I | INTRODUCTION |
Ireland (Irish Éire), country in northwestern
Europe occupying most of the island of Ireland, the second largest of the
British Isles. The Republic of Ireland lies to the west of Great Britain, the
largest island in the archipelago. It is separated from Great Britain to the
east by the North Channel and the Irish Sea, and to the southeast by Saint
George’s Channel. The western and southern shores of Ireland meet the North
Atlantic Ocean. Ireland’s only land border is with Northern Ireland, a province
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to the northeast.
Ireland has an area of 70,273 sq km (27,133 sq mi). The capital and largest city
is Dublin.
Ireland’s vivid green landscapes have earned
it the title Emerald Isle. Traditionally, most Irish people made their living
farming the land. Since the 1950s, energetic industrialization policies have
promoted manufacturing, which, along with services, now dominates Ireland’s
economy. In 1973 Ireland was admitted into the European Community (EC), and it
is now a member of the European Union (EU). Since the 1960s Ireland has
undergone a period of vigorous economic growth and rapid social change.
Between the 12th and 17th centuries, England
gradually extended its control over Ireland. Ireland became an integral part of
the United Kingdom by the Act of Union of 1800. In the 1840s the Irish potato
crop, a staple food, was destroyed by disease, leading to a great famine that
killed nearly 1 million people and forced many others to leave their homeland.
During the late 19th century a movement for Irish independence gathered
momentum, and after a bitter war the United Kingdom agreed to partition the
island. In 1921 the northeastern portion of Ireland became Northern Ireland, a
province of the United Kingdom. The remainder of Ireland became self-governing
in 1922 with the establishment of the Irish Free State, a dominion within the
British Commonwealth of Nations.
In 1937 the Free State’s name changed to
Éire (pronounced AIR-uh, a Gaelic word for Ireland) after the adoption of
a new constitution by popular vote. In 1949, following passage of the Republic
of Ireland Act, Ireland severed its links to the British Commonwealth and
declared itself a republic. Today, the country is commonly referred to as the
Republic of Ireland to set it apart from Northern Ireland. Ireland has sought to
promote the eventual reunification of the island of Ireland.
II | LAND AND RESOURCES |
A | Natural Regions |
Ireland consists of a central limestone
plain rimmed by low, often rugged mountain ranges along the coasts. Gaps in the
rim permit the plain to extend to the coast in several regions, notably along
the eastern coast to the north of Dublin. Most of the central plain lies 60 to
90 m (200 to 300 ft) above sea level. It includes numerous lakes and large areas
of marsh and peat bog, as well as some fertile agricultural land. Scattered
ridges rise above the plain, but none reach any great height.
Among the principal mountain ranges are
the Wicklow Mountains in the east, just south of Dublin, rising to more than 915
m (3,000 ft) above sea level. A number of smaller ranges, which have numerous
local names, extend across the country. They include the Derryveagh Mountains
and Blue Stack Mountains of Donegal in the northwest; the Maumturk Mountains and
Nephin Beg Range, the latter containing Mount Nephin 719 m (2,359 ft), in the
west; the Caha Mountains in the southwest, containing Mount Knockboy (707
m/2,321 ft); and the Boggeragh, Galty, and Knockmealdown mountains in the south.
In the far southwest, in a range known as Macgillicuddy’s Reeks, stands
Carrauntoohil, which rises to 1,041 m/3,415 ft, the highest point in Ireland.
B | Rivers and Lakes |
Ireland is a country of many rivers and
lakes, known as loughs. The principal rivers of Ireland are the Erne and
the Shannon, the longest river in the British Isles. The Shannon begins in the
northwest and flows southwest before reaching the Atlantic Ocean through a wide,
lengthy estuary. The Shannon, like the Erne, actually consists of a chain of
lakes joined by stretches of river; half the length of the Shannon is made up of
Loughs Allen, Ree, and Derg. Many of Ireland’s rivers, including the Liffey and
Boyne in the east and the Lee in the southwest, are relatively short, draining
mountains and hills near the sea. The southeastern part of the island is drained
by a river system made up of the Suir, Nore, and Barrow and their tributaries.
Apart from the Shannon, which is
navigable for most of its length, inland navigation largely depends on the
remnants of a canal system built in the 18th and 19th centuries. Parts of this
system have been restored, including the Royal and Grand canals that link Dublin
to the Shannon. The completely rebuilt Ballinamore-Ballyconnell Canal, which
originally opened in 1860, connects the Shannon and Erne.
Major loughs include Ree and Derg on the
Shannon and Mask, Corrib, and Conn in the west. In the mountains of the
southwest are the three small and picturesque Lakes of Killarney.
C | Coastline and Islands |
The eastern coast of Ireland is fairly
regular with few deep indentations; the only sizable inlets are Dundalk Bay and
Dublin Bay. In the south the largest harbor is Cork Harbour. Most of the western
coast is extremely rugged and marked by drowned, or submerged, valleys and steep
cliffs. Major inlets on the western coast include Bantry and Dingle bays in the
south, Galway Bay in the center, and Donegal Bay in the north. Hundreds of small
islands are scattered along the western coast. Among the largest are Achill
Island and the Aran Islands.
D | Climate |
Ireland has a maritime temperate climate
with little seasonal or regional variation due to the moderating influence of
the Gulf Stream, which brings warm, moist winds from the Atlantic Ocean. The
average winter temperature ranges from 4° to 7°C (40° to 45°F), approximately 14
Celsius degrees (25 Fahrenheit degrees) higher than that of most other places in
the same latitude in the interior of Europe or on the eastern coast of North
America. The oceanic influence is also pronounced in the summer; the average
summer temperature of Ireland ranges from 15° to 17°C (59° to 62°F), or about 4
Celsius degrees (7 Fahrenheit degrees) lower than that of most other places in
the same latitudes. Rainfall averages 1,000 mm (40 in) annually, although
regional variation is significant, with more than twice as much rain falling in
the west as in the east. The sunniest part of the country is the southeast.
E | Natural Resources |
Ireland’s most valuable natural resource
is its lowland soils. These soils support rich grasslands, which flourish across
much of Ireland and provide extensive pasture for grazing animals. The soils
also support a variety of cereals and root crops. Ireland has some natural
mineral resources including deposits of zinc, lead, gypsum, and alumina. Some
natural gas deposits are found off the southern and western coasts. Peat from
heaths and bogs has long served as an important fuel source for homes and
industry, and it is also used to improve soils for cultivation.
F | Plants and Animals |
Ireland’s animal life does not differ
markedly from that of England or France. Over many centuries of human settlement
almost all of Ireland’s natural woodlands were cleared, and indigenous animals
such as bear, wolf, wildcat, beaver, wild cattle, and the giant Irish deer (a
type of fallow deer) gradually disappeared. However, the hardy and versatile
Connemara pony, Ireland’s only native pony breed, has been used by Irish farmers
since prehistoric times. The great auk, or garefowl, was exterminated in the
19th century.
Small rodents living in forested areas
and fields remain numerous across Ireland, as do numerous species of shore and
field birds, including many types of gull. Birds of prey are rare. Ireland has
no snakes; in fact, the only reptile found in Ireland is a species of lizard.
Sedges, rushes, ferns, and grasses provide the dominant plant cover.
G | Environmental Issues |
For much of the 20th century, Ireland
gave environmental protection a relatively low priority as it pursued economic
growth. Rapid development and rising consumption have led to major problems with
disposal of waste, nearly all of which is dumped in landfills. The city of
Dublin, Ireland’s largest population center, has no proper system for recycling,
and several efforts to establish one have failed.
Economic growth has also contributed to
the disappearance of Ireland’s once-extensive system of peat bogs, which provide
a habitat for many rare plants. Although humans have exploited peat for
centuries as a fuel source, recent decades have seen industrial-scale
exploitation of peat for commercial power stations and gardening products. Few
pristine bogs remain. At the same time, widespread drainage of wetlands for
development has greatly reduced habitat for wildfowl.
Another important environmental issue is
the ongoing radioactive contamination of the Irish Sea caused by discharges from
a nuclear materials processing plant at Sellafield, England. All political
parties in Ireland have opposed continued operation of the Sellafield
facility.
III | PEOPLE AND SOCIETY |
Ireland’s population descends from a variety
of ethnic groups and reflects intermixing over millennia by successive waves of
immigrants. Ireland’s population is predominantly of Celtic origin (Celts), but
ancient tribes had inhabited Ireland for thousands of years when Celtic peoples
settled the island in the 4th century bc. Over the centuries Ireland absorbed
significant numbers of Vikings, Normans, and English. More recently, Ireland’s
membership in the European Union (EU) has increased the number of citizens of
other European countries living in Ireland, and small communities of ethnic
Chinese and Indian people also have been established. Since 1996 Ireland has
received small numbers of refugees and asylum seekers from eastern Europe,
Africa, and Asia. Ireland also has a small indigenous minority known as
Travellers. Numbering approximately 25,000, Travellers move and camp across the
Irish countryside in small groups or cluster in enclaves within cities.
A | Population Characteristics |
The population of Ireland in 2008 was
estimated at 4,156,119, giving the country an overall population density of 60
persons per sq km (156 per sq mi). Some 60 percent of the population lived in
urban areas in 2005. The urban share of the population has increased with each
successive census since 1926; the urban population exceeded the rural population
for the first time in 1971.
Ireland’s economic growth in recent
decades has reversed a long historical trend of emigration. For more than a
century after the Great Potato Famine of the 1840s, Ireland’s population
steadily declined, despite the nation’s relatively high birth rate. This
continuous decline resulted from mass emigration, initially to escape the famine
and later to seek employment and better lives, mainly in the United States and
in the industrialized cities of the United Kingdom. In the 1960s and 1970s
emigration fell sharply and no longer offset the natural increase. By the 1980s
Ireland’s population was growing at an annual rate of about 0.5 percent, and in
the 1990s immigration began to exceed emigration by a small margin. In 2002
Ireland’s population grew at an annual rate of 1.13 percent, one of the highest
rates in western Europe.
B | Political Divisions |
The island of Ireland is traditionally
divided into the four provinces of Leinster, Munster, Connacht, and Ulster. Most
of Ulster is now part of Northern Ireland.
For administrative purposes, the Republic
of Ireland is divided into 26 counties. They are the counties of Carlow, Dublin,
Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, Wexford,
and Wicklow, in Leinster Province; Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, and
Waterford, in Munster Province; Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon, and Sligo, in
Connacht Province; and Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan, in Ulster Province. Each
county is governed by at least one county council. Two counties are divided into
subsections administered by separate county councils, giving the country a total
of 29 county councils. Tipperary county has two councils, North and South
Tipperary. Dublin county has three councils, Dublin-Belgard, Dún
Laoghaire-Rathdown, and Dublin-Fingal.
In addition to the county councils, there
are five borough councils, five city councils, and 75 town councils. The borough
councils are Clonmel, Drogheda, Kilkenny, Sligo, and Wexford. The city councils
are Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford.
C | Principal Cities |
The capital and largest city is Dublin,
with a population (2006) of 506,211. Dublin is the commercial and industrial
center of Ireland and the country’s principal port. Cork is the second largest
city and a major port, with a population of 123,062. Other major cities and
towns include Limerick (54,023), Galway (65,832), and Waterford (44,594).
D | Religion |
Religious affiliation is remarkably uniform
in Ireland: 85 percent of the population is Roman Catholic. However, this figure
masks a steep and continuing decline in church attendance, particularly in urban
areas and among young people. At the same time, the Roman Catholic Church in
Ireland has experienced marked difficulties in recruiting clergy.
Protestant groups include the Church of Ireland (Anglican) and the
Presbyterian and Methodist denominations. Ireland’s constitution guarantees
freedom of worship.
E | Language |
Almost all the people of Ireland speak
English, and about one-fourth also claim to speak Irish, a Gaelic tongue that
belongs to the family of Celtic languages. The Irish language, with its many
regional variations, was once spoken by nearly all the Irish. Today, Irish is
spoken on a daily basis by an estimated 30,000 people, most of whom live in the
Gaeltacht (Gaelic-speaking) areas of the western seaboard. All
government-subsidized schools in Ireland have taught Irish since 1922, but fewer
than 10,000 pupils speak it as their first language. The constitution provides
for both Irish and English as official languages, while Ulster-Scots (or
Ullans), used by some members of Ireland’s Protestant community, is under
consideration for special status.
F | Education |
Ireland has a free public school system,
with compulsory attendance for all children from 6 to 15 years of age. In the
1998–1999 school year 456,600 pupils were enrolled in 3,391 elementary schools.
Secondary schools, primarily operated by religious orders and largely subsidized
by the state, enrolled 346,300. Enrollment at universities and colleges totaled
176,300.
University education in Ireland began
with the founding of the University of Dublin, or Trinity College, in 1592. The
National University of Ireland, established in 1908 in Dublin, has constituent
university colleges in Cork, Dublin, and Galway. The college in Galway, although
now a secular institution, evolved from Saint Patrick’s College, founded in 1795
as Ireland’s primary Roman Catholic seminary. The university system was further
extended in 1989 when the University of Limerick and Dublin City University
(DCU) were accredited; both schools emphasize technical subjects. Ireland also
has several state-subsidized training colleges and various technical colleges in
the larger communities.
Ireland earned a reputation as an
education and cultural center in the early Middle Ages. From the 6th to the 8th
century, when western Europe was largely illiterate, nearly 1,000 Irish
missionaries traveled to England and to continental Europe to teach
Christianity. Irish missionaries founded monasteries that achieved extensive
cultural influence; the monastery at Sankt Gallen (Saint-Gall), Switzerland,
established in the early 7th century, is especially well known for its
contributions to education and literature. Classical studies flowered in ancient
Ireland. Distinctive also at the time were the bardic schools of writers and
other intellectuals who traveled from town to town, teaching their arts to
students. The bardic schools, an important part of Irish education, were
suppressed in the 16th century by Henry VIII, king of England.
G | Way of Life |
Ireland, for centuries a predominantly
rural, agricultural society, changed dramatically with economic development
after World War II (1939-1945). The emergence of diversified manufacturing and
service sectors has made the country more urbanized and middle class.
Consumption of consumer goods has expanded rapidly, and material
comforts—including automobiles, cellular telephones and other electronic goods,
and fashionable clothing—have become important symbols of social status.
In cities and towns, most Irish people
live in houses, although apartments are growing in popularity as urban densities
increase. In the countryside, traditional farmhouses constructed of stone or
dried peat and covered with thatched roofs have been largely replaced by modern
dwellings. Today, most homes are made from concrete, brick, or mortared stone
and have tile roofs. In rural areas peat is still cut and dried for use as fuel
for cooking and heating.
Ireland is a strongly Roman Catholic
country by tradition. However, the late 20th and early 21st centuries were
marked by increasing secularization in Irish society. Many Irish have
questioned, and even rejected, the role of the Roman Catholic Church as the
chief arbiter of social and family values. At the same time, women have
energetically challenged the country’s traditional patriarchal social values.
Despite these changes, political life in Ireland is still largely dominated by
men, and women typically earn far less than their male counterparts. Ireland’s
abortion laws are among the strictest in Europe.
The Irish tend to eat simple, hearty
fare. Ireland’s rich pastures produce high-quality beef and lamb, and the
country is renowned for its butter, cream, and cheeses. Potatoes grow well in
Ireland’s cool, damp climate and are a national food staple. They may be
roasted, boiled, or baked, and eaten alone or served in famous dishes such as
Irish stew or colcannon (a dish made from mashed potatoes, cabbage, and
onions). The Irish are famous for their many varieties of breads, including soda
bread and potato bread. Oysters and other shellfish are popular, and smoked
salmon is considered an Irish specialty. Many Irish enjoy socializing in local
pubs, where people gather to talk with friends, relax, listen to music, and have
a drink. Beer is much beloved in Ireland, especially the dark stout varieties.
Renowned local stouts include Guinness, Beamish, and Murphy’s. Irish whiskey is
also a popular alcoholic beverage.
The national sports are hurling, a
strenuous game similar to field hockey, and Gaelic football, which resembles
soccer. Soccer has become more popular in recent years, partly because of
television coverage of matches in the United Kingdom, and also due to the
relative success of Ireland’s national team in European and World Cup soccer
competitions. Horse racing is a highly popular spectator sport, and Irish
breeders have produced some of the world’s finest thoroughbreds. Professional
cycling, a difficult endurance sport, also draws a wide following. Saint
Patrick’s Day (March 17), which honors the patron saint of Ireland, is the most
important national holiday.
IV | CULTURE |
Ireland’s rich cultural heritage has ancient
roots. Human habitation in Ireland dates back almost 10,000 years, when
Mesolithic-era hunter-fishers occupied the island. They were followed by
Neolithic peoples who used flint tools, then by people from the Mediterranean
region, known in legend as the Firbolgs, who used bronze implements. Later came
the Picts, also an immigrant people of the Bronze Age.
The arrival of Celts during the Iron Age,
about 350 bc, introduced a new
culture to Ireland, one that would have a lasting historical influence. Ireland
was Christianized by Saint Patrick in the 5th century ad. However, many Celtic converts
retained aspects of their Druidic religious practices, and Ireland became the
center of a distinctive form of Celtic Christianity (see Druidism).
Later, the arrival of Vikings in the 8th and 9th centuries and of Anglo-Normans
in the 12th century brought other cultural influences to Ireland. Systematic
colonization of Ireland by England began in the 17th century, and under English
rule, use of the Irish language steadily declined.
By the 18th century many Irish-born authors
wrote in the English language. However, literature in the Irish language
survived, and it continued to have a powerful influence on Ireland’s cultural
identity. In the late 19th century Irish nationalists sought to bring about a
revival of Celtic culture, including the Irish language and traditional forms of
music and dance. This cultural revival stimulated much new literary and artistic
work, and it helped inspire Ireland’s struggle for independence in the early
20th century.
A | Literature |
Ireland has an outstanding literary
heritage in both Irish (Gaelic) and English (see Gaelic Literature; Irish
Literature). The earliest manuscripts date from the 6th and 7th centuries,
although they document older tales. This early literature is organized into four
great groups of stories, called cycles. One of these, the Ulster Cycle, is a
collection of heroic tales about the Ulaid people of the northern kingdom of
Ulster and their conflicts with the people of Connacht in the west. The Táin
Bó Cuailnge, which tells of the legendary leader of the Ulaid, Cú Chulainn,
is the most famous of these tales. Another group of stories, the Fenian Cycle,
centers on the exploits of the legendary hero Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool)
and his warriors, the Fianna. The Fenian Cycle developed in Munster and Leinster
and may represent a literary counterbalance to the Ulster Cycle.
Although writing in Irish continues to
the present day, Ireland’s literature has also included works in Latin,
Norman-French, Scottish, and above all, English. Among Ireland’s renowned
English-language writers are Jonathan Swift, Oliver Goldsmith, Maria Edgeworth,
and George Bernard Shaw. William Butler Yeats and Sean O’Casey were perhaps the
dominant literary figures in the early years of independent Ireland. Two of
Ireland’s most influential writers, James Joyce, author of Ulysses (1922)
and a formative influence on much subsequent 20th-century European literature,
and Samuel Beckett, famously left Ireland for self-imposed exile.
Today, Ireland has a dynamic literary
life and is home to many notable poets and authors—some of whom were born or
live in Northern Ireland. Among the most famous of Ireland’s contemporary
writers is poet Seamus Heaney, recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in literature.
Other poets, such as Paul Durcan and John Montague, have helped redefine the
meaning of Ireland and Irishness. Novelists, too, have embraced the new Ireland
as the country has evolved from a rural society to a more prosperous and urban
society, albeit one marked by greater social inequality. Among many authors,
Edna O’Brien, John McGahern, Roddy Doyle, Dermot Bolger, Colm Tóibín, and Éilís
Ni Dhuibhne have written of the rapidly changing values and attitudes of Irish
society. These authors have also explored the darker undercurrents of organized
crime, intolerance, and patriarchal attitudes.
B | Architecture |
Ireland’s ancient inhabitants left many
traces in the form of stone monuments, including menhirs (large upright
stones), dolmens (prehistoric chambers formed by stone slabs), and
cromlechs (circles of standing stones), as well as stone forts. Most of
these remains date from 2000 to 1000 bc. One of the most impressive
engineering feats of Irish prehistory is the famous Newgrange chamber tomb in
eastern Ireland. The Neolithic-era site includes a large circle of standing
stones, similar to the Stonehenge monument in England, and probably dates from
about the same era, about 3000 bc.
Ireland’s modern architectural heritage
is rooted in broader European trends, but it also reflects unique local
adaptations. The medieval Romanesque style, imported from England and
continental Europe, influenced Irish religious architecture, although its effect
was muted. It reached its greatest elaboration in Cormac’s Chapel on the Rock of
Cashel in County Tipperary, erected in the early 12th century. The
Anglo-Normans, who controlled much of Ireland by the late 12th century, brought
the architecture of great Norman stone castles to Ireland, and numerous examples
survive to the present day. The Anglo-Normans also built in the Gothic style of
northern Europe, an influence that is especially notable in the cathedrals of
Saint Patrick’s and Christchurch, both in Dublin. Owing to political unrest and
the need for domestic defense, many Irish homes built between the 15th and 17th
centuries were fortified. Standing from three to six stories in height, these
tower houses can still be seen across the island. In the countryside the
traditional architecture of the Irish cottage was closely related to the raw
materials of the land and to the demands of the damp, windy climate. These
cottages were typically small, humble structures, often whitewashed, with small
windows and thatched roofs.
During the 18th and early 19th centuries
the rising Anglo-Irish aristocracy built many large homes, most unfortified, and
vigorous urban planning changed the face of most towns and cities. Despite
Ireland’s rapid development in the late 20th century, this legacy is still
apparent in Ireland’s urban architecture, most notably in Dublin’s magnificent
public buildings and squares, and in almost every town and village throughout
Ireland. With Ireland’s newfound prosperity, however, much of the traditional
architecture of the countryside has been swept away, replaced by an increasingly
homogenous landscape of low-rise housing, most of which is painted white.
C | Visual Arts |
From the 5th century to the 9th century,
monks in Irish and Scottish monasteries produced artworks of world renown,
primarily in the form of illuminated manuscripts. The greatest such work is the
Book of Kells, which contains some of the most beautiful calligraphy of
the Middle Ages (see Celts: Art). The crafting of illuminated
manuscripts continued into the age of printing.
A number of Irish painters achieved
international prominence after the 17th century. They include 18th-century
artists James Barry, George Barret, and Nathaniel Hone. Barret and Hone,
together with English painter Sir Joshua Reynolds, were cofounders of the Royal
Academy of Arts in 1768. James Arthur O’Connor was a noted landscape artist of
his period, and Daniel Maclise painted the magnificent frescoes in the Royal
Gallery of the House of Lords in London between 1859 and 1864. Other notable
Irish painters of the 19th century were Nathaniel Hone, Jr., and Walter F.
Osborne. More recently, expressionist painter Jack Butler Yeats, landscape
artist Paul Henry, cubist painter Mainie Jellett, and stained-glass artist Evie
Hone have won widespread recognition and acclaim for their work. Today,
Ireland’s art scene is flourishing, with frequent exhibitions that display the
work of established and rising artists.
D | Music and Dance |
Ireland has a rich and varied musical
tradition. Among the oldest musical instruments of Ireland are the
bodhran (goatskin drum) and the Irish harp, a type of frame harp that
dates from the 9th century. Irish harpers were known throughout Europe from as
early as the 12th century. The most celebrated of these was the blind harper
Torlogh O’Carolan, or Carolan, who composed some 200 songs on varied themes,
many of which were published in Dublin in the early 18th century. Other
instruments have subsequently joined the vernacular (traditional) repertoire,
including the uilleann pipe (Irish union pipe, or Irish bagpipes), fiddle, and
Irish banjo, a four-string version of an instrument imported from the United
States in the 19th century.
Ireland’s traditional forms of music were
long viewed as culturally distinct from classical forms, which were popular
among the British. Pianist John Field was the first Irish classical composer to
win international renown, especially for his nocturnes, in the early 19th
century. Michael William Balfe wrote a number of operas including The
Bohemian Girl (1843), while John McCormack achieved fame as an
operatic and concert tenor. Traditional Irish music became politically important
during the late-19th-century nationalist revival of Celtic culture. For much of
the 20th century, traditional Irish music served as a symbol of national
identity, and as a result, international trends in music were somewhat
neglected.
In recent decades Irish music has
undergone a renaissance as musicians have embraced broader cultural influences.
The link between traditional music and nationalism is weaker today, and
contemporary artists freely blend folk and rock and explore the many regional
variations in traditional forms and instruments. The work of musicians such as
the Chieftains and Liam O’Flynn interpret traditional Irish music in a larger
international context that reflects a wide range of European cultural
influences. Ireland has produced many internationally famous rock and pop
artists, most notably U2, Sinéad O’Connor, Hot House Flowers, the Cranberries,
and the Corrs.
Traditional Irish dancing has also
attracted a wide contemporary audience, in Ireland and around the world. Stage
productions such as Riverdance and its offshoot Lord of the Dance
have helped popularize and transform Irish dancing.
E | Theater and Film |
Dublin is the heart of theater in
Ireland. Dublin’s famed Abbey Theatre, also known as the Irish National Theatre,
was cofounded in 1899 by poet and dramatist William Butler Yeats, a leader of
the Irish cultural revival. Among its earliest productions were the works of
John Millington Synge, another dominant figure of the Irish renaissance. The
theater has since been a platform for the productions of playwrights such as
Brian Friel and Tom Murphy, whose works explore the internal contradictions of
Irish identity. Dublin’s other famous theater, the Gate, was cofounded in 1930
by actor and writer Michael Mac Liammoir.
Irish film has achieved considerable
recent success with works such as My Left Foot (1989), The Crying
Game (1992), Michael Collins (1996), and The General (1998).
Prominent Irish directors include Neil Jordan and Jim Sheridan. A dominant theme
of contemporary Irish film—as in literature and theater—is the wider debate in
Ireland about changing national identity. In some ways, too, recent Irish films
can be seen as a response to the simplified ways in which Ireland and the Irish
are routinely portrayed in Hollywood movies.
F | Cultural Institutions |
The most important Irish libraries and
museums are located in Dublin. The National Library of Ireland, with more than
500,000 volumes, is the largest public library in the country. Trinity College
Library, founded in 1601, contains about 2.8 million volumes, including the
Book of Kells. Most cities and towns have public libraries and museums,
and a variety of heritage centers across the countryside document local
history.
The National Museum in Dublin is known
for its exhibits in the fields of art, industry, and natural history, and it
maintains representative collections of Irish silver, glass, textiles, and lace.
The museum also holds outstanding specimens of the remarkable metal
craftsmanship of the early Christian period in Ireland, including the Tara
Brooch, the Ardagh Chalice, and the Moylough Bell Shrine (all dating from the
8th century), as well as the Lismore Crozier and the Cross of Cong (both 12th
century). Dublin’s National Gallery has an admirable collection of paintings
that encompass many schools of Irish and European art.
V | ECONOMY |
A | Overview |
The economy of Ireland was traditionally
based on agriculture and the processing of agricultural products. Since the
1950s, however, the country’s industrial base has expanded and diversified, as
has the services sector. The gross domestic product (GDP) in 2006 was $220.1
billion. Services accounted for 60 percent of GDP and industry accounted for 37
percent, although manufactured goods were responsible for 85 percent of
Ireland’s export income. Agriculture contributed only 3 percent to GDP. Ireland
has a mixed economy of private and public ownership. Private enterprise is
favored by the constitution and operates in most sectors of the economy.
Until the mid-20th century,
industrialization in Ireland was handicapped by the comparative absence of raw
materials and sources of energy. Heavy dependence on agriculture and lack of
economic opportunity led to a high rate of emigration, which contributed to a
long-term decrease in Ireland’s population. At the same time, Ireland was highly
dependent on the United Kingdom as the primary market for its agricultural
exports. These economic problems were aggravated by the partition of Ireland in
the early 1920s into the Irish Free State (as the Republic of Ireland was then
called) and Northern Ireland, which remained part of the United Kingdom. The
economy of the republic was suddenly cut off from almost all the manufacturing
that had developed in the 19th century in the north, notably the linen and
shipbuilding industries. For a time the republic’s dependence on agriculture and
the British market became even greater than before.
After 1922 Ireland’s economic policies
sought to increase opportunities for employment. Programs were implemented to
expand markets for agricultural goods and protective tariffs were introduced to
shield emerging industries from foreign competition. However, these policies
could not overcome the difficulties of the world economic depression in the
1930s or the disruptions of World War II (1939-1945). In 1959, following a
period of economic stagnation and rising unemployment, Ireland pursued a new
program of economic expansion. The government relaxed protective tariffs, backed
efforts to increase agricultural and industrial production, and worked to
enhance tourism. Ireland’s economic policies were also designed to prepare the
country for membership in the European Community (EC), which became the European
Union (EU) in 1993.
Ireland’s membership in the EC was
postponed following the failure of the United Kingdom to secure admission in
1963, but both countries gained admission in 1973. Irish goods soon found their
way into other European markets, a development that reduced Ireland’s heavy
reliance on the United Kingdom. At the same time, Ireland benefited from
increased foreign investment. The establishment of a single market within the EC
during the 1980s—a process that required the removal of a wide range of
lingering trade barriers—forced many enterprises in Ireland to reorganize to
become more competitive. During the 1990s Ireland received substantial economic
assistance from the EU to restructure agriculture, educate and train workers,
and develop the nation’s infrastructure. By the mid-1990s Ireland’s economy was
growing at a rate of more than double the EU average. In 1999 Ireland was among
the first group of EU countries to meet the qualifying criteria to adopt the
euro, the EU’s new single currency.
B | Labor |
In 2006 the total labor force was 2.1
million. Approximately 6 percent of the workers were engaged in agriculture,
forestry, and fishing; 28 percent in manufacturing, mining, and construction;
and 66 percent in services. Some 750,000 workers in both the Republic of Ireland
and Northern Ireland are members of unions affiliated with the Irish Congress of
Trade Unions. In the republic, 44 percent of all union members are women.
C | Economic Sectors |
C1 | Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing |
About 18 percent of the total area of
Ireland is cultivated, and much of the rest is devoted to pasture. Raising
livestock is the chief agricultural activity, and meat and meat products are
among the most important agricultural exports. The trade in live animals,
notably horses, and dairy products is also important. The principal field crops
are wheat, barley, oats, and potatoes. Among other important crops are hay,
turnips, and sugar beets. The most fertile farmlands are found in the east and
southeast.
Ireland has little productive timberland.
As a result, the government has implemented reforestation programs in an effort
to reduce the country’s dependence on timber imports and to provide raw material
for new paper mills and related industries. In 2005 forests occupied 10 percent
of Ireland’s total land area; the output of timber was 2.7 million cubic meters
(94 million cubic feet).
The fishing industry, long an
underdeveloped enterprise in Ireland, expanded in the late 20th century.
However, the waters around Ireland and much of Europe have been heavily
overfished, and annual fish catches are now subject to quotas established by the
EU. Ireland’s catch in 2005 was 352,082 metric tons. Deep-sea catches include
herring, cod, mackerel, whiting, and plaice. Crustaceans, particularly lobsters,
crayfish, and prawns, and mollusks such as oysters and periwinkles are plentiful
in coastal waters and form the bulk of the country’s seafood exports. Inland
rivers and lakes provide excellent fishing for salmon, trout, eel, and several
varieties of coarse fish such as perch and pike. Fish farming, both in
freshwater and saltwater environments, is becoming more important as natural
catches drop.
C2 | Mining |
Discoveries of new mineral deposits in
Ireland in the late 20th century have led to a considerable expansion of mining,
although it still plays a relatively minor role in the Irish economy. Mineral
output in 2004 included 438,000 metric tons of zinc and 65,000 metric tons of
lead. Ireland is one of the leading exporters of lead and zinc in Europe.
Natural gas is extracted off the southwestern coast; yearly output in 2003 was
673 million cubic meters (23.8 billion cubic feet). Peat is dug in large
quantities for domestic and industrial fuel and also for horticultural
purposes.
C3 | Manufacturing |
Ireland has a diversified industrial
base. One of the most important manufacturing sectors is food processing, which
includes meat-packing, brewing and distilling alcoholic beverages, grain
milling, sugar refining, and the manufacture of dairy products.
The other major manufacturing sectors
are chemicals and pharmaceuticals, and electrical and optical equipment. The
latter category includes the production of computer hardware and software. By
the early 2000s more than 20,000 people in Ireland were employed in the software
industry; 90 percent of all software produced is exported. Most computer
hardware and software production is controlled by multinational corporations,
which use Ireland as a European base for manufacturing and localization
(translation) operations.
C4 | Services |
C4a | Currency and Banking |
The monetary unit of Ireland is the
single currency of the European Union (EU), the euro (0.80 euros equal
U.S.$1; 2006 average). Ireland was among the first group of EU member states to
adopt the euro. The euro was introduced on January 1, 1999, for electronic
transfers and accounting purposes only, and Ireland’s national currency, the
Irish pound, was used for other purposes. On January 1, 2002, euro-denominated
coins and bills went into circulation, and the Irish pound ceased to be legal
tender.
As a participant in the single
currency, Ireland must follow economic policies established by the European
Central Bank (ECB). The ECB is located in Frankfurt, Germany, and is responsible
for all EU monetary policies, which include setting interest rates and
regulating the money supply. On January 1, 1999, control over Irish monetary
policy was transferred from the Central Bank of Ireland to the ECB. After the
transfer, the Central Bank of Ireland joined the national banks of the other EU
countries that adopted the euro as part of the European System of Central Banks
(ESCB).
C4b | Commerce and Trade |
Dublin and Cork are the manufacturing,
financial, and commercial centers of Ireland. Dublin is the most important
seaport. Other significant ports include Arklow, Cork, Dún Laoghaire, Drogheda,
Foynes, Limerick, New Ross, Rosslare, and Waterford.
Ireland’s imports in 2004 totaled
$62.3 billion, and exports, including reexports, $104.3 billion. Ireland’s
principal trading partners for imports, in order of trade volume, are the United
Kingdom, United States, Germany, France, and Japan. Ireland’s principal trading
partners for exports are the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, France, and
The Netherlands. The most important exports include chemicals and
pharmaceuticals, computers and other electrical and electronic equipment, and
livestock, meat, and dairy products. Imports primarily include data-processing
equipment, other machinery, chemicals, transportation equipment, cereals and
foodstuffs, petroleum and petroleum products, textiles, and iron and steel.
C4c | Tourism |
The Irish government actively promotes
the tourism industry, which has grown increasingly important to the economy.
Following the signing of the 1998 Good Friday (or Belfast) Agreement—a peace
agreement for Northern Ireland—the entire island of Ireland has been marketed
internationally by a cross-border agency, Tourism Ireland. Dublin, in
particular, has become an important tourist destination, in part because of the
rapid growth of low-cost air services linking the city to the United Kingdom and
mainland Europe. However, the most popular destination for tourists is the
rugged west coast, where numerous peninsulas and bluff cliffs provide a dramatic
contrast to the rain-hazed loughs of the interior. Many visitors choose to
explore the countryside on foot. Horseback riding, cycling, golfing, and boating
along Ireland’s rivers and loughs are also popular tourist activities.
C5 | Infrastructure |
C5a | Energy |
Almost 95 percent of Ireland’s
electricity is generated from fossil fuels, principally oil, followed by peat.
Electricity generated from waterpower is the only other significant source of
power. Some investment is being made in other renewable sources of energy,
notably wind energy captured by turbines.
C5b | Transportation |
Ireland has 1,919 km (1,192 mi) of
railway track, all operated by the state-owned Iarnród Éireann (Irish
Transport Company) and linking Cork, Limerick, Galway, and a number of other
points to Dublin. In addition, the Irish Peat Board operates more than
1,300 km (more than 800 mi) of narrow-gauge railway in the countryside. The
Dublin area is served by the Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) system; in
addition, a street-level light-rail system was scheduled to begin operation in
2003.
The road system in Ireland totals
about 96,602 km (about 60,026 mi), 100 percent of which is paved. Navigable
inland waterways total about 435 km (about 270 mi), although these are used
almost entirely by recreational watercraft.
The main international airports are in
Dublin, Cork, and Shannon. Regularly scheduled air services to various other
points on the island, mostly in the west, are facilitated by a number of smaller
airports at Carrickfin, Sligo, Knock, Galway, Kerry, and Waterford. The
principal airlines are the state-owned Aer Lingus and the low-cost carrier
Ryanair. Air services are dominated by routes to the United Kingdom, mainland
Europe, and North America.
C5c | Communications |
All postal, telegraph, telephone, and
broadcasting services are operated by government agencies or statutory bodies.
In addition to Ireland’s 1.5 million main telephone lines, an estimated 2
million cellular phones are in use. Ireland’s sophisticated
telecommunications network is an important factor in promoting the growth of the
computer industry. Radio Telefís Éireann, the public broadcasting authority,
operates three radio channels and four television channels, one of which
broadcasts in the Irish (Gaelic) language.
VI | GOVERNMENT |
Ireland is governed under a constitution
adopted in 1937 that provides for a president, a prime minister, and a bicameral
(two-chamber) national parliament. Ireland remained a member of the British
Commonwealth of Nations until 1949, when it severed its ties to the organization
and proclaimed itself a republic.
A | Executive |
As in other parliamentary democracies,
executive power in Ireland is vested in a cabinet of ministers who are approved
by the legislature. The chief executive is the prime minister, or
taoiseach (pronounced TEE-shock), who serves as head of government. Under
the Irish constitution, the prime minister is nominated by the lower house of
the national legislature and forms a cabinet, generally referred to as the
government. The government must have at least 7, and not more than 15, members.
Members of the government lead the administrative departments, or ministries.
Although selected by the prime minister, the cabinet must be approved by the
lower house, which can dissolve the government by a vote of no confidence. The
prime minister and other members of the government are officially appointed by
the president.
The president of Ireland is the head of
state and is elected by direct popular vote for a seven-year term. The president
has little executive power, but he or she represents Ireland at official state
functions. In addition, the president signs and promulgates all laws passed by
the legislature. Under certain circumstances, the president can submit a
legislative bill to the people in a referendum or ask the Irish supreme court to
rule on the constitutionality of a bill.
B | Legislature |
Ireland has a two-chamber legislature
called the Oireachtas. The lower house, or Dáil Éireann,
has 166 members, popularly elected by proportional representation. The upper
house, or Seanad Éireann, has 60 members, of whom 11 are appointed by the
prime minister, 6 are elected by graduates of the University of Dublin and the
National University of Ireland, and 43 are chosen by an electoral college of
some 900 representatives from local governments and the Dáil. The slate of
candidates represents labor, agriculture and fisheries, public administration
and social services, commerce and industry, and national culture.
The upper house enjoys fewer powers than
the lower house. It cannot amend a taxing or spending bill, but it can reject or
amend other bills submitted to it by the lower house, and it may introduce
legislation. The lower house, in contrast, has the sole power to support or
bring down governments in the parliamentary tradition.
C | Judiciary |
Judicial authority in Ireland is vested in
a supreme court, a high court, a court of criminal appeal, a central criminal
court, circuit courts, and district courts. The supreme court is the court of
final appeal and may also determine the constitutionality of bills submitted to
it by the president. Judges are appointed by the president on the recommendation
of the government.
Ireland’s legal system is based on the
English common law tradition, in which judges rely on precedents (previous court
decisions) to help resolve cases. Statutes passed by the Irish parliament also
have the force of law, as do statutes passed by the British Parliament before
1921, unless they have been repealed or declared unconstitutional.
D | Local Government |
Counties, boroughs, cities, and towns each
elect local councils to administer local services and levy local taxes. Services
include public health and sanitation, housing, water supply, and schools. Local
officials are popularly elected, usually for five-year terms. Local executives,
who advise elected officials and function as managers of local authorities, are
selected by the central ministry after competitive examinations.
E | Political Parties |
The principal political parties in Ireland
include Fine Gael (Irish Gaelic for “Tribe of the Gaels”), Fianna Fáil
(“Soldiers of Destiny”), and the Labour Party. Fine Gael, a successor of the
Cumann na nGaedheal Party, was founded in support of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of
1921 that established the Irish Free State as a British dominion. It has a
moderate center-left orientation. Fianna Fáil, originally a wing of Sinn Fein,
opposed the treaty and boycotted the Dáil until 1927. It has a moderate
center-right orientation and supports peaceful reunification of the island. The
Labour Party was originally a part of Ireland’s Trades Union Congress; it became
a separate political wing in 1930 and has a moderate center-left
orientation.
Smaller parties include the liberal
Progressive Democratic Party, which backs free enterprise, strong separation
between church and state, and a peaceful resolution to the problems in Northern
Ireland; Sinn Fein (“Ourselves Alone”), an Irish nationalist party dedicated to
the creation of a unified Irish state; and the environmentalist Green
Party.
F | Social Services |
Most health services are provided free of
charge for low-income groups and at moderate charges for others. These are
administered through local and national agencies under the supervision of the
department of health. A nonprofit, contributory voluntary health insurance
scheme is administered by an independent statutory agency. Public insurance and
assistance programs are administered by the department of social welfare and
include pensions for the aged, widows, and orphans; children’s allowances;
unemployment benefits; and other social security payments.
G | Defense |
The active military forces of
Ireland—army, navy, and air force—totaled 10,460 members in 2004. There is no
compulsory military service in Ireland; all of the forces are volunteers. Irish
troops have served with United Nations (UN) forces in various places around the
world, including the Middle East, Africa, and Cyprus.
H | International Relations |
Ireland’s relations with the United
Kingdom have generally improved since the end of World War II. The issue of
Northern Ireland’s sovereignty has dominated the relationship since the early
1970s. Ireland attaches special importance to its relations with the United
States and Australia, where people of Irish descent are numerous. Ireland’s
relations with its European neighbors have become increasingly important as a
result of its membership in the European Union (EU).
Ireland is a staunch defender of the
United Nations (UN), an organization it joined in 1955. Ireland is also a member
of a wide array of other international organizations, including the Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Council of Europe.
However, unlike most western European states, Ireland is not a member of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Ireland, which is not part of any
military alliance, strives to maintain a neutral position in world affairs.
VII | HISTORY |
For the history of Ireland prior to 1916,
see Ireland (island): History.
Three eras have defined Ireland’s history
since 1916. First is the period of 1916 to 1923, a time of rebellion, civil war,
and the partition of Ireland. A treaty of independence for Ireland, which
recognized Northern Ireland as a part of the United Kingdom, was deeply divisive
and had a profound influence on the nation’s political and cultural life for
much of the 20th century. Second is the long era of internal closure that ensued
after Ireland’s independence. Marked by isolationism, protectionist economic
policies, and cultural nationalism, this inward-looking period lasted until the
1950s. Third is the post-1950s period of economic expansion. During this time
Ireland emerged as an outward-looking and markedly more prosperous country.
A | Struggle for Independence |
Resentment in Ireland over British rule
mounted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and a movement for home rule
(self-government on domestic matters) gathered force. By 1893 the British
Parliament in London had debated and defeated two bills providing home rule for
Ireland. Calls for home rule alarmed Irish Protestants in the north who wished
to preserve the union with the United Kingdom, and they organized the
unionist movement to oppose home rule. The Catholic nationalist movement,
which backed greater independence for Ireland, was split between moderate forces
and more radical revolutionary elements. This latter group included Sinn Fein, a
political party founded in 1905 by Dublin journalist Arthur Griffith.
In 1912 the British government
introduced a third home rule bill in Parliament. The bill polarized Irish
society. Unionists in the northern province of Ulster soon founded a
paramilitary army called the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) to shield the province
from home rule. In response, nationalists organized the paramilitary Irish
Volunteers to press for Irish self-government. The threat of civil war
intensified.
The crisis was temporarily averted by
the outbreak of World War I (1914-1918), and unionists and nationalists alike
fought in the United Kingdom’s war effort against Germany. Indeed, members of
the UVF and Irish Volunteers became core units of the British army on the war’s
western front. However, one splinter group of Irish Volunteers—a forerunner of
the Irish Republican Army (IRA)—refused to join the war effort. Instead, on
Easter Monday in 1916, they organized the Easter Rebellion and declared the
independence of Ireland. The rebellion, largely confined to Dublin, was
suppressed, and the British government executed 15 Irish nationalist leaders and
imprisoned many others.
The executions and imprisonments
outraged the Irish population and set the stage for the emergence of Sinn Fein
as the country’s dominant political party. Sinn Fein now firmly rejected home
rule, which would have preserved the Irish-British union under the monarchy, and
demanded the complete separation of Ireland from the United Kingdom. In the
national election of 1918 Sinn Fein won 73 of 105 seats allotted to Ireland in
the British Parliament. Sinn Fein’s dramatic electoral victory swept aside
moderate home rule nationalists, who had held sway in Ireland prior to the
outbreak of World War I.
In January 1919 Sinn Fein’s successful
candidates, who had refused to take their seats in Parliament, met in Dublin and
established their own revolutionary congress, the Dáil Éireann (Gaelic for
“Assembly of Ireland”). They proclaimed Ireland’s independence and formed a
government with Sinn Fein leader Eamon de Valera as president. On the day the
Dáil first met, a group of Irish Volunteers launched an attack on the Royal
Irish Constabulary (RIC), a British police force. (In August 1919 these
insurgents would proclaim themselves the Irish Republican Army.) A campaign of
guerrilla warfare against the British administration in Ireland ensued. The
British soon brought in auxiliary English police recruits, known from their
uniforms as the Black and Tans, who mounted ruthless reprisals.
The bitter violence served to unite much
of Ireland against British rule. With a guerrilla war raging, the British
government attempted to impose a settlement in December 1920 with the passage of
the Government of Ireland Bill. The legislation divided Ireland into two
self-governing areas. It provided one parliament for the six counties of the
predominantly Protestant north (Northern Ireland) and another for the remaining
26 counties in the overwhelmingly Catholic south. The people of Northern Ireland
accepted this limited home rule and elected a separate parliament in May 1921.
Efforts to implement the new government in the other 26 counties, however,
served only to solidify Sinn Fein’s demand for a fully independent Irish
republic.
By 1921 hundreds of people had died in
the ugly war of attacks and reprisals. Facing the prospect of a prolonged and
bloody conflict, the British government issued a call for peace talks. The
fighting ended with a truce in July 1921. Peace negotiations between
representatives of the Dáil and the British government of Prime Minister David
Lloyd George produced the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed in December. Under the
treaty, the 26 southern counties would become the Irish Free State as a dominion
within the British Commonwealth of Nations. Ireland would have a status equal to
the other Commonwealth dominions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South
Africa. Like these other dominions, Ireland would be required to pledge an oath
of allegiance to the British monarch. The United Kingdom would retain certain
naval bases, but the Free State government would control its own police and
armed forces. At the head of the new government there would be a
governor-general representing the British king, but appointed on recommendation
of the Free State government.
After heated debate the Dáil ratified
the treaty on January 15, 1922, by a vote of 64 to 57, thus ending what has come
to be known as the Irish Revolution. Sinn Fein, however, split over the issue of
ratification into pro- and anti-treaty factions, as did the IRA. Few saw the
treaty as a victory. De Valera and his followers vigorously opposed the
requirement of an oath of allegiance to the British crown. Pro-treaty forces,
led by Arthur Griffith and Sinn Fein leader Michael Collins, regarded the
agreement as merely an interim step toward full independence. They believed that
further concessions from the British were not attainable and that rejection of
the treaty would result in renewed fighting and probable defeat at the hands of
the British. De Valera resigned as president of the Dáil following the treaty’s
ratification. Griffith replaced de Valera as president, and Collins became
chairman of the provisional government.
B | The Irish Free State (1923-1937) |
B1 | Civil War |
Elections for a provisional Dáil were
held in June 1922, and candidates supporting the Anglo-Irish Treaty won a
majority of seats. Anti-treaty forces, however, refused to recognize the
authority of the new Dáil. Instead, they proclaimed a rival government, led by
de Valera, and called for a resumption of the struggle against the United
Kingdom. Hostilities between pro- and anti-treaty forces finally broke out on
June 28, initiating the Irish Civil War (1922-1923). In the ensuing conflict,
hundreds were killed on both sides, including Michael Collins, who died in an
ambush.
As the fighting continued, the Dáil,
headed now by treaty supporter William Thomas Cosgrave, drafted a new
constitution that provided for a bicameral (two-chamber) legislature composed of
the Dáil and the Seanad, or senate. The constitution was adopted in
October 1922, approved by the British Parliament, and went into effect in
December. The official government of the Irish Free State was instituted at
once. Cosgrave, leader of the party Cumann na nGaedheal (later a part of Fine
Gael), assumed office as the first president of the executive council (prime
minister) of the Irish Free State.
B2 | Restoration of Order |
The Free State army soon grew in
number and improved in effectiveness. The Roman Catholic Church declared itself
opposed to the violence of the anti-treaty forces, and by September 1922 the
Free State government felt strong enough to secure passage of a law authorizing
the death penalty against anyone found under arms against the government. By
early 1923 the Free State army had gained the advantage in the conflict. In
April the anti-treaty group, on de Valera’s recommendation, disarmed. This
action brought an end to the Irish Civil War.
In the national elections of August
1923, neither pro- nor anti-treaty factions secured a majority. De Valera led
his followers in a boycott of the Dáil, and Cosgrave, who commanded a majority
among those in attendance, retained power. Despite the dire economic disruptions
caused by the civil war, Cosgrave established a viable government, in part
because of the absence of an effective opposition party. The new government
rebuilt and expanded the civil service, enlarged the army and police forces, and
reorganized the judiciary. In addition, the government worked to strengthen the
economy by improving agricultural efficiency and by constructing a large
hydroelectric facility on the Shannon River.
Cosgrave’s government also sought to
improve relations with the United Kingdom, whose trade was of utmost importance
to Ireland’s economic revival following the civil war. In 1925 agreements were
reached on several mutual problems. A permanent boundary between the Irish Free
State and Northern Ireland was accepted by all parties and ratified. The United
Kingdom refused the Free State’s request to annex Tyrone and Fermanagh, the two
counties in Northern Ireland with Catholic majorities. However, the United
Kingdom agreed to take over the Free State’s share of the national debt.
B3 | Rising Nationalism |
The Irish Free State had joined the
League of Nations in 1923, and the following year it set a precedent for members
of the Commonwealth by sending its own ambassador to the United States. At the
Imperial Conference of 1926, the Free State joined with the other Commonwealth
dominions to obtain an agreement restructuring relations with the United
Kingdom. The agreement, summarized in the Balfour Report, stated that the
British government would no longer legislate for the dominions or nullify acts
passed by their own legislatures. Once the British Parliament confirmed this
agreement by the Statute of Westminster in 1931, Ireland had the power to
legislate away its remaining ties to the United Kingdom.
De Valera and anti-treaty Sinn Feiners
ended their boycott of the Irish legislature following the national election in
1927. They entered the Dáil as members of the opposition in the newly founded
Fianna Fáil Party. Fianna Fáil gained control of the Dáil in the 1932 national
election, partly as a result of the Cosgrave government’s inability to cope with
economic problems brought on by the world economic downturn of the early 1930s.
De Valera became president of the executive council (prime minister) of the
Irish Free State and would remain a powerful force in government for decades.
Under de Valera’s leadership, Ireland would become a more nationalist,
isolationist, and inward-looking society.
Once in office, de Valera embarked on a
systematic program to eliminate British influence in Irish affairs. His
government revoked the oath of allegiance to the British crown and ignored the
governor-general in Ireland. De Valera also backed legislation to suspend
payments of land annuities owed to the United Kingdom, sparking a tariff war
between the two countries that would last until 1938.
Although high tariffs levied by
Ireland on British goods were largely retaliatory, they were also part of a
broader set of measures supported by de Valera to shield domestic industry from
international competition and give Ireland a self-sufficient economy. Other
steps taken included the establishment of high income taxes on the wealthy and
strict controls on foreign capital invested in Ireland. Economic nationalism was
matched by a policy of cultural nationalism, which placed the Roman Catholic
religion, the Irish (Gaelic) language, and Gaelic sport at the center of Irish
identity.
In 1936, following the abdication of
British king Edward VIII, de Valera’s government successfully abolished the
office of governor-general and deleted all references to the British monarch
from the constitution of the Irish Free State. The External Relations Act of
1936, passed at the same time, limited the Free State’s association with the
Commonwealth of Nations to joint action on a limited number of foreign policy
matters.
C | Éire (1937-1949) |
De Valera and Fianna Fáil won reelection
in the July 1937 national election, and in a simultaneous plebiscite, Irish
voters approved a new constitution proposed by de Valera. This document renamed
the country Éire (Gaelic for “Ireland”) and established a “democratic
state, sovereign and independent.”
The new constitution provided for an
elected president as head of state, a prime minister as head of government, and
a two-house legislature. The constitution formally claimed authority over all of
Ireland, although its application in Northern Ireland was not to take effect
until after reunification. The constitution made no reference to the British
monarch or to the Commonwealth of Nations. However, de Valera indicated that
Éire’s relations with the United Kingdom would continue to be governed by the
1936 External Relations Act, which preserved a formal role for the British
monarch in Ireland’s diplomatic dealings with other nations. The constitution of
1937 has been in force ever since, although subsequent amendments have modified
the document to loosen antiabortion laws, legalize divorce, and remove articles
claiming territorial jurisdiction over Northern Ireland.
In 1938 Irish writer and patriot Douglas
Hyde became the first president of Éire, with de Valera continuing as prime
minister. In the same year, a treaty between Éire and the United Kingdom ended
the costly tariff war. The treaty provided for the withdrawal of British forces
from naval bases in Éire in exchange for a lump-sum payment to settle debts owed
to the United Kingdom. However, the slight improvement in relations between the
two nations was marred by a violent terrorist campaign in the United Kingdom
conducted by the IRA.
During World War II (1939-1945) de Valera
followed a policy of strict neutrality for Ireland and refused to let British
forces use Irish naval bases, despite German air raids on the city of Dublin in
1941. Although public opinion in Éire remained solidly anti-British, many of its
citizens enlisted in the British armed services or worked in war industries in
the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. Éire, which emerged from the war
relatively unscathed, was one of the few countries of Europe to avoid food
rationing during the war. In the immediate postwar period, however, economic
devastation in the United Kingdom and Europe subjected the economy of Éire to
severe strain, resulting in a period of rapid inflation.
Éire’s economic woes contributed to the
defeat of Fianna Fáil and de Valera in the 1948 national election. John Aloysius
Costello became prime minister, leading a coalition of six parties, the chief of
which was Fine Gael. He called for legislation to reduce inflation and the cost
of living, lower taxes, expand industrial production, and establish closer
commercial relations with the United Kingdom. To the dismay of British
authorities, Costello also announced that he would lead a campaign for Ireland’s
full independence. In November 1948 Costello introduced the Republic of Ireland
Bill in the Dáil, and it was passed the following month.
D | Republic of Ireland (1949- ) |
On Easter Monday, April 18, 1949, the
anniversary of the Easter Rebellion, Éire declared itself the Republic of
Ireland, completely independent of the British crown and no longer a member of
the Commonwealth of Nations. In May the British Parliament recognized Ireland’s
status as a republic but declared that the six counties of Northern Ireland
would not be severed from the United Kingdom without the assent of the
parliament in Northern Ireland.
The transition from Éire to the Republic
of Ireland was of chiefly symbolic significance, marking the achievement of a
goal sought by Irish nationalists for generations. The United Kingdom allowed
Ireland to retain the economic benefits of Commonwealth membership, and it
extended to Irish citizens living in the United Kingdom the same rights as
British citizens. Ireland granted British citizens residing in the republic
similar benefits. Nevertheless, the continued partition of Ireland strained the
republic’s relations with the United Kingdom. As a protest against partition,
the republic declined to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),
since this would have entailed entering into a military alliance with the United
Kingdom.
In the republic’s first national
election in 1951, de Valera returned as prime minister. De Valera’s willingness
to accept an independent country that did not include the six counties of
Northern Ireland provoked renewed protests from the IRA. During the 1950s the
IRA organized armed raids and ambushes along the border of Northern Ireland. De
Valera was forced to take repressive action against the IRA while simultaneously
protesting the continuation of partition.
More pressing than the question of
partition, however, were the social and economic problems that beset the
republic. Particularly serious was the constant loss of young people, who
continued to leave the country by the tens of thousands annually in search of
greater opportunities in the United Kingdom and the United States. In an effort
to assist the agricultural population, and to stem the flow of farm workers to
the cities and foreign countries, the de Valera government began an ambitious
program of rural electrification and promoted new measures to stimulate local
industry.
D1 | Economic Stabilization and Growth |
Although inflation and an unfavorable
balance of trade continued to trouble the country’s economy, Ireland made
significant strides toward economic stability through the 1950s and 1960s. The
republic gradually abandoned protectionist economic policies in favor of
long-term planning aimed at fostering economic expansion and international
trade. A key figure in this strategy was Irish civil servant T. G. Whitaker,
whose ideas were embodied in a study published during de Valera’s last
government of 1957 to 1959. De Valera’s successor as prime minister, Sean
Lemass, instituted Whitaker’s reforms. Under Lemass the government drew up a
five-year plan for economic development that included generous tax incentives
for foreign investors and new initiatives to promote Ireland’s export
industries.
By 1964, upon completion of the first
five-year plan, Ireland’s economic expansion had doubled anticipated growth
goals. Partly as a result of such planning, the rate of economic growth
increased from about 1 percent per year in the 1950s to more than 4.5 percent in
the late 1960s. During this period hundreds of new factories opened production
in Ireland, most with some foreign ownership. The dramatic increase in
industrial production and exports accompanied a substantial decline in
emigration, which had continued unabated for more than a century.
D2 | Political Developments |
The transformation of Ireland’s economy
also involved a rethinking of Ireland’s relationship with its largest trading
partner, the United Kingdom. An important aspect of this change was the
emergence of growing opposition to the IRA, whose terrorist activities were seen
by many as damaging to Irish-British relations and likely to prolong partition
of the island. As early as 1957 Irish prime minister John Costello had called
for forceful action against the IRA. De Valera, who succeeded Costello after the
1957 national elections, publicly agreed that Ireland’s unification with
Northern Ireland could not be achieved by force.
Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s
Ireland, under Prime Minister Lemass and his successor, Jack Lynch, cultivated
closer ties to the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. When the United
Kingdom applied for membership in the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1961,
Ireland—heavily dependent on British markets for its agricultural exports—had
little choice but to follow suit. In 1965 the United Kingdom abolished virtually
all remaining tariffs on Irish goods, and Ireland agreed to do the same for the
United Kingdom over a period of 15 years. In 1973, after several setbacks,
Ireland and the United Kingdom joined the European Community (EC), a successor
of the EEC.
The republic’s growing prosperity
stimulated profound changes in Irish society, culture, and politics. Consumer
spending increased, and many Irish began to question traditional values,
including the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. At the same time, Irish
nationalism became politically less important than social and economic issues,
leading to new tensions over the meaning of Irish identity.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, when
Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland were virtually at war, Prime
Minister Lynch adhered to a policy of gradualism in the aim of Irish
reunification. He took steps to curb the IRA, which used the Republic of Ireland
as a base for attacks on the north, and to make the republic secular. In 1972
Irish voters approved a constitutional amendment that abolished the special
position of the Roman Catholic Church in the republic.
A coalition of Fine Gael and the Labour
Party gained a slim majority in the 1973 national election and Fine Gael leader
Liam Cosgrave became prime minister. In 1977 Fianna Fáil returned to power in a
government headed by Lynch; in 1979 he was replaced by Charles Haughey.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s
the Irish government faced several difficult problems, including increased
terrorism in the north and a weakening economy that produced growing
unemployment, massive budget deficits, and rising foreign debt. A coalition
government led by Garret FitzGerald, head of Fine Gael, briefly came to power
following the national election in 1981. An inconclusive election in 1982
returned Haughey to power, but another election, in late 1982, brought
FitzGerald back.
In 1985 FitzGerald signed the
Anglo-Irish Agreement with the United Kingdom, a pact giving the Republic of
Ireland a consultative role in governing Northern Ireland. FitzGerald remained
prime minister until 1987, when he was replaced by Haughey, whose government had
a single-vote majority in the Dáil. High inflation, high taxes, and large budget
deficits declined after Haughey broadly cut social welfare expenditures in 1987,
and robust growth in Ireland’s export sector helped reduce the country’s high
foreign debt during the mid- and late 1980s.
E | Ireland Since 1990 |
Ireland’s economy continued to expand
rapidly throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century, earning it the title
Celtic Tiger. At the same time, new efforts to achieve a political solution to
the problem of Northern Ireland brought the Irish and British governments into
closer cooperation than at any time in the past.
E1 | Government |
In November 1990, without the
endorsement of the major parties, Mary Robinson was elected president of
Ireland. A champion of women’s rights and civil liberties, Robinson was the
first woman to hold so high an office in the country. For many in Ireland,
Robinson’s election was an important symbol of social change. Robinson resigned
the post in 1997 to become the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights.
Charles Haughey resigned as prime
minister and leader of Fianna Fáil in early 1992, amid allegations that he had
known about illegal telephone tapping ordered by one of his ministers in a
previous administration; Haughey’s former finance minister, Albert Reynolds, was
chosen to replace him. Reynolds remained prime minister after the elections of
November 1992, but at the head of a coalition government made up of Fianna Fáil
and the Labour Party.
In November 1994 the coalition
government collapsed over disagreements regarding Reynolds’s appointment of a
controversial attorney general, a move that led the Labour Party to withdraw its
support of Fianna Fáil. A new coalition government was formed, headed by Prime
Minister John Bruton of the Fine Gael Party. The coalition was composed of
members of Fine Gael, the Labour Party, and the Democratic Left. Bruton
proclaimed that his top priority was to establish a viable peace in Northern
Ireland.
In early 1997 Bruton’s government faced
a growing political crisis following revelations of a corruption scandal
involving members of the Irish parliament and sharp criticism of Bruton’s
handling of peace negotiations for Northern Ireland. Bruton called a national
election for June, and his three-party coalition government won just 75 seats in
the 166-seat Dáil Éireann (lower house of parliament), compared to
81 for the opposition coalition of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democratic
Party. Although neither group secured the 84 seats needed for an overall
majority, the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrat coalition gained enough support
in the Dáil to elect Fianna Fáil leader Bertie Ahern to the post of prime
minister. Ahern and his governing coalition returned to power following the
national election in May 2002, in which Fianna Fáil won 81 seats and the
Progressive Democrats won 8 seats. Ahern led Fianna Fáil to victory again in May
2007, when the party won 78 seats. However, the Progressive Democrats lost seats
in the election, and Ahern formed a coalition that included the Green Party for
his third term in office. In April 2008 Ahern announced his intention to resign
as prime minister the following month, and Fianna Fáil chose Brian Cowen to
succeed Ahern as party leader. Accordingly, Cowen became the new prime minister
in May.
E2 | Social Issues |
Abortion is one of the most contentious
social issues in Ireland, and the country’s abortion laws are among the
strictest in Europe. In 1992 the Irish Supreme Court ruled abortion legal in
Ireland in the case of life-threatening situations for the mother, including the
threat of suicide. In the same year, Irish voters approved ballot measures that
would guarantee access to information about abortion and legalize foreign travel
to obtain an abortion. Although Irish women won the right to travel abroad to
seek an abortion, a 1993 Supreme Court decision upheld a ban on the distribution
of information about overseas abortions within the country. In March 2002 a
referendum to stop permitting abortion for women considered a suicide risk was
narrowly defeated.
In 1995 Irish voters approved a
referendum to overturn a constitutional ban on divorce. Divorce had been illegal
in Ireland since 1925, shortly after the establishment of the Irish Free State,
and the ban was affirmed in the 1937 constitution. The measure won endorsement
by voters despite vigorous opposition from the Roman Catholic Church. Ireland’s
divorce rate remains lower than in most of the world’s industrialized
countries.
E3 | Economy |
In December 1991 Ireland signed the
Maastricht Treaty on European Union after securing a special provision
protecting Irish abortion laws from future EU policies. The treaty was ratified
by a national referendum in June 1992, and the EU was formally inaugurated in
November 1993. Because Ireland’s per capita income fell below the average for
members of the EU, Ireland’s disadvantaged regions qualified for substantial
economic development funds. These funds, directed mainly toward education,
training, and the development of infrastructure, including transportation and
communications, helped modernize the Irish economy. By the late 1990s, Ireland’s
per capita income exceeded the EU average.
The nation’s economy also benefited
from the Irish government’s strong encouragement of foreign investment. During
the 1990s many large corporations, especially those in the computer and
electronics industries, opened facilities in Ireland. Ireland’s economy was
expected to continue growing into the 21st century, although the growth rate was
expected to slow toward the end of the first decade. The main downside to
Ireland’s dramatic economic growth has been inflation. Ireland’s rate of
inflation reached a high of 5.2 percent in 2000, and in 2002 remained nearly
double the average inflation rate of the other EU countries to adopt the euro,
the EU’s single currency. Although it later dropped somewhat, it stayed above
the EU average of 2.3 percent.
E4 | Ireland, Northern Ireland, and the United Kingdom |
The long search for lasting peace and
political stability in Northern Ireland remains unresolved. However, attempts to
end the violence have brought the governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom
closer together as both sides have sought to build consensus on future political
structures for the island.
In December 1993 Irish prime minister
Albert Reynolds and British prime minister John Major signed the Downing Street
Declaration, a conciliatory peace declaration that attempted to set a positive
tone for ending hostilities in Northern Ireland. After initially rejecting the
document, the IRA announced in August 1994 that it intended to suspend military
operations in favor of peace negotiations.
In February 1995 the Irish and British
governments established a written framework for negotiating the status of
Northern Ireland. The document recognized Northern Ireland’s right to
self-determination and proposed to restore home rule in the province (which had
been suspended in 1972) with the creation of a provincial parliament, the
Northern Ireland Assembly. It also called for the establishment of a
cross-border body composed of members of the proposed assembly and
representatives of the Irish parliament. However, negotiations stalled over the
issue of IRA disarmament. Ireland opposed British demands for complete
disarmament of the IRA as a precondition for Sinn Fein’s participation in the
talks. The IRA resumed its terrorist activities in February 1996.
The peace process was revitalized after
Labour Party leader Tony Blair won a landslide victory over John Major’s
Conservative Party in the May 1997 British parliamentary elections. After taking
office, Blair declared the talks a top priority. The IRA renewed its cease-fire
in July, and after the British government dropped its demands for complete IRA
disarmament, Sinn Fein joined the negotiations. Initial progress was limited.
However, the talks gradually proceeded with the help of Blair and Irish prime
minister Ahern and under the oversight of former United States senator George
Mitchell, who set April 9, 1998, as the deadline for agreement. Although many
feared the process would collapse, Mitchell kept the talks on track. On April
10, after an all-night negotiating session, and slightly past the deadline, the
talks culminated in a historic agreement.
The Northern Ireland peace agreement,
commonly known as the Good Friday Agreement or the Belfast Agreement, authorized
the creation of a provincial assembly for Northern Ireland to replace direct
rule of the province by the British government. An executive cabinet would
oversee this body. The agreement created a North-South Ministerial Council to
coordinate policies between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and a
Council of the Isles to allow representatives from both parts of Ireland to meet
with representatives from the British, Scottish, and Welsh legislative bodies.
It also called for the Republic of Ireland to amend its constitution to drop its
territorial claim to Northern Ireland.
The peace agreement was put to a vote
in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland on May 22. In the Republic
of Ireland an overwhelming 94 percent of voters endorsed the agreement; in
Northern Ireland, the peace agreement won support from 71 percent of voters.
Despite several false starts and many
delays, the British Parliament formally transferred a wide range of powers to
Northern Ireland’s provincial government on December 1, 1999. The following day,
the Irish government issued a statement formally renouncing its territorial
claim on Northern Ireland, and Irish and British officials signed an agreement
setting up the North-South Ministerial Council. In the years ahead, however, an
unresolved conflict over the pace of IRA disarmament triggered a series of
crises that repeatedly put Northern Ireland’s provincial assembly on hold and
threatened to undermine the peace process.
The peace process finally bore fruit
in 2007, when the Protestant and Catholic factions in Northern Ireland agreed to
share power and form a government. In March a historic meeting took place
between longtime foes Gerry Adams, leader of the largely Catholic Sinn Fein, and
Ian Paisley, leader of the predominantly Protestant Democratic Unionist Party
(DUP). A new power-sharing government took office in May.
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