Ireland
Ireland (/ˈaɪərlənd/ ( listen); Irish: Éire
[ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen); Ulster-Scots: Airlann
[ˈɑːrlən]) is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated
from
Great Britain
Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea,
and St George's Channel.
Ireland
Ireland is the third-largest island in
Europe.
Politically,
Ireland
Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland
(officially named Ireland), which covers five-sixths of the island,
and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. In 2011,
the population of
Ireland
Ireland was about 6.6 million, ranking it the
second-most populous island in
Europe
.svg/400px-Europe-Ukraine_(disputed_territory).svg.png)
Europe after Great Britain. Just under
4.8 million live in the
Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland and just over
1.8 million live in Northern Ireland.[3]
The island's geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains
surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending
inland. Its lush vegetation is a product of its mild but changeable
climate which is free of extremes in temperature. It was covered by
thick woodlands until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land
that is wooded in
Ireland
Ireland is about 11% of the total, compared with a
European average of 35%.[6][7] There are twenty-six extant mammal
species native to Ireland.[8] The Irish climate is influenced by the
Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean and thus very moderate,[9] and winters are milder than
expected for such a northerly area, although summers are cooler than
those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant.
The earliest evidence of human presence in
Ireland
Ireland is dated at 10,500
BC.[10]
Gaelic Ireland
Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century AD. The island
was
Christianised
Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the 12th
century Norman invasion, the
England
England claimed sovereignty. However,
English rule did not extend over the whole island until the
16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by
settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of
Protestant
Protestant English
rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and
Protestant
Protestant dissenters, and was extended during the 18th century. With
the Acts of Union in 1801,
Ireland
Ireland became a part of the United
Kingdom. A war of independence in the early 20th century was followed
by the partition of the island, creating the Irish Free State, which
became increasingly sovereign over the following decades, and Northern
Ireland, which remained a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland
saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s. This
subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic
of
Ireland
Ireland joined the
European Economic Community
European Economic Community while the United
Kingdom, and Northern Ireland, as part of it, did the same.
Irish culture
Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures,
especially in the fields of literature. Alongside mainstream Western
culture, a strong indigenous culture exists, as expressed through
Gaelic games,
Irish music
Irish music and the Irish language. The island's culture
shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English
language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse
racing, and golf.
Contents
1 Name
2 History
2.1 Prehistoric Ireland
2.1.1 Emergence of Celtic Ireland
2.2 Late antiquity and early medieval times
2.3 Norman and English invasions
2.4 The Kingdom of Ireland
2.5 Union with Great Britain
2.6 Partition
2.6.1 Independence
2.6.2 Northern Ireland
3 Politics
3.1 Republic of Ireland
3.2 Northern Ireland
3.3 All-island institutions
4 Economy
4.1 Tourism
4.2 Energy
5 Geography
5.1 Climate
6 Flora and fauna
6.1 Impact of agriculture
7 Demographics
7.1 Divisions and settlements
7.2 Migration
7.3 Languages
8 Culture
8.1 Arts
8.1.1 Literature
8.1.2 Music
8.1.3 Art
8.2 Science
8.3 Sports
8.3.1 Field sports
8.3.2 Other sports
8.3.3 Recreation
8.4 Food and drink
9 See also
10 Notes
11 References
12 Bibliography
13 External links
Name
The name
Ireland
Ireland derives from
Old Irish Eriu. This in turn comes from
the
Proto-Celtic *Iveriu (compare Welsh Iwerddon), which is also the
source of
Latin
Latin Hibernia. Iveriu derives from a root meaning 'fat,
prosperous'.[11][self-published source?]
History
Part of a series on the
History of Ireland
Chronology
Prehistory
Protohistory
400–800
800–1169
1169–1536
1536–1691
1691–1801
1801–1923
Timeline of Irish history
Peoples and polities
Gaelic Ireland
Lordship of Ireland
Kingdom of Ireland
United Kingdom
United Kingdom of
Great Britain
Great Britain and Ireland
Irish Republic
Irish Free State
Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland
Topics
Conflicts
Clans
Kingdoms
States
Gaelic monarchs
British monarchs
Economic history
History of the Irish language
Ireland
Ireland portal
v
t
e
Main article: History of Ireland
Prehistoric Ireland
Main article: Prehistoric Ireland
During the last glacial period, and up until about 10,000 BC, most of
Ireland
Ireland was periodically covered in ice.
Sea levels
Sea levels were lower and
Ireland, like Great Britain, formed part of continental Europe. By
16,000 BC, rising sea levels due to ice melting caused
Ireland
Ireland to
become separated from Great Britain.[12] Later, around 6000 BC, Great
Britain itself became separated from continental Europe.[13] The
earliest evidence of human presence in
Ireland
Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC,
demonstrated by a butchered bear bone found in a cave in County
Clare.[10] It is not until about 8000 BC, however, that more sustained
occupation of the island has been shown, with evidence for Mesolithic
communities around the island.[14] These
Mesolithic
Mesolithic communities lived
as hunter-gatherers across the island until about 4000 BC.
Some time before 4000 BC,
Neolithic
Neolithic settlers arrived introducing
cereal cultivars, domesticated animals such as cattle and sheep, large
timber building, and stone monuments.[15] The earliest evidence for
farming in
Ireland
Ireland or
Great Britain
Great Britain is from Ferriter's Cove, Co.Kerry,
where a flint knife, cattle bones and a sheep's tooth were
carbon-dated to c. 4350 BC.[16] Field systems were developed
in different parts of Ireland, including at the Céide Fields, that
has been preserved beneath a blanket of peat in present-day Tyrawley.
An extensive field system, arguably the oldest in the world,[17]
consisted of small divisions separated by dry-stone walls. The fields
were farmed for several centuries between 3500 BC and 3000 BC. Wheat
and barley were the principal crops.
The Bronze Age – defined by the use of metal – began
around 2500 BC, with technology changing people's everyday lives
during this period through innovations such as the wheel; harnessing
oxen; weaving textiles; brewing alcohol; and skilful metalworking,
which produced new weapons and tools, along with fine gold decoration
and jewellery, such as brooches and torcs. According to John T. Koch
and others,
Ireland
Ireland in the Late
Bronze Age
Bronze Age was part of a maritime
trading-network culture called the Atlantic
Bronze Age
Bronze Age that also
included Britain, western France and Iberia, and that this is where
Celtic languages
Celtic languages developed.[18][19][20][21] This contrasts with the
traditional view that their origin lies in mainland
Europe
Europe with the
Hallstatt culture.
Emergence of Celtic Ireland
During the Iron Age, a Celtic language and culture emerged in Ireland.
How and when the island became Celtic has been debated for close to a
century, with the migrations of the
Celts
Celts being one of the more
enduring themes of archaeological and linguistic studies. Today, there
is more than one school of thought on how this occurred.[citation
needed]
The Uragh Stone Circle, a
Neolithic
Neolithic stone circle in Tuosist, close to
Gleninchaquin Park, County Kerry
The long-standing traditional view, once widely accepted,[by whom?] is
that the Celtic language,
Ogham
Ogham script and culture were brought to
Ireland
Ireland by waves of invading or migrating
Celts
Celts from mainland Europe.
This theory draws on the Lebor Gabála Érenn, a medieval Christian
pseudo-history of
Ireland
Ireland along with the presence of Celtic culture,
language and artefacts found in
Ireland
Ireland such as Celtic bronze spears,
shields, torcs and other finely crafted Celtic associated possessions.
The theory holds that there were four separate Celtic invasions of
Ireland. The
Priteni were said to be the first, followed by the Belgae
from northern Gaul and Britain. Later, Laighin tribes from Armorica
(present-day Brittany) were said to have invaded
Ireland
Ireland and Britain
more or less simultaneously. Lastly, the Milesians (Gaels) were said
to have reached
Ireland
Ireland from either northern Iberia or southern
Gaul.[22] It was claimed that a second wave named the Euerni,
belonging to the
Belgae
Belgae people of northern Gaul, began arriving about
the sixth century BC. They were said to have given their name to the
island.[23][24]
A more recent theory, with broad support among archaeologists, is that
Celtic culture and language arrived in
Ireland
Ireland as a result of cultural
diffusion. This theory proposes that the Celticisation of
Ireland
Ireland may
have been the culmination of a long process of social and economic
interaction between Ireland, Britain and adjacent parts of Continental
Europe.[citation needed]
The theory was advanced in part because of lack of archeological
evidence for large-scale Celtic immigration, though it is accepted
that such movements are notoriously difficult to identify. Some
proponents of this theory hold that it is likely that there was
migration of smaller groups of
Celts
Celts to Ireland, with sufficiently
regular traffic to constitute a "migration stream," but that this was
not the fundamental cause of Insular Celticisation.[citation needed]
Historical linguists are sceptical that this method alone could
account for the absorption of the Celtic language, with some saying
that an assumed processional view of Celtic linguistic formation is
'an especially hazardous exercise'.[25][26] Genetic lineage
investigation into the area of Celtic migration to
Ireland
Ireland has led to
findings that showed no significant differences in mitochondrial DNA
between
Ireland
Ireland and large areas of continental Europe, in contrast to
parts of the Y-chromosome pattern. When taking both into account a
study drew the conclusion that modern Celtic speakers in
Ireland
Ireland could
be thought of as European "Atlantic Celts" showing a shared ancestry
throughout the Atlantic zone from northern Iberia to western
Scandinavia rather than substantially central European.[27]
In 2012, research showed that occurrence of genetic markers for the
earliest farmers was almost eliminated by Beaker-culture immigrants:
they carried what was then a new Y-chromosome R1b marker, believed to
have originated in Iberia about 2500 BC. The prevalence amongst modern
Irish men for this mutation is a remarkable 84%, the highest in the
World, and closely matched in other populations along the Atlantic
fringes down to Spain. A similar genetic replacement happened with
lineages in mitochondrial DNA. The implication of this evidence is a
series of migrations and the arrival of the early Irish language,
giving some credence to the tales in Lebor Gabála Érenn.[16][28]
Late antiquity and early medieval times
Main article:
History of Ireland
History of Ireland (800–1169)
The
Scoti were Gaelic-speaking people from
Ireland
Ireland who settled in
western
Scotland
Scotland in the 6th century or before.
The earliest written records of
Ireland
Ireland come from classical
Greco-Roman geographers.
Ptolemy
Ptolemy in his
Almagest
Almagest refers to
Ireland
Ireland as
Mikra Brettania (Little Britain), in contrast to the larger island,
which he called Megale Brettania (Great Britain).[29] In his later
work, Geography,
Ptolemy
Ptolemy refers to
Ireland
Ireland as Iouernia and to Great
Britain as Albion. These "new" names were likely to have been the
local names for the islands at the time. The earlier names, in
contrast, were likely to have been coined before direct contact with
local peoples was made.[30]
The Romans would later refer to
Ireland
Ireland by this name too in its
Latinised
Latinised form, Hibernia,[citation needed] or Scotia.[31] Ptolemy
records sixteen nations inhabiting every part of
Ireland
Ireland in 100
AD.[32] The relationship between the Roman Empire and the kingdoms of
ancient
Ireland
Ireland is unclear. However, a number of finds of Roman coins
have been made, for example at the
Iron Age
Iron Age settlement of Freestone
Hill near
Gowran
Gowran and Newgrange.[33]
Ireland
Ireland continued as a patchwork of rival kingdoms but, beginning in
the 7th century, a concept of national kingship gradually became
articulated through the concept of a High King of Ireland. Medieval
Irish literature
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.[34]
All of the Irish kingdoms had their own kings but were 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 didn't become a
political reality until the
Viking
Viking Age and even then was not a
consistent one.[35]
Ireland
Ireland did have a culturally unifying rule of
law: the early written judicial system, the Brehon Laws, administered
by a professional class of jurists known as the brehons.[36]
Gallarus Oratory, one of the earliest churches built in Ireland
The Chronicle of Ireland
The Chronicle of Ireland records that in 431, Bishop Palladius arrived
in
Ireland
Ireland on a mission from
Pope Celestine I
Pope Celestine I to minister to the Irish
"already believing in Christ".[37] The same chronicle records that
Saint Patrick, Ireland's best known patron saint, arrived the
following year. There is continued debate over the missions of
Palladius and Patrick, but the consensus is that they both took
place[38] and that the older druid tradition collapsed in the face of
the new religion.[39] Irish Christian scholars excelled in the study
of
Latin
Latin and Greek learning and Christian theology. In the monastic
culture that followed the Christianisation of Ireland,
Latin
Latin and Greek
learning was preserved in
Ireland
Ireland during the Early
Middle Ages
Middle Ages in
contrast to elsewhere in Europe, where the Dark Ages followed the Fall
of the Western Roman Empire.[39][40]
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[41] that still dot the
island today. A mission founded in 563 on
Iona
Iona by the Irish monk Saint
Columba
Columba began a tradition of Irish missionary work that spread Celtic
Christianity
Christianity and learning to Scotland,
England
England and the Frankish Empire
on Continental
Europe
Europe after the fall of Rome.[42] These missions
continued until the late Middle Ages, establishing monasteries and
centres of learning, producing scholars such as
Sedulius Scottus and
Johannes Eriugena
Johannes Eriugena and exerting much influence in Europe.
From the 9th century, waves of
Viking
Viking raiders plundered Irish
monasteries and towns.[43] These raids added to a pattern of raiding
and endemic warfare that was already deep-seated in Ireland. The
Vikings
Vikings also were involved in establishing most of the major coastal
settlements in Ireland: Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Wexford, Waterford, as
well as other smaller settlements.[44]
Norman and English invasions
Main articles: Norman invasion of Ireland, History of Ireland
(1169–1536), and Tudor conquest of Ireland
See also: Bruce campaign in Ireland
Remains of the 12th-century
Trim Castle
Trim Castle in County Meath, the largest
Norman castle in Ireland
On 1 May 1169, an expedition of Cambro-Norman knights with an army of
about six hundred landed at
Bannow
Bannow Strand in present-day County
Wexford. It was led by Richard de Clare, called Strongbow due to his
prowess as an archer.[45] The invasion, which coincided with a period
of renewed Norman expansion, was at the invitation of Dermot Mac
Murrough, the king of Leinster.[46]
In 1166, Mac Murrough had fled to Anjou, France, following a war
involving Tighearnán Ua Ruairc, of Breifne, and sought the assistance
of the Angevin king, Henry II, in recapturing his kingdom. In 1171,
Henry arrived in
Ireland
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. 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 the Papal Bull
Laudabiliter, issued by Adrian IV in 1155. The bull encouraged Henry
to take control in
Ireland
Ireland in order to oversee the financial and
administrative reorganisation of the Irish Church and its integration
into the Roman Church system.[47] Some restructuring had already begun
at the ecclesiastical level following the
Synod of Kells in 1152.[48]
There has been significant controversy regarding the authenticity of
Laudabiliter,[49] and there is no general agreement as to whether the
bull was genuine or a forgery.[50][51]
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, called Peter's Pence, is extant in
Ireland
Ireland as a voluntary donation. In turn, Henry accepted the title of
Lord of Ireland
Lord of Ireland which Henry conferred on his younger son, John
Lackland, in 1185. This defined the Irish state as the Lordship of
Ireland.[citation needed] When Henry's successor died unexpectedly in
1199, John inherited the crown of
England
England and retained the Lordship of
Ireland.
Irish soldiers, 1521 – by Albrecht Dürer
Over the century that followed, Norman feudal law gradually replaced
the Gaelic Brehon Law so that by the late 13th century the
Norman-Irish had established a feudal system throughout much of
Ireland. Norman settlements were characterised by the establishment of
baronies, manors, towns and the seeds of the modern county system. A
version of the
Magna Carta
.jpg/580px-Magna_Carta_(British_Library_Cotton_MS_Augustus_II.106).jpg)
Magna Carta (the Great Charter of Ireland),
substituting
Dublin
Dublin for
London
London and Irish Church for Church of England,
was published in 1216 and the
Parliament of Ireland
.svg/300px-Arms_of_Ireland_(historical).svg.png)
Parliament of Ireland was founded in
1297.
From the mid-14th century, after the Black Death, Norman settlements
in
Ireland
Ireland went into a period of decline. The Norman rulers and the
Gaelic Irish elites intermarried and the areas under Norman rule
became Gaelicised. In some parts, a hybrid
Hiberno-Norman
Hiberno-Norman culture
emerged. In response, the Irish parliament passed the Statutes of
Kilkenny
Kilkenny in 1367. These were a set of laws designed to prevent the
assimilation of the
Normans
.JPG/500px-1000-1100,_Norman._-_033_-_Costumes_of_All_Nations_(1882).JPG)
Normans into Irish society by requiring English
subjects in
Ireland
Ireland to speak English, follow English customs and abide
by English law.[52]
By the end of the 15th century central English authority in Ireland
had all but disappeared and a renewed
Irish culture
Irish culture and language,
albeit with Norman influences, was dominant again. English Crown
control remained relatively unshaken in an amorphous foothold around
Dublin
Dublin known as The Pale, and under the provisions of
Poynings' Law of
1494, the Irish Parliamentary legislation was subject to the approval
of the English Parliament.[53]
The Kingdom of Ireland
Main article: Kingdom of Ireland
A scene from The Image of Irelande (1581) showing a chieftain at a
feast
The title of
King of Ireland
King of Ireland was re-created in 1542 by Henry VIII,
then King of England, of the Tudor dynasty. English rule was
reinforced and expanded in
Ireland
Ireland during the latter part of the 16th
century, leading to the Tudor conquest of Ireland. A near complete
conquest was achieved by the turn of the 17th century, following the
Nine Years' War and the Flight of the Earls.
This control was consolidated during the wars and conflicts of the
17th century, including the English and Scottish colonisation in the
Plantations of Ireland, the
Wars of the Three Kingdoms
_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg/560px-Sir_Anthony_Van_Dyck_-_Charles_I_(1600-49)_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
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
Irish Confederacy and the Cromwellian
conquest of Ireland) are estimated to include 20,000 battlefield
casualties. 200,000 civilians are estimated to have died as a result
of a combination of war-related famine, displacement, guerrilla
activity and pestilence over the duration of the war. A further
50,000[Note 1] were sent into indentured servitude in the West Indies.
Some historians estimate that as much as half of the pre-war
population of
Ireland
Ireland may have died as a result of the conflict.[56]
The religious struggles of the 17th 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 1672, and the victory of the forces of the
dual monarchy of William and Mary over the Jacobites, Roman Catholics
and nonconforming
Protestant
Protestant
Dissenters were barred from sitting as
members in the Irish Parliament. Under the emerging Penal Laws, 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
Protestant Dissenters, while
enriching a new ruling class of Anglican conformists.[57] The new
Anglo-Irish ruling class became known as the
Protestant
Protestant Ascendancy.
Half-hanging
Half-hanging of suspected United Irishmen
The "Great Frost" struck
Ireland
Ireland and the rest of
Europe
Europe between
December 1739 and September 1741, after a decade of relatively mild
winters. The winters destroyed stored crops of potatoes and other
staples and the poor summers severely damaged harvests.[58] This
resulted in the famine of 1740. An estimated 250,000 people (about one
in eight of the population) died from the ensuing pestilence and
disease.[59] The Irish government halted export of corn and kept the
army in quarters but did little more.[59][60] Local gentry and
charitable organisations provided relief but could do little to
prevent the ensuing mortality.[59][60]
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 and the
architectural legacy of Georgian
Ireland
Ireland was built. In 1782, Poynings'
Law was repealed, giving
Ireland
Ireland legislative independence from Great
Britain for the first time since 1495. The British government,
however, still retained the right to nominate the government of
Ireland
Ireland without the consent of the Irish parliament.
Union with Great Britain
Main article:
United Kingdom
United Kingdom of
Great Britain
Great Britain and Ireland
In 1798, members of the
Protestant
Protestant Dissenter tradition (mainly
Presbyterian) made common cause with Roman Catholics in a republican
rebellion inspired and led by the Society of United Irishmen, with the
aim of creating an independent Ireland. Despite assistance from France
the rebellion was put down by British and Irish government and
yeomanry forces. In 1800, the British and Irish parliaments both
passed Acts of Union that, with effect from 1 January 1801, merged the
Kingdom of Ireland
.svg/250px-Royal_Standard_of_Ireland_(1542–1801).svg.png)
Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of
Great Britain
Great Britain to create a United
Kingdom of
Great Britain
Great Britain and Ireland.[61]
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 the
awarding of peerages, places and honours to secure votes.[61] Thus,
the parliament in
Ireland
Ireland was abolished and replaced by a united
parliament at Westminster in London, though resistance remained, as
evidenced by Robert Emmet's failed Irish Rebellion of 1803.
Aside from the development of the linen industry,
Ireland
Ireland was largely
passed over by the industrial revolution, partly because it lacked
coal and iron resources[62][63] and partly because of the impact of
the sudden union with the structurally superior economy of
England,[64] which saw
Ireland
Ireland as a source of agricultural produce and
capital.[65][66]
Emigrants Leave
Ireland
Ireland engraving by Henry Doyle depicting the
emigration to America following the Great Famine in Ireland
The Great Famine of 1845–1851 devastated Ireland, as in those years
Ireland's population fell by one-third. More than one million people
died from starvation and disease, while an additional two million
people emigrated, mostly to the United States and Canada.[67] By the
end of the decade, half of all immigration to the United States was
from Ireland. The period of civil unrest that followed until the end
of the 19th century is referred to as the Land War. 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.[68] The population has
never returned to this level since.[69] The population continued to
fall until 1961 and it was not until the 2006 census that the last
county of
Ireland
Ireland (County Leitrim) to record a rise in population
since 1841 did so.
The 19th and early 20th centuries saw the rise of modern Irish
nationalism, primarily among the
Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic population. The
pre-eminent Irish political figure after the Union was Daniel
O'Connell. He was elected as Member of Parliament for Ennis in a
surprise result and despite being unable to take his seat as a Roman
Catholic. O'Connell spearheaded a vigorous campaign that was taken up
by the Prime Minister, the Irish-born soldier and statesman, the Duke
of Wellington. Steering the Catholic Relief Bill through 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 the plan of the earlier Prime Minister,
Pitt the Younger, to introduce such a bill following the Union of
1801, fearing
Catholic Emancipation
Catholic Emancipation to be in conflict with the Act of
Settlement 1701.
Daniel O'Connell
Daniel O'Connell led a subsequent campaign, for the repeal of the Act
of Union, which failed. Later in the century, Charles Stewart Parnell
and others campaigned for autonomy within the Union, or "Home Rule".
Unionists, especially those located in Ulster, were strongly opposed
to Home Rule, which they thought would be dominated by Catholic
interests.[70] After several 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
Ulster Volunteers were formed in 1913
under the leadership of Edward Carson.[71]
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
Ulster that would become Northern Ireland. Before it
could be implemented, however, the Act was suspended for the duration
of the First World War. The
Irish Volunteers
Irish Volunteers split into two groups.
The majority, approximately 175,000 in number, under John Redmond,
took the name
National Volunteers
National Volunteers and supported Irish involvement in
the war. A minority, approximately 13,000, retained the Irish
Volunteers' name, and opposed Ireland's involvement in the war.[71]
Sackville Street (now O'Connell Street), Dublin, after the 1916 Easter
Rising
The
Easter Rising
Easter Rising of 1916 was carried out by the latter group together
with a smaller socialist militia, the Irish Citizen Army. The British
response, executing fifteen leaders of the Rising over a period of ten
days and imprisoning or interning more than a thousand people, turned
the mood of the country in favour of the rebels. Support for Irish
republicanism increased further due to the ongoing war in Europe, as
well as the
Conscription
Conscription Crisis of 1918.[72]
The pro-independence republican party, Sinn Féin, received
overwhelming endorsement in the general election of 1918, and in 1919
proclaimed an Irish Republic, setting up its own parliament (Dáil
Éireann) and government. Simultaneously the Volunteers, which became
known as the
Irish Republican Army
Irish Republican Army (IRA), launched a three-year
guerrilla war, which ended in a truce in July 1921 (although violence
continued until June 1922, mostly in Northern Ireland).[72]
Partition
Main article: Partition of Ireland
In December 1921, the
Anglo-Irish Treaty
Anglo-Irish Treaty was concluded between the
British Government and representatives of the Second Dáil. It gave
Ireland
Ireland complete independence in its home affairs and practical
independence for foreign policy, but an opt-out clause allowed
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom, which it
immediately exercised as expected. Additionally, an oath of allegiance
to the King was to be taken.[73] Disagreements over these provisions
led to a split in the nationalist movement and a subsequent Irish
Civil War between the new government of the
Irish Free State
Irish Free State and those
opposed to the treaty, led by Éamon de Valera. The civil war
officially ended in May 1923 when de Valera issued a cease-fire
order.[74]
Independence
Main articles: History of the
Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland and Economy of the
Republic of Ireland
Annotated page from the
Anglo-Irish Treaty
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
Irish Free State was
governed by the victors of the civil war. When de Valera achieved
power, he took advantage of the Statute of Westminster and political
circumstances to build upon inroads to greater sovereignty made by the
previous government. The oath was abolished and in 1937 a new
constitution was adopted.[72] This completed a process of gradual
separation from the
British Empire
British Empire that governments had pursued since
independence. However, it was not until 1949 that the state was
declared, officially, to be the Republic of Ireland.
The state was neutral during World War II, but offered clandestine
assistance to the Allies, particularly in the potential defence of
Northern Ireland. Despite their country's neutrality, approximately
50,000[75] volunteers from independent
Ireland
Ireland joined the British
forces during the war, four being awarded Victoria Crosses.
The
Abwehr
Abwehr was also active in Ireland.[76] German intelligence
operations effectively ended in September 1941 when police made
arrests on the basis of surveillance carried out on the key diplomatic
legations in Dublin, including that of the United States. To the
authorities, counterintelligence was a fundamental line of defence.
With a regular army of only slightly over seven thousand men at the
start of the war, and with limited supplies of modern weapons, the
state would have had great difficulty in defending itself from
invasion from either side in the conflict.[76][77]
Large-scale emigration marked most of the post-WWII period
(particularly during the 1950s and 1980s), but beginning in 1987 the
economy improved, and the 1990s saw the beginning of substantial
economic growth. This period of growth became known as the Celtic
Tiger.[78] The Republic's real GDP grew by an average of 9.6% per
annum between 1995 and 1999,[79] in which year the Republic joined the
euro. In 2000, it was the sixth-richest country in the world in terms
of GDP per capita.[80]
Social changes also occurred in this time, most markedly with the
decline in authority of the Catholic Church. The financial crisis that
began in 2008 dramatically ended this period of boom. GDP fell by 3%
in 2008 and by 7.1% in 2009, the worst year since records began
(although earnings by foreign-owned businesses continued to grow).[81]
The state has since experienced deep recession, with unemployment,
which doubled during 2009, remaining above 14% in 2012.[82]
Northern Ireland
Main articles: History of
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland and Economy of Northern
Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland resulted from the division of the
United Kingdom
United Kingdom by
the
Government of Ireland
Government of Ireland Act 1920, and until 1972 was a
self-governing jurisdiction within the
United Kingdom
United Kingdom with its own
parliament and prime minister. Northern Ireland, as part of the United
Kingdom, was not neutral during the Second World War and Belfast
suffered four bombing raids in 1941.
Conscription
Conscription was not extended to
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland and roughly an equal number volunteered from Northern
Ireland
Ireland as volunteered from the south.
Edward Carson
Edward Carson signing the Solemn League and Covenant in 1912,
declaring opposition to Home Rule "using all means which may be found
necessary"
Although
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland was largely spared the strife of the civil
war, in decades that followed partition there were sporadic episodes
of inter-communal violence. Nationalists, mainly Roman Catholic,
wanted to unite
Ireland
Ireland as an independent republic, whereas unionists,
mainly Protestant, wanted
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland to remain in the United
Kingdom. The
Protestant
Protestant and Catholic communities in Northern Ireland
voted largely along sectarian lines, meaning that the Government of
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland (elected by "first-past-the-post" from 1929) was
controlled by the
Ulster
Ulster Unionist Party. Over time, the minority
Catholic community felt increasingly alienated with further
disaffection fuelled by practices such as gerrymandering and
discrimination in housing and employment.[83][84][85]
In the late 1960s, nationalist grievances were aired publicly in mass
civil rights protests, which were often confronted by loyalist
counter-protests.[86] The government's reaction to confrontations was
seen to be one-sided and heavy-handed in favour of unionists. Law and
order broke down as unrest and inter-communal violence increased.[87]
The
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland government requested the
British Army
British Army to aid the
police and protect the
Irish Nationalist
Irish Nationalist population. In 1969, the
paramilitary Provisional IRA, which favoured the creation of a united
Ireland, emerged from a split in the
Irish Republican Army
Irish Republican Army 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.[88] Owing to the civil unrest during the Troubles, the
British government
British government suspended home rule in 1972 and imposed direct
rule. There were several unsuccessful attempts to end the Troubles
politically, such as the
Sunningdale Agreement
Sunningdale Agreement of 1973. In 1998,
following a ceasefire by the Provisional IRA and multi-party talks,
the
Good Friday Agreement
Good Friday Agreement was concluded as a treaty between the
British and Irish governments, annexing the text agreed in the
multi-party talks.
The substance of the Agreement (formally referred to as the Belfast
Agreement) was later endorsed by referendums in both parts of Ireland.
The Agreement restored self-government to
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland on the
basis of power-sharing in a regional Executive drawn from the major
parties in a new
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland Assembly, with entrenched
protections for the two main communities. The Executive is jointly
headed by a
First Minister and deputy First Minister
First Minister and deputy First Minister drawn from the
unionist and nationalist parties. Violence had decreased greatly after
the Provisional IRA and loyalist ceasefires in 1994 and in 2005 the
Provisional IRA announced the end of its armed campaign and an
independent commission supervised its disarmament and that of other
nationalist and unionist paramilitary organisations.[89]
The Assembly and power-sharing Executive were suspended several times
but were restored again in 2007. In that year the British government
officially ended its military support of the police in Northern
Ireland
Ireland (Operation Banner) and began withdrawing troops. On 27 June
2012, Northern Ireland's deputy first minister and former IRA
commander, Martin McGuinness, shook hands with Queen Elizabeth II in
Belfast, symbolising reconciliation between the two sides.
Politics
Political map of Ireland, showing the
Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland and Northern
Ireland
Main article: Politics of Ireland
Politically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland, an
independent state, and
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland (a constituent country of the
United Kingdom). They share an open border and both are part of the
Common Travel Area.
Both the
Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland and the
United Kingdom
United Kingdom are members of the
European Union, and as a consequence there is free movement of people,
goods, services and capital across the border.
Republic of Ireland
Main article: Republic of Ireland
Áras an Uachtaráin, the official residence of the President of
Ireland
The
Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland is a parliamentary democracy based on the
British model, with a written constitution and a popularly elected
president who has mostly ceremonial powers. The government is headed
by a prime minister, the Taoiseach, who is appointed by the President
on the nomination of the lower house of parliament, the Dáil. Members
of the government are chosen from both the Dáil and the upper house
of parliament, the Seanad. Its capital is Dublin.
The Republic today ranks amongst the wealthiest countries in the world
in terms of GDP per capita[90] and in 2015 was ranked the sixth most
developed nation in the world by the United Nations' Human Development
Index.[91] A period of rapid economic expansion from 1995 onwards
became known as the
Celtic Tiger
Celtic Tiger period, was brought to an end in 2008
with an unprecedented financial crisis and an economic depression in
2009.
Northern Ireland
Main article: Northern Ireland
Parliament Buildings, in Stormont Estate, seat of the Northern Ireland
Assembly
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is a part of the
United Kingdom
United Kingdom with a local
executive and assembly which exercise devolved powers. The executive
is jointly headed by the first and deputy-first minister, with the
ministries being allocated in proportion with each party's
representation in the assembly. Its capital is Belfast.
Ultimately political power is held by the UK government, from which
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland has gone through intermittent periods of direct rule
during which devolved powers have been suspended. Northern Ireland
elects 18 of the UK House of Commons' 650 MPs. The Northern Ireland
Secretary is a cabinet-level post in the British government.
Along with
England
England and
Wales
Wales and Scotland,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland forms one
of the three separate legal jurisdictions of the UK, all of which
share the Supreme Court of the
United Kingdom
United Kingdom as their court of final
appeal.
All-island institutions
As part of the Good Friday Agreement, the British and Irish
governments agreed on the creation of all-island institutions and
areas of cooperation. The
North/South Ministerial Council
North/South Ministerial Council is an
institution through which ministers from the
Government of Ireland
Government of Ireland and
the
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland Executive agree all-island policies. At least six
of these policy areas must have an associated all-island
"implementation bodies" and at least six others must be implemented
separately in each jurisdiction. The implementation bodies are:
Waterways Ireland, the Food Safety Promotion Board, InterTradeIreland,
the
Special
Special
European Union
European Union Programmes Body, the North/South Language
Body and the Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission.
The
British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference provides for
co-operation between the
Government of Ireland
Government of Ireland and the Government of
the
United Kingdom
United Kingdom on all matter of mutual interest, especially
Northern Ireland. In light of the Republic's particular interest in
the governance of Northern Ireland, "regular and frequent" meetings
co-chaired by the ROI Minister for Foreign Affairs and the UK
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, dealing with non-devolved
matters to do with
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland and non-devolved all-Ireland
issues, are required to take place under the establishing treaty.
The
North/South Inter-Parliamentary Association is a joint
parliamentary forum for the island of Ireland. It has no formal powers
but operates as a forum for discussing matters of common concern
between the respective legislatures.
Economy
Despite the two jurisdictions using two distinct currencies (the euro
and pound sterling), a growing amount of commercial activity is
carried out on an all-
Ireland
Ireland basis. This has been facilitated by the
two jurisdictions' shared membership of the European Union, and there
have been calls from members of the business community and
policymakers for the creation of an "all-
Ireland
Ireland economy" to take
advantage of economies of scale and boost competitiveness.[92]
There are two multi-city regions on the island of Ireland:
Dublin-
Belfast
Belfast corridor - 3.3 m
Cork-Limerick-Galway corridor
Cork-Limerick-Galway corridor - 1 m
Below is a comparison of the Regional GDP on the island of Ireland.
Republic of Ireland: Border Midlands & West
Republic of Ireland: Southern & Eastern
United Kingdom: Northern Ireland
€30 bn[93]
€142 bn (
Dublin
Dublin €72.4bn)[93]
€43.4 bn (
Belfast
Belfast €20.9 bn)[94]
€23,700 per person[94]
€39,900 per person[94]
€21,000 per person[94]
Area
Population
Country
City
2012 GDP €
GDP per person €
2014 GDP €
GDP per person €
Dublin
Dublin Region
1,350,000
ROI
Dublin
€72.4 bn
€57,200
€87.238 bn
€68,208
South-West Region
670,000
ROI
Cork
€32.3 bn
€48,500
€33.745 bn
€50,544
Greater Belfast
720,000
NI
Belfast
€20.9 bn
€33,550
€22.153 bn
€34,850
West Region
454,000
ROI
Galway
€13.8 bn
€31,500
€13.37 bn
€29,881
Mid-West Region
383,000
ROI
Limerick
€11.4 bn
€30,300
€12.116 bn
€31,792
South-East Region
510,000
ROI
Waterford
€12.8 bn
€25,600
€14.044 bn
€28,094
Mid-East Region
558,000
ROI
Bray
€13.3 bn
€24,700
€16.024 bn
€30,033
Border Region
519,000
ROI
Drogheda
€10.7 bn
€21,100
€10.452 bn
€20,205
East of Northern Ireland
430,000
NI
Ballymena
€9.5 bn
€20,300
€10.793 bn
€24,100
Midlands Region
290,000
ROI
Athlone
€5.7 bn
€20,100
€6.172 bn
€21,753
West and South of Northern Ireland
400,000
NI
Newry
€8.4 bn
€19,300
€5.849 bn
€20,100
North of Northern Ireland
280,000
NI
Derry
€5.5 bn
€18,400
€9.283 bn
€22,000
Total
6.6 m
€216.7 bn
€241 bn
[95]
The BMW region of the
Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland (consisting of Connacht,
Counties Laois, Offaly, Westmeath, Longford, Donegal, Monaghan, Cavan,
Louth)
The S&E region of the
Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland (consisting of Munster,
Counties Dublin, Wicklow, Meath, Kildare, Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford).
Tourism
Main article: Tourist destinations in Ireland
Inisheer
.jpg/520px-Inisheer_5091_(2).jpg)
Inisheer (Inis Oírr), Aran Islands.
There are three World Heritage Sites on the island: the Brú na
Bóinne,
Skellig Michael
Skellig Michael and the Giant's Causeway.[96] A number of
other places are on the tentative list, for example the Burren, the
Ceide Fields[97] and Mount Stewart.[98]
Some of the most visited sites in
Ireland
Ireland include Bunratty Castle, the
Rock of Cashel, the Cliffs of Moher,
Holy Cross Abbey
Holy Cross Abbey and Blarney
Castle.[99] Historically important monastic sites include Glendalough
and Clonmacnoise, which are maintained as national monuments in the
Republic of Ireland.[100]
Dublin
Dublin is the most heavily touristed region[99] and home to several of
the most popular attractions such as the
Guinness Storehouse
Guinness Storehouse and Book
of Kells.[99] The west and south west, which includes the Lakes of
Killarney and the
Dingle peninsula
Dingle peninsula in
County Kerry
County Kerry and
Connemara
Connemara and
the
Aran Islands
Aran Islands in County Galway, are also popular tourist
destinations.[99]
Achill
Island
Island lies off the coast of
County Mayo
County Mayo and is Ireland's
largest island. It is a popular tourist destination for surfing and
contains 5 Blue Flag beaches and
Croaghaun
Croaghaun one of the worlds highest
sea cliffs. Stately homes, built during the 17th, 18th and 19th
centuries in Palladian, Neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles, such as,
Castle Ward, Castletown House,
Bantry
Bantry House,
Glenveagh Castle
Glenveagh Castle are also
of interest to tourists. Some have been converted into hotels, such as
Ashford Castle,
Castle Leslie
Castle Leslie and Dromoland Castle.
World Heritage Sites
Giant's Causeway, County Antrim
Skellig Michael, County Kerry
Newgrange, County Meath
Energy
Turf-cutting near
Maam Cross
Maam Cross by the road to Leenane, Co. Galway.
Ireland
Ireland has an ancient industry based on peat (known locally as
"turf") as a source of energy for home fires. A form of biomass
energy, this source of heat is still widely used in rural areas.
However, due to the ecological importance of peatlands in storing
carbon and their rarity, the EU is attempting to protect this habitat
by fining
Ireland
Ireland if they are dug up. In cities, heat is generally
supplied by heating oil, although some urban suppliers distribute
"sods of turf" as "smokeless fuel".
An area in which the island operates as a single market is
electricity.[101] For much of their existence electricity networks in
the
Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland and
Northern Ireland
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[102] and also connected through
Great Britain
Great Britain to mainland Europe. The situation in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is
complicated by the issue of private companies not supplying Northern
Ireland
Ireland
Electricity
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
EirGrid is building a HVDC
transmission line between
Ireland
Ireland and
Great Britain
Great Britain with a capacity of
500 MW,[103] about 10% of Ireland's peak demand.
As with electricity, the natural gas distribution network is also now
all-island, with a pipeline linking Gormanston, County Meath, and
Ballyclare, County Antrim.[104] Most of Ireland's gas comes through
interconnectors between
Twynholm
Twynholm in
Scotland
Scotland and Ballylumford, County
Antrim and Loughshinny, County Dublin. A decreasing supply is coming
from the Kinsale gas field off the
County Cork
County Cork coast[105][106] and the
Corrib Gas Field
Corrib Gas Field off the coast of
County Mayo
County Mayo has yet to come on-line.
The
County Mayo
County Mayo field is facing some localised opposition over a
controversial decision to refine the gas onshore.
The Republic has a strong commitment to renewable energy, and ranks as
one of the top 10 markets for cleantech investment in the 2014 Global
Green Economy Index.[107] Research and development in renewable energy
such as wind power has increased since 2004. Large wind farms have
been constructed in Cork, Donegal, Mayo and Antrim. 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 is 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
Turlough Hill facility is the only power-storage facility in
the state.[108]
Geography
Main article:
Geography
Geography of Ireland
Physical features of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is located in the north-west of Europe, between latitudes 51°
and 56° N, and longitudes 11° and 5° W. It is separated from Great
Britain by the
Irish Sea
Irish Sea and the North Channel, which has a width of
23 kilometres (14 mi)[109] at its narrowest point. To the west is
the northern
Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean and to the south is the Celtic Sea, which
lies between
Ireland
Ireland and Brittany, in France.
Ireland
Ireland has a total area
of 84,421 km2 (32,595 sq mi),[1][2][110] of which the
Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland occupies 83 percent.[111]
Ireland
Ireland and Great
Britain, together with many nearby smaller islands, are known
collectively as the British Isles. As the term
British Isles
British Isles is
controversial in relation to Ireland, the alternate term Britain and
Ireland
Ireland is often used as a neutral term for the islands.
A ring of coastal mountains surround low plains at the centre of the
island. The highest of these is
Carrauntoohil
Carrauntoohil (Irish: Corrán
Tuathail) in County Kerry, which rises to 1,038 m (3,406 ft)
above sea level.[112] The most arable land lies in the province of
Leinster.[113] Western areas can be mountainous and rocky with green
panoramic vistas. The River Shannon, the island's longest river at
386 km (240 mi) long, rises in
County Cavan
County Cavan in the north
west and flows 113 kilometres (70 mi) to
Limerick
Limerick city in the mid
west.[112][114]
The island consists of varied geological provinces. In the west,
around
County Galway
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
Ulster and extending southwest to
Longford
.png/400px-Longford-Westmeath_(Dáil_Éireann_constituency).png)
Longford and south to
Navan
Navan is a province of Ordovician and Silurian
rocks, with similarities to the
Southern Uplands
_Named_(HR).png/440px-Scotland_(Location)_Named_(HR).png)
Southern Uplands province of Scotland.
Further south, along the County
Wexford
Wexford coastline, is an area of
granite intrusives into more Ordovician and Silurian rocks, like that
found in Wales.[115][116]
In the southwest, around
Bantry Bay
Bantry Bay and the mountains of
Macgillicuddy's Reeks, is an area of substantially deformed, but only
lightly metamorphosed, Devonian-aged rocks.[117] 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
Lisdoonvarna has well-developed karst features.[118] Significant
stratiform lead-zinc mineralisation is found in the limestones around
Silvermines
Silvermines and Tynagh.
Hydrocarbon exploration
Hydrocarbon exploration is ongoing following the first major find at
the
Kinsale Head gas field off Cork in the mid-1970s.[119][120] In
1999, economically significant finds of natural gas were made in the
Corrib Gas Field
Corrib Gas Field off the
County Mayo
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.[121]
Landscapes
Dunluce Castle, County Antrim
Benbulbin, County Sligo
Connemara, County Galway
Glendalough, County Wicklow
Ardfert Cathedral, County Kerry
Glenbeg Lough, County Cork
Climate
Main article: Climate of Ireland
The island's lush vegetation, a product of its mild climate and
frequent rainfall, earns it the sobriquet the Emerald Isle. Overall,
Ireland
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.[122] 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
County Galway and east
County Mayo
County Mayo have the highest
incidents of recorded lightning annually for the island, with
lightning occurring approximately five to ten days per year in these
areas.[123] 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
Ireland is sometimes affected by heat waves, most recently in 1995,
2003, 2006 and 2013. In common with the rest of Europe, Ireland
experienced unusually cold weather during the winter of 2009/10.
Temperatures fell as low as −17.2 °C (1 °F) in County
Mayo on 20 December[124] and up to a metre (3 ft) of snow fell in
mountainous areas.
Climate data for Ireland
Month
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Year
Record high °C (°F)
18.5
(65.3)
18.1
(64.6)
23.6
(74.5)
25.8
(78.4)
28.4
(83.1)
33.3
(91.9)
32.3
(90.1)
31.5
(88.7)
29.1
(84.4)
25.2
(77.4)
20.1
(68.2)
18.1
(64.6)
33.3
(91.9)
Record low °C (°F)
−19.1
(−2.4)
−17.8
(0)
−17.2
(1)
−7.7
(18.1)
−5.6
(21.9)
−3.3
(26.1)
−0.3
(31.5)
−2.7
(27.1)
−3
(27)
−8.3
(17.1)
−11.5
(11.3)
−17.5
(0.5)
−19.1
(−2.4)
Source #1: Met Éireann[125]
Source #2: The
Irish Times
Irish Times (November record high)[126]
Flora and fauna
Main articles: Fauna of Ireland, Flora of Ireland, and Trees of
Britain and Ireland
Red deer
Red deer (Cervus elaphus) in Killarney National Park
Two red foxes (Vulpes vulpes). Photo taken in Gubbeen, County Cork,
Republic of Ireland.
Because
Ireland
Ireland became isolated from mainland
Europe
Europe by rising sea
levels before the last ice age had completely finished, it has fewer
land animal and plant species than Great Britain, which separated
later, or mainland Europe. There are 55 mammal species in
Ireland
Ireland and
of them only 26 land mammal species are considered native to
Ireland.[8] 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 sea
turtle, shark, seal, 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.
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,[127] particularly for larger wild
mammals with greater territorial needs. With no large apex predators
in
Ireland
Ireland other than humans and dogs, such populations of animals as
semi-wild deer that cannot be controlled by smaller predators, such as
the fox, are controlled by annual culling.
There are no snakes in
Ireland
Ireland and only one species of reptile (the
common lizard) is native to the island. Extinct species include the
Irish elk, the great auk and the wolf. Some previously extinct birds,
such as the golden eagle, been reintroduced in about the year 2000
after decades of extirpation.[128] Until medieval times
Ireland
Ireland was
heavily forested with oak, pine and birch. Forests today cover about
12.6% of Ireland,[7] of which 4,450 km² or one million acres is
owned by Coillte, the Republic's forestry service.[129][verification
needed]
As of 2012, the Republic is one of the least forested countries in
Europe.[130][131] 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.[132]
Furze
Furze (Ulex europaeus)
The algal and seaweed flora is that of the cold-temperate variety. The
total number of species is 574[133] and is distributed as follows:
264
Rhodophyta
Rhodophyta (red algae)
152
Phaeophyceae
Phaeophyceae (brown algae including kelps)
114 Chloropyta (green algae)
31
Cyanophyta
.JPG/440px-Tolypothrix_(Cyanobacteria).JPG)
Cyanophyta (Blue-green algae)
Rarer species include:[133]
Itonoa marginifera (J.Agardh) Masuda & Guiry
Schmitzia hiscockiana Maggs & Guiry
Gelidiella calcicola Maggs & Guiry
Gelidium maggsiae Rico & Guiry
Halymenia latifolia P.L.Crouan & H.M.Crouan ex Kützing.
The island has been invaded by some algae, some of which are now well
established. For example:[134]
Asparagopsis armara Harvey, which originated in Australia and was
first recorded by M. De Valera in 1939
Colpomenia peregrina
Colpomenia peregrina Sauvageau, which is now locally abundant and
first recorded in the 1930s
Sargassum
Sargassum muticum (Yendo) Fensholt, now well established in a number
of localities on the south, west, and north-east coasts
Codium fragile
Codium fragile ssp. fragile (formerly reported as ssp. tomentosum),
now well established.
Codium fragile
Codium fragile ssp. atlanticum has 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
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.
Impact of agriculture
Bantry, County Cork
The long history of agricultural production, coupled with modern
intensive agricultural methods such as pesticide and fertiliser use
and runoff from contaminants into streams, rivers and lakes, impact
the natural fresh-water ecosystems and have placed pressure on
biodiversity in Ireland.[135][136]
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 acts 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. The
Common Agricultural Policy
Common Agricultural Policy had in the past
subsidised potentially destructive agricultural practices, for example
by emphasising production without placing limits on indiscriminate use
of fertilisers and pesticides; but reforms have gradually decoupled
subsidies from production levels and introduced environmental and
other requirements.[137]
Forest covers about 12.6% of the country, most of it designated for
commercial production.[127] 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.[138]
32.2% of all of Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions are due to
agriculture.[139]
Demographics
Main articles: Irish people, Demographics of the Republic of Ireland,
and Demography of Northern Ireland
A
Population density
Population density map of
Ireland
Ireland 2002 showing the heavily weighted
eastern seaboard and Ulster
Proportion of respondents to the
Ireland
Ireland census 2011 or the Northern
Ireland
Ireland census 2011 who stated they were Catholic. Areas in which
Catholics are in the majority are blue. Areas in which Catholics are
in a minority are red.
People have lived in
Ireland
Ireland for over 9,000 years. The different eras
are termed mesolithic, neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age.
Early historical and genealogical records note the existence of major
groups such as the Cruthin, Corcu Loígde, Dál Riata, Dáirine,
Deirgtine, Delbhna, Érainn, Laigin, Ulaid. Slightly later major
groups included the Connachta, Ciannachta, Eóganachta.
Smaller groups included the aithechthúatha (see Attacotti),
Cálraighe, Cíarraige, Conmaicne, Dartraighe, Déisi, Éile, Fir
Bolg, Fortuatha, Gailenga, Gamanraige, Mairtine, Múscraige,
Partraige, Soghain, Uaithni, Uí Maine, Uí Liatháin. Many survived
into late medieval times, others vanished as they became politically
unimportant.
Over the past 1200 years, Vikings, Normans, Welsh, Flemings, Scots,
English, Africans,
Eastern Europeans
Eastern Europeans and
South Americans
.svg/400px-South_America_(orthographic_projection).svg.png)
South Americans have all
added to the population and have had significant influences on Irish
culture.
Ireland's largest religious group is Christianity. The largest
denomination is
Roman Catholicism
Roman Catholicism representing over 73% for the island
(and about 87% of the Republic of Ireland). Most of the rest of the
population adhere to one of the various
Protestant
Protestant denominations
(about 48% of Northern Ireland).[140] The largest is the Anglican
Church of Ireland. The Muslim community is growing in Ireland, mostly
through increased immigration, with a 50% increase in the republic
between the 2006 and 2011 census.[141] The island has a small Jewish
community. About 4% of the Republic's population and about 14% of the
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland population[140] describe themselves as of no
religion. In a 2010 survey conducted on behalf of the Irish Times, 32%
of respondents said they went to a religious service more than once a
week.
The population of
Ireland
Ireland rose rapidly from the 16th century until the
mid-19th century, interrupted briefly by the Famine of 1740-41, which
killed roughly two fifths of the island's population. The population
rebounded and multiplied over the next century, but another
devastating famine in the 1840s caused one million deaths and forced
over one million more to emigrate in its immediate wake. Over the
following century the population was reduced by over half, at a time
when the general trend in European countries was for populations to
rise by an average of three-fold.
Divisions and settlements
Further information: Provinces of Ireland, Counties of Ireland, and
City status in Ireland
Traditionally,
Ireland
Ireland is subdivided into four provinces: Connacht
(west),
Leinster
Leinster (east),
Munster
Munster (south), and
Ulster
Ulster (north). In a
system that developed between the 13th and 17th centuries,[142]
Ireland
Ireland has 32 traditional counties. Twenty-six of these counties are
in the
Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland and six are in Northern Ireland. The six
counties that constitute
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland are all in the province of
Ulster
Ulster (which has nine counties in total). As such,
Ulster
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 treated as counties for cultural and some
official purposes, for example postal addresses and by the Ordnance
Survey Ireland. Counties in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland are no longer used for
local governmental purposes,[143] but, as in the Republic, their
traditional boundaries are still used for informal purposes such as
sports leagues and in cultural or tourism contexts.[144]
City status in Ireland
City status in Ireland is decided by legislative or royal charter.
Dublin, with over 1 million residents in the Greater
Dublin
Dublin Area, is
the largest city on the island. Belfast, with 579,726 residents, is
the largest city in Northern Ireland. City status does not directly
equate with population size. For example, Armagh, with 14,590 is the
seat of the
Church of Ireland
Church of Ireland and the
Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Primate of All
Ireland
Ireland and was re-granted city status by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994
(having lost that status in local government reforms of 1840). In the
Republic of Ireland, Kilkenny, seat of the Butler dynasty, while no
longer a city for administrative purposes (since the 2001 Local
Government Act), is entitled by law to continue to use the
description.
Cities and towns by populations
Dublin
Cork
#
Settlement
Urban Area Population
Metro population
Belfast
Derry
1
Dublin
1,173,179[145]
1,801,040
(Greater Dublin)
2
Belfast
333,000[146]
579,276[147]
(
Belfast
Belfast Metropolitan Area)
3
Cork
208,669[148]
300,0000
(Cork Metro)
4
Limerick
94,192[148]
5
Derry
93,512
6
Galway
79,934[148]
7
Lisburn
71,465[149]
8
Waterford
53,504[148]
9
Craigavon
57,651[146]
10
Drogheda
38,578
11
Dundalk
37,816
Migration
The population of
Ireland
Ireland since 1603 showing the consequence of the
Great Famine (1845–52) (Note: figures before 1841 are contemporary
estimates)
The population of
Ireland
Ireland collapsed dramatically during the second
half of the 19th century. A population of over 8 million in 1841 was
reduced to slightly more than 4 million by 1921. In part, the fall in
population was due to death from the Great Famine of 1845 to 1852,
which took about 1 million lives. However, by far the greater cause of
population decline was the dire economic state of the country which
led to an entrenched culture of emigration lasting until the 21st
century.
Emigration from
Ireland
Ireland in the 19th century contributed to the
populations of England, the United States, Canada and Australia, where
a large
Irish diaspora
Irish diaspora lives. As of 2006[update], 4.3 million
Canadians, or 14% of the population, are of Irish descent.[150] As of
2013[update], a total of 34.5 million Americans claim Irish
ancestry.[151]
With growing prosperity since the last decade of the 20th century,
Ireland
Ireland became a destination for immigrants. Since the European Union
expanded to include
Poland
Poland in 2004,
Polish people
Polish people have made up the
largest number of immigrants (over 150,000)[152] from Central Europe.
There has also been significant immigration from Lithuania, the Czech
Republic and Latvia.[153]
The
Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland in particular has seen large-scale
immigration, with 420,000 foreign nationals as of 2006, about 10% of
the population.[154] A quarter of births (24 percent) in 2009 were to
mothers born outside Ireland.[155] Chinese and Nigerians, along with
people from other African countries, have accounted for a large
proportion of the non–
European Union
European Union migrants to Ireland. Up to
50,000 eastern and central European migrant workers left
Ireland
Ireland in
response to the Irish financial crisis.[156]
Languages
Main article: Languages of Ireland
Proportion of respondents who said they could speak Irish in the
Ireland
Ireland census in 2011 or the
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland census in 2011
The two official languages of the
Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland are Irish and
English. Each language has produced a noteworthy literature. Irish,
though now only the language of a minority, was the vernacular of the
Irish people
Irish people for over two thousand years and was possibly introduced
during the Iron Age. It began to be written down after
Christianisation in the 5th century and spread to
Scotland
Scotland and the
Isle of Man
Isle of Man where it evolved into the
Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic and Manx
languages respectively.
The
Irish language
Irish language has a vast treasury of written texts from many
centuries, and is divided by linguists into
Old Irish from the 6th to
10th century,
Middle Irish from the 10th to 13th century, Early Modern
Irish until the 17th century, and the Modern Irish spoken today. It
remained the dominant language of
Ireland
Ireland for most of those periods,
having influences from Latin, Old Norse, French and English. It
declined under British rule but remained the majority tongue until the
early 19th century, and since then has been a minority language.
The
Gaelic Revival
Gaelic Revival of the early twentieth century has had a long-term
influence. There is now an extensive network of urban Irish speakers
(Gaeilgeoirí) in both the Republic and Northern Ireland, especially
in
Dublin
Dublin and Belfast. They represent an expanding demographic, with
their own schools (called Gaelscoileanna) and their own social media.
It has been argued that they tend to be more highly educated than
monolingual English speakers, with better employment prospects and
higher social status.[157][158] Recent research suggests that urban
Irish is developing in a direction of its own, both in pronunciation
and grammar.[159] Irish is also taught in mainstream English-speaking
schools as a compulsory subject, but has been criticised for its
ineffectiveness.[160]
Traditional rural Irish-speaking areas, known collectively as the
Gaeltacht, are in linguistic decline. The main
Gaeltacht
Gaeltacht areas are in
the west, south-west and north-west. They are to be found in Donegal,
Mayo,
Galway
Galway and Kerry with smaller
Gaeltacht
Gaeltacht areas near
Dungarvan
Dungarvan in
Waterford, Navan, in Meath.[161]
English in
Ireland
Ireland was first introduced during the Norman invasion. It
was spoken by a few peasants and merchants brought over from England,
and was largely replaced by Irish before the Tudor conquest of
Ireland. It was introduced as the official language with the Tudor and
Cromwellian conquests. The
Ulster
Ulster plantations gave it a permanent
foothold in Ulster, and it remained the official and upper-class
language elsewhere, the Irish-speaking chieftains and nobility having
been deposed. Language shift during the 19th century replaced Irish
with English as the first language for a vast majority of the
population.[162]
Less than 10% of the population of the
Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland today speak
Irish regularly outside of the education system[163] 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 Irish, including specific protective measures under Part
III of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. A
lesser status (including recognition under Part II of the Charter) is
given to
Ulster
Ulster Scots dialects, which are spoken by roughly 2% of
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland residents, and also spoken by some in the Republic of
Ireland.[164] Since the 1960s with the increase in immigration, many
more languages have been introduced, particularly deriving from Asia
and Eastern Europe.
Shelta, the language of the nomadic
Irish Travellers
.jpg/440px-Travellers_Decorated_Caravan_(6136023633).jpg)
Irish Travellers is native to
Ireland.[165]
Culture
Main articles:
Culture of Ireland
Culture of Ireland and Culture of Northern Ireland
Ardboe High Cross, County Tyrone
Ireland's culture comprises elements of the culture of ancient
peoples, later immigrant and broadcast cultural influences (chiefly
Gaelic culture, Anglicisation,
Americanisation
Americanisation and aspects of broader
European culture). In broad terms,
Ireland
Ireland is regarded as one of the
Celtic nations
Celtic nations of Europe, alongside Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Isle of
Man and Brittany. This combination of cultural influences is visible
in the intricate designs termed Irish interlace or Celtic knotwork.
These can be seen in the ornamentation of medieval religious and
secular works. The style is still popular today in jewellery and
graphic art,[166] as is the distinctive style of traditional Irish
music and dance, and has become indicative of modern "Celtic" culture
in general.
Religion has played a significant role in the cultural life of the
island since ancient times (and since the 17th century plantations,
has been the focus of political identity and divisions on the island).
Ireland's pre-Christian heritage fused with the Celtic Church
following the missions of
Saint Patrick
_-_stained_glass,_Saint_Patrick_-_detail.jpg/520px-Saint_Patrick_Catholic_Church_(Junction_City,_Ohio)_-_stained_glass,_Saint_Patrick_-_detail.jpg)
Saint Patrick in the 5th century. The
Hiberno-Scottish missions, begun by the Irish monk Saint Columba,
spread the Irish vision of
Christianity
Christianity to pagan
England
England and the
Frankish Empire. These missions brought written language to an
illiterate population of
Europe
Europe during the Dark Ages that followed the
fall of Rome, earning
Ireland
Ireland the sobriquet, "the island of saints and
scholars".
Since the 20th century the Irish pubs worldwide have become,
especially those with a full range of cultural and gastronomic
offerings, outposts of Irish culture.
The Republic of Ireland's national theatre is the Abbey Theatre, which
was founded in 1904, and the national Irish-language theatre is An
Taibhdhearc, which was established in 1928 in Galway.[167][168]
Playwrights such as Seán O'Casey, Brian Friel, Sebastian Barry, Conor
McPherson and
Billy Roche are internationally renowned.[169]
Arts
Main articles: Music of Ireland, Irish dance, Irish literature, Irish
art, and Irish theatre
Illuminated page from Book of Kells
Literature
Ireland
Ireland has made a large contribution to world literature in all its
branches, both in Irish and English. Poetry in Irish is among the
oldest vernacular poetry in Europe, with the earliest examples dating
from the 6th century. Irish remained the dominant literary language
down to the nineteenth century, despite the spread of English from the
seventeenth century on. Prominent names from the medieval period and
later include
Gofraidh Fionn Ó Dálaigh (fourteenth century),
Dáibhí Ó Bruadair (seventeenth century) and Aogán Ó Rathaille
(eighteenth century).
Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill (c. 1743 – c. 1800)
was an outstanding poet in the oral tradition. The latter part of the
nineteenth century saw a rapid replacement of Irish by English. By
1900, however, cultural nationalists had begun the Gaelic revival,
which saw the beginnings of a modern literature in Irish. This was to
produce a number of notable writers, including Máirtín Ó Cadhain,
Máire Mhac an tSaoi and others. Irish-language publishers such as
Coiscéim
Coiscéim and
Cló Iar-Chonnacht
Cló Iar-Chonnacht continue to produce scores of titles
every year.
In English,
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745),
often called the foremost satirist in the English language, gained
fame for works such as
Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver's Travels and A Modest Proposal. Other
notable eighteenth century writers of Irish origin included Oliver
Goldsmith and Richard Brinsley Sheridan, though they spent most of
their lives in England. The Anglo-Irish novel came to the fore in the
nineteenth century, featuring such writers as Charles Kickham, William
Carleton, and (in collaboration)
Edith Somerville
Edith Somerville and Violet Florence
Martin. The playwright and poet Oscar Wilde, noted for his epigrams,
was born in Ireland.
In the 20th century,
Ireland
Ireland 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
Nobel Prize winner, James
Joyce is widely considered to be 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
Modernist literature and his life is
celebrated annually on 16 June in
Dublin
Dublin as "Bloomsday".[170] A
comparable writer in Irish is Máirtín Ó Cadhain, whose novel Cré
na Cille is regarded as a modernist masterpiece and has been
translated into several languages.
Modern
Irish literature
Irish literature is often connected with its rural
heritage[171] through English-language writers such as John McGahern
and
Seamus Heaney
.jpg/440px-Carol_Ann_Duffy_at_Humber_Mouth_2009_(3646825708).jpg)
Seamus Heaney and Irish-language writers such as Máirtín Ó
Direáin and others from the Gaeltacht.
James Joyce
James Joyce one of the most significant writers of the 20th century
Music
Music has been in evidence in
Ireland
Ireland since prehistoric times.[172]
Although in the early
Middle Ages
Middle Ages the church was "quite unlike its
counterpart in continental Europe",[173] there was considerable
interchange between monastic settlements in
Ireland
Ireland and the rest of
Europe
Europe that contributed to what is known as Gregorian chant. Outside
religious establishments, musical genres in early
Gaelic Ireland
Gaelic Ireland are
referred to as a triad of weeping music (goltraige), laughing music
(geantraige) and sleeping music (suantraige).[174] Vocal and
instrumental music (e.g. for the harp, pipes, and various string
instruments) was transmitted orally, but the Irish harp, in
particular, was of such significance that it became Ireland's national
symbol. Classical music following European models first developed in
urban areas, in establishments of Anglo-Irish rule such as Dublin
Castle, St Patrick's Cathedral and Christ Church as well as the
country houses of the Anglo-Irish ascendancy, with the first
performance of Handel's Messiah (1742) being among the highlights of
the baroque era. In the 19th century, public concerts provided access
to classical music to all classes of society. Yet, for political and
financial reasons
Ireland
Ireland has been too small to provide a living to
many musicians, so the names of the better-known Irish composers of
this time belong to emigrants.
Irish traditional music and dance has seen a surge in popularity and
global coverage since the 1960s. In the middle years of the 20th
century, as Irish society was modernising, traditional music had
fallen out of favour, especially in urban areas.[175] However during
the 1960s, there was a revival of interest in Irish traditional music
led by groups such as The Dubliners, The Chieftains, The Wolfe Tones,
the Clancy Brothers,
Sweeney's Men and individuals like Seán Ó Riada
and Christy Moore. Groups and musicians including Horslips, Van
Morrison and
Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy incorporated elements of Irish traditional
music into contemporary rock music and, 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 Enya, The Saw Doctors, The Corrs, Sinéad O'Connor, Clannad, The
Cranberries and
The Pogues
The Pogues among others.
Art
The earliest known Irish graphic art and sculpture are Neolithic
carvings found at sites such as Newgrange[176] and is traced through
Bronze age
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 tradition of painting emerged, including such
figures as John Butler Yeats, William Orpen,
Jack Yeats
Jack Yeats and Louis le
Brocquy. Contemporary Irish visual artists of note include Sean
Scully, Kevin Abosch, and Alice Maher.
Science
Robert Boyle
Robert Boyle formulated Boyle's Law.
The Irish philosopher and theologian
Johannes Scotus Eriugena
Johannes Scotus Eriugena was
considered one of the leading intellectuals of the early Middle Ages.
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, an Irish explorer, was one of the
principal figures of Antarctic exploration. He, along with his
expedition, made the first ascent of
Mount Erebus
Mount Erebus and the discovery of
the approximate location of the South Magnetic Pole.
Robert Boyle
Robert Boyle was
a 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.[177]
19th century physicist, John Tyndall, discovered the Tyndall effect.
Father Nicholas Joseph Callan, Professor of Natural Philosophy in
Maynooth College, is best known for his invention of the induction
coil, transformer and he discovered an early method of galvanisation
in the 19th century.
Other notable Irish physicists include Ernest Walton, winner of the
1951
Nobel Prize
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.[178] 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.[179]
George Johnstone Stoney
,Undated(DateGuessedEarly1890s).jpg/440px-GeorgeJohnstoneStoney(1826-1911),Undated(DateGuessedEarly1890s).jpg)
George Johnstone Stoney introduced the term electron in 1891. John
Stewart Bell was the originator of
Bell's Theorem
Bell's Theorem and a paper
concerning the discovery of the Bell-Jackiw-Adler anomaly and was
nominated for a Nobel prize.[180] The astronomer Jocelyn Bell Burnell,
from Lurgan, County Armagh, discovered pulsars in 1967. Notable
mathematicians include Sir William Rowan Hamilton, famous for work in
classical mechanics and the invention of quaternions. Francis Ysidro
Edgeworth's contribution of the
Edgeworth Box
Edgeworth Box remains influential in
neo-classical microeconomic theory to this day; while Richard
Cantillon inspired Adam Smith, among others.
John B. Cosgrave was a
specialist in number theory and discovered a 2000-digit prime number
in 1999 and a record composite
Fermat number
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. Kathleen Lonsdale,
born in
Ireland
Ireland and most known for her work with crystallography,
became the first female president of the British Association for the
Advancement of Science.[181]
Ireland
Ireland has nine universities, seven in the
Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland and
two in Northern Ireland, including Trinity College,
Dublin
Dublin and the
University College Dublin, as well as numerous third-level colleges
and institutes and a branch of the Open University, the Open
University in Ireland.
Sports
Main article: Sport in Ireland
See also: List of Irish sports people
Gaelic football
_2014.jpg/440px-Docklands_Stadium_(Etihad_Stadium)_2014.jpg)
Gaelic football is the most popular sport in
Ireland
Ireland in terms of match
attendance and community involvement, with about 2,600 clubs on the
island. In 2003 it represented 34% of total sports attendances at
events in
Ireland
Ireland and abroad, followed by hurling at 23%, soccer at
16% and rugby at 8%.[182] The
All-Ireland
All-Ireland Football Final is the most
watched event in the sporting calendar.[183] Soccer is the most widely
played team game on the island, and the most popular in Northern
Ireland.[182][184]
Other sporting activities with the highest levels of playing
participation include swimming, golf, aerobics, cycling, and
billiards/snooker.[185] Many other sports are also played and
followed, including boxing, cricket, fishing, greyhound racing,
handball, hockey, horse racing, motor sport, show jumping and tennis.
The island fields a single international team in most sports. One
notable exception to this is association football, although both
associations continued to field international teams under the name
"Ireland" until the 1950s. The sport is also the most notable
exception where the
Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland and
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland field
separate international teams.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland has produced two World
Snooker Champions.
Field sports
Tyrone v Kerry in the 2005
All-Ireland
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
Final
Gaelic football, hurling and handball are the best-known of the Irish
traditional sports, collectively known as Gaelic games. Gaelic games
are governed by the
Gaelic Athletic Association
Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), with the
exception of ladies'
Gaelic football
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[186] capacity
Croke Park
Croke Park in north Dublin. Many major GAA games
are played there, including the semi-finals and finals of the
All-Ireland
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and
All-Ireland
All-Ireland Senior
Hurling
Hurling Championship. During the redevelopment of the Lansdowne Road
stadium in 2007–10, international rugby and soccer were played
there.[187] 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
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
Ireland since the 1870s, with
Cliftonville F.C.
Cliftonville F.C. in Belfast
being Ireland's oldest club. It was most popular, especially in its
first decades, around
Belfast
Belfast and in Ulster. However, some clubs based
outside
Belfast
Belfast thought that the IFA largely favoured Ulster-based
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
Irish Cup semi-final replay from
Dublin
Dublin to Belfast,[188]
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
Football Association of Ireland (FAI). Despite being initially
blacklisted by the Home Nations' associations, the FAI was recognised
by
FIFA
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.
Paul O'Connell
Paul O'Connell reaching for the ball during a line out against
Argentina in 2007.
In 1950,
FIFA
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
Northern Ireland qualified for the World Cup finals in 1958 (reaching
the quarter-finals), 1982 and 1986 and the European Championship in
2016. The Republic qualified for the World Cup finals in 1990
(reaching the quarter-finals), 1994, 2002 and the European
Championships in 1988, 2012 and 2016. Across Ireland, there is
significant interest in the English and, to a lesser extent, Scottish
soccer leagues.
Unlike soccer,
Ireland
Ireland continues to field a single national rugby team
and a single association, the
Irish Rugby Football Union
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 six of them.
Ireland
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
Pro14
Pro14 and at least 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
Ulster (1999),[189] Munster
(2006[190] and 2008)[189] and
Leinster
Leinster (2009, 2011 and 2012)[189] have
won the Heineken Cup. In addition to this, the Irish International
side has had increased success in the
Six Nations Championship
Six Nations Championship against
the other European elite sides. This success, including Triple Crowns
in 2004, 2006 and 2007, culminated with a clean sweep of victories,
known as a Grand Slam, in 2009 and 2018.[191]
Other sports
Horse racing
Horse racing in Sligo
Horse racing
Horse racing and greyhound racing are both popular in Ireland. There
are frequent horse race meetings and greyhound stadiums are
well-attended. The island is noted for the breeding and training of
race horses and is also a large exporter of racing dogs.[192] The
horse racing sector is largely concentrated in the County
Kildare.[193]
Irish athletics has seen a heightened success rate since the year
2000, with
Sonia O'Sullivan
Sonia O'Sullivan winning two medals at 5,000 metres on the
track; 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
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.
Ireland
Ireland has won more medals in boxing than in any other Olympic sport.
Boxing
Boxing is governed by the Irish Athletic
Boxing
Boxing Association. Michael
Carruth won a gold medal and
Wayne McCullough
Wayne McCullough won a silver medal in
the Barcelona Olympic Games. In 2008 Kenneth Egan won a silver medal
in the Beijing Games.[194]
Paddy Barnes
Paddy Barnes secured bronze in those games
and gold in the 2010 European Amateur
Boxing
Boxing Championships (where
Ireland
Ireland came 2nd in the overall medal table) and 2010 Commonwealth
Games.
Katie Taylor
.jpg/440px-Katie_Taylor_2012_(cropped).jpg)
Katie Taylor has won gold in every European and World
championship since 2005. In August 2012 at the Olympic Games in London
Katie Taylor
Katie Taylor created history by becoming the first Irish woman to win
a gold medal in boxing in the 60 kg lightweight.[195]
Golf
Golf is very popular, and golf tourism is a major industry attracting
more than 240,000 golfing visitors annually.[196] The 2006 Ryder Cup
was held at The K Club in County Kildare.[197] Pádraig Harrington
became the first Irishman since Fred Daly in 1947 to win the British
Open at
Carnoustie
Carnoustie in July 2007.[198] He successfully defended his
title in July 2008[199] before going on to win the
PGA Championship
PGA Championship in
August.[200] Harrington became the first European to win the PGA
Championship in 78 years and was the first winner from Ireland. Three
golfers from
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland have been particularly successful. In
2010,
Graeme McDowell
Graeme McDowell became the first Irish golfer to win the U.S.
Open, and the first European to win that tournament since 1970. Rory
McIlroy, at the age of 22, won the 2011 U.S. Open, while Darren
Clarke's latest victory was the
2011 Open Championship
2011 Open Championship at Royal St.
George's. In August 2012, McIlroy won his 2nd major championship by
winning the US
PGA Championship
PGA Championship by a record margin of 8 shots.
Recreation
The west coast of Ireland,
Lahinch
Lahinch and
Donegal Bay
Donegal Bay in particular, have
popular surfing beaches, being fully exposed to the Atlantic Ocean.
Donegal Bay
Donegal Bay is shaped like a funnel and catches west/south-west
Atlantic winds, creating good surf, especially in winter. Since just
before the year 2010,
Bundoran
Bundoran has hosted European championship
surfing.
Scuba diving
Scuba diving is increasingly popular in
Ireland
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
Malin Head and off
the
County Cork
County Cork coast.[201]
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
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
Coarse fishing continues to increase its profile. Sea angling
is developed with many beaches mapped and signposted,[202] and the
range of sea angling species is around 80.[203]
Food and drink
Main article: Irish cuisine
Gubbeen cheese, an example of the resurgence in Irish cheese making
Food and cuisine in
Ireland
Ireland takes its influence from the crops grown
and animals farmed in the island's temperate climate and from the
social and political circumstances of Irish history. For example,
whilst from the
Middle Ages
Middle Ages until the arrival of the potato in the
16th century the dominant feature of the Irish economy was the herding
of cattle, the number of cattle a person owned was equated to their
social standing.[204] Thus herders would avoid slaughtering a
milk-producing cow.[204]
For this reason, pork and white meat were more common than beef and
thick fatty strips of salted bacon (known as rashers) and the eating
of salted butter (i.e. a dairy product rather than beef itself) have
been a central feature of the diet in
Ireland
Ireland since the Middle
Ages.[204] The practice of bleeding cattle and mixing the blood with
milk and butter (not unlike the practice of the Maasai) was
common[205] and black pudding, made from blood, grain (usually barley)
and seasoning, remains a breakfast staple in Ireland. All of these
influences can be seen today in the phenomenon of the "breakfast
roll".
The introduction of the potato in the second half of the 16th century
heavily influenced cuisine thereafter. Great poverty encouraged a
subsistence approach to food and by the mid-19th century the vast
majority of the population sufficed with a diet of potatoes and
milk.[206] A typical family, consisting of a man, a woman and four
children, would eat 18 stone (110 kg) of potatoes a week.[204]
Consequently, dishes that are considered as national dishes represent
a fundamental unsophistication to cooking, such as the Irish stew,
bacon and cabbage, boxty, a type of potato pancake, or colcannon, a
dish of mashed potatoes and kale or cabbage.[204]
Since the last quarter of the 20th century, with a re-emergence of
wealth in Ireland, a "New Irish Cuisine" based on traditional
ingredients incorporating international influences[207] has
emerged.[208] This cuisine is based on fresh vegetables, fish
(especially salmon, trout, oysters, mussels and other shellfish), as
well as traditional soda breads and the wide range of hand-made
cheeses that are now being produced across the country. An example of
this new cuisine is "
Dublin
Dublin Lawyer": lobster cooked in whiskey and
cream.[209] The potato remains however a fundamental feature of this
cuisine and the Irish remain the highest per capita[204] consumers of
potatoes in Europe. Traditional regional foods can be found throughout
the country, for example coddle in
Dublin
Dublin or drisheen in Cork, both a
type of sausage, or blaa, a doughy white bread particular to
Waterford.
The
Old Bushmills Distillery
Old Bushmills Distillery in County Antrim
Ireland
Ireland once dominated the world's market for whiskey, producing 90%
of the world's whiskey at the start of the 20th century. However, as a
consequence of bootleggers during the prohibition in the United States
(who sold poor-quality whiskey bearing Irish-sounding names thus
eroding the pre-prohibition popularity for Irish brands)[210] and
tariffs on
Irish whiskey
Irish whiskey across the
British Empire
British Empire during the
Anglo-Irish Trade War
Anglo-Irish Trade War of the 1930s,[211] sales of Irish whiskey
worldwide fell to a mere 2% by the mid-20th century.[212] In 1953, an
Irish government survey, found that 50 per cent of whiskey drinkers in
the United States had never heard of Irish whiskey.[213]
Irish whiskey, as researched in 2009 by the CNBC American broadcaster,
remains popular domestically and has grown in international sales
steadily over a few decades.[214] Typically CNBC states Irish whiskey
is not as smoky as a Scotch whisky, but not as sweet as American or
Canadian whiskies.[214]
Whiskey
Whiskey forms the basis of traditional cream
liqueurs, such as Baileys, and the "Irish coffee" (a cocktail of
coffee and whiskey reputedly invented at
Foynes
Foynes flying-boat station)
is probably the best-known Irish cocktail.
Stout, a kind of porter beer, particularly Guinness, is typically
associated with Ireland, although historically it was more closely
associated with London. Porter remains very popular, although it has
lost sales since the mid-20th century to lager. Cider, particularly
Magners
Magners (marketed in the
Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland as Bulmers), is also a
popular drink. Red lemonade, a soft-drink, is consumed on its own and
as a mixer, particularly with whiskey.[215]
See also
Islands portal
Europe
Europe portal
Ireland
Ireland portal
Irish states since 1171
List of divided islands
List of Ireland-related topics
List of islands of Ireland
List of Irish people
Notes
^ Numbers vary, from a low of 12,000.[54] Giovanni Battista Rinuccini
wrote 50,000,[55] T. N. Burke said 80,000 to 100,000.[55]
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External links
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Republic of Ireland.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Northern Ireland.
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Ireland
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ireland.
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