Republic of Ireland

Ireland (Irish: Éire [ˈeːɾʲə] (listen)) is a European country on the island of Ireland. It shares a border with Northern Ireland (which is part of the United Kingdom). The country is sometimes called the Republic of Ireland to distinguish it from the island.

It is a member of the European Union. The republic's capital is Dublin. Cork is the second largest city in the country and the third largest on the island of Ireland. The population of Ireland is 4.9 million. English is the main language spoken. The Irish language is widely taught in all schools, and it is still spoken as a first language in some areas of the country, known as the Gaeltacht. Irish is the first official language, followed by English.

Several hundred years ago, the English took over the country and made it part of the United Kingdom in 1801. After many years of revolution, Ireland gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1922 and has been an independent country since then. It was a neutral country during World War II.

From January 1, 1801 to December 6, 1922, Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. During the Great Famine (1845–1849), Ireland's population dropped by about 30%. Around 1 million people died from hunger and disease, and 1.5 million emigrated, mainly to the United States. This started a long period of emigration, with the population continuing to fall until the 1960s.

In 1874, and especially under Charles Stewart Parnell from 1880, the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) became important. The party worked in two main ways:

• Agrarian (land) protests through the Irish Land League, which helped farmers get better rights through the Irish Land Acts.
• Political work for Home Rule – trying to get limited self-government for Ireland. Two Home Rule Bills were introduced but both failed.

However, these efforts led to more local control of Irish matters through the Local Government Act of 1898, which took power from the mainly Protestant landlords (called the Protestant Ascendancy) and gave it to local Irish councils.

By 1911, Home Rule seemed likely. That year, the Parliament Act took away the House of Lords' power to block new laws. In 1914, John Redmond and the IPP finally got the Third Home Rule Act passed. But there was a big problem: strong opposition from Unionists, especially in Ulster, where many people were Protestant and the economy was more industrial than in the rest of mainly rural Ireland.

Unionists, who feared being ruled by Irish Catholics and losing their social and economic position, had grown in strength since 1886. In Ulster, Protestants were the majority in four counties. They formed a group called the Ulster Volunteers to resist Irish Home Rule, led by Edward Carson (from Dublin) and James Craig (from Ulster).

To avoid a civil war in Ulster after the Home Rule Act passed in May 1914, British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith created an Amending Bill. It allowed Ulster to be temporarily excluded from Home Rule for six years, with a new plan to be made later for how Ulster would be governed.

The state extends over an area of about five-sixths (70,273 km2 or 27,133 sq mi) of the island of Ireland (84,421 km2 or 32,595 sq mi), with Northern Ireland being the rest.

Ireland is one of the countries in Europe with the least forests. Today, only about 10% of Ireland is covered with forests. The total land area dedicated to farming is 64%.

Before 2002, the currency was Irish pound, which was historically tied to pound sterling.^[8] The Irish people wanted closer economic ties to the European Union, so they dropped the usage of Irish pound in February 2002.^{[9] [10]}

The head of State, the President, is elected for seven years by the adult citizens. The same president can only be elected twice (14 years). Most of the president's tasks are representing and ceremonial ones. The president has little power over the government.

Ireland is a democracy and people vote for their representatives. The Taoiseach (equivalent to a prime minister) is selected by the parliament. The Taoiseach is usually the head of the biggest party.

The Oireachtas (equivalent to the parliament) consists of the Dáil Éireann (the lower House) and the Seanad (the 'upper House'). The system is similar to that of France or the United States, except that the President is not an executive. It is closely modelled on the Parliament of the United Kingdom, with the executive appointed from within the lower house, and the head of State is the President in Ireland serving a similar function as the Monarch in the UK.

The main political parties in Ireland are Sinn Féin (25%), Fianna Fail (22%), Fine Gael (21%), the Labour Party (5%) and others. ^[11]

The Local Government Act 1898 is the founding document of the present system of local government, while the Twentieth Amendment to the constitution of 1999 given for its constitutional recognition. The twenty-six traditional counties of Ireland are not always related to governmental divisions although they are usually used as a geographical frame of reference by the population of Ireland. Below this (with the exception of the Dublin Region and the three city councils) are municipal districts.

• Ireland at the Olympics
• Ireland national football team
• List of rivers of Ireland

Notes

1. ↑ Prior to 2002, Ireland used the punt (Irish pound) as its circulated currency. The euro was introduced as an accounting currency in 1999.