish government. The King's title in the Irish Free State was exactly the same as it was elsewhere in the British Empire, being:

From 1922–1927 - By the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India; and

1927–1937 - By the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India.

Ireland remained neutral during World War II, a period it described as The Emergency. The position of King ceased with the passage of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, which came into force on 18 April 1949 when the office of President of Ireland replaced that of the King. The Act declared that the state could be described as a republic. Later, the Crown of Ireland Act was formally repealed in Ireland by the Statute Law Revision (Pre-Union Irish Statutes) Act, 1962.

Ireland was technically a member of the British Commonwealth after independence until the declaration of a republic on 18 April 1949. Under the Commonwealth rules at the time, a declaration of a republic automatically terminated membership of the Commonwealth (this rule was changed 10 days after Ireland declared itself a republic, with the London Declaration of 28 April 1949). Ireland therefore immediately ceased to be a member and did not subsequently reapply for membership when the Commonwealth later changed its rules to allow republics to join the Commonwealth. Ireland joined the United Nations in 1955.

Economic opening

Irish population during the twentieth century

From the 1920s Ireland had high trade barriers such as high tariffs, particularly during the Economic War with Britain in the 1930s, and a policy of import substitution. A high number of residents emigrated. In the 1950s, 400,000 (a seventh of the population) emigrated.^[211] It became increasingly clear that economic nationalism was unsustainable. While other European countries enjoyed fast growth, Ireland suffered economic stagnation, emigration, and other ills.^[211]

The policy changes were drawn together in Economic Development, an official paper published in 1958 that advocated free trade, foreign investment, productive (rather than mainly social) investment, and growth rather than fiscal restraint as the prime objective of economic management.^[211] Ireland joined the European Community (now the European Union) in 1973.

During the 1970s, the population increased for the first time since independence, by 15 percent for the decade. National income increased at an annual rate of about 4 percent. Employment increased by around 1 percent per year, but the state sector amounted to a large part of that. Public sector employment was a third of the total workforce by 1980. Budget deficits and public debt increased, leading to the crisis in the 1980s.^[211]

Ireland is the successor-state to the Dominion called the Irish Free State. That Dominion came into being when all of the island of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on 6 December 1922. However, the following day the Parliament of Northern Ireland exercised its right under the Anglo-Irish Treaty to opt back into the United Kingdom.^[209] This action followed four attempts to introduce devolved autonomous government over the whole island of Ireland (in 1886, 1893, 1914 and 1920) and the Partition of Ireland. The Irish Free State was abolished when Ireland was formally established on 29 December 1937, the day the Constitution of Ireland came into force.

Irish independence from Britain in 1922 was preceded by the War of Independence and the Easter Rising of 1916, when Irish volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army took over sites in Dublin and Galway under terms expressed in the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. The seven signatories of this proclamation, Patrick Pearse, Thomas MacDonagh, Thomas Clarke, Sean MacDiarmada, Joseph Plunkett, Eamonn Ceannt and James Connolly, were executed, along with nine others, and thousands were interned precipitating the Irish War of Independence.

Recent history

By the 1980s, underlying economic problems became pronounced. High unemployment, emigration, growing public debt returned. Middle income workers were taxed 60% of their marginal income.^[212] Unemployment was 20%. Annual emigration to overseas reached over 1% of population. Public deficits reached 15% of GDP. Fianna Fáil was elected in 1987 and surprised everyone by announcing a swing toward small government.

Public spending was reduced quickly and taxes cut. Ireland promoted competition in all areas. For instance, Ryanair utilized Ireland's deregulated aviation market and helped European regulators to see benefits of competition in transport markets. The more competitive economy attracted foreign investment quickly. Intel invested in 1989 and was followed by a number of technology companies such as Microsoft and Google, who found Ireland a good investment location. A consensus exists between all government parties about the sustained economic growth.^[211]

In less than a decade, the GDP per capita in the OECD prosperity ranking rose from 21st in 1993 to 4th in 2002.^[213] Between 1985 and 2002, private sector jobs increased 59%.^[214]

Notes

^ CIA World Factbook: Republic of Ireland
^ CSO 2006 Census - Volume 5 - Ethnic or Cultural Background (including the Irish Traveller Community)
^ CSO Ireland - April 2008 Population Estimates
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Republic of Ireland". International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 2009-04-22.
^ "Republic of Ireland Act 1948". Section 2. Government of Ireland. 1948. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
^ Olson, p. 58.
^ Magee, p. 108.
^ "Population". Population. CSO. 2006. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
^ "Migration pushes population in the North up to 1.75 million". Breaking News. Demography and Methodology Branch, NISRA. July 2007. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
^ "Irish-Catholic Immigration to America". Immigration. Library of Congress. 7 May 2007. Retrieved 2008-10-25.
^ Also Spanish, Italian, Romanian and Portuguese Irlanda, German Irland, and Dutch Ierland, as well as Russian Ирландия [irlˈanʲdʲijə].
^ The wording of Article 4 has been criticised. Most recently, in its report, the Constitution Review Groupin 1996 stated that Article 4 was unnecessarily complicated and should be amended to read "The name of the state is Ireland" with an equivalent change in the Irish text.
^ Ireland joined the EU (then EEC) in 1973 under a treaty drawn up in several languages including Irish and English. Since then, its two names have been official in the EU. Irish became an official working language of the European Union on 1 January 2007 and consequently both names are now used on nameplates. This did not change the name of Ireland in EU law. For further consideration of the practice applied by the European Union, see Clause 7.1.1 of the Inter Institutional Style Guide.
^ Casey, James, Constitutional Law in Ireland, ISBN 9781899738632, p. 31, in reference to the Ellis v O'Dea extradition case.
^ Irish Statute Book
^ Article 15.2 of the Constitution of Ireland.
^ "Ireland Rejects Lisbon Treaty". RTE News. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
^ Design for Irish coin denominations
^ Myths of British ancestry - Prospect Magazine
^ ("Origins of the British", Stephen Oppenheimer, 2006)
^ The Longue Durée of Genetic Ancestry: Multiple Genetic Marker Systems and Celtic Origins on the Atlantic Facade of Europe - PUBMED
^ "Gypsies and Irish Travellers: The facts". Gypsies and Irish Travellers. Commission for Racial Equality. Archived from the original on 2008-12-21. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 2007-05-02 suggested (help)
^ Irish Travellers Movement: Traveller Legal Resource Pack 2 - Traveller Culture
^ BreakingNews.ie - Ireland's population still fastest-growing in EU
^ "Zimbabwe farmer to be charged with murder of black settler". Thomas Crosbie Media. 27 May 2004. Retrieved 2008-10-15.
^ Oppenheimer, Stephen (October 2006). "Myths of British ancestry". Special report (127). Prospect Magazine. ISSN 1359-5024. Retrieved 2008-10-15.
^ ^a ^b "Census 2006 Volume 13 Religion" (PDF). Central Statistics Office. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
^ Sullivan, Kevin (2007-10-24). "Hustling to Find Classrooms For All in a Diverse Ireland". Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
^ "eircom launches two new Talktime International packages". Press Releases: Latest News. Eircom. July 2007. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
^ Casey, Garrett (2008-03-21). "Up to 10,000 Chinese Christians in Ireland: DUFEM report". Gazette. Church of Ireland. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
^ "Table 8: Population aged 15 years and over in the labour force, classified by intermediate occupational group and ability to speak Irish". Census 2006 - Volume 9 - Irish Language. CSO. Retrieved 2008-11-09. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)(37.6% of workforce (>15 years) classified as "Irish speakers")
^ Irish Independent - Boom in births as new arrivals double on death rates
^ Donegal, Cavan, Monaghan only. Remaining Ulster counties are in Northern Ireland
^ ^a ^b "Land and People". Information on the Irish State. Government of Ireland. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
^ "Kerry: Key Facts". Discoverireland.ie. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
^ "Nature and Scenery". Ireland's landscape. Discover Ireland (Official Ireland tourism website). Retrieved 2008-11-09.
^ "Ireland". Encarta Encyclopedia. Micsosoft Corporation. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
^ "Temperature in Ireland". Climate. Met Éireann. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
^ ^a ^b "Rainfall". Climate. Met Éireann. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
^ "Climate of Ireland". Climate. Met Éireann. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
^ "Geology of Ireland". Geology for Everyone. Geological Survey of Ireland. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
^ "Bedrock Geology of Ireland" (PDF). Geology for Everyone. Geological Survey of Ireland. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
^ "Geology of Kerry-Cork - Sheet 21". Maps. Geological Survey of Ireland. 2007. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
^ Karst Working Group 2000 (2000). "The Burren: Karst of Ireland - the Burren". County Clare Library. Retrieved 2008-11-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ "Irish Natural Gas Market". Story of Natural Gas. Bord Gáis. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
^ Shannon, P. (2001). The Petroleum Exploration of Ireland's Offshore Basins. London: Geological Society Publishing House: Lyell Collection—Special Publications. pp. p. 2. ISBN 1423711637. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ "Providence sees Helvick oil field as key site in Celtic Sea". Irish Examiner. 2000-07-17. Retrieved 2008-01-27.
^ Crawford, John G. (1993). Anglicizing the Government of Ireland: The Irish Privy Council & the Expansion of Tudor Rule 1556-1578. Irish Academic Press. ISBN 0716524988.
^ "Ulster county divisions". Comhairle Uladh CLG. GAA. 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
^ "NI Tourist board comprising Counties Armagh and Down". Armagh and Down. NI Tourist Board. 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
^ "Population by Province". Population. CSO. 2006. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
^ "Call for all-Ireland soccer team". BBC Sport. BBC News. 19 January 2007. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
^ "All-Ireland warning from Delaney". BBC Sport. BBC News. 17 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
^ Jones, Steve (2003-02-01). "Ireland: Fianna Fail and SDLP float unity pact". World Socialist Web Site. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
^ "National Competitiveness Council Submission on the National Development Plan 2007-2013" (PDF). Submission. National Competitiveness Council. October 2006. Retrieved 2008-11-07. {{cite web}}: |archive-url= is malformed: timestamp (help)
^ "Agreement Reached in the Multi-party Negotiations". Agreement. Northern Ireland Assembly. 10 April 1998. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
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^ "DUP minister expresses support for single gas market". Newspaper. Belfast Telegraph. 2007-05-18. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
^ See section 10(7) of the Local Government Act 2001
^ http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=oil+and+gas+fields+in+ireland&ie=UTF8&ll=53.592505,-9.030762&spn=6.274516,19.775391&z=6
^ http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/42/8/39700724.pdf
^ http://irishresources.wordpress.com/2008/07/15/irish-mines-now-operating-tara-galmoy-and-lisheen/
^ http://www.finfacts.ie/irelandeconomy/usmultinationalprofitsireland.htm
^ http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,348682,00.html
^ http://www.bordgais.ie/
^ http://www.independent.ie/national-news/ireland-on-the-verge-of-an-oil-and-gas-bonanza-679889.html
^ Charles Smith, article: 'Ireland', in Wankel, C. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Business in Today's World, California, USA, 2009.
^ Template:PDFlink - CSO
^ Guider, Ian (7 August 2008). "Inflation falls to 4.4pc". Irish Independent. Retrieved 2008-08-08. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
^ Template:PDFlink – Central Statistics Office (Ireland). Retrieved on 2008-08-08.
^ Template:PDFlink - The Economist
^ "Economic Survey of Ireland 2006: Keeping public finances on track". OECD. 2006. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
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^ "Latest Report: Latest edition of permanent tsb / ESRI House price index - May 2007". Permanent TSB, ESRI. Retrieved 2007-08-10.
^ ^a ^b NCC: 2.1 Income
^ Income Distribution and Poverty in the OECD Area, Chapter 10 in "Combating Poverty in Europe"
^ Template:PDFlink CSO, 2004.
^ Ambrose Evans-Pritchard (13 March 2008). "Irish banks may need life-support as property prices crash". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-03-13.
^ http://www.cso.ie
^ [1] The Times, Ireland's economy loses coveted AAA rating
^ Irish Defence Forces, Army (accessed 15 June 2006)
^ See Gilland, Karin. "Ireland: Neutrality and the International Use of Force", p. 143, in Philip P. Everts and Pierangelo Isernia, Public Opinion and the International Use of Force, Routledge, 2001. ISBN 0415218047.
^ "Minister for Defence, Mr. Willie O'Dea TD secures formal Cabinet approval today for Ireland's participation in an EU Battlegroup". Department of Defense. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
^ "Private Members' Business. - Foreign Conflicts: Motion (Resumed)". Government of Ireland. 2003-01-30. Retrieved 2007-10-10. - Tony Gregory speaking in Dáil Éireann
^ Kennedy, Michael (204-10-08). "Ireland's Role in Post-War Transatlantic Aviation and Its Implications for the Defence of the North Atlantic Area". Royal Irish Academy. Retrieved 2007-10-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
^ Irish Times, 28 December 2007 p. 1.
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^ Template:PDFlink
^ Weekly Mass Attendance of Catholics in Nations with Large Catholic Populations, 1980-2000 - World Values Survey (WVS)
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^ Final Principal Demographic Results 2006
^ Among many examples:
John Daniszewski, 17 April, 2005, Catholicism Losing Ground in Ireland, LA Times
Irish poll shows parents no longer want to force religion on to children from secularism.org.uk
Phil Lawler, 17 September 2007, Ireland threatened by secularism, Pope tells new envoy, Catholic World News
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^ "NORRIS v. IRELAND - 10581/83 [1988] ECHR 22". European Court of Human Rights. 2007-10-26. Retrieved 2007-06-07.
^ Though Senator David Norris took his successful case to the European Court of Human Rights in 1988, the Irish Government did not legislate to rectify the issue until 1993.
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^ The Irish Times - News poll
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^ ^a ^b "CAP reform - a long-term perspective for sustainable agriculture". European Commission. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
^ Roche, Dick (2006-11-08). "National Parks". Seanad Éireann. Retrieved 2007-07-30. Seanad Debate involving Former Minister for Environment Heritage and Local Government
^ "Heritage Ireland - Céide Fields". Heritage Ireland. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
^ "The Neolithic Stone Age in Ireland : Farming". The Ireland Story. Wesley Johnson. 2000. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
^ Oppenheimer, Stephen (October 2006). "Myths of British ancestry". Prospect Magazine (127). Prospect Magazine. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
^ Mascheretti, Silvia (2003-08-07). "How did pygmy shrews colonize Ireland? Clues from a phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences". Proceedings of the Royal Society. 270 (1524). Royal Society: 1593. doi:10.1098/rspb.2003.2406. Retrieved 2008-11-07. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ "Hibernia". Roman Empire. United Nations of Roma Victrix. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
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^ "The Geography of Ptolemy". Roman-Britain.org. 2003-04-23. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
^ De Paor, Liam (1993). Saint Patrick's World: The Christian Culture of Ireland's Apostolic Age. Dublin: Four Courts, Dublin. p. pp. 78, 79. ISBN 1-85182-144-9. {{cite book}}: |page= has extra text (help)
^ ^a ^b Cahill, Tim (1996). How the Irish Saved Civilization. Anchor Books. ISBN 0385418493.
^ Dowley, Tim; et al., eds. (1977). Eerdman's Handbook to the History of Christianity. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. ISBN 0-8028-3450-7. {{cite book}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |editor= (help)
^ Chrisafis, Angelique (2005-01-25). "Scion of traitors and warlords: why Bush is coy about his Irish links". World News. The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
^ Ibeji, Mike. "Black death: The spread of the Plague: Ireland". British History: Middle Ages. BBC. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
^ "The curse of Cromwell". A Short History of Ireland. BBC Northern Ireland. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
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^ Ward, Alan J. (1994). The Irish Constitutional Tradition: Responsible Government and Modern Ireland, 1782-1992. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press. p. p. 28. ISBN 0-81320-784-3. {{cite book}}: |page= has extra text (help)
^ "The Irish Potato Famine". Digital History. 2008-11-07. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
^ "Irish-American Heritage Month (March) and St. Patrick's Day (17 March) 2007". Press releases. U.S Census Bureau. 2007-01-17. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
^ Vallely, Paul (2006-04-25). "1841: A window on Victorian Britain - This Britain". The Independent. Retrieved 2009-04-16.
^ Quinn, Eamon (2007-08-19). "Ireland Learns to Adapt to a Population Growth Spurt". Europe. New York Times. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
^ Kee, Robert (1972). The Green Flag: A History of Irish Nationalism. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson. pp. pp. 376–400. ISBN 029717987X. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
^ Kee, Robert (1972). The Green Flag: A History of Irish Nationalism. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson. pp. pp. 478–530. ISBN 029717987X. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
^ Kee, Robert (1972). The Green Flag: A History of Irish Nationalism. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson. pp. pp. 719–748. ISBN 029717987X. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
^ Connolly, Kevin (2004-06-01). "Irish who fought on the beaches". Northern Ireland News. BBC. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
^ Clancy, Patrick (1997). Irish Society: Sociological Perspectives. Institute of Public Administration. pp. pp. 68–70. ISBN 1872002870. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ "Ireland considering immigration deal with U.S." Politics. Reuters. 2006-10-25. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
^ Whyte, John. "'How much discrimination was there under the Unionist regime, 1921-1968?' by John Whyte". Contemporary Irish Studies. Conflict Archive on the Internet. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
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^ "Turning the pages on lost lives". BBC News. 1999-10-08. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
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^ ^a ^b Northern Ireland Parliamentary Report, 7 December 1922
^ and the Governor-General's office was finally abolished under the Executive Powers (Consequential Provisions) Act, 1937 with effect from December 1936
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^ The Myth of the Scandinavian Model | The Brussels Journal
^ Cite error: The named reference workforall was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

References

Arnold, Bruce (1977). Irish Art: A Concise History. London: Thames & Hudson. p. 180. ISBN 0-500-20148-X.
Becker, Annette (1997). 20th-century Architecture: Ireland. Munich: Prestel. p. 198. ISBN 3-7913-1719-9. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
Collins, Neil (2001). Irish Politics Today. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press. pp. pps. 163. ISBN 0-71906-174-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
Cullinane, J.P. (1973), Phycology of the south coast of Ireland, University College Cork
Dennison, Gabriel (1994). Traditional Architecture in Ireland. Dublin: Environmental Institute, University College Dublin. p. 94. ISBN 1-898473-09-9. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
Dooney, Sean (1992). Irish Government Today. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan. p. 247. ISBN 0-71711-703-0. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
Ellis, Steven G. (1921). The Story of the Irish Race: A Popular History of Ireland. Ireland: The Irish Publishing Co. p. 768. ISBN 0-517-06408-1.
Fairley, J.S. (1975), An Irish Beast Book. A Natural History of Ireland's Furred Wildlife, Blackstaff Press, Belfast, ISBN 85640 090 4 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help)
Foster, Robert Fitzroy (1988). Modern Ireland, 1600-1972. Penguin Books. p. 688. ISBN 0-7139-9010-4.
Hackney, P. Ed. (1992). Stewart and Corry's Flora of the North-east of Ireland. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen's University. ISBN 0 85 389 4469.
Haigh, A. (2007). "Wild mammals of an Irish urban forest". The Irish Naturalists' Journal. 28 (10). Belfast: I.N.J. Committee: 395–403. ISSN 0021-1311. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
Hardy, F.G.; Guiry, M.D. (2006), A Check-list and Atlas of the Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland (revised ed.), London: British Phycological Society, available from Koeltz Books, Germany, pp. x + 435, ISBN 3-906166-35-X
Herm, Gerhard (2002), The Celts, Ireland: St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0312313438
Knowles, M.C. (1929), "The Lichens of Ireland", Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 38: 179–434
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International rankings
Indicator	Rank	Measure
Economy
GDP (PPP) per capita	2^nd	$44,087
GNP	7^th	$41,140
Unemployment rate	28^th	4.30%
CO₂ emissions	30^th	10.3 t^†
Electricity consumption	61^st	22.79 GWh
Economic Freedom	3^rd	1.58
Politics
Human Development Index	5^th	0.959
Political freedom	1^st*	1
Press freedom	4^th*	2.00
Corruption (A higher score means less (perceived) corruption.)	↓17^th	7.5
Global Peace Index	4^th	1.396
Democracy Index	11^th	9.01
Failed States Index	↓ 4^th	19.5
Society
Literacy rate	18^th*	99.0%
Quality-of-life index	1^st	8.333 (out of 10)
Broadband penetration	—	25.9%
Mobile phone penetration	—	121.5%
Alcohol consumption	2^nd	13.7 L 3.0 imp gal 3.6 US gal^†
Beer consumption	2^nd	131.1 L 28.8 imp gal 34.6 US gal^†
International Property Rights Index	14^th	7.4
Health
Life expectancy		78.4
Birth rate		15.2^‡
Fertility rate	133^rd	1.96^††
Infant mortality	172^th	4.9^‡‡
Death rate		6.5^‡
Suicide rate	48^th	♂ 16.3^†‡ ♀ 3.2^†‡
HIV/AIDS rate	123^rd	0.10%
Notes
↓ indicates rank is in reverse order (e.g. 1^st is lowest) * joint with one or more other countries ^† per capita ^‡ per 1000 people ^†† per woman ^‡‡ per 1000 live births ^†‡per 100,000 people ♂ indicates males, ♀ indicates females