Ireland has an equable climate, because the prevailing west and southwest winds have crossed long stretches of the North Atlantic Ocean, which is warmer in winter and cooler in summer than the continental land masses. The mean annual temperature is 10°C (50°F), and average monthly temperatures range from a mild 4°C (39°F) in January to 16°C (61°F) in July. Average yearly rainfall ranges from less than 76 cm (30 in) in places near Dublin to more than 254 cm (100 in) in some mountainous regions. The sunniest area is the extreme southeast, with an annual average of 1,700 hours of bright sunshine. Winds are strongest near the west coast, where the average speed is about 26 km/hr (16 mph).
The euro (currency sign: €; currency code: EUR) is the official currency of the European Union (EU). Fifteen member states have adopted it, known collectively as the Eurozone (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain).
The island of Ireland extends over 84,421 Square kilometres (32,556 square miles), of which 83% (approx. five-sixths) belong to the Republic (70,280 km²; 27,103 sq mi), while the remainder constitute Northern Ireland. It is bound to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the northeast by the North Channel. To the east is found the Irish Sea which reconnects to the ocean via the southwest with St George's Channel and the Celtic Sea. The west coast of Ireland mostly consists of cliffs, hills and low mountains (the highest point being Carrauntoohil at 1,038 m or 3,406 ft). The interior of the country is relatively flat land, traversed by rivers such as the River Shannon and several large lakes or loughs. The centre of the country is part of the River Shannon watershed, containing large areas of bogland, used for peat extraction and production.
The local temperate climate is modified by the North Atlantic Current and is relatively mild. Summer temperatures exceed 30 °C (86 °F) usually once every decade, though commonly reach 29 °C (84 °F) most summers, and freezes occur only occasionally in winter, with temperatures below -6 °C (21 °F) being uncommon. Precipitation is very common, with some parts of the country getting up to 275 days with rain annually.
Chief city conurbations are the capital Dublin 1,045,769 on the east coast, Cork 190,384 in the south, Limerick 90,757 in the mid-west, Galway 72,729 on the west coast, and Waterford 49,213 on the south east coast (see Cities in Ireland).
The History of Ireland begins with the first known settlement in Ireland around 8000 BC, when hunter-gatherers arrived from Great Britain and continental Europe, probably via a land bridge. Few archaeological traces remain of this group, but their descendants and later Neolithic arrivals, particularly from the Iberian Peninsula, were responsible for major Neolithic sites such as Newgrange. Following the arrival of Saint Patrick and other Christian missionaries in the early to mid-5th century A.D., Christianity subsumed the indigenous pagan religion by the year 600.
From around 800 A.D., more than a century of Viking invasions brought havoc upon the monastic culture and on the island's various regional dynasties, yet both of these institutions proved strong enough to survive and assimilate the invaders. The coming of Cambro-Norman mercenaries under Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, nicknamed Strongbow, in 1169 marked the beginning of more than 700 years of direct Norman and, later, English involvement in Ireland. The English crown did not begin asserting full control of the island until after the English Reformation, when questions over the loyalty of Irish vassals provided the initial impetus for a series of military campaigns between 1534 and 1691. This period was also marked by an English policy of plantation which led to the arrival of thousands of English and Scottish Protestant settlers. As the military and political defeat of Gaelic Ireland became more clear in the early seventeenth century, the role of religion as a new division in Ireland became more pronounced. From this period on, sectarian conflict became a recurrent theme in Irish history.
The overthrow, in 1613, of the Catholic majority in the Irish parliament was realised principally through the creation of numerous new boroughs, all of which were Protestant-dominated. By the end of the seventeenth century all Catholics, representing some 85% of Ireland's population then, were banned from the Irish parliament. Political power rested entirely in the hands of a British settler-colonial, and more specifically Anglican, minority while the Catholic population suffered severe political and economic privations. In 1801, this colonial parliament was abolished and Ireland became an integral part of a new United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Act of Union. Catholics were still banned from sitting in that new parliament until Catholic Emancipation was attained in 1829, the principal condition of which was the removal of the poorer, and thus more radical, Irish freeholders from the franchise.
The Irish Parliamentary Party strove from the 1880s to attain Home Rule self-government through the parliamentary constitutional movement eventually winning the Home Rule Act 1914, though suspended on the outbreak of World War I. In 1922, after the Irish War of Independence, the southern twenty-six counties of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom (UK) to become the independent Irish Free State — and after 1948, the Republic of Ireland. The remaining six north eastern counties, known as Northern Ireland, remained part of the UK. The history of Northern Ireland has been dominated by sporadic sectarian conflict between (mainly Catholic) Nationalists and (mainly Protestant) Unionists. This conflict erupted into the Troubles in the late 1960s, until an uneasy peace thirty years later.
- New Year's Day (January 1), if falling on a weekday, or if not, the next day.
- St Patrick's Day (March 17), if falling on a weekday, or if not, the next day.
- Good Friday - the Friday before Easter.
- Easter Monday - the day after Easter.
- May Holiday - the first Monday in May.
-June Holiday - the first Monday in June.
- Summer Holiday - the first Monday in August.
-October Holiday - the last Monday in October.
-Christmas Day, if falling on a weekday or, if not, the next Tuesday.
-St Stephen's Day (December 26), if falling on a weekday or, if not, the next day.
The population of Ireland in 2008 was approximately 6.1 million comprising 4.35 million in the Republic of Ireland with another 1.75 million in Northern Ireland. Although this is a significant growth over recent years, it is lower than historical figures.
In 1841, the population of the 26 counties which would later form the Republic of Ireland was over 6.5 million people. The Irish potato famine and the emigration it caused had a dramatic effect, so that by 1871 the 26-county population had almost halved to four million, and by 1926 had reduced further to three million. The population held firm around three million until the early 1970s when the population began to rise again. Future predictions are for the population to continue to rise at 1.4% per year until 2021 when the population is predicted to be over just over five million. The Republic of Ireland is one of the few remaining developed economies to have population growth of this scale.
Below are some statistics to illustrate the rise, fall and rise again of the Irish population since 1841. The statistics also illustrate a massive population shift from the West to the East of the country and increasing urbanisation. Counties such as Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo and Leitrim have become depopulated while counties surrounding Dublin including Wicklow, Kildare Louth and Meath have seen rapid population growth in recent years.
Capital: Dublin
Population: about 4,200,000
Area: 70283 km2
Time zone:-1h Management.
Languages: English. In some western parts of the country the prevailing language is Irish.
Religions: Mainly Catholic. Minority Protestant.
Currency: Euro
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