Ireland in 1999  70,285 sq km (27,137 sq mi) (1999 est.):
3,736,000 President Mary McAleese Prime Minister Bertie Ahern
Politicians and the media hailed Dec. 2, 1999, as a date that
would be remembered as one of the most important in the history
of the Irish people. The breathtaking flurry of activities on
that day in Dublin, Belfast, and London was indeed remarkable,
as the Republic of Ireland modified two articles of its
constitution, giving up its territorial claims to the whole of
the island of Ireland and entitling every person born on the
island to be part of the Irish nation; the United Kingdom
yielded direct rule of Northern Ireland; new agreements between
Ireland and the U.K. and between Ireland and Northern Ireland
entered into force; and, symbolically, Irish Pres. Mary McAleese
had lunch with Queen Elizabeth II.  The long struggle to achieve
a Northern Ireland peace settlement under the terms of the Good
Friday agreement had dragged on, with decommissioning of
terrorist weapons the principal stumb