Interesting facts

·     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.

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.

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.