Context of Ireland

Ireland ( (listen) YRE-lənd; Irish: Éire [ˈeːɾʲə] (listen); Ulster-Scots: Airlann [ˈɑːrlən]) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest in the world.

Geopolitically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Irela...Read more

Ireland ( (listen) YRE-lənd; Irish: Éire [ˈeːɾʲə] (listen); Ulster-Scots: Airlann [ˈɑːrlən]) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest in the world.

Geopolitically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially named Ireland), an independent state covering five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. As of 2022, the population of the entire island is just over 7 million, with 5.1 million living in the Republic of Ireland and 1.9 million in Northern Ireland, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain.

The geography of Ireland comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. Its lush vegetation is a product of its mild but changeable climate which is free of extremes in temperature. Much of Ireland was woodland until the end of the Middle Ages. Today, woodland makes up about 10% of the island, compared with a European average of over 33%, with most of it being non-native conifer plantations. The Irish climate is influenced by the Atlantic Ocean and thus very moderate, and winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, although summers are cooler than those in continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant.

Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century AD. The island was Christianised from the 5th century onwards. Following the 12th century Anglo-Norman invasion, England claimed sovereignty. However, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, and was extended during the 18th century. With the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. A war of independence in the early 20th century was followed by the partition of the island, leading to the creation of the Irish Free State, which became increasingly sovereign over the following decades, and Northern Ireland, which remained a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s. This subsided following the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. In 1973, the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, and Northern Ireland as part of it, did the same. In 2020, the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland included, left what was by then the European Union (EU).

Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the field of literature. Alongside mainstream Western culture, a strong indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music, Irish language, and Irish dance. The island's culture shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing, golf, and boxing.

More about Ireland

Population, Area & Driving side
  • Population 6572728
  • Area 84421
  • Driving side left
History
  • Prehistoric Ireland

    During the last glacial period, and until about 16,000 BC, much of Ireland was periodically covered in ice.[1] The relative sea level was less than 50m lower resulting in an ice bridge (but not a land bridge) forming between Ireland and Great Britain.[2] By 14,000 BC this ice bridge existed only between Northern Ireland and Scotland and by 12,000 BC Ireland was completely separated from Great Britain.[3] Later, around 6100 BC, Great Britain became separated from continental Europe.[4] Until recently, the earliest evidence of human activity in Ireland was dated at 12,500 years ago, demonstrated by a butchered bear bone found in a cave in County Clare.[5] Since 2021, the earliest evidence of human activity in Ireland is dated to 33,000 years ago.[6]

    By about 8000 BC, more sustained occupation of the island has been shown, with evidence for Mesolithic communities around the island.[7]

    ...Read more
    Prehistoric Ireland

    During the last glacial period, and until about 16,000 BC, much of Ireland was periodically covered in ice.[1] The relative sea level was less than 50m lower resulting in an ice bridge (but not a land bridge) forming between Ireland and Great Britain.[2] By 14,000 BC this ice bridge existed only between Northern Ireland and Scotland and by 12,000 BC Ireland was completely separated from Great Britain.[3] Later, around 6100 BC, Great Britain became separated from continental Europe.[4] Until recently, the earliest evidence of human activity in Ireland was dated at 12,500 years ago, demonstrated by a butchered bear bone found in a cave in County Clare.[5] Since 2021, the earliest evidence of human activity in Ireland is dated to 33,000 years ago.[6]

    By about 8000 BC, more sustained occupation of the island has been shown, with evidence for Mesolithic communities around the island.[7]

    Some time before 4000 BC, Neolithic settlers introduced cereal cultivars, domesticated animals such as cattle and sheep, built large timber buildings, and stone monuments.[8][1] The earliest evidence for farming in Ireland or Great Britain is from Ferriter's Cove, County Kerry, where a flint knife, cattle bones and a sheep's tooth were carbon-dated to c. 4350 BC.[9] Field systems were developed in different parts of Ireland, including at the Céide Fields, that has been preserved beneath a blanket of peat in present-day Tyrawley. An extensive field system, arguably the oldest in the world,[10] consisted of small divisions separated by dry-stone walls. The fields were farmed for several centuries between 3500 BC and 3000 BC. Wheat and barley were the principal crops.[1]

    The Bronze Age began around 2500 BC, with technology changing people's everyday lives during this period through innovations such as the wheel; harnessing oxen; weaving textiles; brewing alcohol; and skillful metalworking,[1] which produced new weapons and tools, along with fine gold decoration and jewellery, such as brooches and torcs.

    Emergence of Celtic Ireland

    How and when the island became Celtic has been debated for close to a century, with the migrations of the Celts being one of the more enduring themes of archaeological and linguistic studies. The most recent genetic research strongly associates the spread of Indo-European languages (including Celtic) through Western Europe with a people bringing a composite Beaker culture, with its arrival in Britain and Ireland dated to around the middle of the third millennium BC.[11] According to John T. Koch and others, Ireland in the Late Bronze Age was part of a maritime trading-network culture called the Atlantic Bronze Age that also included Britain, western France and Iberia, and that this is where Celtic languages developed.[12][13][14][15] This contrasts with the traditional view that their origin lies in mainland Europe with the Hallstatt culture.[16]

     
    The Uragh Stone Circle, a Neolithic stone circle in Tuosist, close to Gleninchaquin Park, County Kerry

    The long-standing traditional view is that the Celtic language, Ogham script and culture were brought to Ireland by waves of invading or migrating Celts from mainland Europe. This theory draws on the Lebor Gabála Érenn, a medieval Christian pseudo-history of Ireland, along with the presence of Celtic culture, language and artefacts found in Ireland such as Celtic bronze spears, shields, torcs and other finely crafted Celtic associated possessions. The theory holds that there were four separate Celtic invasions of Ireland. The Priteni were said to be the first, followed by the Belgae from northern Gaul and Britain. Later, Laighin tribes from Armorica (present-day Brittany) were said to have invaded Ireland and Britain more or less simultaneously. Lastly, the Milesians (Gaels) were said to have reached Ireland from either northern Iberia or southern Gaul.[17] It was claimed that a second wave named the Euerni, belonging to the Belgae people of northern Gaul, began arriving about the sixth century BC. They were said to have given their name to the island.[18][19]

    The theory was advanced in part because of the lack of archaeological evidence for large-scale Celtic immigration, though it is accepted that such movements are notoriously difficult to identify. Historical linguists are skeptical that this method alone could account for the absorption of Celtic language, with some saying that an assumed processual view of Celtic linguistic formation is 'an especially hazardous exercise'.[20][21] Genetic lineage investigation into the area of Celtic migration to Ireland has led to findings that showed no significant differences in mitochondrial DNA between Ireland and large areas of continental Europe, in contrast to parts of the Y-chromosome pattern. When taking both into account, a study concluded that modern Celtic speakers in Ireland could be thought of as European "Atlantic Celts" showing a shared ancestry throughout the Atlantic zone from northern Iberia to western Scandinavia rather than substantially central European.[22]

     
    Stone tools found in Ireland. Photograph taken in the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin.

    In 2012, research showed that the occurrence of genetic markers for the earliest farmers was almost eliminated by Beaker-culture immigrants: they carried what was then a new Y-chromosome R1b marker, believed to have originated in Iberia about 2500 BC. The prevalence amongst modern Irish men of this mutation is a remarkable 84%, the highest in the world, and closely matched in other populations along the Atlantic fringes down to Spain. A similar genetic replacement happened with lineages in mitochondrial DNA.[9][23] This conclusion is supported by recent research carried out by the geneticist David Reich, who says: "British and Irish skeletons from the Bronze Age that followed the Beaker period had at most 10 per cent ancestry from the first farmers of these islands, with other 90 per cent from people like those associated with the Bell Beaker culture in the Netherlands." He suggests that it was Beaker users who introduced an Indo-European language, represented here by Celtic (i.e. a new language and culture introduced directly by migration and genetic replacement).[11]

    Late antiquity and early medieval times
     
    The Scoti were Gaelic-speaking people from Ireland who settled in western Scotland in the 6th century or before.

    The earliest written records of Ireland come from classical Greco-Roman geographers. Ptolemy in his Almagest refers to Ireland as Mikra Brettania ("Little Britain"), in contrast to the larger island, which he called Megale Brettania ("Great Britain").[24] In his later work, Geography, Ptolemy refers to Ireland as Iouernia and to Great Britain as Albion. These 'new' names were likely to have been the local names for the islands at the time. The earlier names, in contrast, were likely to have been coined before direct contact with local peoples was made.[25]

    The Romans referred to Ireland by this name too in its Latinised form, Hibernia, or Scotia.[26][27] Ptolemy records sixteen nations inhabiting every part of Ireland in 100 AD.[28] The relationship between the Roman Empire and the kingdoms of ancient Ireland is unclear. However, a number of finds of Roman coins have been made, for example at the Iron Age settlement of Freestone Hill near Gowran and Newgrange.[29]

    Ireland continued as a patchwork of rival kingdoms; however, beginning in the 7th century, a concept of national kingship gradually became articulated through the concept of a High King of Ireland. Medieval Irish literature portrays an almost unbroken sequence of high kings stretching back thousands of years, but modern historians believe the scheme was constructed in the 8th century to justify the status of powerful political groupings by projecting the origins of their rule into the remote past.[30]

    All of the Irish kingdoms had their own kings but were nominally subject to the high king. The high king was drawn from the ranks of the provincial kings and ruled also the royal kingdom of Meath, with a ceremonial capital at the Hill of Tara. The concept did not become a political reality until the Viking Age and even then was not a consistent one.[31] Ireland did have a culturally unifying rule of law: the early written judicial system, the Brehon Laws, administered by a professional class of jurists known as the brehons.[32]

    The Chronicle of Ireland records that in 431, Bishop Palladius arrived in Ireland on a mission from Pope Celestine I to minister to the Irish "already believing in Christ".[33] The same chronicle records that Saint Patrick, Ireland's best known patron saint, arrived the following year. There is continued debate over the missions of Palladius and Patrick, but the consensus is that they both took place[34] and that the older druid tradition collapsed in the face of the new religion.[35] Irish Christian scholars excelled in the study of Latin and Greek learning and Christian theology. In the monastic culture that followed the Christianisation of Ireland, Latin and Greek learning was preserved in Ireland during the Early Middle Ages in contrast to elsewhere in Western Europe, where the Dark Ages followed the Fall of the Western Roman Empire.[35][36][page needed]

     
    A folio of the Book of Kells showing Christ enthroned

    The arts of manuscript illumination, metalworking and sculpture flourished and produced treasures such as the Book of Kells, ornate jewellery and the many carved stone crosses[37] that still dot the island today. A mission founded in 563 on Iona by the Irish monk Saint Columba began a tradition of Irish missionary work that spread Celtic Christianity and learning to Scotland, England and the Frankish Empire on continental Europe after the fall of Rome.[38] These missions continued until the late Middle Ages, establishing monasteries and centres of learning, producing scholars such as Sedulius Scottus and Johannes Eriugena and exerting much influence in Europe.[citation needed]

    From the 9th century, waves of Viking raiders plundered Irish monasteries and towns.[39] These raids added to a pattern of raiding and endemic warfare that was already deep-seated in Ireland. The Vikings were involved in establishing most of the major coastal settlements in Ireland: Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Wexford, Waterford, as well as other smaller settlements.[40][unreliable source?]

    Norman and English invasions
     
    Remains of the 12th-century Trim Castle in County Meath, the largest Norman castle in Ireland

    On 1 May 1169, an expedition of Cambro-Norman knights, with an army of about 600 men, landed at Bannow Strand in present-day County Wexford. It was led by Richard de Clare, known as 'Strongbow' owing to his prowess as an archer.[41] The invasion, which coincided with a period of renewed Norman expansion, was at the invitation of Dermot Mac Murrough, King of Leinster.[42]

    In 1166, Mac Murrough had fled to Anjou, France, following a war involving Tighearnán Ua Ruairc, of Breifne, and sought the assistance of the Angevin King Henry II, in recapturing his kingdom. In 1171, Henry arrived in Ireland in order to review the general progress of the expedition. He wanted to re-exert royal authority over the invasion which was expanding beyond his control. Henry successfully re-imposed his authority over Strongbow and the Cambro-Norman warlords and persuaded many of the Irish kings to accept him as their overlord, an arrangement confirmed in the 1175 Treaty of Windsor.

    The invasion was legitimised by reference to provisions of the alleged Papal Bull Laudabiliter, issued by an Englishman, Adrian IV, in 1155. The document apparently encouraged Henry to take control in Ireland in order to oversee the financial and administrative reorganisation of the Irish Church and its integration into the Roman Church system.[43] Some restructuring had already begun at the ecclesiastical level following the Synod of Kells in 1152.[44] There has been significant controversy regarding the authenticity of Laudabiliter,[45] and there is no general agreement as to whether the bull was genuine or a forgery.[46][47] Further, it had no standing in the Irish legal system.

     
    Political boundaries in Ireland in 1450, before the plantations

    In 1172, Pope Alexander III further encouraged Henry to advance the integration of the Irish Church with Rome. Henry was authorised to impose a tithe of one penny per hearth as an annual contribution. This church levy called Peter's Pence, is extant in Ireland as a voluntary donation. In turn, Henry assumed the title of Lord of Ireland which Henry conferred on his younger son, John Lackland, in 1185. This defined the Anglo-Norman administration in Ireland as the Lordship of Ireland.[citation needed] When Henry's successor died unexpectedly in 1199, John inherited the crown of England and retained the Lordship of Ireland. Over the century that followed, Norman feudal law gradually replaced the Gaelic Brehon Law across large areas, so that by the late 13th century the Norman-Irish had established a feudal system throughout much of Ireland. Norman settlements were characterised by the establishment of baronies, manors, towns and the seeds of the modern county system. A version of the Magna Carta (the Great Charter of Ireland), substituting Dublin for London and the Irish Church for, the English church at the time, the Catholic Church, was published in 1216 and the Parliament of Ireland was founded in 1297.

    Gaelicisation

    From the mid-14th century, after the Black Death, Norman settlements in Ireland went into a period of decline. The Norman rulers and the Gaelic Irish elites intermarried and the areas under Norman rule became Gaelicised. In some parts, a hybrid Hiberno-Norman culture emerged. In response, the Irish parliament passed the Statutes of Kilkenny in 1367. These were a set of laws designed to prevent the assimilation of the Normans into Irish society by requiring English subjects in Ireland to speak English, follow English customs and abide by English law.[48]

    By the end of the 15th century, central English authority in Ireland had all but disappeared, and a renewed Irish culture and language, albeit with Norman influences, was dominant again. English Crown control remained relatively unshaken in an amorphous foothold around Dublin known as The Pale, and under the provisions of Poynings' Law of 1494, Irish Parliamentary legislation was subject to the approval of the English Privy Council.[49]

    The Kingdom of Ireland
     
    A 16th century perception of Irish women and girls, illustrated in the manuscript "Théâtre de tous les peuples et nations de la terre avec leurs habits et ornemens divers, tant anciens que modernes, diligemment depeints au naturel". Painted by Lucas d'Heere in the 2nd half of the 16th century. Preserved in the Ghent University Library.[50]

    The title of King of Ireland was re-created in 1542 by Henry VIII, the then King of England, of the Tudor dynasty. English rule was reinforced and expanded in Ireland during the latter part of the 16th century, leading to the Tudor conquest of Ireland. A near-complete conquest was achieved by the turn of the 17th century, following the Nine Years' War and the Flight of the Earls.

    This control was consolidated during the wars and conflicts of the 17th century, including the English and Scottish colonisation in the Plantations of Ireland, the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and the Williamite War. Irish losses during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (which, in Ireland, included the Irish Confederacy and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland) are estimated to include 20,000 battlefield casualties. 200,000 civilians are estimated to have died as a result of a combination of war-related famine, displacement, guerrilla activity and pestilence throughout the war. A further 50,000[Note 1] were sent into indentured servitude in the West Indies. Physician-general William Petty estimated that 504,000 Catholic Irish and 112,000 Protestant settlers died, and 100,000 people were transported, as a result of the war.[53] If a prewar population of 1.5 million is assumed, this would mean that the population was reduced by almost half.

    The religious struggles of the 17th century left a deep sectarian division in Ireland. Religious allegiance now determined the perception in law of loyalty to the Irish King and Parliament. After the passing of the Test Act 1672, and the victory of the forces of the dual monarchy of William and Mary over the Jacobites, Roman Catholics and nonconforming Protestant Dissenters were barred from sitting as members in the Irish Parliament. Under the emerging Penal Laws, Irish Roman Catholics and Dissenters were increasingly deprived of various civil rights, even the ownership of hereditary property. Additional regressive punitive legislation followed in 1703, 1709 and 1728. This completed a comprehensive systemic effort to materially disadvantage Roman Catholics and Protestant Dissenters while enriching a new ruling class of Anglican conformists.[54] The new Anglo-Irish ruling class became known as the Protestant Ascendancy.

     
    Half-hanging of suspected United Irishmen

    The "Great Frost" struck Ireland and the rest of Europe between December 1739 and September 1741, after a decade of relatively mild winters. The winters destroyed stored crops of potatoes and other staples, and the poor summers severely damaged harvests.[55][page needed] This resulted in the famine of 1740. An estimated 250,000 people (about one in eight of the population) died from the ensuing pestilence and disease.[56] The Irish government halted export of corn and kept the army in quarters but did little more.[56][57] Local gentry and charitable organisations provided relief but could do little to prevent the ensuing mortality.[56][57]

    In the aftermath of the famine, an increase in industrial production and a surge in trade brought a succession of construction booms. The population soared in the latter part of this century and the architectural legacy of Georgian Ireland was built. In 1782, Poynings' Law was repealed, giving Ireland legislative independence from Great Britain for the first time since 1495. The British government, however, still retained the right to nominate the government of Ireland without the consent of the Irish parliament.

    Union with Great Britain

    In 1798, members of the Protestant Dissenter tradition (mainly Presbyterian) made common cause with Roman Catholics in a republican rebellion inspired and led by the Society of United Irishmen, with the aim of creating an independent Ireland. Despite assistance from France the rebellion was put down by British and Irish government and yeomanry forces. In 1800, the British and Irish parliaments both passed Acts of Union that, with effect from 1 January 1801, merged the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain to create a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.[58]

    The passage of the Act in the Irish Parliament was ultimately achieved with substantial majorities, having failed on the first attempt in 1799. According to contemporary documents and historical analysis, this was achieved through a considerable degree of bribery, with funding provided by the British Secret Service Office, and the awarding of peerages, places and honours to secure votes.[58] Thus, the parliament in Ireland was abolished and replaced by a united parliament at Westminster in London, though resistance remained, as evidenced by Robert Emmet's failed Irish Rebellion of 1803.

    Aside from the development of the linen industry, Ireland was largely passed over by the industrial revolution, partly because it lacked coal and iron resources[59][60] and partly because of the impact of the sudden union with the structurally superior economy of England,[61] which saw Ireland as a source of agricultural produce and capital.[62][63]

     
    A depiction of the Great Famine from Our Boys in Ireland by Henry Willard French (1891)

    The Great Famine of 1845–1851 devastated Ireland, as in those years Ireland's population fell by one-third. More than one million people died from starvation and disease, with an additional million people emigrating during the famine, mostly to the United States and Canada.[64] In the century that followed, an economic depression caused by the famine resulted in a further million people emigrating.[65] By the end of the decade, half of all immigration to the United States was from Ireland. The period of civil unrest that followed until the end of the 19th century is referred to as the Land War. Mass emigration became deeply entrenched and the population continued to decline until the mid-20th century. Immediately prior to the famine the population was recorded as 8.2 million by the 1841 census.[66] The population has never returned to this level since.[67] The population continued to fall until 1961; County Leitrim was the final Irish county to record a population increase post-famine, in 2006.

    The 19th and early 20th centuries saw the rise of modern Irish nationalism, primarily among the Roman Catholic population. The pre-eminent Irish political figure after the Union was Daniel O'Connell. He was elected as Member of Parliament for Ennis in a surprise result and despite being unable to take his seat as a Roman Catholic. O'Connell spearheaded a vigorous campaign that was taken up by the Prime Minister, the Irish-born soldier and statesman, the Duke of Wellington. Steering the Catholic Relief Bill through Parliament, aided by future prime minister Robert Peel, Wellington prevailed upon a reluctant George IV to sign the Bill and proclaim it into law. George's father had opposed the plan of the earlier Prime Minister, Pitt the Younger, to introduce such a bill following the Union of 1801, fearing Catholic Emancipation to be in conflict with the Act of Settlement 1701.

    Daniel O'Connell led a subsequent campaign, for the repeal of the Act of Union, which failed. Later in the century, Charles Stewart Parnell and others campaigned for autonomy within the Union, or "Home Rule". Unionists, especially those located in Ulster, were strongly opposed to Home Rule, which they thought would be dominated by Catholic interests.[68] After several attempts to pass a Home Rule bill through parliament, it looked certain that one would finally pass in 1914. To prevent this from happening, the Ulster Volunteers were formed in 1913 under the leadership of Edward Carson.[69]

    Their formation was followed in 1914 by the establishment of the Irish Volunteers, whose aim was to ensure that the Home Rule Bill was passed. The Act was passed but with the "temporary" exclusion of the six counties of Ulster, which later became Northern Ireland. Before it could be implemented, however, the Act was suspended for the duration of the First World War. The Irish Volunteers split into two groups. The majority, approximately 175,000 in number, under John Redmond, took the name National Volunteers and supported Irish involvement in the war. A minority, approximately 13,000, retained the Irish Volunteers' name and opposed Ireland's involvement in the war.[69]

     
    Sackville Street (now O'Connell Street), Dublin, after the 1916 Easter Rising

    The Easter Rising of 1916 was carried out by the latter group together with a smaller socialist militia, the Irish Citizen Army. The British response, executing fifteen leaders of the Rising over a period of ten days and imprisoning or interning more than a thousand people, turned the mood of the country in favour of the rebels. Support for Irish republicanism increased further due to the ongoing war in Europe, as well as the Conscription Crisis of 1918.[70]

    The pro-independence republican party, Sinn Féin, received overwhelming endorsement in the general election of 1918, and in 1919 proclaimed an Irish Republic, setting up its own parliament (Dáil Éireann) and government. Simultaneously the Volunteers, which became known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA), launched a three-year guerrilla war, which ended in a truce in July 1921 (although violence continued until June 1922, mostly in Northern Ireland).[70]

    Partition

    In December 1921, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was concluded between the British government and representatives of the Second Dáil. It gave Ireland complete independence in its home affairs and practical independence for foreign policy, but an opt-out clause allowed Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom, which it immediately exercised. Additionally, Members of the Free State Parliament were required to swear an oath of allegiance to the Constitution of the Irish Free State and make a statement of faithfulness to the king.[71] Disagreements over these provisions led to a split in the nationalist movement and a subsequent Irish Civil War between the new government of the Irish Free State and those opposed to the treaty, led by Éamon de Valera. The civil war officially ended in May 1923 when de Valera issued a cease-fire order.[72]

    Independence
     
    Annotated page from the Anglo-Irish Treaty that established the Irish Free State and independence for 26 out of 32 Irish counties

    During its first decade, the newly formed Irish Free State was governed by the victors of the civil war. When de Valera achieved power, he took advantage of the Statute of Westminster and political circumstances to build upon inroads to greater sovereignty made by the previous government. The oath was abolished and in 1937 a new constitution was adopted.[70] This completed a process of gradual separation from the British Empire that governments had pursued since independence. However, it was not until 1949 that the state was declared, officially, to be the Republic of Ireland.

    The state was neutral during World War II, but offered clandestine assistance to the Allies, particularly in the potential defence of Northern Ireland. Despite their country's neutrality, approximately 50,000[73] volunteers from independent Ireland joined the British forces during the war, four being awarded Victoria Crosses.

    The German intelligence was also active in Ireland.[74] Its operations ended in September 1941 when police made arrests based on surveillance carried out on the key diplomatic legations in Dublin. To the authorities, counterintelligence was a fundamental line of defence. With a regular army of only slightly over seven thousand men at the start of the war, and with limited supplies of modern weapons, the state would have had great difficulty in defending itself from invasion from either side in the conflict.[74][75]

    Large-scale emigration marked most of the post-WWII period (particularly during the 1950s and 1980s), but beginning in 1987 the economy improved, and the 1990s saw the beginning of substantial economic growth. This period of growth became known as the Celtic Tiger.[76] The Republic's real GDP grew by an average of 9.6% per annum between 1995 and 1999,[77] in which year the Republic joined the euro. In 2000, it was the sixth-richest country in the world in terms of GDP per capita.[78] Historian R. F. Foster argues the cause was a combination of a new sense of initiative and the entry of American corporations. He concludes the chief factors were low taxation, pro-business regulatory policies, and a young, tech-savvy workforce. For many multinationals, the decision to do business in Ireland was made easier still by generous incentives from the Industrial Development Authority. In addition European Union membership was helpful, giving the country lucrative access to markets that it had previously reached only through the United Kingdom, and pumping huge subsidies and investment capital into the Irish economy.[79]

    Modernisation brought secularisation in its wake. The traditionally high levels of religiosity have sharply declined. Foster points to three factors: First, Irish feminism, largely imported from America with liberal stances on contraception, abortion and divorce, undermined the authority of bishops and priests. Second, the mishandling of the paedophile scandals humiliated the Church, whose bishops seemed less concerned with the victims and more concerned with covering up for errant priests. Third, prosperity brought hedonism and materialism that undercut the ideals of saintly poverty.[80]

    The financial crisis that began in 2008 dramatically ended this period of boom. GDP fell by 3% in 2008 and by 7.1% in 2009, the worst year since records began (although earnings by foreign-owned businesses continued to grow).[81] The state has since experienced deep recession, with unemployment, which doubled during 2009, remaining above 14% in 2012.[82]

    Northern Ireland

    Northern Ireland resulted from the division of the United Kingdom by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, and until 1972 was a self-governing jurisdiction within the United Kingdom with its own parliament and prime minister. Northern Ireland, as part of the United Kingdom, was not neutral during the Second World War, and Belfast suffered four bombing raids in 1941. Conscription was not extended to Northern Ireland, and roughly an equal number volunteered from Northern Ireland as volunteered from the Republic of Ireland.

     
    Edward Carson signing the Solemn League and Covenant in 1912, declaring opposition to Home Rule "using all means which may be found necessary"

    Although Northern Ireland was largely spared the strife of the civil war, in the decades that followed partition there were sporadic episodes of inter-communal violence. Nationalists, mainly Roman Catholic, wanted to unite Ireland as an independent republic, whereas unionists, mainly Protestant, wanted Northern Ireland to remain in the United Kingdom. The Protestant and Catholic communities in Northern Ireland voted largely along sectarian lines, meaning that the government of Northern Ireland (elected by "first-past-the-post" from 1929) was controlled by the Ulster Unionist Party. Over time, the minority Catholic community felt increasingly alienated with further disaffection fuelled by practices such as gerrymandering and discrimination in housing and employment.[83][84][85]

    In the late 1960s, nationalist grievances were aired publicly in mass civil rights protests, which were often confronted by loyalist counter-protests.[86] The government's reaction to confrontations was seen to be one-sided and heavy-handed in favour of unionists. Law and order broke down as unrest and inter-communal violence increased.[87] The Northern Ireland government requested the British Army to aid the police and protect the Irish Nationalist population. In 1969, the paramilitary Provisional IRA, which favoured the creation of a united Ireland, emerged from a split in the Irish Republican Army and began a campaign against what it called the "British occupation of the six counties".[citation needed]

    Other groups, both the unionist and nationalist participated in violence, and a period known as "the Troubles" began. Over 3,600 deaths resulted over the subsequent three decades of conflict.[88] Owing to the civil unrest during the Troubles, the British government suspended home rule in 1972 and imposed direct rule. There were several unsuccessful attempts to end the Troubles politically, such as the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973. In 1998, following a ceasefire by the Provisional IRA and multi-party talks, the Good Friday Agreement was concluded as a treaty between the British and Irish governments, annexing the text agreed in the multi-party talks.

    The substance of the Agreement (formally referred to as the Belfast Agreement) was later endorsed by referendums in both parts of Ireland. The Agreement restored self-government to Northern Ireland on the basis of power-sharing in a regional Executive drawn from the major parties in a new Northern Ireland Assembly, with entrenched protections for the two main communities. The Executive is jointly headed by a First Minister and deputy First Minister drawn from the unionist and nationalist parties. Violence had decreased greatly after the Provisional IRA and loyalist ceasefires in 1994 and in 2005 the Provisional IRA announced the end of its armed campaign and an independent commission supervised its disarmament and that of other nationalist and unionist paramilitary organisations.[89]

    The Assembly and power-sharing Executive were suspended several times but were restored again in 2007. In that year the British government officially ended its military support of the police in Northern Ireland (Operation Banner) and began withdrawing troops. On 27 June 2012, Northern Ireland's deputy first minister and former IRA commander, Martin McGuinness, shook hands with Queen Elizabeth II in Belfast, symbolising reconciliation between the two sides.[90]

    ^ a b c d "Prehistoric Details". National Museum of Ireland. Archived from the original on 5 October 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2023. ^ Andrew Cooper & D. Jackson. "Sea-level change and inner shelf stratigraphy off Northern Ireland". academia.edu. Marine Geology. Retrieved 25 February 2022. ^ Edwards, Robin & al. "The Island of Ireland: Drowning the Myth of an Irish Land-bridge? Archived 19 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine" Accessed 15 February 2013. ^ Lane, Megan. "The moment Britain became an island". BBC News. Archived from the original on 7 July 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2017. ^ "Earliest evidence of humans in Ireland". BBC News. 21 March 2016. Archived from the original on 3 April 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2016. ^ Roseingrave, Louise (18 April 2021). "Reindeer bone found in north Cork to alter understanding of Irish human history". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 22 April 2021. Retrieved 24 April 2021. ^ Driscoll, Killian. 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Ireland in the Bronze Age (PDF). Dublin: Irish Government Stationery Office. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 March 2015. ^ Waddell, John (September 1992). The Question of the Celticization of Ireland (PDF). Emania. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 July 2015. ^ McEvoy, B.; Richards, M.; Forster, P.; Bradley, D.G. (October 2004). "The Longue Durée of Genetic Ancestry: Multiple Genetic Marker Systems and Celtic Origins on the Atlantic Facade of Europe". American Journal of Human Genetics. 75 (4): 693–702. doi:10.1086/424697. PMC 1182057. PMID 15309688. ^ Hay, Maciamo. "Haplogroup R1b (Y-DNA)". Eupedia. Archived from the original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015. ^ Freeman, Philip (2001). Ireland and the classical world. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-292-72518-8. Archived from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020. ^ Freeman, Philip (2001). Ireland and the Classical World. 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Abingdon and New York. pp. 251–254 [253]. ^ Ginnell, Laurence (1894). The Brehon Laws: A Legal Handbook. T. Fisher Unwin. p. 81. ^ Moran, Patrick Francis (1913). "St. Palladius" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. ^ De Paor, Liam (1993). Saint Patrick's World: The Christian culture of Ireland's Apostolic Age. Dublin: Four Courts Press. pp. 78, 79. ISBN 978-1-85182-144-0. ^ a b Cahill, Tim (1996). How the Irish Saved Civilization. Anchor Books. ISBN 978-0-385-41849-2. ^ Dowley, Tim; et al., eds. (1977). Eerdman's Handbook to the History of Christianity. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8028-3450-8. ^ Stokes, Margaret (1888). Early Christian Art in Ireland. London: Chapman and Hall. pp. 9, 87, 117. Archived from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 26 October 2020. ^ Bartlett, Thomas (2010). Ireland: A History. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-19720-5. ^ Ó Corráin, Donnchadh. "Vikings & Ireland" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 April 2017. Retrieved 19 March 2010. ^ "Ireland's History in Maps (800 AD)". Rootsweb.ancestry.com. Ancestry Publishing. 6 December 1998. Archived from the original on 9 August 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2011. ^ Chrisafis, Angelique (25 January 2005). "Scion of traitors and warlords: Why Bush is coy about his Irish links". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 29 August 2013. Retrieved 8 November 2008. ^ Previté-Orton, Charles (1975). The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History. Cambridge University Press. p. 810. ISBN 978-0-521-09977-6. ^ Curtis, Edmund (2002). A History of Ireland from Earliest Times to 1922. New York: Routledge. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-415-27949-9. ^ Edwards, Ruth; et al. (2005). An Atlas of Irish History. Routledge. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-415-33952-0. ^ Ó Clabaigh, Colmán N. (2005). "Papacy". In Seán Duffy (ed.). Medieval Ireland. An Encyclopedia. Abingdon and New York. pp. 361–362. ^ Hosler, John D.; et al. (2007). Henry II: A Medieval Soldier at War, 1147–1189. Brill Academic Publishers. p. 239. ISBN 978-90-04-15724-8. ^ Bolton, Brenda (2003). Adrian IV, the English Pope, 1154–1159: Studies and Texts. Ashgate Publishing. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-7546-0708-3. ^ "The Great Irish Famine: Laws that Isolated and Impoverished the Irish" (PDF). Irish Famine Curriculum Committee. New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education. 1998. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 March 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2011. ^ Pack, Mark (2001). "Charles James Fox, the Repeal of Poynings Law, and the Act of Union: 1782–1801". Journal of Liberal History. 33: 6. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2015. ^ "Théâtre de tous les peuples et nations de la terre avec leurs habits et ornemens divers, tant anciens que modernes, diligemment depeints au naturel par Luc Dheere peintre et sculpteur Gantois[manuscript]". lib.ugent.be. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2020. ^ Foster, Robert Fitzroy (1989). Modern Ireland. Penguin Books. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-14-013250-2. '[S]lave-hunts' certainly happened, though their extent has been exaggerated; there were probably 12,000 Irish in the West Indies by the late 1600s ^ a b O'Callaghan, Sean (2000). To Hell or Barbados. Brandon. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-86322-287-0. ^ "A Short History of Ireland: The Curse of Cromwell". BBC News. Archived from the original on 2 March 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2008. ^ "Laws in Ireland for the Suppression of Popery". University of Minnesota Law School. Archived from the original on 25 January 2010. Retrieved 23 January 2009. ^ Dickson, David (1997). Arctic Ireland: The Extraordinary Story of the Great Frost and Forgotten Famine of 1740–41. Belfast: White Row Press. ISBN 978-1-870132-85-5. ^ a b c Ó Gráda, Cormac (1989). The Great Irish Famine. Cambridge University Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-521-55266-0. ^ a b Clarkson, Leslie; Crawford, Margaret (2001). Feast and Famine: Food and Nutrition in Ireland, 1500–1920. Oxford University Press. p. 274. ISBN 978-0-19-822751-9. ^ a b Ward, Alan J. (1994). The Irish Constitutional Tradition: Responsible Government and Modern Ireland, 1782–1992. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-8132-0784-1. ^ "Ireland AD 1750–1900 The Industrial Age". WorldTimelines.org.uk. The British Museum. Archived from the original on 26 December 2010. Retrieved 28 March 2010. ^ O'Grada, Cormac (1994). Ireland: A New Economic History, 1780–1939. Oxford University Press. pp. 314–330. ISBN 978-0-19-820598-2. Archived from the original on 6 February 2021. Retrieved 26 October 2020. ^ Keating, Paul; Desmond, Derry (1993). Culture and Capitalism in Contemporary Ireland. Hampshire, UK: Avebury Press. p. 119. ISBN 978-1-85628-362-5. ^ Jacobsen, John (1994). Chasing Progress in the Irish Republic. Cambridge University Press. p. 47. ^ Mokyr, Joel (1983). Why Ireland Starved: A Quantitative and Analytical History of the Irish Economy, 1800–1850. Oxon: Taylor and Francis. p. 152. ^ "The Irish Potato Famine". Digital History. University of Houston. 7 November 2008. Archived from the original on 23 February 2013. Retrieved 8 November 2008. ^ "Effects of the Famine: Emigration". wesleyjohnston.com. Archived from the original on 28 December 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2019. ^ Vallely, Paul (25 April 2006). "1841: A window on Victorian Britain – This Britain". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 17 June 2015. Retrieved 16 April 2009. ^ Quinn, Eamon (19 August 2007). "Ireland Learns to Adapt to a Population Growth Spurt". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 16 April 2009. Retrieved 8 November 2008. ^ Kee, Robert (1972). The Green Flag: A History of Irish Nationalism. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 376–400. ISBN 978-0-297-17987-0. ^ a b Kee, Robert (1972). The Green Flag: A History of Irish Nationalism. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 478–530. ISBN 978-0-297-17987-0. ^ a b c Morough, Michael (December 2000). "The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921". History Review (38): 34–36. ^ Kee, Robert (1972). The Green Flag: A History of Irish Nationalism. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 719–748. ISBN 978-0-297-17987-0. ^ Gwynn, Stephen (January 1934). "Ireland Since the Treaty". Foreign Affairs. 12 (2): 322. doi:10.2307/20030588. JSTOR 20030588. ^ Connolly, Kevin (1 June 2004). "Irish who fought on the beaches". BBC News. Archived from the original on 17 December 2008. Retrieved 8 November 2008. ^ a b Hull, Mark: "The Irish Interlude: German Intelligence in Ireland, 1939–1943", Journal of Military History, Vol. 66, No. 3 (July 2002), pp. 695–717 ^ Carroll, Joseph T. (2002). Ireland in the War Years 1939–1945. San Francisco: International Scholars Publishers. p. 190. ISBN 978-1-57309-185-5. ^ Clancy, Patrick; Drudy, Sheelagh; Lynch, Kathleen; O'Dowd, Liam (1997). Irish Society: Sociological Perspectives. Institute of Public Administration. pp. 68–70. ISBN 978-1-872002-87-3. ^ Schmied, Doris (2005). Winning and Losing: the Changing Geography of Europe's Rural Areas. Chippenham, UK: Ashgate. p. 234. ISBN 978-0-7546-4101-8. ^ The Future of International Migration to OECD Countries. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). 2009. p. 67. ISBN 978-92-64-04449-4. Archived from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 26 October 2020. ^ R. F. Foster, Luck and the Irish: A Brief History of Change 1970–2000 (2007), pp 7–36 ^ Foster, Luck and the Irish pp 37–66. ^ Pogatchnik, Shawn (25 March 2010). "Ireland's Economy Suffered Record Slump in 2009". Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Archived from the original on 8 February 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2010. ^ "Measuring Ireland's Progress 2011" (PDF). CSO.ie. Central Statistics Office. 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    A garda car.

    The police force is known as An Garda Síochána, (literally, 'Guards of the Peace'), or just "Garda", and police officers as Garda (singular) and Gardaí (plural, pronounced Gar-dee), though informally the English term Guard(s) is usual. The term police is rarely used, but is of course understood. Regardless of what you call them, they are courteous and approachable. Uniformed members of the Garda Síochána do not carry firearms, but the police in Northern Ireland do. Firearms are, however, carried by detectives and officers assigned to special police units. Police security checks at Shannon Airport can be tough if you are a solo traveller.

    Crime is relatively low by most European standards, but not so different in kind from crime in other countries. Late-night streets in larger towns and cities can be dangerous, as anywhere. Don't walk alone after sunset in deserted areas in Dublin or Cork, and be sure to plan getting back home, preferably in a taxi. Fortunately, most violent crime is drink- or drug-related, so simply avoiding the visibly inebriated can keep you out of most potential difficulties. If you need Gardaí, ambulance, fire service, coast guard or mountain rescue dial 999 or 112 as the emergency number; both work from landline phones and mobile phones.

    In the unlikely event that you are confronted by a thief, be aware that Irish criminals in general are not afraid to resort to violence. Surrender any valuables they ask for and do not resist, as hooligans are bound to have sharp or blunt weapons with them. If you are the victim of a crime, report it immediately. CCTV camera coverage in towns and cities is quite extensive, and a timely phone call could help retrieve your lost belongings.

    ...Read more
    Stay safe
     
    A garda car.

    The police force is known as An Garda Síochána, (literally, 'Guards of the Peace'), or just "Garda", and police officers as Garda (singular) and Gardaí (plural, pronounced Gar-dee), though informally the English term Guard(s) is usual. The term police is rarely used, but is of course understood. Regardless of what you call them, they are courteous and approachable. Uniformed members of the Garda Síochána do not carry firearms, but the police in Northern Ireland do. Firearms are, however, carried by detectives and officers assigned to special police units. Police security checks at Shannon Airport can be tough if you are a solo traveller.

    Crime is relatively low by most European standards, but not so different in kind from crime in other countries. Late-night streets in larger towns and cities can be dangerous, as anywhere. Don't walk alone after sunset in deserted areas in Dublin or Cork, and be sure to plan getting back home, preferably in a taxi. Fortunately, most violent crime is drink- or drug-related, so simply avoiding the visibly inebriated can keep you out of most potential difficulties. If you need Gardaí, ambulance, fire service, coast guard or mountain rescue dial 999 or 112 as the emergency number; both work from landline phones and mobile phones.

    In the unlikely event that you are confronted by a thief, be aware that Irish criminals in general are not afraid to resort to violence. Surrender any valuables they ask for and do not resist, as hooligans are bound to have sharp or blunt weapons with them. If you are the victim of a crime, report it immediately. CCTV camera coverage in towns and cities is quite extensive, and a timely phone call could help retrieve your lost belongings.

    Many roads in the country are narrow and winding, and there has been an increase in traffic density. Ireland is improving its roads, but due to financial constraints many potholes do not get mended in a timely manner. If using a rented car, keep your eyes peeled for any potholes in the road as even the smallest of them could precipitate a rollover or a collision.

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