IRELAND

Irish ire country occupying the greater part of an island lying to the west of Great Britain. At its farthest extent, Ireland is about 302 miles (486 km) long from north to south and about 171 miles (275 km) from east to west. Ireland's only neighbour is Northern Ireland of the United Kingdom, which occupies the northeastern portion of the island. The remainder of Ireland's boundary consists of coastline, with the Atlantic Ocean to the north, west, and south, and the Irish Sea and St. George's Channel separating it from Great Britain to the east. The capital is Dublin. Area 27,137 square miles (70,285 square km). Pop. (1992 est.) 3,519,000. For current history and for statistics on society and economy, see Britannica Book Of The Year. The Cliffs of Moher on the coast of County Clare, Ireland, just south of Galway Bay. Irish ire country of western Europe. It occupies the greater part of an island lying to the west of Great Britain, from which it is separatedat distances ranging from 11 to 120 miles (from 18 to 193 kilometres)by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St. George's Channel. Located in the temperate zone between latitudes 5130 and 5530 N and longitudes 600 and 1030 Was far north as Labrador or British Columbia in Canada and as far west as the West African state of Liberiait constitutes the westernmost outpost of the Atlantic fringe of the Eurasian landmass. Ireland, which, like Great Britain, once formed part of this landmass, lies on the European continental shelf, surrounded by seas that are generally less than 650 feet (200 metres) in depth. The greatest distance from north to south in the island is 302 miles (486 kilometres), and from east to west it is 171 miles (275 kilometres). The area of the 26 counties of the republic of Ireland is 27,137 square miles (70,285 square kilometres). The capital is Dublin. The magnificent scenery of Ireland's Atlantic coastline faces a 2,000-mile-wide expanse of ocean, and its geographic isolation has helped it to develop a rich heritage of culture and tradition that was linked initially to a separate language. The perennial concerns of the republicemigration, cultural and political identity, and relations with Northern Ireland (that portion of the island remaining within the United Kingdom)were augmented by economic and political problems. By the end of the 20th century, however, a prosperous economy led to a growing confidence about the country's future within the European Union (EU). Ireland was an integral part of the United Kingdom from 1800 to 1922 when, by virtue of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of Dec. 6, 1921, the Irish Free State was established as an independent member of the British Commonwealth. A new constitution, adopted by the people in a 1937 plebiscite, declared Ireland to be a sovereign, independent, democratic state, and the last remaining link with the Commonwealth was severed by the Republic of Ireland Act of 1948. Of the four traditional provinces of Ireland, the republic comprises the whole of Leinster (counties Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laoighis , Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, Wexford, and Wicklow), the whole of Munster (counties Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary North Riding, Tipperary South Riding, and Waterford), the whole of Connacht (counties Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon, and Sligo), and three counties (Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan) of the nine counties of Ulster. The remaining six counties of Ulster constitute Northern Ireland. For information on the geography and history of Northern Ireland, see Northern Ireland and Northern Ireland, history of. Additional reading Geography A good introduction is Ireland, Department of Foreign Affairs, Facts About Ireland, (1995). Basil Chubb and Geraldine O'Dea (eds.), A Source Book of Irish Government, rev. ed. (1983), provides a selection of official information. Works on geography include T.W. Freeman, Ireland: A General and Regional Geography, 4th ed. (1969); R.W.G. Carter and A.J. Parker (eds.), Ireland (1989), essays on social, environmental, and economic aspects; and James H. Johnson, The Human Geography of Ireland (1994), on environment, population patterns, political geography, and economic planning. Irish National Committee for Geography, Atlas of Ireland (1979), is also useful. The economy is discussed in James Meenan, The Irish Economy Since 1922 (1970), a well-documented, comprehensive survey; Cormac Grda, Ireland: A New Economic History, 17801939 (1994); and J.W. O'Hagan (ed.), The Economy of Ireland: Policy and Performance of a Small European Country (1995). Historical, archaeological, topographical, and other information, with illustrations, is found in such guidebooks as Lord Killanin (Michael Morris, Baron Killanin) and Michael V. Duignan, The Shell Guide to Ireland, rev. and updated by Peter Harbison (1989); and Brian Lalor and Ian Robertson, Ireland, 7th ed. (1995). Pictorial coverage is provided in Richard Fitzgerald and Edna O'Brien, Vanishing Ireland (1987).Irish culture over the centuries is covered in Brian De Breffny (ed.), Ireland: A Cultural Encyclopaedia (1983); Robin Flower, The Irish Tradition (1947, reissued 1994), a review of Gaelic Ireland's contribution to western European culture; Mles Dillon (ed.), Early Irish Society (1954, reprinted 1969), six short, authoritative essays; E. Estyn Evans, Irish Folk Ways (1957, reissued 1988); Mirtn Murch, The Irish Language (1985), a beautifully illustrated overview of the historical development of the language; and Kenneth Hudson and Ann Nicholls, The Cambridge Guide to the Museums of Britain and Ireland (1987). Frederick Henry Boland John O'Beirne Ranelagh History General works Comprehensive overviews of Ireland's history can be found in Christopher Haigh (ed.), The Cambridge Historical Encyclopedia of Great Britain and Ireland (1985, reissued 1990); Ruth Dudley Edwards, An Atlas of Irish History, 2nd ed. (1981); San P. Rordin, Antiquities of the Irish Countryside, 5th ed., rev. (1979, reprinted 1991); John O'Beirne Ranelagh, A Short History of Ireland, 2nd ed. (1994); J.C. Beckett, The Making of Modern Ireland, 16031923, new ed. (1981); R.F. Foster, Modern Ireland, 16001972 (1988); Jonathan Bardon, A History of Ulster (1992); and A.T.Q. Stewart, The Narrow Ground: The Roots of Conflict in Ulster, rev. ed. (1989, reissued 1993).The turbulent history of the relationship between church and state in Ireland is the subject of Kathleen Hughes, The Church in Early Irish Society (1966, reissued 1980); Ludwig Bieler, Ireland, Harbinger of the Middle Ages (1963; originally published in German, 1961), on the Irish religious missions and their influence in Europe; Robert Dudley Edwards, Church and State in Tudor Ireland: A History of Penal Laws Against Irish Catholics, 15341603 (1935, reprinted 1972); J.H. Whyte, Church and State in Modern Ireland, 19231979, 2nd ed. (1980); and Robert G. Crawford, Loyal to King Billy: A Portrait of the Ulster Protestants (1987). Early Ireland to the 17th century Detailed histories include Michael J. O'Kelly and Claire O'Kelly, Early Ireland: An Introduction to Irish Prehistory (1989), a survey from postglacial hunter to the dawn of Christianity; T.G.E. Powell, The Celts, new ed. (1980); Eoin MacNeill, Celtic Ireland (1921, reprinted 1981); James Charles Roy, The Road Wet, the Wind Close: Celtic Ireland (1986); Francis John Byrne, Irish Kings and High-Kings (1973, reissued 1987); Goddard Henry Orpen, Ireland Under the Normans, 11691216, 4 vol. (191120, reprinted 1968), which remains indispensable for the period 11691333; A.J. Otway-Ruthven, A History of Medieval Ireland, 2nd ed. (1980, reissued 1993), essential for the study of the period prior to 1496; Art Cosgrove (ed.), Medieval Ireland, 11691534 (1987, reissued 1993), a comprehensive selection of essays; H.G. Richardson and G.O. Sayles, The Administration of Ireland, 11721377 (1963), and The Irish Parliament in the Middle Ages, new ed. (1964); and Colm Lennon, SixteenthCentury Ireland: The Incomplete Conquest (1994). Modern Ireland under British rule (the 17th19th centuries) T.W. Moody and W.E. Vaughan (eds.), Eighteenth-Century Ireland, 16911800 (1986), provides a comprehensive history of the period. K.H. Connell, The Population of Ireland, 17501845 (1950, reprinted 1975), presents a scholarly account. Cecil Woodham-Smith, The Great Hunger: Ireland, 18451849 (1962, reissued 1991), discusses one of the worst disasters that influenced the course of Irish history. R. Dudley Edwards and T. Desmond Williams (eds.), The Great Famine: Studies in Irish History, 184552 (1956, reissued 1994), is another important source on the subject. Thomas Gallagher, Paddy's Lament: Ireland, 18461847: Prelude to Hatred (1982), explores the repercussions of the Great Potato Famine on Irish society and its relations with England.Discussions of 19th-century Irish politics may be found in Nicholas Mansergh, The Irish Question, 18401921: A Commentary on Anglo-Irish Relations and on Social and Political Forces in Ireland in the Age of Reform and Revolution, 3rd ed. (1975), an interpretative study of the political situation; James Loughlin, Gladstone, Home Rule, and the Ulster Question, 188293 (1987), a later study that reconsiders the period; Oliver Macdonagh, The Hereditary Bondsman (1988), and The Emancipist (1989), comprising a biography of Daniel O'Connell; F.S.L. Lyons, Charles Stewart Parnell (1977, reissued 1991); R.F. Foster, Charles Stewart Parnell: The Man and His Family, 2nd ed. (1979); D.J. Hickey and J.E. Doherty, A Dictionary of Irish History Since 1800 (1980); and F.S.L. Lyons and R.A.J. Hawkins (eds.), Ireland Under the Union: Varieties of Tension (1980), a collection of survey analyses. The 20th century Introductory surveys include F.S.L. Lyons, Ireland Since the Famine, 2nd rev. ed. (1973, reissued 1985); Oliver MacDonagh, Ireland: The Union and Its Aftermath, rev. and enlarged ed. (1977); Dervla Murphy and Klaus Francke, Ireland (1985), a pictorial work; John A. Murphy, Ireland in the Twentieth Century (1975, reissued 1989); and Dermot Keogh, Twentieth-Century Ireland: Nation and State (1994). Specific 20th-century developments are considered in Michael Hopkinson, Green Against Green: The Irish Civil War (1988); Deirdre McMahon, Republicans and Imperialists: Anglo-Irish Relations in the 1930s (1984), an authoritative account; Nicholas Mansergh, The Unresolved Question: The Anglo-Irish Settlement and Its Undoing, 191272 (1991); Terence Brown, Ireland (1985), an analysis of social and cultural factors contributing to the sense of national identity, 192285; J.J. Lee, Ireland, 19121985: Politics and Society (1989); Patrick Bishop and Eamonn Mallie, The Provisional IRA (1987); J. Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army: The IRA, rev. 3rd ed. (1997), and The Irish Troubles: A Generation of Violence, 19671992 (1993). Robert Walter Dudley Edwards John O'Beirne Ranelagh Administration and social conditions Government Constitutional framework The Irish republic is a parliamentary democracy, although, unlike the United Kingdom, it has a written constitution, promulgated in 1937. Amendment to the constitution is by referendum. The president of Ireland, head of state and first citizen, is elected by direct vote of the people for a term of seven years and is eligible for reelection for a second term. The president normally acts on the advice of the government but also acts in consultation with an advisory Council of State in the exercise of certain functions. The president signs and promulgates bills passed by the Oireachtas (Parliament) and, when so advised by the prime minister (taoiseach), summons and dissolves the Oireachtas. The president may, however, refuse to dissolve the Oireachtas on the advice of a prime minister who has ceased to command a majority in the Dil (House of Representatives). The president is the guardian of the constitution and may, in certain circumstances, submit a bill passed by the Oireachtas to the people in a referendum or refer it to the Supreme Court to decide on its constitutionality. There are two houses of the Oireachtasthe Dil and the Seanad (Senate). The members of each house are chosen at least once every five years. The 166 members of the Dil are elected by adult suffrage in a secret ballot. Of the 60 members of the Seanad, 11 are appointed by the prime minister, six are elected by the Irish universities, and 43 are elected to represent various economic, vocational, and cultural interests. The Seanad may delay bills passed by the Dil, or it may suggest changes in them, but it cannot indefinitely block their passage into law. The Government, or cabinet, which consists of not fewer than 7 or more than 15 members, is the executive power of the state and is headed by the prime minister, who presides over its meetings. The prime minister, the deputy prime minister (tnaiste), and the minister for finance must be members of the Dil. The other ministers of the Government must be members of either house, but not more than two of them may be senators. Political parties The major political parties are Fianna Fil, Fine Gael, the Labour Party, the Progressive Democrats, and the Democratic Left. Fianna Fil is a republican party founded by Eamon de Valera, who opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. The party boycotted the Dil until 1927 but won the general election of 1932, when de Valera became prime minister, a position he held, with two intermissions, until 1959, when he became president. Fine Gael is the party of the Irish nationalists Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins, and William Thomas Cosgrave, who supported the treaty of 1921 and founded the Irish Free State. Cumann na nGaedheal, forerunner of Fine Gael, held office from 1922 to 1932. After World War II, government leadership tended to shift between Fine Gael and Fianna Fil, or between their respectively shifting coalitions. Fine Gael formed various ruling partnerships with the Labour Party; however, Fianna Fil was able to lead several independent (i.e., non-coalition) governments until the late 1980s, when it entered into an alliance with the Progressive Democrats. Further governing coalitions subsequently were led by both parties.