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Ireland

Celtic tribes arrived on the island between 600 and 150 B.C. Invasions by Norsemen that began in the late 8th century were finally ended when King Brian BORU defeated the Danes in 1014. Norman invasions began in the 12th century and set off more than seven centuries of Anglo-Irish struggle marked by fierce rebellions and harsh repressions. The Irish famine of the mid-19th century saw the population of the island drop by one third through starvation and emigration. For more than a century after that the population of the island continued to fall only to begin growing again in the 1960s. Over the last 50 years, Ireland’s high birthrate has made it demographically one of the youngest populations in the EU. The modern Irish state traces its origins to the failed 1916 Easter Monday Uprising that touched off several years of guerrilla warfare resulting in independence from the UK in 1921 for 26 southern counties; six northern (Ulster) counties remained part of the UK. Unresolved issues in Northern Ireland erupted into years of violence known as the “Troubles” that began in the 1960s. The Government of Ireland was part of a process along with the UK and US Governments that helped broker what is known as The Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland in 1998. This initiated a new phase of cooperation between the Irish and British Governments. Ireland was neutral in World War II and continues its policy of military neutrality. Ireland joined the European Community in 1973 and the euro-zone currency union in 1999. The economic boom years of the Celtic Tiger (1995-2007) saw rapid economic growth, which came to an abrupt end in 2008 with the meltdown of the Irish banking system. Today the economy is recovering, fueled by large and growing foreign direct investment, especially from US multi-nationals.

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Ireland Tourism Information…

Ireland .com
Title
Discover Ireland
Tourism Ireland

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The Best of Ireland…

East Coast & Midlands
Northwest & Lakelands
Shannon
Southeast
Southwest
West
Blarney Castle & Gardens
Burren Nat. park – County Clare
Slieve League – Carrick
Dingle Peninsula
Dublin Kilmainham Gaol
Book of Kells -Old Library
Guinness Storehouse
Wild Atlantic Way -Galway
Connemara Nat. Park -Galway
Glendalough
Ring of Kerry
Killarney
Cliffs of Moher-Liscannor
Waterford
Hook Head-Wexford
 
 

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Ireland Country Information…

Capital:

Dublin

Largest City:

Dublin

Government:

Unitary Parliamentary Constitutional Republic

Currency:

Euro (€)

Area:

Total: 70,273 km2 water: 1,390 km2 land: 68,883 km2 ranked 120th

Climate:

Temperate maritime; modified by North Atlantic Current; mild winters, cool summers; consistently humid; overcast about half the time

Population:

4,952,473 (July 2016 est.) ranked 122nd

Language:

English (official, the language generally used), Irish (Gaelic or Gaeilge) (official, spoken by approximately 38.7% of the population as a first or second language in 2011; mainly spoken in areas along the western coast)

Ethnic Groups:

Irish 84.5%, other white 9.8%, Asian 1.9%, black 1.4%, mixed and other 0.9%, unspecified 1.6% (2011 est.)

Religion:

Roman Catholic 84.7%, Church of Ireland 2.7%, other Christian 2.7%, Muslim 1.1%, other 1.7%, unspecified 1.5%, none 5.7% (2011 est.)

Electricity:

230V, 50Hz (European plug G)

Telephone Code:

+353

Local Emergency Phone Number:

112, 999

Internet TLD:

.ie

Time Zone:

GMT (UTC 0) Summer (UTC+1) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March, ends last Sunday in October

Road Driving Side:

Right

Anthem:

“Amhrán na bhFiann” “The Soldiers’ Song”

President:

Michael D. Higgins

Prime Minister:

Micheál Martin

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Holidays and Observances in Ireland in 2020

Date NameType
Jan 1WednesdayNew Year’s DayNational holiday
Mar 17TuesdaySt. Patrick’s DayNational holiday
Mar 20FridayMarch EquinoxSeason
Apr 10FridayGood FridayObservance
Apr 12SundayEasterObservance
Apr 13MondayEaster MondayNational holiday
May 4MondayMay DayNational holiday
Jun 1MondayJune Bank HolidayNational holiday
Jun 20SaturdayJune SolsticeSeason
Aug 3MondayAugust Bank HolidayNational holiday
Sep 22TuesdaySeptember EquinoxSeason
Oct 26MondayOctober Bank HolidayNational holiday
Dec 21MondayDecember SolsticeSeason
Dec 24ThursdayChristmas EveObservance
Dec 25FridayChristmas DayNational holiday
Dec 26SaturdaySt. Stephen’s DayNational holiday
Dec 31ThursdayNew Year’s EveObservance