Last modified on 8 January 2021, at 15:18


Ireland location.png
Flag of Ireland.png
Ireland arms.png
Flag Coat of Arms
Capital Dublin
Government Republic and Parliamentary Democracy
Language Irish and English (official)
President Michael D. Higgins
Prime minister Leo Varadkar
Area 27,133 sq mi
Population 4,950,000 (2020)
GDP $390,000,000,000 (2020)
GDP per capita $78,788 (2020)
Currency euro
Internet top-level domain .ie

Ireland (also called the Republic of Ireland) is a country in northwestern Europe comprising five-sixths the island of Ireland. Ireland became independent in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The 1937 constitution gives the name of the state as simply "Ireland."[1]

Ireland supports the homosexual agenda, having legalized same-sex "marriage" in 2015.[2] Once pro-life, Ireland embraced abortion in May 2018 by repealing its constitutional protection for the unborn[3] in a referendum that disadvantaged pro-life advocates.[4] Abortion officially became legal in September 2018, with the government intending to make the practice free.[5] In 2019, Irish voters removed restrictions on divorce.[6] In several other referendums, the country abandoned its formerly strict adherence to traditional Christian morality.


The island of Ireland is located in the Atlantic Ocean, to the west of Great Britain. Of the thirty-two counties on the island of Ireland, twenty-six are in Ireland, including all counties in the provinces of Connacht, Munster and Leinster. Of the nine counties of Ulster, three (Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal) are in Ireland and the remaining counties remain in the United Kingdom. The longest river in Ireland, The Shannon, divides the country into a largely urban eastern section, dominated by Dublin, and a more rural, less economically vibrant western area.


The Irish people are mainly of Celtic and Norman origin with history of some Anglo-Saxon settlers during failed English plantations (successful in Northern Ireland only). Today, the country has many minorities including substantial numbers of people from Poland, China and Nigeria. Traditionally the language of Irish (Gaelic) was the primary one on the island but after centuries of British colonialism by the end of the 19th century it was endangered and was confined to very small, peripheral regions in the West of the country as it continues to today following an unsuccessful attempt to revive the language by Ireland's government. Britain tried to secure unity with Ireland by using multiple large-scale plantations of Scottish Protestant settlers. All of these where failures due to the native Irish violently opposing such settlers, the only success was the Ulster plantation which is the reason for the large Protestant population in Northern Ireland and the partitioning of the country. There is still sectarian conflict in this part of the island.

During the 1840s a disease known as the potato blight spread through the nations potato crop (most Irish were totally reliant on potatoes). The English did not help and the blight caused mass starvation and disease. In the end about 1 million had died and about 1 million had emigrated. The famine was a major blow to the nation, especially to the native language (Irish) and eventually the population would fall from over 8 million before the famine to under 3 million in the mid 20th century(before rising again). The nation continued to be a major source of immigrants to the United States and today over 30 million Americans report Irish ancestry making it the second largest ancestry in the United States only behind German. Irish writers(many Anglo-Irish) such as Swift, Sheridan, Goldsmith, Burke, O'Casey, Wilde, Joyce, Yeats, Shaw, and Beckett have made major contributions to English literature over the past 300 years.

  • Population: 4,470,700 (2010 est.).
  • Cities: Capital—Dublin (pop. 506,211). Other cities—Cork (119,418), Limerick (92,539), Galway (72,414), Waterford, (45,748).
  • Population breakdown 0–14 years (20.4%), 15–24 years (15%), 25–34 years (17%), 35–44 years (14%), 45–54 years (12%), 55–64 years (10%), 65 years and over (11%)
  • Languages: English, Irish (Gaelic).
  • Education: Compulsory up to age 16. Enrolment rates: first (primary) level 449,508, second (high school and vocational) level 335,162, third (university and college) level 133,691. Literacy—98%-99%.
  • Health: Infant mortality rate—4.61/1,000. Life expectancy at birth—male 77.32 yrs., female 81.79 yrs.
  • Work force: Services—66%; industry—28%; agriculture—6%.

Government and Political Conditions



The bicameral Oireachtas (Parliament) consists of Seanad Éireann (Senate) and Dáil Éireann (House of Representatives). The Seanad is composed of 60 members—11 nominated by the Taoiseach, 6 elected by the national universities, and 43 elected from panels of candidates established on a vocational basis. The Seanad has the power to delay legislative proposals and is allowed 90 days to consider and amend bills sent to it by the Dail, which wields greater power in Parliament. The Dáil has 166 members popularly elected to a maximum term of 5 years under a complex system of proportional representation. A member of the Dáil is known as a Teachta Dala, or TD.


Local government is by elected county councils and—in the cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and Waterford—by county borough corporations. County councils/corporations in turn select city mayors. In practice, however, authority remains with the central government.

Irish politics was traditionally dominated by the two political parties that grew out of Ireland's bitter 1922-23 civil war: Fianna Fáil (Wariers of Destiny) and Fine Gael (Tribe of the Gaelic People). Fianna Fáil was formed by those who opposed the 1921 treaty with the UK that gave Ireland independence but required Ireland to retain links to the UK. Fine Gael was formed by those who supported tht treaty. Although treaty opponents lost the civil war, Fianna Fáil soon became Ireland's largest political party and retained that position until 2011 when it was decimated and Fine Gael emerged as the country's largest party. Labour, Sinn Féin, and the Greens are the other significant parties.


Principal Government Officials

  • President—Michael D. Higgins
  • Taoiseach (Prime Minister)--Enda Kenny
  • Tanaiste (Deputy Prime Minister)--Eamon Gilmore

Taoisigh (Prime Ministers) of the Republic of Ireland

  • Éamon de Valera (Fianna Fáil): 1937–1948, 1951–1954, 1957–1959.
  • John A.Costello (Fine Gael): 1948–1951, 1954–1957.
  • Seán Lemass (Fianna Fáil): 1959–1966.
  • Jack Lynch (Fianna Fáil): 1966–1973, 1977–1979.
  • Liam Cosgrave (Fine Gael): 1973–1977.
  • Charles Haughey (Fianna Fáil): 1979–1981, March 1982 - December 82 and March 1987 - February 1992.
  • Albert Reynolds (Fianna Fáil): February 1992 – 1994.
  • John Bruton (Fine Gael): 1994–1997.
  • Bertie Ahern (Fianna Fáil): 1997–2008.
  • Brian Cowen (Fianna Fáil): 2008 to 2011.[7]
  • Enda Kenny (Fine Gael): 2011-

Political Parties

Fianna Fail: (Pronounced Fee-Na Fall which is Irish for 'Wariers of Destiny'). Ireland's 3rd largest political party, they do not class themselves as either left or right wing but are generally considered centrist and traditionally the choice for republicans (in the Irish sense, meaning supporters of a United Ireland) due to its foundation by Eamon de Valera; considered by his supporters to be the greatest of all Irish nationalists. Fianna Fail is traditionally a Populist party, spearheading the disease and slum eradication programme's of the 1950s and 1960s. Nowadays however, it is considered to be on the pragmatic centre as well as supportive of the construction sector and its representatives.[8]




Sinn Féin: (Pronounced Shin Fane, Irish for 'Ourselves') Remnant of Ireland's oldest political party, it is closely connected with the Provisional IRA, a terrorist/guerrilla movement that sought a United Irish Republic that have since disbanded. They have recently embraced a more democratic approach. They are a party of left-wing socialist economics which espouses liberal social issues such as same-sex "marriage". They organise in all 32 counties of Ireland. Led by former IRA commander Gerry Adams.[11]

Foreign Relations


In July 2018 Ireland's senate has voted in favour of banning imports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank and other "occupied" territories which were gained in the Six-Day War.[12]

Relations with the United States









  • Nominal GDP (2009): $204.144 billion.
  • Nominal GDP per capita (2009): $45,642.
  • Agriculture (5% of GDP): Products—cattle, meat, and dairy products; potatoes; barley; hay; silage; wheat.
  • Industry (46% of GDP): Types—food processing, beverages, engineering, computer equipment, textiles and clothing, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, construction.



The earliest inhabitants—people of a mid-Stone Age culture—arrived about 6000 BC. About 4,000 years later, tribes from southern Europe arrived and established a high Neolithic culture, leaving behind gold ornaments and huge stone monuments. The Bronze Age people, who arrived during the next 1,000 years, produced elaborate gold and bronze ornaments and weapons.

The Iron Age arrived abruptly in the fourth century BC with the invasion of the Celts, a tall, energetic people who had spread across mainland Europe and Great Britain in the preceding centuries. The Celts, or Gaels, and their more numerous predecessors divided into five kingdoms in which, despite constant strife, a rich culture flourished.





Galvanized by the leadership of Charles Stewart Parnell, the party was able to force British governments after 1885 to introduce several home rule bills. The turn of the century witnessed a surge of interest in Irish nationalism, including the founding of Sinn Féin ("Ourselves Alone") as an open political movement.

Nationalism was and is a potent populist force in Irish politics. A home rule bill passed in 1914, but its implementation was suspended until war in Europe ended. Believing the mantra: "England's problem is Ireland's opportunity," and tapping into a mood of Gaelic revivalism, Padraic Pearse and James Connolly led the unsuccessful Easter Rising of 1916. Pearse and the other 1916 leaders declared an independent Irish republic, but a lack of popular support doomed the rebellion, which lasted a week and destroyed large portions of Dublin. The decision by the British military government to execute the leaders of the rebellion, coupled with the British Government's threat of conscripting the Irish to fight in the Great War, alienated public opinion and produced massive support for Sinn Féin in the 1918 general election. Under the leadership of Eamon de Valera, the elected Sinn Féin deputies constituted themselves as the first Dail. Tensions only increased: British attempts to smash Sinn Féin ignited the Anglo-Irish War of 1919–1921.

The end of the war brought the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921, which established the Irish Free State of 26 counties within the British Commonwealth and recognized the partition of the island into Ireland and Northern Ireland, though supposedly as a temporary measure. The six predominantly Protestant counties of northeast Ulster—Northern Ireland—remained a part of the United Kingdom with limited self-government. A significant Irish minority repudiated the treaty settlement because of the continuance of subordinate ties to the British monarch and the partition of the island. This opposition led to further hostilities—a civil war (1922–23), which was won by the pro-treaty forces.


See als0


  • OECD Information Technology Outlook 2004

Historical surveys and reference books


Specialized studies

  • Daly, Mary E. "The Irish Free State/ Éire/ Republic of Ireland/ Ireland: 'A Country by Any Other Name'?" Journal of British Studies 2007 46(1): 72–90. Issn: 0021-9371 Fulltext: Ebsco






  1. "Constitution of Ireland - Bunreacht na hÉireann"
  3. Multiple references:
  4. Clabough, Raven (May 23, 2018). Pro-life Advocates Disadvantaged in Irish Fight to Legalize Abortion. The New American. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
  5. Multiple references:
  6. Wheaton, Sarah (May 26, 2019). Irish voters back loosening divorce laws. Politico. Retrieved May 26, 2019.
  7. Government of Ireland website
  8. [1]
  9. [2]
  10. [3]
  11. [4]
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