Destination Information - The Republic of Ireland

The island of Ireland is made up of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. On the Polar Star we visit the Republic of Ireland, which is generally known simply as Ireland which is the way it is referred to below.

CLIMATE
The climate in Ireland is famously variable although May is often one of the driest and clearest months. In May, temperatures usually range between 8ºC and 14ºC.

CURRENCY
The unit of currency used in Ireland is the Euro.

ECONOMY
Natural Resources - natural gas, peat, copper, lead, zinc, silver, barite, gypsum, limestone, dolomite
Industries - steel, lead, zinc, silver, aluminium, , food products, brewing, textiles, clothing; chemicals, pharmaceuticals; machinery, rail transportation equipment, passenger and commercial vehicles, ship construction and refurbishment; tourism.

GEOGRAPHY
Ireland is located to the west of the United Kingdom and is bordered by Northern Ireland. It is 70,280km² in size and is fairly flat in geography with many farming areas. It has over three thousand kilometres in coastline and hundreds of islands, most of which are found on the east coast.

GOVERNMENT
The republic is a parliamentary democracy and the elected president, at time of writing is Mary McAleese of the Fianna Fail party.

HISTORY
It is thought that the first people arrived in Ireland from Scotland, sometime between 8000 and 7000 BC. The Celts, a group who spread south from Central Europe, arrived around 700BC and by 500BC, their culture and language was dominant throughout the country. Christianity came in 400 AD and Ireland quickly took a front seat of European Christianity.
The next significant event in Ireland’s history was the Viking Invasions which began in 795. The volatility of this period resulted in the construction of round towers and walled cities that are still visible today. The Viking era ended in 1014 at the Battle of Clontarff and the Vikings that remained became part of the native Irish population.
The next wave of immigrants were the Anglo-Normans from Britain starting from 1169 who very much integrated into the native population. This concerned the crown in Britain as they wanted control over Ireland. To achieve this they introduced the “Statutes of Kilkenny” in 1366. Under this legislation, intermarriage with the Irish and the adoption of Irish customs and language was made illegal.
Ireland’s most powerful Anglo-Norman family, the Kildares, ruled Ireland until 1540 when they lost control to King Henry VIII. Over the next hundred years, many immigrants came from England to plunder Ireland and the crown further encouraged the repression of Irish culture. Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) aimed to establish an English colony in Ireland and during her reign, much land was taken away from the Irish and given to English settlers, despite several rebellions.
From 1607, James I encouraged many Protestant Scots to immigrate to Ulster in Ireland to take advantage of this land that had been confiscated the Irish. This was the beginning of the division of Protestant and catholic people in Ireland. This division culminated in Ulster in 1641 with an armed rebellion by the Irish to restore Catholicism, also playing a part in starting the English Civil War.
Oliver Cromwell, a Colonel in the English army who played a major role in the English Civil War, turned his attentions to Ireland in 1649, arriving in Dublin with 12,000 soldiers. The Irish fought back but after a number of months, Cromwell’s forces had taken over the entire country. By the end of the fighting two years later, one quarter of the Catholic population had been killed and many who were captured were sent as slaves to the West Indies.
The Act of Settlement was enacted in 1652 which allowed the confiscation of Irish owned land on a huge scale. James II made an attempt later that century to repeal this act which failed when he was defeated in the Battle of the Boyne by William.
William’s victory further progressed Protestant control of Ireland. Although Catholics made up around 90% of the population, in 1641 they owned only 59% of the land, 22% in 1688 and 14% in 1703. During this time, many acts were passed to ensure the continued suppression of Catholicism. Cathlolics were not allowed to vote, educate in their faith or purchase land and were enticed to convert to Protestantism with monetary compensation. Ireland was very much a divided land.
The next century saw glimmers of hope for a unified and independent Ireland but in1801, this was crushed with the Act of Union which made Ireland part of the United Kingdom.
After centuries of aggression by Catholics to fight for freedom, lawyer Daniel O’Connell began fighting by peaceful means. He is quoted as saying “no political change is worth the shedding of a single drop of human blood”. In 1823 he founded the Catholic Association which lobbied for Catholics to have full political rights which was a major factor in the 1829 Catholic Emancipation Bill which gave Catholics voting rights. He was elected to the British House of Commons as the MP for County Clare and later became Lord Mayor of a very protestant Dublin.
The next challenge facing Ireland was not political – it was famine, brought on by the failure of the 1845 – 1849 potato crop. This failure hit Ireland the hardest as farmers here completely relied on this crop. It is estimated that between 1845 and 1849, 1.4 million people died in Ireland and 1.4 million more migrated to the USA, Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.
Political unrest continued as many of the Irish still sought independence from Britain. On Easter Monday, 1916 Republican Forces (which became known as the IRA), stormed Dublin and fighting broke out for five days. The forces were defeated and despite the deaths and damage done to Dublin, support for the Republican movement grew.
In 1918, Republican Party Sinn Féin experienced an overwhelming victory in the elections and refused to take its seats at the British House of Commons in London. Instead, its members met in Dublin as the Assembly or Ireland and independence was declared.
In 1920 the Government Act of Ireland separated the island into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. Warring political ideals meant that it wasn’t until 1938 that Ireland was officially declared fully independent from Britain when a new constitution came into effect. In 1949, the Republic of Ireland came into existence which severed all leftover ties with Britain and removed Ireland from the Commonwealth.

LANGUAGE
Ireland has two official languages – Irish and English. English is the most widely spoken with less than half of the population who can speak Irish. 

RELIGION
In the Republic of Ireland, Roman Catholicism is the vastly dominant religion with approximately 3 million followers. 

PEOPLE
The Republic of Ireland has a population of approximately 4.1 million people.

TIME
GMT

WILDLIFE
The west coast of Ireland is rich in seabird life and home to large colonies of puffins, gannets, manx shearwaters, stormy petrels, cormorants, fulmars, razorbills, guillemots and kittiwakes.  Grey seals, common seals and otters are also quite common and whales and dolphins also may be spotted.