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Travel to Ireland — Unbiased reviews and
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National name: Éire
President: Mary McAleese (1997)
Taoiseach (Prime Minister): Brian
Cowen (2008)
Current government officials
Land area: 26,598 sq mi (68,889 sq km);
total area: 27,135 sq mi (70,280 sq km)
Population (2008 est.): 4,156,119
(growth rate: 1.1%); birth rate: 14.3/1000; infant mortality rate:
5.1/1000; life expectancy: 78.0; density per sq km: 60
Capital (2003 est.):
Dublin, 1,018,500
Other large cities: Cork, 193,400;
Limerick, 84,900; Galway, 67,200
Monetary units: Euro (formerly Irish
pound [punt])
Languages:
English, Irish (Gaelic) (both official)
Ethnicity/race:
Celtic, English
Religions:
Roman Catholic 88%, Church of Ireland 3%,
other Christian 2%, none 4%
National Holiday:
Saint Patrick's Day, March 17
Literacy rate: 99% (2003 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007
est.): $187.5 billion; per capita $45,600. Real growth rate:
5%. Inflation: 4.7%. Unemployment: 4.2%. Arable
land: 16%. Agriculture: turnips, barley, potatoes, sugar
beets, wheat; beef, dairy products. Labor force: 2.21 million
(2007 est.); agriculture 6%, industry 27%, services 67% (2006 est.).
Industries: steel, lead, zinc, silver, aluminum, barite, and
gypsum mining processing; food products, brewing, textiles,
clothing; chemicals, pharmaceuticals; machinery, rail transportation
equipment, passenger and commercial vehicles, ship construction and
refurbishment; glass and crystal; software, tourism. Natural
resources: zinc, lead, natural gas, barite, copper, gypsum,
limestone, dolomite, peat, silver. Exports: $124.8 billion
f.o.b. (2007 est.): machinery and equipment, computers, chemicals,
pharmaceuticals; live animals, animal products. Imports:
$90.35 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.): data processing equipment, other
machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum and petroleum
products, textiles, clothing. Major trading partners: U.S.,
UK, Belgium, Germany, France, Netherlands, Italy (2006).
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 2.097 million (2006); mobile cellular: 4.69 million (2006).
Radio broadcast stations: AM 9, FM 106, shortwave 0 (1998).
Television broadcast stations: 4 (many low-power repeaters)
(2001). Internet hosts: 429,487 (2007). Internet
users: 1.437 million (2006).
Transportation: Railways: total: 3,237
km (2006). Highways: total: 96,602 km; paved: 96,602 km
(including 125 km of expressways); unpaved: 0 km (2003).
Waterways: 956 km (pleasure craft only) (2007). Ports and
harbors: Cork, Dublin, New Ross, Shannon Foynes, Waterford.
Airports: 34 (2007).
International disputes: Ireland,
Iceland, and the UK dispute Denmark's claim that the Faroe Islands'
continental shelf extends beyond 200 nm.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
Ireland is situated in the Atlantic Ocean and
separated from Great Britain by the Irish Sea. Half the size of Arkansas,
it occupies the entire island except for the six counties that make up
Northern Ireland. Ireland resembles a basin—a central plain rimmed
with mountains, except in the Dublin region. The mountains are low, with
the highest peak, Carrantuohill in County Kerry, rising to 3,415 ft (1,041
m). The principal river is the Shannon, which begins in the north-central
area, flows south and southwest for about 240 mi (386 km), and empties
into the Atlantic.
Government
Republic.
History
In the Stone and Bronze Ages, Ireland was
inhabited by Picts in the north and a people called the Erainn in the
south, the same stock, apparently, as in all the isles before the
Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain. About the 4th century B.C., tall, red-haired Celts arrived from Gaul or
Galicia. They subdued and assimilated the inhabitants and established a
Gaelic civilization. By the beginning of the Christian Era, Ireland was
divided into five kingdoms—Ulster, Connacht, Leinster, Meath, and
Munster. Saint Patrick introduced Christianity in 432, and the country
developed into a center of Gaelic and Latin learning. Irish monasteries,
the equivalent of universities, attracted intellectuals as well as the
pious and sent out missionaries to many parts of Europe and, some believe,
to North America.
Norse depredations along the coasts, starting in
795, ended in 1014 with Norse defeat at the Battle of Clontarf by forces
under Brian Boru. In the 12th century, the pope gave all of Ireland to the
English Crown as a papal fief. In 1171, Henry II of England was
acknowledged “Lord of Ireland,” but local sectional rule
continued for centuries, and English control over the whole island was not
reasonably absolute until the 17th century. In the Battle of the Boyne
(1690), the Catholic King James II and his French supporters were defeated
by the Protestant King William III (of Orange). An era of Protestant
political and economic supremacy began.
By the Act of Union (1801), Great Britain and
Ireland became the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland.” A steady decline in the Irish economy followed in the next
decades. The population had reached 8.25 million when the great potato
famine of 1846–1848 took many lives and drove more than 2 million
people to immigrate to North America.
In the meantime, anti-British agitation
continued along with demands for Irish home rule. The advent of World War
I delayed the institution of home rule and resulted in the Easter
Rebellion in Dublin (April 24–29, 1916), in which Irish nationalists
unsuccessfully attempted to throw off British rule. Guerrilla warfare
against British forces followed proclamation of a republic by the rebels
in 1919. The Irish Free State was established as a dominion on Dec. 6,
1922, with six northern counties remaining as part of the United Kingdom.
A civil war ensued between those supporting the Anglo-Irish Treaty that
established the Irish Free State and those repudiating it because it led
to the partitioning of the island. The Irish Republican Army (IRA), led by
Eamon de Valera, fought against the partition but lost. De Valera joined
the government in 1927 and became prime minister in 1932. In 1937 a new
constitution changed the nation's name to Éire. Ireland remained
neutral in World War II.
In 1948, De Valera was defeated by John A.
Costello, who demanded final independence from Britain. The Republic of
Ireland was proclaimed on April 18, 1949, and withdrew from the
Commonwealth. From the 1960s onward two antagonistic currents dominated
Irish politics. One sought to bind the wounds of the rebellion and civil
war. The other was the effort of the outlawed Irish Republican Army and
more moderate groups to bring Northern Ireland into the republic. The
“troubles”—the violence and terrorist acts between
Republicans and Unionists in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern
Ireland—would plague the island for the remainder of the century and
beyond.
Under the First Programme for Economic Expansion
(1958–1963), economic protection was dismantled and foreign
investment encouraged. This prosperity brought profound social and
cultural changes to what had been one of the poorest and least
technologically advanced countries in Europe. Ireland joined the European
Economic Community (now the EU) in 1973. In the 1990 presidential
election, Mary Robinson was elected the republic's first woman president.
The election of a candidate with socialist and feminist sympathies was
regarded as a watershed in Irish political life, reflecting the changes
taking place in Irish society. Irish voters approved the Maastricht
Treaty, which paved the way for the establishment of the EU, by a large
majority in a referendum held in 1992. In 1993, the Irish and British
governments signed a joint peace initiative (the Downing Street
Declaration), which affirmed Northern Ireland's right to
self-determination. A referendum on allowing divorce under certain
conditions—hitherto constitutionally forbidden—was narrowly
passed in Nov. 1995.
In 1998 hope for a solution to the troubles in
Northern Ireland seemed palpable. A landmark settlement, the Good Friday
Agreement of April 10, 1998, called for Protestants to share political
power with the minority Catholics and gave the Republic of Ireland a voice
in the affairs of Northern Ireland. The resounding commitment to the
settlement was demonstrated in a dual referendum on May 22: the North
approved the accord by a vote of 71% to 29%, and in the Irish Republic 94%
favored it. After numerous stops and starts, the new government in
Northern Ireland was formed on Dec. 2, 2000, but it has been suspended
four times since then (and has remained suspended since Oct. 2002)
primarily because of Sinn Fein's reluctance to disarm its military wing,
the IRA. In 2005, however, the IRA renounced armed struggle, and peace
again seemed possible.
Despite a number of recent corruption and
bribery scandals, most of which involved the centrist Fianna Fáil
Party of Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, the party won 81 of 166 seats in May
2002. Ahern became the first Irish prime minister in 33 years to be
elected to a second successive term.
Once a country plagued with high unemployment,
high inflation, slow growth, and a large public debt, Ireland has
undergone an extraordinary economic transformation in the last 15 years.
Formerly an agriculture-based economy, the “Celtic Tiger” has
become a leader in high-tech industries. In some recent years its economy
has grown as much as 10%.
On April 2, 2008, in the midst of corruption
accusations, Prime Minister Bertie Ahern announced his resignation,
effective as of May 6, 2008.
On May 7, 2008, the former finance minister,
Brian Cowen, was elected the new prime minister by an 88 to 76
parliamentary vote. Upon election, Cowen announced the appointment of new
finance, justice, and foreign affairs ministers.
On June 13, 2008, Ireland, the only country in
the 27-member EU that put the Lisbon Treaty to a popular vote, rejected
the new treaty, jeopardizing the future of the pact that would have
strengthened the EU’s influence in global politics.
See also Northern Ireland, under
United Kingdom.
See also Encyclopedia: Ireland.
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
Ireland
Central Statistics Office www.cso.ie/ .
Information Please® Database, © 2008 Pearson
Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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