Ireland

Ireland (Irish: Éire), is a member state of the European Union, constituted as an independent and sovereign republic, which covers approximately five sixths of the island of the same name located northwest of the west coast of Europe. The only state with which Ireland borders is the United Kingdom, which maintains sovereignty over the remaining sixth of the island, known as Northern Ireland, comprising six of the nine counties of the historic province of Ulster. The state, initially a Free State of Ireland, was founded on 6 December 1922 as a dominion within the British Empire following the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which concluded the Irish War of Independence. It gained greater sovereignty through the 1931 Westminster Statute and the crisis following Edward VIII’s abdication in 1936.

As a result, Ireland left the British Commonwealth.

During the British government and initial independence, Ireland was one of the poorest countries in Western Europe with a strong emigration flow. The protectionist economy was opened at the end of 1950 and in 1973 Ireland joined the European Union. In 1980 an economic crisis led Ireland to undertake large-scale economic reforms and again contributed to strong emigration. The rapid growth of the Irish economy during the 1990s earned it the name of “Celtic Tiger”,[8] which lasted until the global financial crisis of 2007-2010.

Ireland is ranked by the Press Freedom Index as one of the top countries in terms of press freedom and economic freedom. It also achieves a good position with regard to its education system, political freedom and democracy. Ireland is a member of the OECD, the World Trade Organisation and the UN.

A new Constitution was introduced in 1937, establishing Ireland as a fully sovereign state. The last formal link with the United Kingdom was broken in 1949 when the Oireachtas (the national parliament) approved the Republic of Ireland Act, declaring Ireland a republic.

Its population is just over 4.5 million.[9] The capital is Dublin, located in the middle of the east coast. Other important cities are Sligo, Galway, Limerick, Waterford and Cork.

The Constitution of Ireland, written in 1937, affirms that the official denomination of the State is Éire, in Irish, and then Ireland, in English (translated in Italian with “Ireland”). In order to emphasize the republican form as well as total independence, in 1949 the Republic of Ireland Act established that the official description of the state is Poblacht na h Éireann, in Irish, and Republic of Irelandin English (translated into Italian with “Republic of Ireland”).

This form is used to distinguish the State from the whole island.

Although the official name is often used, which is the only one accepted by the United Kingdom, Ireland is used in international treaties and initiatives. This chaotic situation has been resolved, at least in part, with the adoption of Irish Gaelic, since 2007, as the twenty-first official language of the European Union; the State is currently called with both constitutional languages, Irish and English, similar to what happens to Finland or Belgium, with the markings Éire and Ireland.

In Italian, it is generally called Ireland, except when reference is also made to the island of the same name or Northern Ireland; in such cases, in order not to generate misunderstandings, it is called Eire or Republic of Ireland. In Irish Gaelic instead, as mentioned, the use of Éire (which in Italian is read literally but whose exact pronunciation is [ˈeːrʲə]) does not solve the problems as it is also the name of the whole island.

The name Éire is a modern form of Gaelic name that recalls the ancient goddess called Ériu, a mythological goddess who helped the Gaelic conquer the Irish island, as described in the Book of Invasions. The dative form Éirinn is anglicised in Erin, a form occasionally used to indicate Ireland in English poetry, until it also became a female name.

The nation also has other names in English, such as The Free State and Twenty-six Counties. Often in the United Kingdom it is also called Southern Ireland (“Southern Ireland”), although informally since it was officially used only in a short transitional period. The Irish also sometimes call their nation The South, while it is not uncommon to hear Northern Irish talk about their neighbours saying “go south” or similar statements. On the contrary, Northern Ireland is called The North.

Emigration continued into the next century, resulting in a steady decline in population until 1960.

From 1874, an important figure in Irish politics was Charles Stewart Parnell, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party. It was the main party that sought to obtain the Home rule, with limited national autonomy, from the United Kingdom. In the British general election of December 1918, the Independence Party Sinn Féin won 73 of the 106 seats in the House of Commons (London) in Ireland. In January 1919, the members of parliament elected for Sinn Fein refused to take possession of their seat in Westminster and installed an outlaw Irish parliament, the Dáil Éireann, which immediately and unilaterally proclaimed the independence of the Irish Republic, which however did not obtain any international recognition. After the bitter war of independence the representatives of the British government and the Aireacht (cabinet) of Eire in 1921 negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

South and north are completely political conceptions, since travelling from Donegal (Republic of Ireland) to Tyrone or Fermanagh (Northern Ireland) you walk south, being the first county the northernmost of all, even if it is part of the Republic.

Between the V and the IV century B.C. in Ireland the Gaels settled, a population of Celtic origin. After 400 began the work of evangelization of the country by the first Christian missionaries, including the monk Patrick, who later became the patron saint of the island. In the 12th century the English began to conquer it and in 1541 the English sovereign Henry VIII proclaimed himself king of Ireland. After the birth of the Irish Party and the manifestation of an autonomist will, the English Parliament recognized the national identity of Ireland, but it was only in 1921, following bloody clashes, that the 26 counties of the south of the country (with a Catholic majority) gained independence. The 6 northern counties, with a strong Protestant presence, remained united with Great Britain, forming Northern Ireland. From January 1, 1801 until December 6, 1922, Ireland was part of the United Kingdom (Great Britain and Ireland). During the great famine, from 1845 to 1849, the population of the island fell by 30%, going from over 8 million to less than 6 million. One million Irish died of hunger and/or disease and another 1.5 million emigrated, particularly to the United States.

Ireland left the Commonwealth in 1949, when it became a republic, and joined the United Nations in 1955 and the EEC (now the European Union) in 1973. Irish governments have often called for peaceful reunification of the island and cooperated with Britain to dispel the violent conflicts between paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles.

A peace agreement for Northern Ireland, known as the Good Friday Agreement or Belfast Agreement, approved in 1998 by referendum in both countries (Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland), is being implemented.

In 2008, in a popular referendum, the Irish people voted against the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, blocking the approval of the European Constitution and creating an impasse within the Union, which was resolved by a further referendum on October 2, 2009, which instead sanctioned the approval of the document.

Ireland is also called “Emerald Island” or “Green Country” for its immense expanses of meadows and pastures that occupy more than 2/3 of the territory. The island of Ireland extends for 84,421 km² (32,595 mi²) of which five sixths belong to the Éire. It is washed to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the northeast by the North Canal. To east instead there is the Sea of Ireland that reconnects to the ocean to south-west through the Channel of San Giorgio and the Celtic Sea. The west coast of Ireland consists mostly of cliffs (including the famous Cliffs of Moher), large circular bays full of islands and beaches that change quickly with the tide, while the southern one by long peninsulas, long beaches and very narrow inlets.

The territory near the coast is often formed by hills and low mountains (the highest point is Carrantuohill at 1038 m). For the rest, almost the entire central territory is composed of plains and meadows, crossed by various rivers, the longest of which, the Shannon, already forms numerous lakes or loughs on its own. The centre of the country is formed by the Shannon marshes, with vast expanses of peat, used for combustion.

The main cities are the capital Dublin on the east coast, Cork in the south, Galway and Limerick on the west coast and Waterford in the south-east.

The climate is temperate Atlantic, with rainfall and fog all year round. In December-January it is evidently mitigated by the Gulf Stream, with minimum temperatures rarely lower than -3 °C and made milder during the Summer with temperatures only sporadically higher than 25 °C. However, the summer period is also variable and has a few consecutive sunny days. Temperatures vary from region to region. The duration of the sun is longer in the south-east. Rainfall is very frequent, with some regions reaching 275 days of rain per year. Geographically, the north-west, west and south-west of the country, receive the largest rainfall, with Dublin, the least rainy region. The extreme north and west of Ireland are two of the windiest regions in Europe. The highest temperature recorded in Ireland was 33.3 °C on 26 June 1887 in Kilkenny, while the lowest was -19.1 °C on 16 January 1881 in Sligo. Because of the humidity, Ireland is called “the emerald island”.

The majority of Irish people are Celtic, with a large Anglo-Saxon and Norse minority. The official languages are Irish and English, constitutionally considered the second official language. Road signs are bilingual, except in Gaeltacht areas, where they are only in Irish; national media often use the Irish language. The areas where only Irish is spoken (the Gaeltacht) are more or less defined regions, located mostly on the west coast.

The Irish nomads or Travellers, also called tinkers in popular language, are a minority ethnic group, politically (but not ethnically) linked to nomadic groups in continental Europe such as the Roma.

In contrast and contrast to the preservation of national identity and cceltic tradition, from the mid-nineties onwards, there has been a growing flow of immigrants from outside the European Union, who settled mainly in the capital Dublin and gradually in all the county capitals, even in the smaller towns.

In April 2010, the estimated population in Ireland was 4,470,700. The population has increased significantly in recent years, also thanks to immigration. In addition, the birth rate in Ireland in 2007 was more than twice the mortality rate. This is very unusual among Western European countries. About 10% of the Irish population is of foreign origin.