Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Ireland

 
Dictionary: Ire·land1   (īr'lənd) pronunciation
Home > Library > Travel > Dictionary - Places


An island in the northern Atlantic Ocean west of Great Britain, divided between the independent Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is a part of the United Kingdom. The island was invaded by Celts c. 500 B.C. and converted to Christianity by Saint Patrick in the fifth century A.D. Ireland came under English control in the 17th century and was joined with Great Britain by the Act of Union in 1801. After the Easter Rebellion (1916) and a war of independence (1919-1921) the island was split into the independent Irish Free State (now Ireland) and Northern Ireland, which is still part of the United Kingdom.

 

Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

Photography Encyclopedia:

Ireland's

Top
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Photography Encyclopedia

Ireland's earliest photographer was Francis Stewart Beatty, a Belfast engraver, in September 1839. Its first commercial studio opened in Dublin's Rotunda building in 1841 and was soon joined by those of a motley band of entrepreneurs in a country where the daguerreotype did not enjoy patent protection. Leone Glukman opened a particularly successful studio in Dublin in the 1840s, and his lithographs of daguerreotypes of the Young Irelanders, including William Smith O'Brien, the leader of the 1848 Rebellion, were a great success.

Irish experimenters with the calotype process included William Holland Furlong and Michael Packenham Edgeworth, a half-brother of the novelist Maria Edgeworth. John Shaw Smith took an extensive series of calotypes on his travels to Italy and the Middle East in the early 1850s. The Dublin Photographic Society was established in 1854, becoming the Photographic Society of Ireland in 1858.

The ‘Big Houses’ in the country were associated with many fine photographers in the 1850s and 1860s. Francis Edmund Currey at Lismore Castle, Co. Waterford; Lady Augusta Dillon (née Crofton) and the Hon. Luke Dillon of Clonbrock House, Co. Galway; Edward King Tenison of Kilronan Castle, Co. Roscommon; and Mary, Countess of Rosse, at Birr Castle, Co. Offaly. The albums of Hugh Annesley of Castlewellan, Co. Down, date from the mid-1850s to the late 1870s. William Despard Hemphill, a Tipperary surgeon, published The Abbeys and Castles of Clonmel (1860), illustrated with his mounted stereographs.

Meanwhile, professional photographers were making their mark. James Robinson, who ran a studio in Dublin, made legal history in 1859 when his stereoscopic pair The Death of Chatterton, modelled after the painting of the same name by Henry Wallis, was deemed to have infringed copyright law. Commercial studios in the 1850s had begun taking an interest in topographical views. By 1857 the London Stereoscopic Company had sent employees to capture Ireland's scenery on camera. Frederick Holland Mares, who was deeply influenced by ideas of the picturesque, created a widely known series of scenic views in the 1860s, the negatives of which were bought by William Mervyn Lawrence (1840-1932) in the 1870s. Lawrence became the leading name in Irish topographical photography, with Robert French the best known of his photographers.

Landscape has remained the dominant genre in Irish photography, appearing in many guises, from topographical views and postcards to late 20th-century documents of the troubles in the North. Interpretations of the landscape, as fantasy, memento, nightmare, or boundary, continue to be varied.

The Lauder family, through Lauder Brothers (est. 1853), and Lafayette's, dominated the studio business in Dublin; Alfred Werner was a successful society portraitist in the 1880s and 1890s. Other firms included Edward Harding in Cork, Thomas Wynne (1838-93) in Castlebar, Co. Mayo, and A. H. Poole in Waterford. Alexander Ayton had a studio in Derry in the early 1860s and published Sights and Scenes in Ireland in the late 1890s, which included remarkable images of rural poverty in Donegal in the 1860s. In Belfast, E. T. Church ran a successful studio in the 1870s and 1880s. Robert Welch (1859-1936) established a studio there in 1883, and his knowledge of the scenery, antiquities, botany, and geology of Ulster is reflected in his work. Welch was official photographer of the Harland & Wolff shipbuilding company, and in 1914 also photographed impoverished western communities for the Congested Districts Board. Other notable Ulster photographers include Francis Bigger, Alexander Hogg, and William Green.

In 1894 Professor John Joly of Trinity College, Dublin, patented a single-shot colour process, and in 1895 exhibited transparencies at the Royal Dublin Society. However, the invention failed commercially and was rendered obsolete by the autochrome process.

Ireland's early 20th-century cultural revival was largely driven by literature. However, both George Bernard Shaw and J. M. Synge (1871-1909) were keen photographers, and Synge recorded life on the Aran Islands on his visits there in 1898-1902. The Camera in the 1920s proved to be an influential journal. Father Frank Browne, SJ, who had taken up photography in 1897, became renowned for his pictures of the Titanic leaving on her maiden voyage; on his death in 1960 he left over 40, 000 images, now in the Jesuit Archive in Dublin.

Many surviving photographs relate to Ireland's political history. The National Library of Ireland's collection alone includes police photographs of nationalist conspirators and suspects; pictures of evicted families, including the remarkable Coolgreany Evictions Album (1887); and many images of the events and personalities of 1916-22. Political violence in Northern Ireland has inspired much documentary photography. During the emergency that began in 1969, photojournalists converged on Ulster from all over the world. Willie Doherty, Victor Sloan, and David Farrell, among others, created more avowedly artistic work. Since 1980 Brian Hughes has documented Belfast's street life and political murals. Here too, the landscape tradition persists, as evidenced by Paul Seawright's unsettling and enigmatic photographs of places where murder victims were discovered.

The postcard industry reached its zenith in the work of John Hinde, whose idealized and retouched images dominated the business in the 1950s and 1960s. Indeed, Hinde's images have been an enduring source of ironic homage, most notably in the work of Anthony Haughey. Liam Blake, Walter Pfeiffer, Tom Kelly, and Peter Zoller's romanticized landscape images have also proved popular.

Photography was only gradually accorded an honoured place in Ireland's artistic life. The Irish Gallery of Photography, founded in 1978, provided a venue in Dublin for photographers to exhibit work increasingly informed by international trends. Similarly, the Press Photographers' Association of Ireland has championed photojournalism, with the Irish Times, in particular, leading the way.

The history of photography on the island was relatively neglected until the work of such pioneers as Edward Chandler. There is an increasing interest in Ireland's photographic heritage in universities and colleges of higher education. Archives include that of the National Library of Ireland in Dublin, with c.300, 000 images; the Irish Architectural Archive; the Ulster Museum; the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum; and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

William Mervyn Lawrence: Ross Castle, Co. Killarney, Ireland, late 19th century. Albumen print
William Mervyn Lawrence: Ross Castle, Co. Killarney, Ireland, late 19th century. Albumen print


Anon.: The prince of Wales and his entourage on the Giant's Causeway, Co. Antrim, Ireland, late 19th century. Albumen print
Anon.: The prince of Wales and his entourage on the Giant's Causeway, Co. Antrim, Ireland, late 19th century. Albumen print

— Louise Kavanagh/<auth init="DO'M">Donncha O'Muirithe

See also country house photography.

Bibliography

  • Rouse, S., Into the Light: An Illustrated Guide to the Photographic Collections of the National Library of Ireland (1998).
  • Kavanagh, L., ‘Photography and Ireland: A Select Bibliography’, History of Photography, 23 (1999).
  • Maguire, W. A., A Century in Focus: Photographers and Photography in the North of Ireland (2000).
  • Chandler, E., Photography in Ireland: The Nineteenth Century (2001)
Celtic Mythology:

Ireland

Top
Home > Library > Religion & Spirituality > Celtic Mythology

Second largest of the British Isles, 32,595 square metres in area, largest of all Celtic lands; its modern population, between 4 and 5 million, is smaller than that of Scotland, although the island may have contained more than 9 million in 1840. Ireland was divided into thirty-two counties in the 17th century, twenty-six of which formed an independent nation in 1922, first as the Irish Free State and, after 1949, as the Republic of Ireland, occupying 26,601 square metres, or 81.6 per cent of the total. Six counties remained a part of the UK in 1922 and were partitioned from the rest as Northern Ireland, a name with no currency before that time; all six, however, are coextensive with the ancient province of Ulster, whose full borders embrace three more counties, now in the Republic.

According to widely known literary tradition, the Irish name for Ireland, Éire, derives from Ériu, one of many feminine personifications of the country (see below); the dative and genitive forms of the name are Érinn, Érenn. At the same time the name is strikingly similar to that of the Érainn, a people of early southern Ireland. According to the late medieval, biblicized pseudo-history Lebor Gabála, Ireland is named for Ír, the first of the Milesians. The Greek forms for Ireland as recorded in Ptolemy (2nd cent. AD), Ierna, Iernē (elsewhere Ivernē), were latinized into Hibernia (also Iverna, Ivernia). Modern commentators have identified the Iverni with the Érainn of early Ireland, specifically the subdivision known as Corcu Loígde. For a period in the early 20th century the anglicized term ‘Ivernian’ was coined to denote all the population of early Ireland. From Latin also come the terms Scotia for the island and Scotti for its inhabitants, especially those in the north-east. When people from the north-east of Ireland invaded what they then called Alba in the 4th century, that country came to be called Scotland after them. Additionally, the ancient people known as the Attecotti may also have been in fact from Ireland.

Celtic-speaking peoples were by no means the earliest inhabitants of Ireland. Radiocarbon dating indicates human habitation in what is now Co. Sligo as early as c.7500 BC, but the Celts did not arrive until the first millennium BC, specific dates for which are still under contention. This means that most of the best-known archaeological remains in Ireland, e.g. Newgrange (c.3200 BC), Dowth, and Knowth, were built by pre-Celtic peoples, even though they are frequently cited in Celtic tradition. Among the earliest Celtic-speaking peoples may have been the Priteni (or Picts), who migrated west from Britain; the Belgae, also found on the Continent and in Britain; the Lagin, perhaps from Armorica [Brittany] who may have invaded both Ireland and Britain simultaneously; and finally the Gaels or Goidelic-speakers. The language inherited from these invaders, Irish, is the most prominent of the Q-Celtic family. T. F. O'Rahilly argued in Early Irish History and Mythology (1946) that only the last invaders, the Goidelic-speakers, were Q-Celts and that all the earlier peoples were P-Celts, a controversial assertion that has little or no acceptance despite the enormous influence of his study. Shadowy parallels for the early populations of Ireland are found in the Lebor Gabála, which applies the name Milesian to the Q-Celtic ancestors of the modern Irish.

Unique among Celtic countries are Ireland's many poetic personifications and characterizations, most of them female. Among the oldest is iath nAnann [land of Ana], in the 10th-century Sanas Cormaic [Cormac's Glossary], alluding to Ana, the pre-Christian earth-goddess. Perhaps as old are the three beautiful divinities of the Lebor Gabála, Ériu, Banba, and Fódla. Also from the Lebor Gabála is the first invader, Cesair, a woman whose name can be a poetic synonym for Ireland. Two early modern personae, Cáit Ní Dhuibhir and Róisín Dubh [Dark Rosaleen], depict a lovely maiden in distress. Not all personifications have radiated sexual allure, however. The loathsome Cailleach Bhéirre [hag of Beare] proffers the forbidding face of sovereignty; she appears reincarnated in Sean-bhean Bhocht/Shan Van Vocht, ‘the Poor Old Woman’, an emblem of the United Irishmen's rising in 1798 and frequently cited since then. A weakened Ireland could still be nurturing as in Druimin Donn Dílis [faithful, brown, white-backed cow]. Yet other female figures are powerful and commanding, like Granuaile, based on the historical 16th-century Mayo coast pirate, Gráinne Mhaol NíMháille, and Caitlín Ní hUallacháin [Cathleen Ni Houlihan], much evoked by 19th- and 20th-century nationalists. The two most important non-female metaphors for Ireland are Fál or Lia Fáil, the phallic stone of Tara, and Claidheamh Soluis [sword of light; reformed spelling Claíomh Solais]. Two common poetic nicknames are Inis Ealga [noble isle] and Inis Fáil [island of destiny], alluding to the stone Fál. In Geoffrey Keating's history (17th cent.) Ireland is Muicinis [pig island].

Although Ireland is nearly bisected on an east-west axis by the Shannon River, the historical imagination has favoured a north-south division along a nearly invisible line called the Eiscir Riada that runs from outside Galway City into what is today Dublin. Two stories explain this bifurcation. In the better-known version, Conn Cétchathach [of the Hundred Battles] claimed the land north of Eiscir Riada, while Eogan Mór (also known as Mug Nuadat) took the south; all territory was consequently either Leth Cuinn [Conn's half] or Leth Moga [Mug's half]. A division along the same line, Eiscir Riada, is made in the Lebor Gabála, with Éber Finn taking the north and Éremón taking the south. The north-south division persists in the alignment of Ireland's five provinces. Initially Ulster (earlier Ulaid) and Connacht are mostly north of the Eiscir Riada, while Leinster (Lagin) and Munster (Mumu), so large as to be counted as two-east and west- are south. When Mide is counted as the fifth province (and thus Munster as one), it also lies north of Eiscir Riada. Although the composition of each province reflects centuries of migration and settlement patterns, part 2 of the Welsh Mabinogi offers a different origin story: all the men of Ireland are slain except for five pregnant women whose sons establish the five provinces of Ireland.

While Ireland was not conquered by the Romans, it drew closer to the rest of Europe with Christian evangelization, putatively led by St Patrick, beginning in the 5th century. Subsequently, early Irish writing was expressed in an adaptation of the Roman alphabet. As well as being the oldest written vernacular in Europe, the Irish language [Old Irish Goídelc; Modern Irish Gaedhealg; reformed Modern Irish Gaeilge] survives in the largest volume of early texts of any early European language, more than 600, many of which have never been edited or translated. Some, not all, are bound in great early codices like the Book of the Dun Cow [Lebor na hUidre] (c.1100), Book of Leinster [Lebor Laignech/na Núachongbála] (c.1160), and Yellow Book of Lecan [Lebor Buide Lecáin (c.1390). From the advent of Christianity in the 5th century until the arrival of the Anglo-Normans in 1169, writing, in Irish or Latin, was largely an ecclesiastical franchise. Native-born clergymen absorbed pre-Christian narratives and in time made their own use of them.

Thus much of what is called ‘Celtic mythology’ in this volume has been transmitted to us by scribes unsympathetic with, if not hostile to, the religious traditions that had fostered the original traditions. Not surprisingly, some 19th- and early 20th-century commentators argued that heroic stories from early Irish literature did not constitute a ‘mythology’ because they had been compromised in transmission. Clearly, the characters of some divinities, notably Ana for whom the Tuatha Dé Danann are named, are nearly lost. Some heroes, such as Lug Lámfhota and Fionn mac Cumhaill, were certainly originally divinities. Yet much of the unwritten pre-Christian original tradition has been retained, as is implied by the numerous parallels between Old Irish literature, ‘Celtic Mythology’, and classical, Norse, Slavic, Indian, and other Indo-European mythologies. Additionally, more recent archaeological finds in the British Isles and elsewhere co-ordinate many aspects of the milieu depicted in the four major cycles of early Irish literature, the Mythological, the Ulster, the Fenian, and the Cycle of Kings.

Written tradition in Irish survived the 12th-century reform of the Irish Church, which brought with it the introduction of orders of Continental monasticism, like the Benedictines and the Cistercians, and ended the native monasticism of Celtic Christianity. Prominent families, including gaelicized Normans, acted as patrons in the transmission of manuscripts down the departure of the native aristocracy, the ‘Flight of the Earls’, at the beginning of the 17th century. Increased anglicization diminished Irish literary tradition, yet manuscripts continued to be produced in large numbers, sometimes abroad, e.g. Duanaire Finn at Louvain in the Spanish Netherlands, through the 18th century and up to the middle of the 19th.

Proscription of the Irish language in commerce and legal affairs meant that its speakers, though they were still a majority of the population as late as 1800, were often illiterate and powerless. Lack of the ability to write did not prevent the survival of an enormously rich oral tradition, which began to be collected, translated, and published in the 19th century. T. Crofton Croker's first volumes, Researches in the South of Ireland (1824) and Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1825), attracted European attention, including that of the Brothers Grimm and Sir Walter Scott. Over the next two centuries hundreds of other collectors would fill libraries with narratives, many of which are rooted in the oldest documents of Irish literary tradition. The voluminous files of the Irish Folklore Commission, compiled in the 20th century, are more extensive than collections from any other western European country. At the end of the 20th century, the wellsprings of this oral tradition had by no means been exhausted. Oral tradition has survived the calamitous decline of the Irish language. The 1911 census recorded that only 17.6 per cent of the population could speak Irish to any degree, certainly a smaller number at independence eleven years later. The Free State Government (which became the Republic of Ireland, 1949) made a knowledge of Irish a requirement for schools and for applications to civil service positions, a policy that continued until 1973, and also created financial and other incentives to native speakers to remain in the Gaeltacht or Irish-speaking regions. With the 21st century approaching, more than 1 million persons had some knowledge of Irish while no more than 100,000, about 3.3 per cent of the population of the Republic, spoke Irish as a primary language. Irish Éire; Scottish Gaelic Éirinn; Manx Nerin, Yn Erin; Welsh Iwerddon; Cornish Ywerdhon; Breton Iwerzhon, Iwerzon, Iverdon. See also Bibliography under ‘Irish’.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia:

Ireland

Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Columbia Encyclopedia
Ireland, Irish Eire (âr'ə) [to it are related the poetic Erin and perhaps the Latin Hibernia], island, 32,598 sq mi (84,429 sq km), second largest of the British Isles. The island is divided into two major political units-Northern Ireland (see Ireland, Northern), which is joined with Great Britain in the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland (see Ireland, Republic of). Of the 32 counties of Ireland, 26 lie in the Republic, and of the four historic provinces, three and part of the fourth are in the Republic.

Geology and Geography

Ireland lies west of the island of Great Britain, from which it is separated by the narrow North Channel, the Irish Sea (which attains a width of 130 mi/209 km), and St. George's Channel. More than a third the size of Britain, the island averages 140 mi (225 km) in width and 225 mi (362 km) in length. A large central plain extending to the Irish Sea between the Mourne Mts. in the north and the mountains of Wicklow in the south is roughly enclosed by a highland rim. The highlands of the north, west, and south, which rise to more than 3,000 ft (914 m), are generally barren, but the central plain is extremely fertile and the climate is temperate and moist, warmed by southwesterly winds. The rains, which are heaviest in the west (some areas have more than 80 in./203 cm annually), are responsible for the brilliant green grass of the "emerald isle," and for the large stretches of peat bog, a source of valuable fuel. The coastline is irregular, affording many natural harbors. Off the west coast are numerous small islands, including the Aran Islands, the Blasket Islands, Achill, and Clare Island. The interior is dotted with lakes (the most celebrated are the Lakes of Killarney) and wide stretches of river called loughs. The Shannon, the longest of Irish rivers, drains the western plain and widens into the beautiful loughs Allen, Ree, and Derg. The River Liffey empties into Dublin Bay, the Lee into Cork Harbour at Cobh, the Foyle into Lough Royle near Derry, and the Lagan into Belfast Lough.

History

Ireland to the English Conquest

The earliest known people in Ireland belonged to the groups that inhabited all of the British Isles in prehistoric times. In the several centuries preceding the birth of Jesus a number of Celtic tribes invaded and conquered Ireland and established their distinctive culture (see Celt), although they do not seem to have come in great numbers. Ancient Irish legend tells of four successive peoples who invaded the country-the Firbolgs, the Fomors, the Tuatha De Danann, and the Milesians. Oddly enough, the Romans, who occupied Britain for 400 years, never came to Ireland, and the Anglo-Saxon invaders of Britain, who largely replaced the Celtic population there, did not greatly affect Ireland.

Until the raids of the Norse in the late 8th cent., Ireland remained relatively untouched by foreign incursions and enjoyed the golden age of its culture. The people, Celtic and non-Celtic alike, were organized into clans, or tribes, which in the early period owed allegiance to one of five provincial kings-of Ulster, Munster, Connacht, Leinster, and Meath (now the northern part of Leinster). These kings nominally served the high king of all Ireland at Tara (in Meath). The clans fought constantly among themselves, but despite civil strife, literature and art were held in high respect. Each chief or king kept an official poet (Druid) who preserved the oral traditions of the people. The Gaelic language and culture were extended into Scotland by Irish emigrants in the 5th and 6th cent.

Parts of Ireland had already been Christianized before the arrival of St. Patrick in the 5th cent., but pagan tradition continued to appeal to the imagination of Irish poets even after the complete conversion of the country. The Celtic Christianity of Ireland produced many scholars and missionaries who traveled to England and the Continent, and it attracted students to Irish monasteries, until the 8th cent. perhaps the most brilliant of Europe. St. Columba and St. Columban were among the most famous of Ireland's missionaries. All the arts flourished; Irish illuminated manuscripts were particularly noteworthy. The Book of Kells (see Ceanannus Mór) is especially famous.

The country did not develop a strong central government, however, and it was not united to meet the invasions of the Norse, who settled on the shores of the island late in the 8th cent., establishing trading towns (including Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick) and creating new petty kingdoms. In 1014, at Clontarf, Brian Boru, who had become high king by conquest in 1002, broke the strength of the Norse invaders. There followed a period of 150 years during which Ireland was free from foreign interference but was torn by clan warfare.

Ireland and the English

In the 12th cent., Pope Adrian IV granted overlordship of Ireland to Henry II of England. The English conquest of Ireland was begun by Richard de Clare, 2d earl of Pembroke, known as Strongbow, who intervened in behalf of a claimant to the throne of Leinster; in 1171, Henry himself went to Ireland, temporarily establishing his overlordship there. With this invasion commenced an Anglo-Irish struggle that continued for nearly 800 years.

The English established themselves in Dublin. Roughly a century of warfare ensued as Ireland was divided into English shires ruled from Dublin, the domains of feudal magnates who acknowledged English sovereignty, and the independent Irish kingdoms. Many English intermarried with the Irish and were assimilated into Irish society. In the late 13th cent. the English introduced a parliament in Ireland. In 1315, Edward Bruce of Scotland invaded Ireland and was joined by many Irish kings. Although Bruce was killed in 1318, the English authority in Ireland was weakening, becoming limited to a small district around Dublin known as the Pale; the rest of the country fell into a struggle for power among the ruling Anglo-Irish families and Irish chieftains.

English attention was diverted by the Hundred Years War with France (1337-1453) and the Wars of the Roses (1455-85). However, under Henry VII new interest in the island was aroused by Irish support for Lambert Simnel, a Yorkist pretender to the English throne. To crush this support, Henry sent to Ireland Sir Edward Poynings, who summoned an Irish Parliament at Drogheda and forced it to pass the legislation known as Poynings' Law (1495). These acts provided that future Irish Parliaments and legislation receive prior approval from the English Privy Council. A free Irish Parliament was thus rendered impossible.

The English Reformation under Henry VIII gave rise in England to increased fears of foreign, Catholic invasion; control of Ireland thus became even more imperative. Henry VIII put down a rebellion (1534-37), abolished the monasteries, confiscated lands, and established a Protestant "Church of Ireland" (1537). But since the vast majority of Irish remained Roman Catholic, the seeds of bitter religious contention were added to the already rancorous Anglo-Irish relations. The Irish rebelled three times during the reign of Elizabeth I and were brutally suppressed. Under James I, Ulster was settled by Scottish and English Protestants, and many of the Catholic inhabitants were driven off their lands; thus two sharply antagonistic communities were established.

Another Irish rebellion, begun in 1641 in reaction to the hated rule of Charles I's deputy, Thomas Wentworth, earl of Strafford, was crushed (1649-50) by Oliver Cromwell with the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives. More land was confiscated (and often given to absentee landlords), and more Protestants settled in Ireland. The intractable landlord-tenant problem that plagued Ireland in later centuries can be traced to the English confiscations of the 16th and 17th cent.

Irish Catholics rallied to the cause of James II after his overthrow (1688) in England (see the Glorious Revolution), while the Protestants in Ulster enthusiastically supported William III. At the battle of the Boyne (1690) near Dublin, James and his French allies were defeated by William. The English-controlled Irish Parliament passed harsh Penal Laws designed to keep the Catholic Irish powerless; political equality was also denied to Presbyterians. At the same time English trade policy depressed the economy of Protestant Ireland, causing many so-called Scotch-Irish to emigrate to America. A newly flourishing woolen industry was destroyed when export from Ireland was forbidden.

During the American Revolution, fear of a French invasion of Ireland led Irish Protestants to form (1778-82) the Protestant Volunteer Army. The Protestants, led by Henry Grattan, and even supported by some Catholics, used their military strength to extract concessions for Ireland from Britain. Trade concessions were granted in 1779, and, with the repeal of Poynings' Law (1782), the Irish Parliament had its independence restored. But the Parliament was still chosen undemocratically, and Catholics continued to be denied the right to hold political office.

Another unsuccessful rebellion was staged in 1798 by Wolfe Tone, a Protestant who had formed the Society of United Irishmen and who accepted French aid in the uprising. The reliance on French assistance revived anti-Catholic feeling among the Irish Protestants, who remembered French support of the Jacobite restoration. The rebellion convinced the British prime minister, William Pitt, that the Irish problem could be solved by the adoption of three policies: abolition of the Irish Parliament, legislative union with Britain in a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and Catholic Emancipation. The first two goals were achieved in 1800, but the opposition of George III and British Protestants prevented the enactment of the Catholic Emancipation Act until 1829, when it was accomplished largely through the efforts of the Irish leader Daniel O'Connell.

Ireland under the Union

After 1829 the Irish representatives in the British Parliament attempted to maintain the Irish question as a major issue in British politics. O'Connell worked to repeal the union with Britain, which was felt to operate to Ireland's disadvantage, and to reform the government in Ireland. Toward the middle of the century, the Irish Land Question grew increasingly urgent. But the Great Potato Famine (1845-49), one of the worst natural disasters in history, dwarfed political developments. During these years a blight ruined the potato crop, the staple food of the Irish population, and hundreds of thousands perished from hunger and disease. Many thousands of others emigrated; between 1847 and 1854 about 1.6 million went to the United States. The population dropped from an estimated 8.5 million in 1845 to 6.55 million in 1851 (and continued to decline until the 1960s). Irish emigrants in America formed the secret Fenian movement, dedicated to Irish independence. In 1869 the British prime minister William Gladstone sponsored an act disestablishing the Protestant "Church of Ireland" and thereby removed one Irish grievance.

In the 1870s, Irish politicians renewed efforts to achieve Home Rule within the union, while in Britain Gladstone and others attempted to solve the Irish problem through land legislation and Home Rule. Gladstone twice submitted Home Rule bills (1886 and 1893) that failed. The proposals alarmed Protestant Ulster, which began to organize against Home Rule. In 1905, Arthur Griffith founded Sinn Féin among Irish Catholics, but for the time being the dominant Irish nationalist group was the Home Rule party of John Redmond.

Home Rule was finally enacted in 1914, with the provision that Ulster could remain in the union for six more years, but the act was suspended for the duration of World War I and never went into effect. In both Ulster and Catholic Ireland militias were formed. The Irish Republican Brotherhood, a descendent of the Fenians, organized a rebellion on Easter Sunday, 1916; although unsuccessful, the rising acquired great propaganda value when the British executed its leaders.

Sinn Fein, linked in the Irish public's mind with the rising and aided by Britain's attempt to apply conscription to Ireland, scored a tremendous victory in the parliamentary elections of 1918. Its members refused to take their seats in Westminster, declared themselves the Dáil Éireann (Irish Assembly), and proclaimed an Irish Republic. The British outlawed both Sinn Fein and the Dáil, which went underground and engaged in guerrilla warfare (1919-21) against local Irish authorities representing the union. The British sent troops, the Black and Tans, who inflamed the situation further.

Partition

A new Home Rule bill was enacted in 1920, establishing separate parliaments for Ulster and Catholic Ireland. This was accepted by Ulster, and Northern Ireland was created. The plan was rejected by the Dáil, but in autumn 1921, Prime Minister Lloyd George negotiated with Griffith and Michael Collins of the Dáil a treaty granting Dominion status within the British Empire to Catholic Ireland. The Irish Free State was established in Jan., 1922. A new constitution was ratified in 1937 that terminated Great Britain's sovereignty. In 1948, all semblance of Commonwealth membership ended with the Republic of Ireland Act.

See Ireland, Republic of and Ireland, Northern.

Bibliography

See N. Mansergh, The Irish Question, 1840-1921 (1965); J. C. Beckett, The Making of Modern Ireland, 1603-1921 (1966); K. S. Bottigheimer, Ireland and the Irish: A Short History (1982); R. Munck, Ireland: Nation, State, and Class Conflict (1985); R. D. Crotty, Ireland in Crisis (1986); R. F. Foster, Modern Ireland, 1600-1972 (1989); J. Lee, Ireland, 1912-1985: Politics and Society (1989); T. Cahill, How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe (1995); C. C. O'Brien, Religion and Nationalism in Ireland (1995); D. Kiberd, Inventing Ireland (1996); N. Davies, The Isles: A History (2000).

History 1450-1789:

Ireland

Top
Home > Library > History, Politics & Society > History 1450-1789

Ireland's history has been shaped by the inescapable facts of geography. A small island at the western edge of Europe, barely within the mainstream of Continental experience, it lay beyond the reach of the Roman Empire (with all that that entailed for the development of law and modes of administration) yet would later become one of the great depositories of Christian art, spirituality, and learning. The European context is crucial to an understanding of Ireland's past, but the critical geographical fact is the island's proximity to Britain. On a clear day, the Mull of Kintyre in southwest Scotland is visible from the Antrim coast in northeast Ireland. Gaelic civilization, moreover, extended like an arc along the western and northern coasts of Ireland into the Scottish Highlands. Scottish Lowlanders and the English referred to Scots Gaelic as the "Irish language." From the importation by Gaelic lords of Highland mercenary soldiers—the gallowglass and the redshanks—to the role of Scots settlers in the Ulster plantation and the Scots army in the North in the 1640s, a strong Scottish dimension runs through early modern Irish history, though ultimately Ireland's troubled relationship with its larger neighbor, England, would have the greater impact.

The Fall of the House of Kildare

In 1450 Ireland was a lordship, and the king of England its lord. The English crown's claim to sovereignty over the whole island had never been vindicated in practice, however, and during the later Middle Ages English power and jurisdiction were in retreat. Effectively, the king's writ and the common law were confined to the Pale, the area of English settlement around Dublin, capital city and seat of royal authority. Beyond the Pale and the towns, the great Anglo-Norman magnates negotiated the shifting frontiers of Gaeldom through "march law," a bastardized amalgam of common and Irish brehon (native) laws and customs. Even the levers of royal authority began to slip from the king's grasp. The crown in Ireland was represented either by a lord lieutenant, a lord deputy, or, in the absence of one or the other, by lords justices. Between 1447 and 1460, Richard of York's (1411–1460) political standing conferred stature upon the lord lieutenancy and, equally important, kept it within the orbit of the court. Then, between the 1470s and 1520, successive earls of Kildare virtually monopolized the office, using it as a source of patronage to extend their local power base and network of alliances.

The local autonomy enjoyed by the "Kildare ascendancy" has struck some historians of the old nationalist school as part of a wider pattern of incipient Anglo-Irish separatism. But it is surely anachronistic to attribute proto-nationalist ambitions to a political community, the descendants of the original Anglo-Norman settlers, that had no concept of an Irish "nation" in the modern sense. It did, however, have a strong sense of English identity, albeit "English by blood" rather than by birth. Nevertheless, from Parliament's declaration that Ireland was "corporate of itself" (1460) to its declaration of legislative independence in 1782, Anglo-Irish constitutional relations provides a major framework for Irish political history. Subordination of Ireland to England (and, after 1707, Great Britain) and Irish resistance to subordination, though rarely rising to outright separatist aspirations, runs like a leitmotiv through these centuries.

The ascendancy of the earls of Kildare entailed a sometimes spectacular loss of royal control over Irish affairs, most vividly in 1487 when the Yorkist eighth earl, Garrett Mor, crowned the pretender, Lambert Simnel (c. 1475–1535), king of England in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. Kildare's survival in office, despite his treason, underlines the weakness of the English crown in the fifteenth century. From a position of greater strength and internal stability, however, Henry VIII would not countenance such overmighty subjects anywhere within his realm. Thus, when the ninth earl was summoned to London under the shadow of the executioner in 1534, his son, Lord Offaly, "Silken Thomas," led his followers in the Geraldine League into rebellion. The Geraldine revolt, which lasted until 1540, opened a new, blood-drenched chapter in Irish history. The advent of a new era was signaled by the first ever use of artillery—against the Kildare stronghold of Maynooth—by the ruthless suppression of the rebellion, and by the first stirrings of anti-Reformation Catholicism among the rebels.

The fall of the house of Kildare also inaugurated a prolonged phase of direct rule from London. That practice became the sine qua non of England's Irish policy, and several illustrious names among England's governing elite occupied Dublin Castle, namely the earls of Essex (1599), Strafford (1633–1640), and Chesterfield (1745–1747). There were notable exceptions to the rule: the Irish-born Protestant first duke of Ormond served as lord lieutenant under both Charles I and Charles II, while the Irish-born old English Catholic, the earl of Tyrconnell, held the office under James II in the 1680s. But after the first decade of the eighteenth century (when the second duke, Ormond's grandson, served) occupation of Dublin Castle was reserved for Englishmen. Until the very end of that century, and the appointments of John Fitzgibbon as lord chancellor and Viscount Castlereagh as chief secretary, Englishmen monopolized all senior executive posts, including the lord lieutenancy, chief secretaryship, lord chancellery, and the archbishopric of Armagh. On one level, official Ireland, especially its established church, functioned merely as a patronage outpost for a British political system oiled by the disbursement of places, preferments, pensions, promotions, titles, and favors. On another level, control of the executive rested on British security considerations.

England's Difficulty, Ireland's Opportunity

Security underpinned England's Irish policy. In essence, the concern was strategic. As Thomas Waring put it in the wake of the Cromwellian reconquest of 1649–1650, "humane reason and policie dictate's that the hous cannot bee safe so long as the back door is open." Ireland served as England's "back door" as early as 1497, when another Yorkist pretender, Perkin Warbeck, landed at Cornwall with a retinue of Irish supporters. Then, as Reformation and Counter-Reformation Europe split into warring camps, the vulnerability of Protestant England's western seaboard (and the dangers of Spain's sponsorship of Irish Catholic rebels) concentrated the Tudor mind. Spain (and the papacy) twice intervened in Ireland, landing troops at Smerwick, County Kerry (1580), and, in greater force, at Kinsale, County Cork (1601). Strategic necessity lent urgency to the Tudor reconquest of the sixteenth century and galvanized English determination to hold onto Ireland thereafter. Enemies changed, geography did not: French soldiers fought in Ireland in 1690 and 1798.

England's dominance depended, at bottom, on coercive force. Beyond that, Whitehall and Westminster exercised an array of political, legislative, and administrative controls. These included the retention in English hands of key public offices and the imposition of restrictive laws limiting the autonomy of the Irish Parliament and regulating Irish trade. A few legislative landmarks plot the troubled course of Anglo-Irish relations. First, "Poynings's Law" (1494), aimed originally at too-powerful lord deputies of the Kildare type, evolved into a procedure whereby all Irish parliamentary bills were subject to amendment—amounting to a veto—by the English Privy Council. The repeal of Poynings's Law constitutes the so-called revolution of 1782. Second, the Irish Parliament's subordinate status, institutionalized under Poynings, received confirmation in the Declaratory Act of 1720, a forthright assertion of Westminster's supremacy in the Kingdom of Ireland. Finally, Westminster used its claim of jurisdiction to impose laws prohibiting the import of Irish cattle to England (1667) and the export of Irish wool (1699). Both laws long caused bitter resentment in Ireland, the preliminary controversy surrounding the latter provoking the classic defense of Ireland's historic right to legislative independence, William Molyneux's The Case of Ireland Being Bound by Acts of Parliament in England, Stated (London, 1698).

The roots of England's perennial "Irish problem" lay in the failures of England's Irish policies. By 1450, although the territory of the Pale had contracted, it still boasted the most densely populated, intensively cultivated, and economically diverse region of the country. Yet Gaeldom had also demonstrated its military and cultural vitality. And, as Sir John Davies recognized in his Discovery of the True Causes Why Ireland Was Never Entirely Subdued (1612), the Irish problem would remain intractable for so long as the Gael remained outside—and indeed resistant to—the boon of common law, civility, and, by Davies's time, Protestantism or "true religion." "All the world knows their barbarism," Cromwell remarked of his Irish enemies. Only the adoption of English customs, Reformed religion, language, and law—in a word, anglicization—could save them from their wretched condition.

Gaelic Ireland

The Gaelic Irish saw matters differently, and while the story of English-Irish conflict supplies the historian with a ready, dramatic, and compelling narrative structure, it is vital that historians not view the past solely in terms of that conflict. Early modern Ireland, viewed from the Atlantic shores of Donegal, looks rather different from the anglophone Ireland mapped and preserved in the Public Record Office. For the historian, the question of perspective is precisely about rescuing the Gaelic-speaking O'Donnell retainer and Mac Sweeny swordsman from the enormous condescension of the state papers. Gaelic politics, economy, and society are more difficult to reconstruct than Anglo-Ireland because they never generated the sorts of records—tax rolls, bureaucratic memoranda, even paintings—upon which historians usually rely. The Gaelic world has thus either remained hidden, or, as recently as 1988, been caricatured on the basis of the naive or hostile reportage of outsiders. Fortunately, the dearth of conventional sources has been circumvented somewhat by the mining of a rich, if tricky, lode of nontraditional evidence: Irish-language poetry. Excavations (and cataloguing) are still in the heroic phase, but already the findings of scholars working with these hitherto underused sources have altered and enhanced our understanding of, for example, the depth and range of Irish Jacobite sentiment in the eighteenth century.

English late medieval society, including the Irish Pale, was organized around legally binding principles of mutual obligation and services based on land tenures. In contrast, in Gaelic society land ownership and inheritance, obligation, and political succession were determined by kinship. A chief's power rested on his ability to enforce it, and under the system of "tanistry" his designated heir was as likely a brother or cousin as an eldest son. Kinship, alliances through marriage and fosterage and the receipt of tribute from lesser clans defined a great chief's status more than territory or even cattle—the staple of the Gaelic pastoral economy. Certain families, notably the O'Neills and O'Donnells in Ulster, the O'Connors in Connacht, and the Mac Carthys and O'Briens in Munster, predominated. They inhabited a world of insistent, lowintensity warfare and comparative political instability. Exactions of tribute—in kind, or in military or labor services—lacked regulation, and by the early modern period were epitomized by the abuses of "coign and livery"—the billeting at free quarters by a chief of his dependants on his tenants.

The crown and the Dublin administration were not prepared to leave the natives to their own ways for three reasons. First, the inevitable processes of intermarriage, cultural interaction, and linguistic borrowings (in both directions) of the Gaedhil (or Irish) and the Gaill (or foreigners)—which historians call gaelicization but which the English called degeneracy—could not be permitted to continue. Second, the English "common law mind" embraced legal uniformity and abhorred local particularism. Ireland, reported an early-sixteenth-century English observer, comprised a patchwork of over sixty "countries" ruled by captains, each of whom "maketh war and peace for himself, and holdeth by the sword, and hath imperial jurisdiction within his room, and obeyeth to no other person." Worse still, degenerate "captains of English noble family . . . folloeth the same Irish order." The gaelicized Anglo-Norman House of Desmond cast its shadow across the common law mind. Finally, particularistic march law and Gaelic custom rooted in local power bases challenged royal sovereignty as well as legal uniformity.

"Conquest and Reform"

Whereas conventional nationalist histories of sixteenth-century Ireland focused on reconquest, revisionist historians have recovered the Tudor commitment to reform, although conquest and, in Brendan Bradshaw's terminology, "the catastrophic dimension of Irish history" are now being reintroduced to a more complicated picture. The set pieces of reform are the Act of Kingly Title (1541), which upgraded Ireland from a lordship to a kingdom, and "surrender and regrant," under which Gaelic chieftains surrendered their titles to the crown and were regranted them in English law. Several leading figures were ennobled, for example "the O'Neill" now became Earl of Tyrone, and succession and inheritance were at least theoretically stabilized by the extension of primogeniture. In the longer run, however, the prospects for reform were dashed by the rise of confessional conflict.

In Ireland, the Protestant Reformation assumed the character of an alien imposition. Decisively, the old English, as well as the native Irish, remained Catholic. Protestants were—and remained—a minority. When the Tudors completed the reconquest by the subjugation of Hugh O'Neill (1603), Gaelic Ireland had suffered military defeat but retained its cultural identity. Ethnic origin divided the Gael from his fellow Catholic old English almost as much as from the Protestant new English, yet shared adversity during the first decades of the seventeenth century conspired to forge a common Catholic identity. The defeat of O'Neill was followed by "the flight of the Earls" (1607) when O'Neill and others fled to Catholic Europe. Interpreted as an act of rebellion, the fugitives' lands escheated to the crown and were redistributed to English and Scottish settlers in the plantation of Ulster. The last bastion of Gaelic civilization thereby became the beachhead of British Protestantism in Ireland. The Scottish communities, moreover, laid the seedbed for Presbyterianism.

Stuart Ireland thus hosted four major ethno-religious groups: native Irish Catholics, old English Catholics, new English Protestants of the established church, and (before 1642, informally) Scots Presbyterians. Intra-denominational relations, already tense, strained to breaking point with the crisis of the Stuart monarchies in the late 1630s. Ireland, in fact, helped detonate the wars of the three kingdoms with the Ulster rebellion of 1641. Many Protestant planters were killed by insurgents, and lurid tales of massacre swept England, deepening the rage against popery and suspicion of the king, in whose defense the rebels claimed to act. Ireland, like England and Scotland, experienced the trauma of civil war in the 1640s. Alliances and allegiances shifted bewilderingly but, crucially, the old English were forced into military coalition with their Gaelic coreligionists. When Cromwell arrived in 1649 once more to subjugate the Irish and to revenge 1641, he made no ethnic distinctions among his papist enemies.

The land confiscations begun in the Tudor era and continued by the Ulster plantation reached unprecedented levels with the Cromwellian settlement. In 1603 Catholics owned more than 60 percent of the land; by 1659 that figure had been reduced to about 9 percent. During the reign of Charles II, Catholic ownership climbed back to around 25 percent, thanks to successful pleas in the court of claims, but fell again to 14 percent by the end of the century as a result of the forfeitures that followed the second defeat of Catholic Ireland in 1691. This time there would be no court of claims, but rather a relentless chipping away, by the implementation of penal laws, at the remaining Catholic-owned land. By 1775 it stood at 5 percent. The political nation, like the landowning elite, of eighteenth-century Ireland was Protestant. But the Protestants were a minority, and if anything is inevitable in history, the Catholics could not be excluded from public life and political power forever. A rising Catholic mercantile class had already begun to articulate its grievances by the 1780s, but once more it was events outside the island that catalyzed Irish politics, including the "Catholic question." With the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, a new epoch opened in European—and Irish—history.

Bibliography

Brady, Ciaran, and Raymond Gillespie, eds. Natives and Newcomers: Essays on the Making of Irish Colonial Society, 1534–1641. Dublin, 1986.

Connolly, Sean J. Law, Religion and Power: The Making of Protestant Ireland, 1660–1760. Oxford, 1992.

Ellis, Steven G. Ireland in the Age of the Tudors, 1447–1603: English Expansion and the End of Gaelic Rule. London and New York, 1998.

Moody, T. W., F. X. Martin, and F. J. Byrne, eds. A New History of Ireland III: Early Modern Ireland, 1534–1691. Oxford, 1976.

—JIM SMYTH

Geography:

Ireland

Top
Home > Library > Travel > Geography

Island in the Atlantic Ocean separated from Great Britain by the Irish Sea. It is divided into Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

  • It is called the “Emerald Isle” because of its lush green countryside.

Wikipedia:

Ireland

Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
This article is about the island in Europe. For the sovereign state of the same name, see Republic of Ireland. For the constituent part of the United Kingdom, see Northern Ireland. For other uses, see Ireland (disambiguation).

Coordinates: 53°N 7°W / 53°N 07°W / 53; -07

Ireland
Native name: Éire / Ireland
Ireland from space edit.jpg
True colour image of Ireland, captured by a NASA satellite on 4 January 2003, with the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Irish Sea to the east.
Geography
Ireland (island) in Europe.png
Location Northern Europe or Western Europe[1]
Area 84,421 km2 (32,595.1 sq mi)[2] (20th)
Coastline 3,700 km (2,300 mi)
Highest point Carrauntoohil (1,041 m (3,415 ft))
Country
Largest city Dublin
Constituent country Northern Ireland
Largest city Belfast
Demographics
Population 6,197,100[3] (as of 2008)
Density 73.4 /km2 (190 /sq mi)
Ethnic groups Irish, Ulster Scots, Irish Travellers

Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɪrlənd/  ( listen), locally [ˈaɾlənd]; Irish: Éire, pronounced [ˈeːɾʲə]  ( listen); Ulster Scots: Airlann) is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world.[4] It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland is the island of Great Britain, separated from it by the Irish Sea. The Republic of Ireland covers five-sixths of the island. Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, covers the remainder and is located in the northeast of the island. The population of Ireland is estimated to be 6.2 million. Slightly less than 4.5 million are estimated to live in the Republic of Ireland and slightly less than 1.8 million are estimated to live in Northern Ireland.[3] This is a significant increase from a modern historic low of 4.2 million 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.[5]

Relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain epitomise Ireland's geography with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has a lush vegetation, a product of its mild but changeable oceanic climate, which avoids extremes in temperature. Thick woodlands covered the island until the 1600s. Today, it is the most deforested area in Europe. Twenty-six mammal species are native to Ireland, with some, such as the red fox, hedgehog and badger, being very common. Others, like the Irish hare, red deer and pine marten are less so.

A Norman invasion in the Middle Ages gave way to English domination by the 1600s. In the 1700s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Roman Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters. In 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. A a war of independence in the early 20th century led to the partition of the island, creating the Irish Free State, which became increasingly sovereign over the following decades. Northern Ireland remained a part of the United Kingdom and saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s. This subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973, both parts of Ireland joined the European Community. The Republic of Ireland experienced unprecedented economic growth from the mid-1990s until 2009. However, transport and other economic infrastructure on the island are still poor by the standards of highly-developed Western countries.

Irish culture has had a significant influence on culture world-wide, particularly in the fields of literature and, to a lesser degree, science and learning. A strong indigenous culture, expressed for example through native sports and the Irish language, exists alongside a regional culture, such as Rugby football and golf.

Contents

Geography

Political geography

Further information: for the political history of the island, see History of Ireland; for other political institutions, see Politics of Ireland and Demography and politics of Northern Ireland
County Kerry County Antrim County Londonderry County Down County Armagh County Louth County Tyrone County Wexford County Dublin County Wicklow County Monaghan County Donegal County Fermanagh County Waterford County Cork County Limerick County Clare County Carlow County Kilkenny County Laois County Tipperary County Meath County Kildare County Cavan County Leitrim County Sligo County Roscommon County Galway County Longford County Westmeath County Offaly County Mayo County MayoA map of Ireland showing traditional county borders and names with Northern Ireland counties colored tan, all other counties colored green
A map of the 32 traditional counties of Ireland, showing the 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland (dark green) and the 6 counties of Northern Ireland (light green). Each of the counties on the map are a clickable link to the article on that county.

Ireland is occupied by two political entities:

Traditionally, Ireland is subdivided into four provinces: Connacht (west), Leinster (east), Munster (south), and Ulster (north). In a system that developed between the 13th and 17th centuries, Ireland has thirty-two traditional counties.[6] Twenty-six of the counties are in the Republic of Ireland and six counties are in Northern Ireland. The six counties that constitute Northern Ireland are all in the province of Ulster (which has nine counties in total). As such, Ulster is often used as a synonym for Northern Ireland, although the two are not coterminous.

In the Republic of Ireland, counties form the basis of the system of local government. Counties Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford and Tipperary have been broken up into smaller administrative areas. However, they are still considered by the Ordnance Survey Ireland to be official counties. Counties in Northern Ireland are no longer used for local governmental purposes, but their traditional boundaries are still used for informal purposes such as sports leagues and in some other cultural, ceremonial or tourism contexts and in addresses.[7]

City status in Ireland is decided by legislative or royal charter. Dublin, with 1 million residents in the Greater Dublin Area, is the largest city on the island. Other cities are:[8][9]

Kilkenny (pop. 22,179), while strictly no longer a city, is entitled by law to described itself as such. Several towns have larger populations than some of these cities but are not recognised as cities because they lack historic charters or legal status.

Province Population[8] Area (km²)[10] Density (p/km²)[10] Largest city
Connacht 503,083 17,713 28 Galway
Leinster 2,292,939 19,801 100 Dublin
Munster 1,172,170 24,608 48 Cork
Ulster 2,008,333 22,300 90 Belfast

All-island institutions

Despite the political partition, the island of Ireland continues to act as a single entity in a number of areas that transcend governmental agencies. The two jurisdictions share a transport, telecommunications and energy and water systems. With a few notable exceptions, this island is the main organisational unit for major religious, cultural and sporting organizations. The island fields a single international team in most sports, for example, and March 17 is celebrated throughout Ireland as the traditional Irish holiday of St. Patrick's Day. One notable exception to this is Association football (although both associations continued to field international teams under the name "Ireland" until the 1950s). An all-Ireland club football competition, the Setanta Cup, was created in 2005.

The 1998 Belfast Agreement provides for political co-operation between between the two jurisdictions. The North-South Ministerial Council, established under the agreement, is a institution through which ministers from the Government of Ireland and the Northern Ireland Executive can formulate all-island policies in twelve "areas of co-operation" (such as agriculture, the environment and transport). Six of these policy areas have associated all-island "implementation bodies". For example, food safety is managed by the Food Safety Promotion Board and Tourism Ireland markets the island as a whole. Three major political parties, Sinn Féin, the Irish Green Party and, most recently, Fianna Fáil, are organised on an all-island basis. However, only the former two of these has ever contested an election and hold legislative seats in both jurisdictions.

Despite the two jurisdictions using two distinct currencies (the euro and pound sterling), an increasing amount of commercial activity is carried out on an all-island basis. This has in part been facilitated by the two jurisdictions' shared membership of the European Union. Calls for the creation of an "all-island economy" have been made from members of the business community and policymakers so as to benefit from economies of scale and boost competitiveness.[11] Support for such initiatives comes from the Irish government and nationalist parties in the Northern Ireland Assembly.[12] One area in which the island already operates largely as a single market is electricity[13] and there are plans for the creation of an all-island gas market.[14]

Physical geography

Main articles: Geography of Ireland and Geology of Ireland
See also: Climate of Ireland
Physical features of Ireland.

The area of Ireland is 84,421 km2 (32,595 sq mi).[2] A ring of coastal mountains surround low plains at the centre of the island. The highest of these is Carrauntoohil (Irish: Corrán Tuathail) in County Kerry, which rises to 1,038 m (3,406 ft) above sea level.[15] The most arable land lies in the province of Leinster.[16] Western areas are can be mountainous and rocky, with green panoramic vistas. The River Shannon, at 386 km (240 mi), the island's longest river, rises in County Cavan in the north west and flows 113 kilometres (70 mi) to Limerick city in the mid west.[17]

The island's lush vegetation, a product of its mild climate and frequent rainfall, earns it the sobriquet the Emerald Isle. Overall, Ireland has a mild but changeable oceanic climate with few extremes. The climate is typically insular and is temperate avoiding the extremes in temperature of many other areas in the world at similar latitudes.[18] This is a result of the moderating moist winds which ordinarily prevail from the South-Western Atlantic.

Precipitation falls throughout the year, but is light overall, particularly in the east. The west tends to be wetter on average and prone to Atlantic storms, especially in the late autumn and winter months. These occasionally bring destructive winds and higher total rainfall to these areas, as well as sometimes snow and hail. The regions of north County Galway and east County Mayo have the highest incidents of recorded lightning annually for the island, with lightening occurring approximately five to ten days per year in these areas.[19] Munster, in the south, records the least snow whereas Ulster, in the north, records the most.

Inland areas are warmer in summer and colder in winter. Usually around 40 days of the year are below freezing (0 °C/32 °F) at inland weather stations, compared to 10 days at coastal stations. Ireland is sometimes affected by heat waves, most recently in 1995, 2003 and 2006. In 2009, temperatures fell below −7 °C (19.4 °F), which is unusually cold for Ireland, and caused up to 1⁄2 m (1.64 ft) of snow in mountain areas. In Dublin, there was 10 cm (3.9 in) of snow in places.

The warmest recorded air temperature was 33.3 °C (91.9 °F) (Kilkenny Castle, County Kilkenny, June 1887) and the lowest was −19.1 °C (−2.4 °F) (Markree Castle, County Sligo, January 1881).[20] The greatest recorded annual rainfall was 3,964.9 mm (156.1 in) (Ballaghbeama Gap, County Kerry, 1960). The driest year was 1887, with only 356.6 mm (14.0 in) of rain recorded at Glasnevin. The longest period of absolute drought was in Limerick where there was no recorded rainfall over 38 days during April and May 1938.[19]

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

The island consists of varied geological provinces. In the far west, around County Galway and County Donegal, is a medium to high grade metamorphic and igneous complex of Caledonide affinity, similar to the Scottish Highlands. Across southeast Ulster and extending southwest to Longford and south to Navan is a province of Ordovician and Silurian rocks, with similarities to the Southern Uplands province of Scotland. Further south, along the County Wexford coastline, is an area of granite intrusives into more Ordovician and Silurian rocks, like that found in Wales.[21][22] 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.[23] This partial ring of "hard rock" geology is covered by a blanket of Carboniferous limestone over the centre of the country, giving rise to a comparatively fertile and lush landscape. The west-coast district of the Burren around Lisdoonvarna has well developed karst features.[24] Significant stratiform lead-zinc mineralization is found in the limestones around Silvermines and Tynagh.

Hydrocarbon exploration is ongoing following the first major find at the Kinsale Head gas field off Cork in the mid-1970s.[25][26] More recently, in 1999, economically significant finds of natural gas were made in the Corrib Gas Field off the County Mayo coast. 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.[27]

Places of interest

There are three World Heritage Sites on the island; these are the Brú na Boinne, Skellig Michael and the Giant's Causeway.[28] A number of other places are on the tentative list, for example the Burren and Mount Stewart.[29]

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.[30] Historically important monastic sites include Glendalough and Clonmacnoise, which are maintained as national monuments.[31] Dublin is the most heavily touristed region,[30] and home to several of the most popular attractions such as the Guinness Storehouse and Book of Kells.[30] The west and south west, which includes the Lakes of Killarney and the Dingle peninsula in County Kerry and Connemara and the Aran Islands in County Galway, are also popular tourist destinations.[30]

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 also of interest to tourists. Some have been converted into hotels, such as Ashford Castle, Castle Leslie and Dromoland Castle.

World Heritage Sites in Ireland

Giant's Causeway, County Antrim

Skellig Michael, County Kerry

Brú na Bóinne, County Meath

Flora and fauna

Main articles: Fauna of Ireland, List of the vascular plants of Britain and Ireland, and Trees of Britain and Ireland
The red deer (Cervus elaphus) is Ireland's largest wild mammal.

Because Ireland was isolated from continental Europe by rising sea levels after the ice age, it has less diverse animal and plant species than either Great Britain or mainland Europe. Only 26 land mammal species are native to Ireland. 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 wildlife, 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 and Africa.

Several different habitat types are found in Ireland, including farmland, open woodland, temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, conifer plantations, peat bogs and a variety of coastal habitats. However, agriculture drives current land use patterns in Ireland, limiting natural habitat preserves,[32] 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.

Famously, there are no snakes in Ireland and only one reptile (the common lizard) is native to the island. Extinct species include the great Irish elk, the wolf and the great auk. Some previously extinct birds, such as the Golden Eagle, have recently been reintroduced after decades of extirpation.

Furze (Ulex europaeus)

Until medieval times, Ireland was heavily forested with oak, pine and birch. Forests today cover only about 9% (4,450 km² or one million acres)[33] of Ireland, which makes it the most deforested area in Europe. 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. It is home to hundreds of plant species, some of them unique to the island, and has been "invaded" by some grasses, such as Spartina anglica.[34]

The algal and seaweed flora is that of the cold-temperate variety. The total number of species is 574 and can be divided as follows:

Rarer species include:[35]

The island has been invaded by some algae, some of which are now well established. For example:[36]

  • Asparagopsis armara Harvey, which originated in Australia and was first recorded by M. De Valera in 1939
  • Colpomenia peregrina Sauvageau, which is 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.

Codium fragile ssp. atlanticum has recently been established to be native, although for many years it was regarded as an alien species.

Because of its mild climate, many species, including sub-tropical species such as palm trees, are grown in Ireland. Phytogeographically, Ireland belongs to the Atlantic European province of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom. The island itself can be subdivided into two ecoregions: the Celtic broadleaf forests and North Atlantic moist mixed forests.

The 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.[37][38] "Runoff" from contaminants into streams, rivers and lakes impact the natural fresh-water ecosystems.

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. This ecosystem stretches across the countryside and act as a network of connections to preserve remnants of the ecosystem that once covered the island. Subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy, which supported agricultural practices that preserved hedgerow environments, are undergoing reforms.[39] The Common Agricultural Policy, however, also subsidises some potentially destructive agricultural practices. Although recent reforms have gradually decoupled subsidies from production levels and introduced environmental and other requirements.[39]

Forest covers about 10% of the country, with most designated for commercial production.[32] Forested areas typically consist of monoculture plantations of non-native species, which may result in habitats that are not suitable for supporting native species of invertebrates. Remnants of native forest can be found scattered around the island, in particular in the Killarney National Park. Natural areas require fencing to prevent over-grazing by deer and sheep that roam over uncultivated areas. Grazing in this manner is one of the main factors preventing the natural regeneration of forests across many regions of the country.[40]

History

History of Ireland
Wenzel Hollar's historical map of Ireland
This article is part of a series
Chronological
Timeline
Prehistory
Protohistory
400–800
800–1169
1169–1536
1536–1691
1691–1801
1801–1922
1919–present (Republic)
1921–present (Northern Ireland)
Topical
Battles · Clans · Kingdoms · States
Gaelic monarchs · British monarchs
Economic history
Irish language
Ireland Portal
 v • d • e 
Main article: History of Ireland

Pre-history and medieval period

The Uragh Stone Circle, a neolithic stone circle in Gleninchaquin Park, County Kerry.

Most of Ireland was covered with ice until the end of the last ice age over 9,000 years ago. Sea-levels were lower and Ireland, as with its neighbour Britain, were a part of continental Europe rather than being islands. Mesolithic stone age inhabitants arrived some time after 8,000 BC and agriculture followed with the Neolithic Age around 4,500 to 4,000 BC when sheep, goats, cattle and cereals were imported from the Iberian peninsula. At the Céide Fields, preserved beneath a blanket of peat in present-day County Mayo, is an extensive field system, arguably the oldest in the world,[41] dating from a not long after this period. Consisting of small divisions separated by dry-stone walls, the fields were farmed for several centuries between 3,500 and 3,000 BC. Wheat and barley were the principal crops.

The Iron Age in Ireland is traditionally associated with people known as the Celts. The Celts were commonly thought to have colonised Ireland in a series of invasions between the 8th and 1st centuries BC. The Gaels, the last wave of Celts, were said to have divided the island into five or more kingdoms after conquering it. However, academics now favour a view that emphasises the diffusion of culture from overseas as opposed to a military colonisation.[42][43] Find, such as Clonycavan Man, given as evidence for this view.

The earliest written records of Ireland come from classical Greco-Roman geographers. Ptolemy in his Almagest refers to Ireland as Mikra Brettania (Lesser Britain), in contrast to the larger island, which he called Megale Brettania (Great Britain). In his later work, Geography, Ptolemy refers to Ireland as Iwernia and to Great Britain as Albion. These "new" names were likely to have been the native names for the islands at the time. The earlier names, in contrast, were likely to have been coined before contact direct contact with local peoples were made.[44] The Romans would later refer to Ireland by this name too in it's Latinised form, Hibernia.[45] or Scotia[46] Ptolemy records sixteen tribes inhabiting every part of Ireland in 100 AD.[47] However the relationship between the Roman Empire and the tribes of ancient Ireland is unclear. The objective references that exist are from Roman writings whereas native accounts are confined to Irish poetry, myth. However, a number of finds of Roman coins have been found, for example at New Grange.[48]

Ireland continued as a patchwork of rival tribes but, beginning in the 7th century AD, a concept of national kingship gradually became articulated through the concept of a High King of Ireland. Medieval Irish literature portrays an almost unbroken sequence of High Kings stretching back thousands of years but modern historians believe the scheme was constructed in the 8th century to justify the status of powerful political groupings by projecting the origins of their rule into the remote past.[49] The High King was said to preside over the a patchwork of provincial kingdoms that together formed Ireland. Each of these kingdoms had their own kings but were at least nominally subject to the High King. The High King was drawn from the ranks of the provincial kings and ruled also the royal kingdom of Meath, with a ceremonial capital at the Hill of Tara. The concept only became a political reality in the Viking Age and even then not a consistent one.[50][51] However, Ireland did have a unifying rule of law: the early written judicial system, the Brehon Laws, administered by a professional class of jurists known as the brehons.

The Chronicle of Ireland records that in 431 AD Bishop Palladius arrived in Ireland on a mission from Pope Celestine I to minister to the Irish "already believing in Christ." The same chronicle records that Saint Patrick, Ireland's patron saint, arrived the following year. There is continued debate over the missions of Palladius and Patrick but consensus that they both took place.[52] and certainty that the older druid tradition collapsed in the face of the new religion.[53] Irish Christian scholars excelled in the study of Latin and Greek learning and Christian theology. In the monastic culture that followed the Christianisation of Ireland, Latin and Greek learning was preserved in Ireland during the Early Middle Ages in contrast to elsewhere in Europe, where the Dark Ages followed the decline of the Roman Empire.[53][54] The arts of manuscript illumination, metalworking and sculpture flourished and produced treasures such as the Book of Kells, ornate jewellery and the many carved stone crosses that still dot the island today.

From the 9th century, waves of Viking raiders plundered Irish monasteries and towns. These raids added to a pattern of raiding and endemic warfare that was already deep seeded in Ireland.

Norman and English invasions

Main articles: Norman invasion of Ireland and Tudor reconquest of Ireland
The remains of the 11th-century Trim Castle in County Meath, the largest Norman castle in Europe.

On May 1st, 1169, an expedition of Cambro-Norman knights with an army of about six-hundred landed at Bannow Strand in present-day County Wexford. It was led by Richard de Clare, called Strongbow due to his prowess as an archer.[55] The invasion, which coincided with a period of renewed Norman expansion, was at the invitation of Dermot Mac Murrough, king of Leinster. In 1166, Mac Morrough had fled to France following a war involving Tiernan O'Rourke, king of Breifne, and sought the assistance of the King Henry II in recapturing his kingdom. In 1171, Henry arrived in Ireland in order to review the general progress of the expedition. He wanted to re-exert royal authority over the invasion which was expanding beyond his control. He also wanted to promote the financial and administrative reorganisation of the Irish Church along Roman lines. This restructuring was already in progress at the ecclesiastical level since the Synod of Kells. Henry successfully re-imposed his authority over Strongbow and the Cambro-Norman warlords and persuaded many of the Irish kings to accept him as their overlord, an arrangement confirmed in the 1175 Treaty of Windsor.

The invasion was legitimised by the provisions of Laudabiliter, a Papal bull, purportedly issued by Adrian IV in 1155 (co-incidentally, the only Englishman to have been elected Pope). There is some controversy over its authenticity - if real it granted King Henry II dominion over Ireland in the name of the papacy.[56] In 1172, the new pope, Alexander III, further encouraged Henry to advance the integration of the Irish Church with Rome. Henry was authorised to impose a tithe of one penny per hearth as an annual contribution. This church levy, was called Peter's Pence, is still extant in Ireland as a voluntary donation. In turn, Henry accepted the title of Dominus Hiberniae (Lord of Ireland) which Henry granted to his younger son, John Lackland, in 1185. This defined the Irish state as the Lordship of Ireland, a feudal posession of the Papacy under the overlordship of the Lord of Ireland. When Henry's successor died unexpectedly in 1199, John inherited the crown of England and the Lord of Ireland and the King of England became one person.

Over the century that followed, Norman feudal law gradually replaced the native brehon law so that by the late 13th century the Norman-Irish had established a feudal system throughout much of Ireland. Normal settlements were characterised by the establishment of baronies, manors, towns and the seeds of the modern-day county system. A version of Magna Carta (the Great Charter of Ireland), substituting Dublin for London and Irish Church for Church of England, was published in 1216 and the Parliment of Ireland was founded in 1297. However, from the mid-fourteenth century, after of the Black Death, Norman settlements in Ireland went into a period of decline. The Norman rulers and the native Irish elites intermarried and the areas under Norman rule became Gaelicised. In some parts, a hybrid Hiberno-Norman culture emerged. In response, the Irish parliament passed the Statutes of Kilkenny in 1367. These were a set of laws designed to prevent the assimilation of the Normans into Irish society by requiring English subjects in Ireland to speak English, follow English customs and abide by English law.[57] However, by the end of the 15th century central English authority in Ireland had all but disappeared and a renewed Irish culture and language, albeit with Norman influences, was dominant again.

English Crown control remained relatively unshaken in an amorphous foothold around Dublin known as The Pale. English rule of law was reinforced and expanded, however, in the sixteenth century leading to the Tudor reconquest of Ireland. A near complete conquest was achieved by the turn of the seventeenth century following the Nine Years' War and the Flight of the Earls. This control was further consolidated during the seventeenth century. This century witnessed English and Scottish colonisation in the Plantations of Ireland, the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and the Williamite War. Irish losses during the Wars of the three Kingdoms (which, in Ireland, included the Irish Confederacy and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland) are estimated to include 20,000 battlefield casualties. 200,000 civilians died as a result of a combination of war related famine, displacement, guerilla activity and pestilence over the duration of the war. A further 16,000 were tried and sent to slavery in the West Indies. Some historians estimate that as much as half of the pre-war population of Ireland may have died as a result of the conflict.[58]

The religious struggles of the seventeenth century left a deep sectarian division in Ireland. Religious allegiance now determined the perception in law of loyalty to the Irish King and Parliament. After the passing of The Test Act 1673 and with the victory of the forces of the dual monarchy of William and Mary over the Jacobites, Roman Catholics and nonconforming Protestant Dissenters were barred sitting as members in the Irish Parliament. Under the provisions of Poynings' Law of 1494, the Irish Parliamentary legislation was subject to the approval of the English Parliament. Under the emerging penal laws, recusant Irish Roman Catholics and Dissenters were increasingly deprived of various and sundry civil rights even to the ownership of hereditary property. Additional regressive punitive legislation followed 1703, 1709 and 1728. This completed a comprehensive systemic effort to materially disadvantage Roman Catholics and Protestant Dissenters, while enriching a new ruling class of Anglican conformists.[59] The new Anglo-Irish ruling class became known as the Protestant Ascendancy.

Union with Great Britain

Half-hanging of suspected United Irishmen.

A weather-induced failure of the ubiquitous potato crop resulted in the famine in 1740. An estimated 400,000 people (about a quarter of the population) died from the ensuing pestilence and disease. The Irish government provided significant relief and contained the damage as much as possible. In the aftermath of the famine, an increase in industrial production and a surge in trade brought a succession of construction booms. The population soared in the latter part of this century. Dublin became the second city of the British Empire, and the architectural legacy of Georgian Ireland was built. In 1782, Poynings' Law was repealed giving Ireland virtual legislative independence from Great Britain for the first time since the Norman invasion.

The British government still retained the right to nominate the government of Ireland above the consent of the Irish parliament. In 1798, members of the Protestant Dissenter tradition (mainly Presbyterian) made common cause with Roman Catholics in a republican rebellion inspired and led by the Society of United Irishmen. It was staged with the aim of creating an independent Ireland as a state with a republican constitution. Despite assistance from France the Irish Rebellion of 1798 was put down by British and Irish government and yeomanry forces. In 1800, the British and Irish Parliaments passed the Act of Union which, effective as of January 1801, merged the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain to create a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The passage of the Act in the Irish Parliament was ultimately achieved with substantial majorities, having failed on the first attempt in 1799. According to contemporary documents and historical analysis, this was achieved through a considerable degree of bribery, with funding provided by the British Secret Service Office, and a the awarding of peerages, places and honours to secure their affirmative votes.[60] Thus, Ireland became part of an extended United Kingdom, ruled directly by the UK Parliament in London. A Viceregal administration was established and under the government appointed the Chief Secretary at Dublin Castle.

Emigrants Leave Ireland, an engraving by Henry Doyle depicting the emigration to The United States because of the Great Famine in Ireland.

The Great Famine of the 1840s caused the deaths of one million Irish people. Over a million more emigrated to escape it.[61] By the end of the decade, half of all immigration to the United States was from Ireland. Mass emigration became deeply entrenched and the population continued to decline until the mid 20th century. Immediately prior to the famine, the population was recorded as 8.2 million by the 1841 census.[62] The population has never returned to this level since.[63] The population continue to fall until 1961 and it was not until the 2006 census that the last county of Ireland to (County Leitrim) to record a rise in population since 1841 did so.

The 19th and early 20th century saw the rise of modern Irish nationalism, primarily among the Roman Catholic population. Pre-eminent among these was Daniel O'Connell. He was elected as member of parliament for Ennis in a surprise result despite being unable to take his seat as a Roman Catholic. O'Connell spearheaded a vigorous campaign which was taken up by the Prime Minister, the Irish born soldier and statesman the Duke of Wellington. Steering the Act through the Westminster parliament, aided by future prime minister Robert Peel, Wellington prevailed upon a reluctant George IV to sign the bill and proclaim it into law. George's father had opposed Prime Minister Pitt's plan to introduce such a bill following the Union in 1801 fearing Catholic Emancipation to be in conflict with the Act of Settlement 1701.

A subsequent campaign led by O'Connell for the repeal of the Act of Union failed. Later in the century, Charles Stewart Parnell and others campaigned for autonomy within the Union, or "Home Rule". Unionists, especially those located in the northern part of the island, were strongly opposed to Home Rule under which they felt they would be dominated by Catholic interests.[64] After subsequent attempts to pass a Home Rule bill through parliament, it looked certain that one would finally pass in 1914. To prevent this from happening, the Ulster Volunteers were formed in 1913 under the leadership of Lord Carson. Their formation was followed in 1914 by the establishment of the Irish Volunteers, whose aim was to ensure that the Home Rule Bill was passed. The Act was passed but with the "temporary" exclusion of the six counties of Ulster that would become Northern Ireland. However, before it could be implemented the Act was suspended for the duration of the Great War (World War I). The Irish Volunteers split into two groups, the majority, under John Redmond, took the name National Volunteers and supported Irish involvement in the war. A minority retained the name, the Irish Volunteers, and opposed Ireland's involvement in the war.[65]

The Easter Rising of 1916 was carried out by the latter group and the British response, executing the leaders of the Rising one by one over seven weeks, changed the national mood towards Home Rule, and independence received overwhelming endorsement in the General Election of 1918. In 1919, a guerrilla war of independence followed the end of the Great War. In 1921, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was concluded between the British Government and the leaders of the Irish Republic. Northern Ireland was to form a home rule state within the new Irish Free State but held an opt-out clause which it exercised immediately opted out as expected.[66] Disagreements over the provisions of the treaty led to a split in the nationalist movement and a subsequent civil war. The civil war ended in 1923 with the defeat of the anti-treaty forces but left deep, though often unspoken, divisions.

Partition

Independent Ireland

Annotated page from the Anglo-Irish Treaty that established the Irish Free State and independence for 26 out of 32 Irish counties.

During its first decade, the newly-formed Irish Free State state was governed by the victors of the civil war. In the 1930s, Fianna Fáil, the party of the opponents of the treaty, were elected into government. The party proposed, and the electorate accepted in a referendum in 1937, a new constitution that declared the state to be entirely sovereign. This completed a process of gradual separation from the British Empire that governments had pursued since independence. It was not, however, until 1949 that the state was declared, officially, a republic.

The state was a neutral during World War II but offered clandestine assistance to the Allies, especially in the potential defence of Northern Ireland. Despite being neutral, approximately 50,000[67] volunteers from independent Ireland joined the British forces during the war, four being awarded the Victoria Crosses.

Large-scale emigration marked the 1950s and 1980s but, beginning in 1987, the Irish economy improved and the 1990s saw the beginning of unprecedented economic growth. The phenomenon became known as the Celtic Tiger.[68] By 2007, Ireland had become the fifth richest country in the world in terms of GDP per capita.

Northern Ireland

Main article: History of Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland was created as a division of the United Kingdom by the Government of Ireland Act 1920 and until 1972, had self-government within the United Kingdom with its own parliament and prime minister. Northern Ireland was largely spared the strife of the civil war. However, in decades that followed partition, there were sporadic episodes of inter-communal violence between nationalists and unionists. Northern Ireland, as part of the United Kingdom, was not neutral during the Second World War but without military conscription and Belfast suffered a bombing raid from in 1941.

Edward Carson signing the Solemn League and Covenant declaring opposition to Home Rule "using all means which may be found necessary".

The Protestant and Catholic communities in Northern Ireland 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 with further disaffection fuelled by practices such as gerrymandering and discrimination against Catholics in housing and employment.[69][70][71] In the late 1960s, nationalist grievances were aired publicly in mass civil rights protests, which were often confronted by loyalist counter-protests.[72] The government's reaction to confrontations was seen to be one-sided and heavy-handed. Law and order broke down as unrest and inter-communal violence increased.[73] The Northern Ireland government was forced to request the British Army to aid the police, who were exhausted after several nights of serious rioting. In 1969, 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 violence and a period known as the Troubles began. Over 3,600 deaths resulted over the subsequent three decades of conflict.[74] Owing to the civil unrest during the Troubles, the British government suspended home rule in 1972 and imposed "direct rule" from the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

There were several ultimately unsuccessful attempts to end the Troubles political, such as the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973. In 1998, following a ceasefire by the Provisional IRA and multi-party talks, the Belfast Agreement was concluded and ratified by referendum across the entire island. The Agreement was 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 in 2005 the Provisional IRA announced the end of its armed campaign and an independent commission supervised its disarmament.[75] The power-sharing assembly was suspended several times but was restored again in 2007. In that year, the British government officially ended its military support of the police in Northern Ireland and began withdrawing troops.

Economy

Main articles: Economic history of Ireland, Economy of the Republic of Ireland, and Economy of Northern Ireland

Ireland, both north and south, was in the main an underdeveloped economy and large-scale economic emigration troubled the island until the 1980s.[76] These problems virtually disappeared over the course of the 1990s, which saw the beginning of unprecedented economic growth in the Republic of Ireland, in a phenomenon known as the "Celtic Tiger,"[77] and peace being restored to Northern Ireland. In 2005, the Republic of Ireland was ranked the best place to live in the world, according to a "quality of life" assessment by The Economist magazine.[78]

Both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland entered recession in 2008.[79][80] and in 2009, the unemployment rate for the Republic of Ireland was 12.5%.[81]

Transport

Main article: Transport in Ireland
Aer Lingus Airbus A320 jet

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 of these,[82] carrying over 22 million passengers per year[83] and a new terminal and runway are under construction.[84] All provide services to Britain and continental Europe, while Belfast International, Dublin, Shannon and Ireland West (Knock) also offer transatlantic services. For several decades, Shannon was an important refuelling point for transatlantic routes.[85] In recent years it has opened a pre-screening service allowing passengers to pass through US immigration services before departing from Ireland.

There are also several smaller regional airports: George Best Belfast City Airport, City of Derry Airport, Galway Airport, Kerry Airport (Farranfore), Sligo Airport (Strandhill), Waterford Airport and Donegal Airport (Carrickfinn). Scheduled services from these regional points are in the main limited to flights traveling to other parts of Ireland and to Great Britain.

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

"Samson and Goliath" at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Ireland has ports in major ports in Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Rosslare, Derry and Waterford. Smaller ports exist in Arklow, Ballina, Drogheda, Dundalk, Dún Laoghaire, Foynes, Galway, Larne, Limerick, New Ross, Sligo, Warrenpoint and Wicklow. Ports in the Republic handle 3.6 million travellers crossing the Irish Sea between Ireland and Britain each year.[86] The vast majority of heavy goods trade is done by sea. Ports in Northern Ireland handle 10 megatons (11 million short tons) of goods trade with Britain annually, while ports in the Republic of Ireland handle 7.6 Mt (8.4 million short tons).

Ferry connections between Great Britain and Ireland via the Irish Sea include routes from Swansea to Cork, Fishguard and Pembroke to Rosslare, Holyhead to Dún Laoghaire, Stranraer to Belfast and Larne and Cairnryan to Larne. There is also a connection between Liverpool and Belfast via the Isle of Man. The world's largest car ferry, the MV Ulysses, is operated by Irish Ferries on the Dublin–Holyhead route. In addition, Rosslare and Cork run ferries to France.

Several (mainly hypothetical) plans to build an "Irish Sea tunnel" have been proposed. The first serious proposal was made in 1897, which was for a tunnel between Ireland and Scotland crossing the North Channel. Most recently, in 2004, the Institution of Engineers of Ireland proposed the "Tusker Tunnel" between the ports of Rosslare and Fishguard.[87][88] In 1997 a British engineering firm, Symonds, proposed a rail tunnel from Dublin to Holyhead. Either of the two most recent proposals, at 80 km (50 mi), would be by far the longest tunnel in the world and would cost an estimated €20bn.

Railway routes, with major towns/station, mountains, ports and airports.

The railway network in Ireland was developed by various private companies during the 19th century, with some receiving government funding in the late 19th century. The network reached its greatest extent by 1920. A broad gauge of 1,600mm (5 ft 3in)[89] was agreed as the standard the island, although there were also hundreds of kilometres of 914mm (3 ft) narrow gauge railways.[89]

Long distance passenger trains in the Republic of Ireland are managed by Iarnród Éireann and connect most major towns and cities. In Northern Ireland, all rail services are provided by Northern Ireland Railways. Additionally, Ireland has one of the largest dedicated freight railways in Europe, operated by Bord na Móna totalling nearly 1,400 kilometres (870 mi).

In Dublin, two local rail networks provide transport in the city and its immediate vicinity. The Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) links the city centre with coastal suburbs. A new light rail system, the Luas, opened in 2004 and transports passengers to the central and western suburbs. Several more Luas lines are planned as well as an Dublin Metro. The DART is run by Iarnród Éireann and the Luas is run by Veolia under franchise from the Railway Procurement Agency. Under the Irish government's Transport 21 plan, the Cork to Midleton rail link was reopened in 2009. The re-opening of the Navan-Clonsilla rail link and the Western Rail Corridor are amongst future projects as part of the same plan.[90]

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. Current services includes suburban routes to Larne, Newry and Bangor, as well as services to Derry. There is also a branch from Coleraine to Portrush.

Dublin Port Tunnel under construction.
Main article: Roads in Ireland

Motorists in Ireland drive on the left. There is an extensive road network and a developing motorway network fanning out from Dublin and Belfast in particular. Historically, land owners developed most roads and later Turnpike Trusts collected tolls so that as early as 1800 Ireland had a 16,100 kilometres (10,000 mi) road network.[91] In recent years, the Irish Government launched a new transport plan that is the largest investment project ever in Ireland's transport system: investing €34 billion from 2006 until 2015. Work on a number of road projects has already commenced and a number of objectives have been completed.[92]

The first horsecar service in Ireland ran from Clonmel to Thurles and Limerick and was introduce in 1815 by Charles Bianconi.[93] Today, the main bus companies are Bus Éireann in the Republic and Ulsterbus 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 Metro operates services within the greater Belfast area.

Signposts and speed limits in the Republic of Ireland are shown in kilometres per hour, with speed limits having changed in 2005. Distance and speed limit signs in Northern Ireland use imperial units in common with the rest of the United Kingdom.

Power networks

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 post partition. However, as a result of changes over recent years they are now connected with three interlinks and also connected through Great Britain to mainland Europe. The situation in Northern Ireland is complicated by the issue of private companies not supplying Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) with enough power. In the Republic of Ireland, the ESB has failed to modernise its power stations and the availability of power plants has recently averaged only 66%, one of the worst such rates in Western Europe. EirGrid is building a HVDC transmission line between Ireland and Britain with a capacity of 500 MW, about 10% of Ireland's peak demand.[94]

Ringsend power station, Dublin.

Similar to electricity, the natural gas distribution network is also now all-island, with a pipeline linking Gormanston, County Meath, and Ballyclare, County Antrim.[95] Most of Ireland's gas comes through interconnectors between Twynholm in Scotland and Ballylumford, County Antrim and Loughshinny, County Dublin. A decreasing supply is coming from the Kinsale gas field off the County Cork coast[96][97] and the Corrib Gas Field off the coast of County Mayo has yet to come on-line. The County Mayo field is facing some localized opposition over a controversial decision to refine the gas onshore.

There have been recent efforts in Ireland to use renewable energy such as wind power. Large wind farms are 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 the Arklow Bank Wind Park off the coast of County Wicklow. It is predicted that the Arklow wind farm will generate 10% of Ireland's power needs when it is complete. The construction of wind farms has in some cases been delayed by opposition from local communities, some of whom consider the wind turbines to be unsightly. The Republic of Ireland is also hindered by an ageing network that was not designed to handle the varying availability of power that comes from wind farms. The ESB's Turlough Hill facility is the only power-storage facility in the state.[98]

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Ireland
The population of Ireland since 1603 showing the disastrous consequence of the Great Famine (1845-9). (Note: figures before 1841 are contemporary estimates.)

People have lived in Ireland for at least 9,000 years, although little is known about the palaeolithic and neolithic inhabitants of the island. Genetic research in 2004 suggests they came to the island by traveling over generations along the Atlantic coast from Spain.[42] Earlier theories were that they migrated from central Europe. Early historical and genealogical records note the existence of dozens of different peoples that may or may not be mythological, for example the Cruithne, Attacotti, Conmaicne, Eóganachta, Érainn, and Soghain, to name but a few. Over the past 1000 years or so, Vikings, Normans, Scots and English have all added to the indigenous population.

Ireland's largest religious group is Christianity. The largest denomination is the Roman Catholicism representing over 73% for the island (and about 87%[99] of the Republic of Ireland). Most of the rest of the population adhere to one of the various Protestant denominations (about 53% of Northern Ireland).[100] The largest is the Anglican Church of Ireland. The Muslim community is growing in Ireland, mostly through increased immigration. The island has a small Jewish community. About 4% of the Republic's population describe themselves as of no religion.[99] About 14% of the Northern Ireland population described themselves as so.[100]

The population of Ireland rose rapidly since the 16th century until the mid-19th century. A devastating famine in the 1840s caused one million deaths and forced over one million more to immigrate in its immediate wake. Over the following century a population haemorrhage reduced the population by over half at a time when the general trend in European countries was for populations to rise by an average of three-fold. Emigration from Ireland over this period contributed to the populations of England, the United States, Canada and Australia where today a large Irish diaspora live. The pattern of immigration over this period particularly devastated the western and southern sea-boards. Prior to the Great Famine, the provinces of Connacht, Munster and Leinster were more or less evenly populated whereas Ulster was far less densely populated than the other three. Today, Ulster and Leinster, and in particular Dublin, have a far greater population density than Munster and Connacht.

Population density map of Ireland 2002 showing the heavily weighted eastern seaboard and the northern province of Ulster.

With growing prosperity since the last decade of the 20th century, Ireland has become a place of immigration instead. Since joining the European Union expanded to included Poland in 2004, Polish people have made up the largest number immigrants (over 150,000)[101] from Central Europe, followed by other immigrants from Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Latvia.[102] The Republic of Ireland in particular has seen large-scale immigration. The 2006 census recorded that 420,000 foreign nationals, or about 10% of the population, lived in the Republic of Ireland.[100] Chinese and Nigerians, along with people from other African countries, have accounted for a large proportion of the non-European Union migrants to Ireland. Up to 50,000 eastern European migrant workers may have left Ireland towards the end of since 2008.[103]

English has been spoken in Ireland since the Middle Ages and, since a language shifts during the nineteenth century, has replaced Irish as the first language vast majority of the population.[104] Less than 10% of the population of the Republic of Ireland today speak Irish regularly outside of the education system[105] and 38% of those over 15 years are classified as "Irish speakers". In Northern Ireland, English is the de facto official language but official recognition is afforded to both Irish and Ulster-Scots, which is also spoken by a number south of the border. In recent decades, with the increase in immigration, many more languages have been introduced, particularly deriving from Asia and Eastern Europe.

Culture

Main articles: Culture of Ireland and Culture of Northern Ireland

Art

Main articles: Music of Ireland, Irish dance, Languages of Ireland, Irish literature, Irish art, and Irish theatre
James Joyce, widely considered one of the most significant writers of the 20th century.

There are a number of languages used in Ireland. Irish is the main language to have originated from within the island. Since the later nineteenth century, English has become the predominant first language having been a spoken language in Ireland since the Middle Ages. A large minority claim some ability to use Irish today, although it is the first language only of a small percentage of the population. Under the constitution of the Republic of Ireland, both languages have official status with Irish being the national and first official language. In Northern Ireland, English is the dominant state language while Irish and Ulster Scots are recognised minority languages.

For an island with a relatively small population, Ireland has made a large contribution to world literature in all its branches, mainly in English.[106] 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. Oscar Wilde is known for most for his often quoted witticisms. In the 20th century, 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. 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 "Bloomsday".[107] Modern Irish literature is still often connected with its rural heritage,[108] through writers such as John McGahern and poets such as Seamus Heaney.

Illustrated page from Book of Kells

There is a thriving performance arts culture throughout the country, performing international as well as Irish plays. The national theatre is the Abbey Theatre founded in 1904. The national Irish-language theatre is An Taibhdhearc, established in 1928 in Galway.[109][110] Playwrights such as Seán O'Casey, Brian Friel, Sebastian Barry, Conor McPherson and Billy Roche are internationally renowned.[111]

Irish graphic art and sculpture begins with Neolithic carvings found at sites such as Newgrange[112] and is traced through Bronze age artefacts and the religious carvings and illuminated manuscripts of the medieval 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.

The Irish traditional music and dance is known worldwide, [113] It has made a recent surge in popularity not least through the phenomenon of Riverdance.[114] In the middle years of the 20th century, as Irish society was modernising, traditional music fell out of favour, especially in urban areas.[115] During the 1960s, inspired by the American folk music movement, there was a revival of interest in Irish traditional music led by groups such 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.[116]

U2 2005 Vertigo Tour performance in New York city

Before long, groups and musicians including Horslips, Van Morrison, and Thin Lizzy were incorporating elements of traditional music into a contemporary rock music. 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. 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, The Script, The Coronas, B*witched, BoyZone, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Black 47, Stiff Little Fingers, My Bloody Valentine, Ash, The Thrills, Something Happens, A House, Sharon Shannon, Damien Dempsey, Declan O' Rourke, The Frames and The Pogues. During the 1990s, a sub-genre of folk metal emerged in Ireland that fused heavy metal music with Irish and Celtic music. The pioneers of this sub-genre were Cruachan, Primordial, and Waylander. 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 the competition. Ireland won 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.[117]

Science

Robert Boyle, best known for the formulation of Boyle's Law.

The Irish philosopher and theologian Johannes Scotus Eriugena was considered one of the leading intellectuals of his early Middle Ages. Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, an Anglo-Irish explorer, was one of the principal figures 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. Robert Boyle was an 17th century natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, inventor and early gentleman scientist. He is largely regarded one of the founders of modern chemistry and is best known for the formulation of Boyle's law.[118] 19th century physicist, John Tyndall, discovered the Tyndall effect, which explains why the sky is blue. Father Nicholas Joseph Callan, Professor of Natural Philosophy in Maynooth College, is best known for his invention of the induction coil, transformer and the discovered an early method of galvanisation in the 19th century.

Other notable Irish physicists include Ernest Walton, winner of the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics. With Sir John Douglas Cockcroft, he was the first to split the nucleus of the atom by artificial means and made contributions to the development of a new theory of wave equation.[119] William Thomson, or Lord Kelvin, is the person whom the absolute temperature unit, the Kelvin, is named after. Sir Joseph Larmor, a physicist and mathematician, made innovations in the understanding of electricity, dynamics, thermodynamics and the electron theory of matter. His most influential work was Aether and Matter, a book on theoretical physics published in 1900.[120] George Johnstone Stoney introduced the term electron in 1891. John Stewart Bell was the originator of Bell's Theorem and a paper concerning the discovery of the Bell-Jackiw-Adler anomaly and was nominated for a Nobel prize.[118] Notable mathematicians include Sir William Rowan Hamilton, famous for the discoverer of quaternions. Francis Ysidro Edgeworth was influential in the development of neo-classical economics, including the Edgeworth box. John B. Cosgrave was a specialist in number theory and discovered a 2000-digit prime number in 1999 and a record composite Fermat number in 2003. John Lighton Synge made progress in different fields of science, including mechanics and geometrical methods in general relativity. He had mathematician John Nash as one of his students.

Ireland as eight universities and numerous Institutes of Technologies as well as the The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, which was established in 1940 with physicist Erwin Schrödinger as directory.[121]

Sports

Main article: Sports in Ireland
See also: List of Irish sports people

Gaelic football is the most popular sport in Ireland in terms of match attendance and community involvement, and represents 34% of total sports attendances at events in Ireland and abroad, followed by hurling at 23%, soccer at 16% and rugby at 8%.[122] and the All-Ireland Football Final is the most watched event in Ireland's sporting calendar.[123] Swimming, golf, aerobics, soccer, cycling, Gaelic football and billiards/snooker are the sporting activities with the highest levels of playing participation[124]. Soccer is the most popular sport involving national teams.

Many other sports are also played and followed, including basketball, boxing, cricket, fishing, golf, greyhound racing, handball, hockey, horse racing, motor sport, show jumping and tennis.

Field sports

Tyrone v Kerry at the All-Ireland Football Final in 2005.

Hurling and Gaelic football, handball and rounders make up the national sports of Ireland, collectively known as Gaelic games. Gaelic games are governed by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), with the exception of ladies' Gaelic football and camogie (women's variant of hurling), which are governed by separate organisations. The headquarters of the GAA (and the main stadium) is located at the 82,500[125] 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 being played there.[126] All GAA players, even at the highest level, are amateurs, receiving no wages, although they are permitted to receive a limited amount of sport-related income from commercial sponsorship.

The Irish Football Association (IFA) was originally the governing body for soccer across the island. The game has been played in an organised fashion in Ireland since the 1870s, with Cliftonville F.C. in Belfast being Ireland's oldest club. It was most popular, especially in its first decades, around Belfast and in Ulster. 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. In 1921, following an incident in which, despite an earlier promise, the IFA moved an Irish Cup semi-final replay from Dublin to Belfast[127] Dublin-based clubs broke away to form the Football Association of the Irish Free State. Today the southern association is known as the Football Association of Ireland (FAI). 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, directed that the FAI's team be known only as "Republic of Ireland" and that the IFA's team be known as "Northern Ireland" (with certain exceptions). Northern Ireland qualified for the World Cup finals in 1958 (reaching the quarter-finals), 1982 and 1986. The Republic qualified for the World Cup finals in 1990 (reaching the quarter-finals), 1994, 2002 and the European Championships in 1988. There is significant Irish interest in the English and, to a lesser extent, Scottish soccer leagues.

Paul O'Connell reaching for the ball during a line out against Argentina in 2007.

Unlike soccer, Ireland continues to field a single national rugby team and a single association, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), governs the sport across the island. The Irish rugby team have played in every Rugby World Cup, making the quarter-finals in four of them. Ireland also hosted games during the 1991 and the 1999 Rugby World Cups (including a quarter-final). There are four professional Irish teams, all four play in the Magners League and three compete for the 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[128]), Munster (2006[129] and 2008[130]) and Leinster (2009[131]) have won the Heineken Cup. In addition to this, the Irish International side has had increased success in the Six Nations tournament against the other European elite sides. This success, including Triple Crowns (victories over the home nations of Great Britain) in 2006 and 2007, culminated with a clean sweep of victories, known as a grand slam, in 2009.[132]

The Ireland cricket team was among the associate nations that qualified for the 2007 Cricket World Cup. It defeated Pakistan and finished second in its pool, earning a place in the Super 8 stage of the competition. The team also competed in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 after jointly winning the qualifiers, where they also made the Super 8 stage.

The Irish rugby league 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.

Other sports

Greyhound racing and horse racing are both popular in Ireland. Greyhound stadiums are well-attended and there are frequent horse race meetings. The island 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 County Kildare.

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. Olive Loughnane won a silver medal in the 20k walk in the World Athletics Championships in Berlin in 2009.

Boxing is governed by the Irish Amateur Boxing Association. In 1992, Michael Carruth won a gold medal for boxing in the Barcelona Olympic Games and in 2008 Kenny Egan won a silver medal for boxing in the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Golf is very popular and golf tourism is a major industry. The 2006 Ryder Cup was held at The K Club in County Kildare.[133] Pádraig Harrington became the first Irishman since Fred Daly in 1947 to win the British Open at Carnoustie in July 2007.[134] He successfully defended his title in July 2008[135] before going on to win the PGA Championship in August.[136] Harrington became the first European to win the PGA Championship in 78 years 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. 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.[137]

See also

The Flag of the Four Provinces of Ireland Ireland portal

References

  1. ^ "The World Factbook". Central Intelligence Agency (USA). 2009-11-27. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ei.html. Retrieved 2010-01-01. 
  2. ^ a b Nolan, William. "Geography of Ireland". Government of Ireland. http://www.gov.ie/en/essays/geography.html. Retrieved 2009-11-11. 
  3. ^ a b The 2008 population of the Republic of Ireland was estimated to be 4,422,100 and that of Northern Ireland was estimated to be 1,775,000. The 2009 estimate for the Republic of Ireland is 4,459,300 persons. An official 2009 estimate for Northern Ireland has not yet been prepared. These estimates from the official governmental statistics agencies in the respective jurisdictions:
  4. ^ "Islands by Area". UN System-Wide Earthwatch. United Nations Environment Programme. 1998-02-18. http://islands.unep.ch/Tiarea.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-30. 
  5. ^ "Irish-Catholic Immigration to America". Immigration…. Library of Congress. 2007-05-07. http://memory.loc.gov/learn//features/immig/irish2.html. Retrieved 2010-01-01. 
  6. ^ Crawford, John (1993). Anglicizing the Government of Ireland: The Irish Privy Council and the Expansion of Tudor Rule 1556-1578. Irish Academic Press. ISBN 0716524988. 
  7. ^ "NI by County". Discover Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland Tourist Board. http://www.discovernorthernireland.com/destinationNI/byCounty.aspx. Retrieved 2010-01-01. 
  8. ^ a b These figure reflect the 2006 census of population for the Republic of Ireland and the 2006 estimate of population for Northern Ireland.
  9. ^ "Table KS07a: Religion (Numbers)". Belfast: National Research and Statistics Agency. http://www.nisranew.nisra.gov.uk/Census/Excel/ks_settlements/ks07a_com_st.xls. Retrieved 2010-01-11. 
  10. ^ a b "Area by Province". Principal Statistics. Cork: Central Statistics Office. http://www.cso.ie/statistics/areabyprovince.htm. Retrieved 2010-01-11. 
  11. ^ "National Competitiveness Council Submission on the National Development Plan 2007-2013". National Competitiveness Council. 2006. Archived from the original on 2008-11-09. http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.forfas.ie/ncc/reports/ncc_ndp_submission/ncc061114_ndp_submission_dept_finance_webopt.pdf. Retrieved 2008-11-07. 
  12. ^ "Agreement Reached in the Multi-party Negotiations". Northern Ireland Assembly. 1998-04-10. http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/io/agreement.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-26. 
  13. ^ "About SEMO". allislandmarket.com. Single Electricity Market Operator (SEMO). http://www.allislandmarket.com/about/. Retrieved 2008-10-26. 
  14. ^ "DUP minister expresses support for single gas market". Belfast Telegraph. 2007-05-18. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/breaking-news/uk-ireland/politics/dup-minister-expresses-support-for-single-gas-market-13442926.html. Retrieved 2008-10-26. 
  15. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions". osi.ie. Ordnance Survey of Ireland. http://www.osi.ie/en/faq/faqs.aspx. Retrieved 2009-09-30. 
  16. ^ Meally, Victor (1968). Encyclopaedia of Ireland. Dublin: A. Figgis. 
  17. ^ "Nature and Scenery". Discover Ireland. Tourism Ireland. http://www.discoverireland.com/gb/about-ireland/nature/. Retrieved 2008-11-09. 
  18. ^ "Climate of Ireland". Climate. Met Éireann. http://www.met.ie/climate/climate-of-ireland.asp. Retrieved 2008-11-11. 
  19. ^ a b "Rainfall". Climate. Met Éireann. http://www.met.ie/climate/rainfall.asp. Retrieved 2008-11-05. 
  20. ^ "Temperature in Ireland". Climate. Met Éireann. http://www.met.ie/climate/temperature.asp. Retrieved 2008-11-05. 
  21. ^ "Geology of Ireland". Geology for Everyone. Geological Survey of Ireland. http://www.gsi.ie/Education/Geology+for+Everyone/Geology+of+Ireland.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-05. 
  22. ^ "Bedrock Geology of Ireland". Geology for Everyone. Geological Survey of Ireland. http://www.gsi.ie/NR/rdonlyres/0302F251-C4ED-4938-BCF0-CF228A3E8F6A/0/GSI_GeolIreland_A4.pdf. Retrieved 2008-11-05. 
  23. ^ "Geology of Kerry-Cork - Sheet 21". Maps. Geological Survey of Ireland. 2007. http://www.gsi.ie/Publications+and+Data/Maps/Geology+of+Kerry-Cork+-+Sheet+21.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-09. 
  24. ^ Karst Working Group (2000). "The Burren". The Karst of Ireland: Limestone Landscapes, Caves and Groundwater Drainage System. Geological Survey of Ireland. http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/places/the_burren/burren_karst.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-05. 
  25. ^ "Irish Natural Gas Market". Story of Natural Gas. Bord Gáis. http://www.bordgais.ie/corporate/index.jsp?1nID=93&2nID=97&3nID=353&nID=363. Retrieved 2008-11-05. 
  26. ^ Shannon, Pat; Haughton, P.D.W.; Corcoran, D.V. (2001). The Petroleum Exploration of Ireland's Offshore Basins. London: Geological Society. p. 2. ISBN 1423711637. 
  27. ^ "Providence sees Helvick oil field as key site in Celtic Sea". Irish Examiner. 2000-07-17. http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2000/07/17/current/bpage_2.htm. Retrieved 2008-01-27. 
  28. ^ "World Heritage List". World Heritage. UNESCO World Heritage Centre. http://whc.unesco.org/en/list. Retrieved 2010-01-01. 
  29. ^ "Tentative Lists". World Heritage. UNESCO World Heritage Centre. http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/. Retrieved 2010-01-01. 
  30. ^ a b c d "Tourism Facts 2006" (PDF). Fáilte Ireland. 2006. http://www.failteireland.ie/getdoc/975fbac0-cf5d-4574-946e-26700b8a4efa/Tourism-Facts-2006.aspx. Retrieved 2008-10-22. 
  31. ^ National Monuments Service. "Search By County". National Monuments. Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government. http://www.archaeology.ie/en/NationalMonuments/SearchByCounty/. Retrieved 2010-01-01. 
  32. ^ a b "Land cover and land use". Environmental Assessment. Environmental Protection Agency. 2000. http://www.epa.ie/whatwedo/assessment/land/. Retrieved 2007-07-30. 
  33. ^ "National". Forest Facts. Coillte Teoranta. 2008-11-05. http://www.coillte.ie/coillteforest/forest_facts/forest_facts_by_county/national/. Retrieved 2010-01-01. 
  34. ^ Hackney, Paul. "Spartina Anglica". Invasive Alien Species in Northern Ireland. National Museums Northern Ireland. http://www.habitas.org.uk/invasive/species.asp?item=2680. Retrieved 2009-01-01. 
  35. ^ Guiry, M.D.; Nic Dhonncha, E.N (2001). "The Marine Macroalgae of Ireland: Biodiversity and Distribution in Marine Biodiversity in Ireland and Adjacent Waters". Proceedings of a Conference 26–27 April 2001 (Belfast: Ulster Museum) (Publication No. 8). 
  36. ^ Minchin, D. (2001). "Biodiversity and Marine Invaders". Proceedings of a Conference 26–27 April 2001 (Belfast: Ulster Museum) (Publication No. 8). 
  37. ^ "Biodiversity". Clare County Council. http://www.clarecoco.ie/Heritage/biodiversity.html. Retrieved 2010-01-01. 
  38. ^ "Otter Lutra Lutra". Northern Ireland Species Action Plan. Environment and Heritage Service. 2007. http://www.belfasthills.org/minisite/adult_version/draftottersapmar07-2.pdf. Retrieved 2010-01-01. 
  39. ^ a b "CAP Reform - A Long-term Perspective for Sustainable Agriculture". Agriculture and Rural Development. European Commission. http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/capreform/index_en.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-30. 
  40. ^ Roche, Dick (2006-11-08). National Parks. 185. Seanad Éireann. http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/S/0185/S.0185.200611080008.html. Retrieved 2007-07-30.  Seanad Debate involving Former Minister for Environment Heritage and Local Government
  41. ^ Heritage Ireland. "Céide Fields". Office of Public Works. http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/West/CeideFields/. Retrieved 2008-10-23. 
  42. ^ a b Oppenheimer, Stephen (2006-10-21). "Myths of British Ancestry". Prospect Magazine (127). ISSN 1359-5024. http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2006/10/mythsofbritishancestry/. Retrieved 2008-11-07. 
  43. ^ Mascheretti, Silvia; Rogatcheva, Margarita; Gündüz, Islam; Fredga, Karl; Searle, Jeremy (2003-08-07). "How Did Pygmy Shrews Colonize Ireland? Clues from a Phylogenetic Analysis of Mitochondrial Cytochrome B Sequences". Proceedings of the Royal Society (Royal Society) 270 (1524): 1593. doi:10.1098/rspb.2003.2406. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1691416/. Retrieved 2008-11-07. 
  44. ^ Freeman, Philip (2001). Ireland and the Classical World. Austin: University of Texas Press. 
  45. ^ "Hibernia". Roman Empire. United Nations of Roma Victrix. http://www.unrv.com/provinces/hibernia.php. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
  46. ^ O'Hart, John (1892). Irish Pedigrees: or, The Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation. Dublin: J. Duffy and Co.. p. 725. 
  47. ^ Darcy, R; Flynn, William (March 2008). Informaworld.com "Ptolemy's Map of Ireland: a Modern Decoding". Irish Geography 14 (1): 49&emdash;69. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/section?content=a791562641&fulltext=713240928 Informaworld.com. Retrieved 2010-01-01. 
  48. ^ Carson, R.A.G. and O'Kelly, Claire: A catalogue of the Roman coins from Newgrange, Co. Meath and notes on the coins and related finds, pages 35-55. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, volume 77, section C
  49. ^ Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, "Ireland, 400–800", in Dáibhí Ó Cróinín (ed.), A New History of Ireland 1: Prehistoric and Early Ireland, Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 182–234.
  50. ^ Roe, Harry; Ann Dooley (1999). Tales of the Elders of Ireland. Oxford University Press. 
  51. ^ Michael Roberts et al. (1957). Early Irish history and pseudo-history. Bowes & Bowes Michigan University Press. 
  52. ^ De Paor, Liam (1993). Saint Patrick's World: The Christian Culture of Ireland's Apostolic Age. Dublin: Four Courts, Dublin. p. 78, 79. ISBN 1-85182-144-9. 
  53. ^ a b Cahill, Tim (1996). How the Irish Saved Civilization. Anchor Books. ISBN 0385418493. 
  54. ^ Dowley, Tim, et al., ed (1977). Eerdman's Handbook to the History of Christianity. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. ISBN 0-8028-3450-7. 
  55. ^ Chrisafis, Angelique (2005-01-25). "Scion of traitors and warlords: why Bush is coy about his Irish links". World News. The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/jan/27/usa.angeliquechrisafis. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
  56. ^ Curtis, Edmund (2002). A History of Ireland from Earliest Times to 1922. New York: Routledge. pp. 49. ISBN 0 415 27949 6. 
  57. ^ "Laws that Isolated and Impoverished the Irish". Nebraska Department of Education.
  58. ^ "The curse of Cromwell". A Short History of Ireland. BBC Northern Ireland. http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/ashorthistory/archive/intro99.shtml. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
  59. ^ "Laws in Ireland for the Suppression of Popery". University of Minnesota Law School. http://local.law.umn.edu/irishlaw/offices.html. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
  60. ^ Ward, Alan J. (1994). The Irish Constitutional Tradition: Responsible Government and Modern Ireland, 1782-1992. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press. p. 28. ISBN 0-81320-784-3. 
  61. ^ "The Irish Potato Famine". Digital History. 2008-11-07. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/irish_potato_famine.cfm. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
  62. ^ Vallely, Paul (2006-04-25). "1841: A window on Victorian Britain - This Britain". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/1841-a-window-on-victorian-britain-475516.html. Retrieved 2009-04-16. 
  63. ^ Quinn, Eamon (2007-08-19). "Ireland Learns to Adapt to a Population Growth Spurt". Europe. New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/world/europe/19ireland.html?ex=1345176000&en=ab2b49203b6fb511&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
  64. ^ Kee, Robert (1972). The Green Flag: A History of Irish Nationalism. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson. pp. 376–400. ISBN 029717987X. 
  65. ^ Kee, Robert (1972). The Green Flag: A History of Irish Nationalism. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson. pp. 478–530. ISBN 029717987X. 
  66. ^ Kee, Robert (1972). The Green Flag: A History of Irish Nationalism. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson. pp. 719–748. ISBN 029717987X. 
  67. ^ Connolly, Kevin (2004-06-01). "Irish who fought on the beaches". Northern Ireland News. BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/3749629.stm. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
  68. ^ Clancy, Patrick; Sheelagh Drudy, Kathleen Lynch, Liam O'Dowd (1997). Irish Society: Sociological Perspectives. Institute of Public Administration. pp. 68–70. ISBN 1872002870. 
  69. ^ Whyte, John. "'How much discrimination was there under the Unionist regime, 1921-1968?' by John Whyte". Contemporary Irish Studies. Conflict Archive on the Internet. http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/discrimination/whyte.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-23. 
  70. ^ "Fair Employment in Northern Ireland". Northern Ireland Office. http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/hmso/cmd380.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-23. 
  71. ^ ""We Shall Overcome" .... The History of the Struggle for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland 1968 - 1978 by NICRA (1978)". Conflict Archive on the Internet. http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/crights/nicra/nicra78.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-23. 
  72. ^ Taylor, Peter (1997). Provos: The IRA and Sinn Féin. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. pp. 33–56. ISBN 0-74753392X. 
  73. ^ Taylor, Peter (1997). Provos: The IRA and Sinn Féin. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. pp. 56–100. ISBN 0-74753392X. 
  74. ^ "Turning the pages on lost lives". BBC News. 1999-10-08. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/467904.stm. Retrieved 2010-01-04. 
  75. ^ Nieminen, Brigadier Tauno; General John de Castelain, Andrew D. Sens. "Independent International Commission on Decommissioning" (PDF). http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/peace/decommission/iicd190106.pdf. Retrieved 2008-10-15. 
  76. ^ Irish Emigration, past and present. Lessons to be learned?. University College Cork.
  77. ^ End of the road. The Guardian. May 10, 2009.
  78. ^ "The Economist Intelligence Unit’s quality-of-life index". The Economist: the World in 2005 (The Economist Group). http://www.economist.com/media/pdf/QUALITY_OF_LIFE.PDF. 
  79. ^ Ireland 'technically' in depression...
  80. ^ Ireland's Economy in Free Fall Collapse
  81. ^ Harmonised unemployment rate by gender - total - % (SA). Eurostat.
  82. ^ "About us". Dublin Airport. Dublin Airport Authority. http://www.dublinairport.com/about-us/. Retrieved 2008-11-09. 
  83. ^ "Dublin Airport tops 23 million passengers in 2007". Business. Thomas Crosbie Media. 2008-01-22. http://www.breakingnews.ie/business/mheyojojcwgb/. Retrieved 2008-11-09. 
  84. ^ "DAA To Begin Building New Terminal Within Weeks". Press Releases. Dublin Airport Authority. 2007-07-29. http://www.dublinairportauthority.com/media-centre/press-releases/112007.html. Retrieved 2008-11-09. 
  85. ^ "Shannon stopover to go by 2008". Business News. RTE. 2005-11-11. http://www.rte.ie/business/2005/1111/shannon.html. Retrieved 2008-11-09. 
  86. ^ CSO figures
  87. ^ . Dublin: The Irish Academy of Engineers. September 2004. pp. 7. ISBN 1-89012-68-7. http://www.euro-case.org/publications/transport/TransportIreland.pdf. 
  88. ^ "Tunnel 'vision' under Irish Sea". BBC News. 2004-12-23. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_west/4121001.stm. Retrieved 2010-01-01. 
  89. ^ a b "CIA World Factbook - Ireland - Transportation". CIA. 2008-11-06. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ei.html#Trans. Retrieved 2008-11-11. 
  90. ^ "Heavy Rail". Project. Transport 21. 2008-06-18. http://www.transport21.ie/Projects/Heavy_Rail/Heavy_Rail.html. Retrieved 2008-11-11. 
  91. ^ "History of Transport in Ireland, Part 1". About Us. Córas Iompair Éireann. http://www.cie.ie/about_us/schools_and_enthusiasts.asp#1. Retrieved 2008-11-11. 
  92. ^ "Roads". Projects. Transport 21. 2008-06-18. http://www.transport21.ie/Projects/Roads/Roads.html. Retrieved 2008-11-11. 
  93. ^ Murphy, John (2005-01-04). "Bianconi home to become Clonmel hotel". Irish Examiner. http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2005/01/04/story573513087.asp. Retrieved 2008-11-11. 
  94. ^ "Project Activity". East-West Interconnector. EirGrid. 16 September 2009. http://www.interconnector.ie/projects/east-westinterconnector/projectactivity/. Retrieved 2009-09-29. 
  95. ^ "Bord Gáis Networks : Northern Ireland : South-North Pipeline". Bord Gáis. http://www.bordgais.ie/networks/index.jsp?1nID=102&pID=109&nID=313. Retrieved 2009-05-08. 
  96. ^ "Northern Ireland Energy Holdings - Frequently Asked Questions". Northern Ireland Energy Holdings. http://www.nienergyholdings.com/FAQs/Index.php. Retrieved 2009-05-08. 
  97. ^ "Gas Capacity Statement 2007" (pdf). Commission for Energy Regulation. http://www.cer.ie/GetAttachment.aspx?id=d9f0b11e-3a13-42bb-86b7-f7470a9c68cc. Retrieved 2009-05-08. 
  98. ^ "Options For Future Renewable Energy Policy, Targets And Programmes issued by Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources". Hibernian Wind Power Ltd. 2004-02-27. http://www.hibernianwindpower.ie/hiberwindresponse_dcmnr.pdf. Retrieved 2008-11-11. 
  99. ^ a b "Census 2006 Volume 13 Religion" (PDF). Central Statistics Office. http://www.cso.ie/census/census2006results/volume_13/volume_13_religion.pdf. Retrieved 2008-01-29. 
  100. ^ a b c McKittrick, David (2002-12-19). "Census Reveals Northern Ireland's Protestant Population is at Record Low". Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/census-reveals-northern-irelands-protestant-population-is-at-record-low-611500.html. Retrieved 2009-12-30. 
  101. ^ Sullivan, Kevin (2007-10-24). "Hustling to Find Classrooms For All in a Diverse Ireland". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/23/AR2007102302162_pf.html. Retrieved 2008-11-09. 
  102. ^ "Eircom launches two new Talktime International packages". Press Releases: Latest News. Eircom. July 2007. http://home.eircom.net/about/press/2007/July/10763015. Retrieved 2008-11-09. 
  103. ^ Henry, McDonald (2009-04-05). "Ireland's Age of Affluence Comes to an End". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/05/ireland-economy-vat-unemployment. Retrieved 2009-12-30. 
  104. ^ Spolsky, Bernard (2004). Language policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University. p. 191. ISBN 0521011752, 9780521011754. 
  105. ^ "Table 15: Irish speakers aged 3 years and over in each Province, County and City, classified by frequency of speaking Irish, 2006". Census 2006 - Volume 9 - Irish Language. CSO. http://beyond2020.cso.ie/Census/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?ReportId=75639. Retrieved 2008-11-09. 
  106. ^ "Background Note: Ireland". Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. US Department of State. July 2008. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3180.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
  107. ^ "Bloomsday 2007 Community Wide Events". Past Events. The James Joyce Centre. http://www.jamesjoyce.ie/detail.asp?ID=86. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
  108. ^ Higgins Wyndham, Andrew (2006). Re-imagining Ireland. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. 
  109. ^ "Stair na Taibhdheirce". An Taibhdheirce. 2005. http://www.antaibhdhearc.com/stair.html. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
  110. ^ "An Taibhdhearc". Fodors. http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/ireland/the-west/review-102098.html. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
  111. ^ Houston, Eugenie (2001). Working and Living in Ireland. Working and Living Publications. ISBN 0-95368-968-9. 
  112. ^ O'Kelly, Michael J.; O'Kelly, Claire (1982). Newgrange. Archaeology Art and Legend. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 978-0500273715. http://books.google.com/books?id=bGiMHQAACAAJ. 
  113. ^ O'Lochlainn, Colm (1965). More Irish Street Ballads. Pan. p. vii. ISBN 0-33025-317-4. 
  114. ^ Butler, Jean; Edited by Andrew Higgins Wyndham (2006). Re-imagining Ireland: Re-imageing Irish Dance. Virginia: University of Virginia Press. p. 141. ISBN 0-81392-544-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=Oo-u0p31yjQC. 
  115. ^ Geraghty, Des (1994). Luke Kelly: A Memoir. Basement Press. p. 26–30. ISBN 1-85594-090-6. 
  116. ^ Moore, Christy (2000). One Voice: My Life in Song. Hodder and Stoughton/Lir. ISBN 0-34076-839-8. 
  117. ^ "Ireland in shock Eurovision exit". BBC Online. 2005-05-19. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4563257.stm. Retrieved 2008-01-10. 
  118. ^ a b Reville, William (2000-12-14). "Ireland's Scientific Heritage". Understanding Science" series: Famous Irish Scientists. University College Cork; Faculty of Science. http://understandingscience.ucc.ie/pages/irishscientists.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
  119. ^ Finch, Eric; Denis Weaire (2006-10-06). "Walton Biography". Trinity College School of Physics. http://www.tcd.ie/Physics/history/walton/walton_biography.php. Retrieved 2008-10-22. 
  120. ^ McCartney, Mark (2002-12-01). "William Thomson: king of Victorian physics". Features (Physics World). http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/16484. Retrieved 2008-11-22. 
  121. ^ "School of Theoretical Physics: History - Formation of the School". Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. 2007-06-01. http://www.stp.dias.ie/history/history1.shtml. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
  122. ^ "The Social Significance of Sport". The Economic and Social Research Institute. http://www.esri.ie/pdf/BKMNINT180_Main%20Text_Social%20and%20Economic%20Value%20of%20Sport.pdf. Retrieved 2008-10-21. 
  123. ^ http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusinessnews/publish/article_10004396.shtml
  124. ^ "Sports Participation and Health Among Adults in Ireland". The Economic and Social Research Institute. http://www.esri.ie/UserFiles/publications/20070223162340/BKMNINT178_Main%20Text%20Chapters%201-4.pdf. Retrieved 2008-10-15. 
  125. ^ "Croke Park. Not just a venue. A destination.". Croke Park Stadium. http://www.crokepark.ie/. Retrieved 2007-10-03. 
  126. ^ "For First Time, Croke Park Is Ireland's Common Ground". The Washington Post. 2007-02-06. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/05/AR2007020501459.html. Retrieved 2008-08-14. 
  127. ^ "FAI History: 1921–1930". Football Association of Ireland. 2009-06-05. http://www.fai.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=222&Itemid=226. Retrieved 2009-12-30. 
  128. ^ "The Fourth Heineken Cup Final". Match report. European Rugby Cup. 1999-01-30. http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/82_629.php. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
  129. ^ "Munster fulfil their destiny". Match report. European Rugby Cup. 2006-05-20. http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/12_5287.php. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
  130. ^ "Munster claim second Heineken Cup". Match report. European Rugby Cup. 2008-05-24. http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/12_10240.php. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
  131. ^ "Leicester Tigers v Leinster". Match report. European Rugby Cup. 2009-05-23. http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/12_12682.php. Retrieved 2009-06-11. 
  132. ^ www.rbs6nations.com/en/match-centre_multimedia.php. Subsequent to this, Ireland provided the majority of the squad for the British and Irish lions tour of South Africa in summer 2009.
  133. ^ "2006 Ryder Cup Team Europe". PGA of America, Ryder Cup Limited. 2006-01-23. http://www.rydercup.com/2006/europe/news/20060123_home.html. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
  134. ^ Brennan, Séamus (2007-07-22). "Séamus Brennan, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism comments on victory by Padraig Harrington in the 2007 British Open Golf Championship". Press release. http://www.arts-sport-tourism.gov.ie/publications/release.asp?ID=2028. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
  135. ^ "Peter Dawson speaks about golf's Olympic ambition". The Open Championship 2008 (Opengolf.com). 2008-10-14. http://www.opengolf.com/ChampionshipGolf/TheOpenChampionship/News.aspx?searchstring=Peter+Dawson. Retrieved 2008-10-15. 
  136. ^ "In Pictures: Harrington wins US PGA". RTÉ. 2008-08-11. http://www.rte.ie/sport/golf/2008/0811/harrington.html. Retrieved 2008-08-14. 
  137. ^ "Fishing in Ireland". Central Fisheries Board. http://www.cfb.ie/fishing_in_ireland/. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 

Bibliography

External links

Search Wikiquote Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ireland
Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ireland


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 
Learn More
Oliver Cromwell
Dublin
England

Where is Ireland? Read answer...
What was Ireland? Read answer...
What can you do at Ireland? Read answer...

Help us answer these
What activities are there in ireland?
Landforms in ireland?
What are Ireland's Biomes?

Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Photography Encyclopedia. The Oxford Companion to the Photograph. Copyright © 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Celtic Mythology. A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Copyright © James MacKillop 1998, 2004. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
History 1450-1789. Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. Copyright © 2004 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Geography. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ireland".  Read more

Related answers
» More
 
Answer these
» More