Religions: Roman Catholic 88%, Church of Ireland 3%,
other Christian 2%, none 4%
Literacy rate: 99% (2003 est.)
Economic summary:GDP/PPP (2007
est.): $187.5 billion; per capita $45,600. Real growth rate:
5%. Inflation: 4.7%. Unemployment: 4.2%. Arable
land: 16%. Agriculture: turnips, barley, potatoes, sugar
beets, wheat; beef, dairy products. Labor force: 2.21 million
(2007 est.); agriculture 6%, industry 27%, services 67% (2006 est.).
Industries: steel, lead, zinc, silver, aluminum, barite, and
gypsum mining processing; food products, brewing, textiles,
clothing; chemicals, pharmaceuticals; machinery, rail transportation
equipment, passenger and commercial vehicles, ship construction and
refurbishment; glass and crystal; software, tourism. Natural
resources: zinc, lead, natural gas, barite, copper, gypsum,
limestone, dolomite, peat, silver. Exports: $124.8 billion
f.o.b. (2007 est.): machinery and equipment, computers, chemicals,
pharmaceuticals; live animals, animal products. Imports:
$90.35 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.): data processing equipment, other
machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum and petroleum
products, textiles, clothing. Major trading partners: U.S.,
UK, Belgium, Germany, France, Netherlands, Italy (2006).
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 2.097 million (2006); mobile cellular: 4.69 million (2006).
Radio broadcast stations: AM 9, FM 106, shortwave 0 (1998).
Television broadcast stations: 4 (many low-power repeaters)
(2001). Internet hosts: 429,487 (2007). Internet
users: 1.437 million (2006).
Transportation: Railways: total: 3,237
km (2006). Highways: total: 96,602 km; paved: 96,602 km
(including 125 km of expressways); unpaved: 0 km (2003).
Waterways: 956 km (pleasure craft only) (2007). Ports and
harbors: Cork, Dublin, New Ross, Shannon Foynes, Waterford.
Airports: 34 (2007).
International disputes: Ireland,
Iceland, and the UK dispute Denmark's claim that the Faroe Islands'
continental shelf extends beyond 200 nm.
Ireland is situated in the Atlantic Ocean and separated from Great
Britain by the Irish Sea. Half the size of Arkansas, it occupies the
entire island except for the six counties that make up Northern Ireland.
Ireland resembles a basin—a central plain rimmed with mountains, except in
the Dublin region. The mountains are low, with the highest peak,
Carrantuohill in County Kerry, rising to 3,415 ft (1,041 m). The principal
river is the Shannon, which begins in the north-central area, flows south
and southwest for about 240 mi (386 km), and empties into the
Atlantic.
Government
Republic.
History
In the Stone and Bronze Ages, Ireland was inhabited by Picts in the
north and a people called the Erainn in the south, the same stock,
apparently, as in all the isles before the Anglo-Saxon invasion of
Britain. About the 4th century B.C., tall,
red-haired Celts arrived from Gaul or Galicia. They subdued and
assimilated the inhabitants and established a Gaelic civilization. By the
beginning of the Christian Era, Ireland was divided into five
kingdoms—Ulster, Connacht, Leinster, Meath, and Munster. Saint Patrick
introduced Christianity in 432, and the country developed into a center of
Gaelic and Latin learning. Irish monasteries, the equivalent of
universities, attracted intellectuals as well as the pious and sent out
missionaries to many parts of Europe and, some believe, to North
America.
Norse depredations along the coasts, starting in 795, ended in 1014
with Norse defeat at the Battle of Clontarf by forces under Brian Boru. In
the 12th century, the pope gave all of Ireland to the English Crown as a
papal fief. In 1171, Henry II of England was acknowledged “Lord of
Ireland,” but local sectional rule continued for centuries, and English
control over the whole island was not reasonably absolute until the 17th
century. In the Battle of the Boyne (1690), the Catholic King James II and
his French supporters were defeated by the Protestant King William III (of
Orange). An era of Protestant political and economic supremacy began.
By the Act of Union (1801), Great Britain and Ireland became the
“United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.” A steady decline in the
Irish economy followed in the next decades. The population had reached
8.25 million when the great potato famine of 1846–1848 took many lives and
drove more than 2 million people to immigrate to North America.
In the meantime, anti-British agitation continued along with demands
for Irish home rule. The advent of World War I delayed the institution of
home rule and resulted in the Easter Rebellion in Dublin (April 24–29,
1916), in which Irish nationalists unsuccessfully attempted to throw off
British rule. Guerrilla warfare against British forces followed
proclamation of a republic by the rebels in 1919. The Irish Free State was
established as a dominion on Dec. 6, 1922, with six northern counties
remaining as part of the United Kingdom. A civil war ensued between those
supporting the Anglo-Irish Treaty that established the Irish Free State
and those repudiating it because it led to the partitioning of the island.
The Irish Republican Army (IRA), led by Eamon de Valera, fought against
the partition but lost. De Valera joined the government in 1927 and became
prime minister in 1932. In 1937 a new constitution changed the nation's
name to Éire. Ireland remained neutral in World War II.
In 1948, De Valera was defeated by John A. Costello, who demanded final
independence from Britain. The Republic of Ireland was proclaimed on April
18, 1949, and withdrew from the Commonwealth. From the 1960s onward two
antagonistic currents dominated Irish politics. One sought to bind the
wounds of the rebellion and civil war. The other was the effort of the
outlawed Irish Republican Army and more moderate groups to bring Northern
Ireland into the republic. The “troubles”—the violence and terrorist acts
between Republicans and Unionists in both the Republic of Ireland and
Northern Ireland—would plague the island for the remainder of the century
and beyond.
Under the First Programme for Economic Expansion (1958–1963), economic
protection was dismantled and foreign investment encouraged. This
prosperity brought profound social and cultural changes to what had been
one of the poorest and least technologically advanced countries in Europe.
Ireland joined the European Economic Community (now the EU) in 1973. In
the 1990 presidential election, Mary Robinson was elected the republic's
first woman president. The election of a candidate with socialist and
feminist sympathies was regarded as a watershed in Irish political life,
reflecting the changes taking place in Irish society. Irish voters
approved the Maastricht Treaty, which paved the way for the establishment
of the EU, by a large majority in a referendum held in 1992. In 1993, the
Irish and British governments signed a joint peace initiative (the Downing
Street Declaration), which affirmed Northern Ireland's right to
self-determination. A referendum on allowing divorce under certain
conditions—hitherto constitutionally forbidden—was narrowly passed in Nov.
1995.
In 1998 hope for a solution to the troubles in Northern Ireland seemed
palpable. A landmark settlement, the Good Friday Agreement of April 10,
1998, called for Protestants to share political power with the minority
Catholics and gave the Republic of Ireland a voice in the affairs of
Northern Ireland. The resounding commitment to the settlement was
demonstrated in a dual referendum on May 22: the North approved the accord
by a vote of 71% to 29%, and in the Irish Republic 94% favored it. After
numerous stops and starts, the new government in Northern Ireland was
formed on Dec. 2, 2000, but it has been suspended four times since then
(and has remained suspended since Oct. 2002) primarily because of Sinn
Fein's reluctance to disarm its military wing, the IRA. In 2005, however,
the IRA renounced armed struggle, and peace again seemed possible.
Despite a number of recent corruption and bribery scandals, most of
which involved the centrist Fianna Fáil Party of Prime Minister Bertie
Ahern, the party won 81 of 166 seats in May 2002. Ahern became the first
Irish prime minister in 33 years to be elected to a second successive
term.
Once a country plagued with high unemployment, high inflation, slow
growth, and a large public debt, Ireland has undergone an extraordinary
economic transformation in the last 15 years. Formerly an
agriculture-based economy, the “Celtic Tiger” has become a leader in
high-tech industries. In some recent years its economy has grown as much
as 10%.
On April 2, 2008, in the midst of corruption accusations, Prime
Minister Bertie Ahern announced his resignation, effective as of May 6,
2008.
On May 7, 2008, the former finance minister, Brian Cowen, was elected
the new prime minister by an 88 to 76 parliamentary vote. Upon election,
Cowen announced the appointment of new finance, justice, and foreign
affairs ministers.
