ireland
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version of the Irish National Anthem, but its all we could get
our hands on!
Here's all the information you'll
ever need to know about Ireland.
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National Anthem
The Republic of Ireland occupies about five sixths of the
island of Ireland, which lies across the
Irish Sea from Great Britain. The British controlled the area
for about 750 years, until 1921, when they
made southern Ireland a dominion. The link with Great Britain
ended when Ireland became a republic in
1949. Northern Ireland, however, which occupies the rest of
the island, has remained a political part of
the United Kingdom.
The Republic of Ireland covers 27,137 square miles (70,285
square kilometers). It measures a
maximum distance of 273 miles (440 kilometers) from north to
south, and 186 miles (300 kilometers)
from east to west. The Republic of Ireland consists of four
provinces--Leinster, Munster, Connaught
(Connacht), and part of Ulster--which are divided into 27
counties. Six counties of Ulster make up
Northern Ireland. In 1981 the Republic of Ireland had a
population of 3,443,405, compared with
1,490,228 for Northern Ireland. Many people have left Ireland
to live elsewhere during the last century
because of rural overpopulation, few jobs, and poor harvests
of potatoes, by far the most important crop.
The population of the entire island decreased steadily from
about 8,200,000 in 1841 to 4,200,000 in
1961. Today, as a result of the vast migrations, more Irish
live outside Ireland than in it. More than
4,700,000 people have migrated from the island to the United
States since 1820. Large numbers of Irish
also live in Great Britain and in most of the Commonwealth
countries.
Since the early 1960s the population decline has been
reversed, and Ireland's economy has
changed rapidly from an agricultural to an industrial base. In
the early 1980s about a fifth of the work
force was employed in manufacturing, mining, and construction,
and about a third in agriculture. The shift
from agriculture to industry has been greater in Dublin, the
capital and largest city, and in the eastern and
southern sections of the country than in the west.
The Land and Climate
Much of the interior is a relatively level plain surrounded by
low mountains, particularly in the
west and south. Most of the central plain is less than 500
feet (150 meters) above sea level, but the
coastal mountains rise to more than 2,000 feet (600 meters)
high. The highest point of 3,414 feet (1,041
meters) is in the mountains of Kerry in the southwest.
The character of the land surface and soils are the result of
early activity by glaciers. The central
plain has glacial ridges, and the surrounding mountains were
severely eroded during the Ice Age. The
glaciers also indented Ireland's coasts into many bays and
spectacular rocky headlands. Rocky islands
fringe the bays in the west and south.
The glaciers also left behind many heaths and bogs, which are
poorly drained lands. The River
Shannon, the longest in Ireland, flows sluggishly through the
central plain on its way to the Atlantic
Ocean. In many places the river has been dammed by nature or
artificially to create loughs, or lakes. Small
amounts of hydroelectric power are produced as a result of
these dams. Peat from the heaths and bogs has
long been used as fuel in Irish homes and industry. The other
main rivers that drain the interior are the
Blackwater and the Barrow in the southeast, the Boyne in the
northeast, and the Corrib in the west.
The soils of Ireland are generally infertile. They are more
productive in the eastern sections,
particularly near Dublin. Much of the country is grassland
used by grazing herds of cattle and sheep.
Ireland's maritime climate is moderated by prevailing
southwesterly winds. These winds blow over
the warm drifting waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, keeping
the temperatures mild during the winter
and cool in summer. Rain is frequent and relatively abundant.
The highest peaks in the western mountains
receive about 100 inches (250 centimeters) of rain annually.
The driest areas, around Dublin in the east,
have about 30 inches (75 centimeters). Temperatures average
about 42° F (5° C) during the coolest
month, February, and about 60° F (15° C) in the warmest
month, August.
Natural Resources, Plants, and Animals
Ireland lacks extensive mineral deposits, but important
discoveries of lead and zinc created a
small mining boom in the late 1970s. Small amounts of silver,
sulfur, and barite are also produced.
Exploration for natural oil and gas on the offshore
continental shelf began in the late 1960s. One
commercially exploitable natural gas field went into
production in 1978. The country has some poor
quality coal, but peat is widely used as a fuel. Peat comes
from peat moss, which consists of undecayed or
partially decomposed plant matter at or near the surface of
bogs. Peat moss varies from a few inches to
50 feet (15 meters) deep, and it covers about a tenth of
Ireland's land area. The nation produced about 4
million tons of peat annually in the early 1980s.
The plant and animal life of Ireland has been influenced by
both the climate and the island's
separation from other land masses. Most of the island is
covered by mosses, lichens, and grasses. There are
relatively few trees. The original hardwood forests were
cleared long ago for agriculture or cut for lumber,
and most of the present softwood forests were planted by the
government. Only about 5 percent of the
land area consists of woodland, compared with 69 percent in
permanent pasture and 14 percent in
cropland.
Waterfowl are abundant, and Ireland has rich fishing grounds,
particularly off the west coast.
Herring, whiting, and mackerel are common saltwater species,
and salmon and trout live in the inland
rivers and lakes. The moles and weasels of Great Britain are
not found in Ireland, and the island has no
snakes.
The People
The Irish are descendants primarily of the ancient Celts, but
the Vikings, Normans, and English
contributed to the ethnic nature of the people. Centuries of
English rule largely eliminated the use of the
ancient Gaelic, or Irish, language. Since Ireland became
independent in 1922, the government has
attempted to revive Gaelic by requiring its use in schools.
English is the dominant language in the
educational system and is spoken throughout Ireland except in
certain areas of the west coast.
Government documents are printed in both Gaelic and English.
About 96 percent of the people are Roman Catholics. Most of
the rest are Anglicans and belong
to the Church of Ireland. The nation has no official religion.
Roman Catholic priests and nuns are
commonly seen in cities and villages throughout the country.
In the early 1980s about 56 percent of Ireland's people lived
in urban areas. The importance of
cities has grown, especially since the late 1950s when the
government began to carry out policies
promoting industrialization. The largest cities after Dublin
are Cork and Limerick.
The population of the area that now makes up the Republic of
Ireland fell steadily from about
6,500,000 in 1841 to 2,800,000 in 1961. This decline had a
major impact on the nature of the country
and people, and it was caused largely by emigration from rural
areas. About 1,200,000 people left Ireland
soon after the terrible potato famine of 1846 to 1848, most of
them to the United States. From 1853 to
1900 about 3,300,000 more left the country. Most of these
people also went to the United States, but
some settled in Great Britain. Young, unmarried adults made up
a large percentage of those who emigrated,
resulting in a significant decline in the nation's marriage
and birth rates. This condition was reversed in the
1970s. During that period a slight decrease in the death rate,
combined with more immigration than
emigration resulted in considerable population growth.
In Irish farm communities, houses were once made of dried peat
or of stone, with thatched roofs.
Today most of the farm homes are constructed of mortared stone
or brick, with tile roofs. The house
opens directly into the farmyard, where geese, chickens, pigs,
and cattle are kept. The yard also has
storage buildings for hay and other crops. A garden provides
potatoes and other vegetables for the family,
and dairy products are the chief items sold for income. Farm
families cut peat to use as fuel for various
purposes including heating and cooking, often over an open
fire.
The Irish have a rich literary and artistic heritage. Irish
literature has been largely in English
rather than Gaelic, however. The late 1800s and early 1900s, a
period known as the Irish literary
renaissance, produced such great writers as William Butler
Yeats, James Joyce, George Augustus Moore,
and Samuel Beckett. They presented Irish thought and life in a
manner that gained international acclaim.
Irish theater is well established, and the Royal Hibernian
Academy of Dublin has developed many Irish
painters. High-quality craftwork on jewelry and religious
objects, such as Celtic crosses, reflects an ancient
artistic tradition.
Folk songs and dances, along with traditional storytelling,
are featured at folk festivals that help
to preserve Ireland's way of life. The island's colorful
customs have spread wherever the Irish have settled
throughout the world.
The Economy
For centuries the Irish economy depended heavily upon
agriculture, but industry has contributed
an increasing share to the gross national product since the
1960s. In 1991 about 17 percent of the
workforce was employed in manufacturing; 12 percent in
agriculture, forestry, and fishing; 18 percent in
commerce, insurance, and finance; 6 percent in construction;
and 47 percent in all other fields.
Industry.
The Industrial Development Authority, established in the
1950s, encouraged new industry from
abroad. It granted such incentives as cash grants, tax
concessions, and ready-to-operate factories to attract
such industries. Most of the foreign industries manufacture
such products as electronic equipment,
computers, word-processing machines, pharmaceuticals and
chemicals, textiles, plastics, and recreational
goods. Most of these products are exported, and the value of
manufactured goods exported in 1991 was
worth 40 percent of the gross national product.
Ireland's entry into the European Communities in 1973 was a
great boon to the nation's
economy. By 1978 Irish exports had gained duty-free access to
the European Communities population
market of 270 million people. Foreign companies, especially
from the United States, established
businesses or branch firms in Ireland to gain tax advantages
in exporting to the European market. By
1990 about 850 foreign firms, 300 from the United States,
owned operations in Ireland, resulting not only
in new products and jobs, but also in additional skills,
markets, and technology.
The new manufacturing plants now dominate economically the
traditional Irish industries that
emphasize the processing of agricultural products.
Meatpacking, dairy products, grain milling, and brewing
and malting are widespread throughout the better farming areas
of Ireland. In 1991 about 22 percent of
the value of exports came from the processing of agricultural
products. Membership in the European
Communities (now the European Union) has stimulated the
agricultural-processing industries, and
cooperatives have promoted agricultural production and
marketing.
Agriculture.
Ireland's agricultural activities consist largely of the
grazing of cattle and sheep. The moderate,
moist climate favors the growing of grass and hay, and farm
animals can be outside for most of the year
because of the mild winter temperatures. About 68 percent of
the agricultural land of Ireland consists of
permanent pasture. Membership in the European Union has
encouraged Irish farmers to increase their
efficiency by using better management and fertilization
techniques.
Farmers grow mostly grains on the 14 percent of the land that
can be farmed. Barley, wheat,
potatoes, and sugar beets are the main crops. Barley is the
principal crop in terms of acreage. It is used by
the brewing and distilling industries and as feed for farm
animals. The raising of oats, once significant as a
crop for horse-feed, has fallen with the declining use of
these animals due to the increasing use of
machines. The country was once heavily dependent on the potato
crop, but Irish farmers have increased
their plantings of other crops, and potato production has
declined. Tobacco is grown in limited areas.
The small family farm has long been the backbone of Irish
agriculture. About 67 percent of the
farms cover fewer than 50 acres (20 hectares), and another 25
percent are smaller than 20 acres (8
hectares). Approximately 90 percent of the farms are
owner-occupied, compared with 62 percent for all
of Europe. The number of people employed in agriculture
continues to decrease as mechanization
increases and young men and women find better-paying
occupations in the cities. The number of
agricultural workers in Ireland declined by about 50 percent
between the years 1960 and 1991. Despite this
trend, the amount and value of farm production has increased
with better fertilization and management.
Mining.
Mineral exploration during the 1960s and early 1970s led to
the discovery of a large deposit of
zinc ore at Navan in northeast Ireland. Mining of this deposit
began in 1977. Small amounts of gypsum,
lead, copper, sulfur, silver, and barite are sometimes mined,
providing needed employment opportunities
in some of the poorest areas of western Ireland. Only about 1
percent of the workforce was employed in
mining in 1980.
Tourism.
The tourist industry ranks as an important source of income
for Ireland. About 15 percent of the
country's workforce is directly or indirectly employed in
tourism. In 1981 about 2,200,000 long-staying
tourists visited the country. Most of them came from Great
Britain, followed by Northern Ireland and the
United States. Many tourists are relatives or friends of the
millions of Irish people who emigrated to other
parts of the world. Increasing numbers of visitors are drawn
by the relative lack of commercialization in
Ireland, the low cost of touring, good highways, charming
rural landscape, historical attractions, and
generally uncrowded character.
Trade.
The increased export of manufactured goods led the growth of
Ireland's economy during the
1970s and early 1980s. The chief imports are machinery and
transportation equipment, followed by other
basic manufactured items; and mineral fuels, mainly petroleum
products. Food and livestock are important
export items. The United Kingdom is Ireland's principal
trading partner. Others include the United States,
Germany, France, and the Benelux countries.
Transportation, Communication, and Education
Ireland is well served by highways, railways, airlines, and
water transportation. The network of
Irish roads, almost all of which are paved, totals more than
54,000 miles (86,900 kilometers). Regular
rural bus routes extend to many small, isolated communities.
In 1981, Ireland had one private automobile
for every 4.4 people. Railroads run between Dublin and the
country's larger cities and towns.
Aer Lingus, the Irish international airline, has flights to
and from European and transatlantic
airports. Dublin, Limerick, and Cork have international
airports, and Shannon Airport, near Limerick, was
the world's first duty-free airport.
Dublin and Cork are the principal harbors for international
shipping. Passenger ships provide
frequent connections with Wales and England.
The government operates Ireland's television and radio
facilities. The country has two television
channels and three radio stations, one of which broadcasts in
Gaelic. Every owner of a television set or
radio pays an annual license fee. There are seven daily
newspapers, five of which are published in Dublin.
All the newspapers are in English.
Irish children from 6 to 15 years old are required by law to
go to school. The elementary schools
are free. The secondary schools are private institutions, and
most are operated by religious orders of the
Roman Catholic Church. Nevertheless, Irish secondary schools
receive substantial government aid and are
subject to inspection by the Department of Education. The
administration of the nation's vocational
schools resembles that of the secondary schools.
The University of Dublin, or Trinity College, was founded in
1592, and the National University
was established in Dublin in 1908. The National University
also has branches in Galway and Cork. In
addition, Ireland has ten regional technical colleges in the
provincial centers of Athlone, Carlow, Cork,
Dundalk, Galway, Letterkenny, Limerick, Sligo, Tralee, and
Waterford. St. Patrick's College in Maynooth
trains Roman Catholic priests but also admits other students.
The National Institute for Higher Education,
which offers mainly technological courses, has campuses in
Dublin and Limerick. All the universities and
colleges receive financial support from the government.
Government
The nation's first constitution went into effect in 1922, when
its name was changed to the Irish
Free State. In 1937, after a number of amendments, a new
constitution was approved by the parliament
and the people. It restored the name Ireland, or Éire in
Gaelic, and provided for a president, elected every
seven years; a cabinet called "the government,"
headed by a prime minister; and a parliament. The Irish
parliament consists of a House of Representatives, called the
Dáil Éireann, and a Senate, called the Seanad
Éireann. The 166 members of the Dáil are elected by the
people and the 60 members of the Seanad are
selected from representatives of education, agriculture,
labor, industry, and public administration. Citizens
who are at least 18 years old may vote. Local government is in
the hands of 27 county councils and the
five county boroughs of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, and
Waterford. These councils are responsible
for planning, taxing, and other local government activities
but not education or police functions.
History
The first inhabitants of the island of Ireland were hunters
and fishers who arrived on the eastern
coast from the European mainland in about 6000 BC. Later
settlers brought knowledge of agriculture in
about 3000 BC and skills in bronzeworking by about 2000 BC.
Celts who came from Europe in about 300
BC dominated the earlier peoples, mainly because the Celts had
ironworking knowledge.
During its early period, Ireland had one of the more advanced
civilizations of Western Europe.
The people built hill forts and established minor kingdoms,
and skilled artisans designed metalwork.
Christianity had been established in Ireland by the beginning
of the 5th century, before the arrival
of the bishop Palladius from Gaul in 431 and the later arrival
of St. Patrick. The monasteries established
by St. Patrick and other missionaries enabled a world of
classical learning to be introduced on the island,
and this learning was later carried to many parts of Europe.
During the 9th and early 10th centuries,
Viking raiders overran the south and east coasts of Ireland.
They ravaged the monasteries and churches
and later became traders in the coastal towns. The Vikings
were finally defeated in 1014 at Clontarf, near
Dublin, but some remained in coastal settlements and were
accepted by the Irish.
Conquest by England.
The English conquest of Ireland began when a local ruler asked
King Henry II and his barons to
help him regain his kingdom. Some of the barons arrived first,
in 1169, and Henry followed in 1171.
Henry encouraged his followers to seize parts of the island
and hold them as fiefs of the crown. Henry's
descendants intermarried with the local population and
increasingly adapted Irish customs. However, the
English did not control the island effectively, and they
regarded the Irish and the English-Irish as their
enemies. The authority of the English crown was eventually
restored over the entire island during the
16th century by Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, who also attempted
to suppress the Roman Catholic
church.
King James I settled English and Scottish Protestants in the
northern province of Ulster. Roman
Catholics in Ulster rebelled in 1641 and killed thousands of
Protestant settlers. This revolt spread to the
south but was put down by Oliver Cromwell from 1649 to 1650.
He took much land and many rights away
from Irish Catholics.
James II, a Roman Catholic, tried to reverse the
discriminatory policies of the preceding rulers.
After being driven from the throne by the revolution of 1688,
James went to France and then to Ireland.
There he was welcomed by the Irish Catholics who hoped he
could lead them in regaining their land. In
1690 James and the Irish were defeated by the Protestant
forces of the English king William III in the
battle of the Boyne. Protestants of the Church of England, or
Anglicans, then dominated Ireland for about
150 years. Catholics and non-Anglican Protestants had few
legal rights, and they could not vote or hold
office. In 1801 the Act of Union joined Great Britain and
Ireland into the United Kingdom.
Struggle for Home Rule.
In 1823 the Catholics, led by Daniel O'Connell, began
agitating for emancipation. In 1829
Parliament passed an act giving the Catholics political
equality for most purposes. O'Connell then began a
struggle to eliminate the Act of Union. This struggle turned
into a movement later called Home Rule.
However, such efforts were stifled by famine and mass
emigration that were the result of a blight that
destroyed Ireland's vital potato crop in the mid-1800s.
Several attempts to put through Home Rule bills for Ireland
failed during the late 1800s. The
Catholics in southern Ireland were determined to have the
right to Home Rule, but the Protestants in
Ulster insisted on maintaining the Act of Union with Great
Britain. In 1914 the British Parliament passed
a Home Rule bill setting up a separate parliament for all
Ireland, but World War I soon broke out and the
Home Rule act was suspended.
On Easter Monday in 1916 armed Irish Volunteers and members of
the Citizen Army staged an
unsuccessful rebellion in Dublin. The British executed 14 of
the leaders, which aroused public support for
an independent Ireland. In the 1918 elections Sinn Fein, the
Irish revolutionary party, won most of the
Irish seats. Sinn Fein had earlier pledged not to take their
seats in the English Parliament, however, and
after the election they set up an Irish parliament, the Dáil
Éireann, in Dublin. The Dáil issued a
declaration of independence and was headed by Eamon de Valera,
a surviving leader of the Easter
uprising.
The English attempted to suppress the new government, and
violence erupted between British
troops and the Volunteers, who became the Irish Republican
Army. In 1920 Ireland was partitioned, and
separate parliaments were set up for northern and southern
Ireland. Fighting continued until a truce was
called in 1921. The terms of the truce established the
southern part of Ireland as the Irish Free State,
which became part of the Commonwealth. Renewed fighting broke
out between the Irish who accepted the
dominion status and those who demanded complete independence.
A new constitution went into effect in
1937.
The republic.
In 1948 Éire seceded from the Commonwealth. The new Republic
of Ireland was proclaimed on
April 18, 1949. In 1973 the republic acknowledged British
sovereignty over Northern Ireland as long as
this was the wish of the majority of the people in the north.
But fighting continues in Northern Ireland
between the Protestants and the Catholics. Over Protestant
opposition in Northern Ireland, Britain and
the Republic of Ireland signed an agreement in 1985 that gave
the latter a voice in Northern Ireland
affairs. The republic's first female president, Mary Robinson,
was inaugurated in December 1990. In the
early 1990s Ireland's economy still lagged behind those of the
other nations of Western Europe;
consequently, many wanted to immigrate to more prosperous
countries, but by the mid-1990s, Ireland was experiencing an
economic boom, leading to it being dubbed 'The Celtic Tiger.'
Now it is at the forefront of Information Technology
manufacturing.
Author Credit:
This article was contributed by Lawrence M. Sommers, Assistant
Provost and former Chairman,
Department of Geography, Michigan State University.
FURTHER RESOURCES FOR IRELAND
Bramsback, Birgit. Homage to Ireland (Coronet, 1990).
Foster, R.F., ed. The Oxford Illustrated History of Ireland
(Oxford Univ. Press, 1989).
Hopkins, Michael. Green Against Green: The Irish Civil War
(St. Martin's, 1988).
Kumar, Karan. Ireland Today (International Info, 1991).
O'Malley, Padraig. The Uncivil Wars: Ireland Today (Beacon,
1991).
Ranelagh, John O'Beirne. A Short History of Ireland (Cambridge
Univ. Press, 1983).
Uris, Leon, and Uris, Jill. Ireland: A Terrible Beauty
(Bantam, 1978).
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