· Ireland is called Éire in Irish and is also known as
the Republic of Ireland.
· Ireland covers five-sixths of the island of the same
name, the remaining one-sixth of the island is Northern Ireland, which is part
of the United Kingdom.
· Irish, or Irish Gaelic is the country's first official
language, however the second official language English is more commonly spoken.
· There are over 4.75 million people living in Ireland
as of July 2013.
· The Irish capital, Dublin is home to over one quarter
of the total population.
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| Dublin |
· Other Irish cities of note include Cork, Limerick and
Galway.
· Irish novelists have made major contributions to world
literature. Famous writers include Jonathan Swift - Gulliver's Travels, Bram
Stoker - Dracula and James Joyce - Ulysses.
· Ireland has won the Eurovision Song Contest a record
seven times.
· A number of multinational technology corporations have
setup European headquarters in Ireland helping to make it one of the largest
exporters of hardware and software-related goods and services in the world.
· Ireland was one of the initial 12 European Union
nations that began using the euro currency in 2002.
· Saint Patrick's Day is Irelands official national
holiday. The 17th of March holiday is celebrated in Ireland and also embraced
by many other countries around the world.
· The world famous Guinness beer is from Ireland, it
originated in the Dublin brewery of Arthur Guinness.
· Gaelic football and hurling are traditional sports of
Ireland and remain the most popular sports in the country.
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| Hurling and Gaelic Football Uniforms |
· At the Olympics, boxing is Ireland's most successful
sport.
· In 2002 Ireland was the first country in the world to
have an environmental tax for plastic shopping bags and in 2004 it was the
first to introduce a public smoking ban.
· Shamrock (type of clover) is the national symbol of
Ireland and along with the harp it is a registered trademark of the country.
