The island of Ireland is situated to the west of Great Britain from which it is separated by the Irish Sea. Ireland is 83,270 square kilometers in size. 

Population

The population of the whole of Ireland is approximately 5,000,000, of which 3,500,000 live in the Republic. Roughly one-third of the population live in Dublin and its surrounding suburbs.

Political Structure

Until 1922 all of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom. Indeed, Dublin, the capital, was officially the second city (after London) of the British Empire. Following a War of Independence which lasted 3 years, the United Kingdom entered into a treaty with Ireland. The effect was to partition the island into Northern Ireland (13,900 square kilometers) and create an Irish Free State (69,700 square kilometers). In 1949 the Irish Free State became a Republic and left the British commonwealth. Northern Ireland remains an integral part of the United Kingdom. 

The Republic of Ireland is a parliamentary democracy with a written constitution. The President is the Head of State elected for a maximum of two terms of seven years. The President is mainly a figurehead but has some important powers. The Parliament is known as The Oireachtas and consists of two houses, a Lower House and the Senate. The lower house called Dail Eireann has 166 members. They are elected in multi-seat constituencies by the single transferable vote system of proportional representation. The members of Dail elect a Taoiseach (Prime Minister) who nominates 15 Government Ministers to the President, who then appoints them on his advice. 

The Senate is known as Seanad Eireann. This is an upper house which functions in a similar manner to the House of Lords in the United Kingdom. Its members are all elected by vocational panels such as farming groups, employer groups, trade union groups, educational and commercial groups.

The Republic of Ireland is a full member of the European Union. Accordingly, Irish citizens have the automatic right to live and work in any member state of the Union. 

Infrastructure and Economy

There are regular scheduled flights to all major European airports. Aer Lingus (the national airline) and Delta (US) service North America. Aeroflot has a substantial presence and an aircraft maintenance facility at Shannon Airport enabling planes to fly from there to the USSR, Eastern Europe, Cuba and the Caribbean and South America. 

There are roll-on, roll-off freight and ferry services available to Great Britain and France. 

Ireland has modern all-digital telecommunications facilities with direct dial capability to 160 countries worldwide including all major financial centers. 

There are regular international courier services operated by numerous companies and the National Postal Service. 

The economy is small and trade dependent. Agriculture, once the most important sector, is now dwarfed by industry, which accounts for 37% of GDP, about 80% of exports, and employs 28% of the labour force. Although exports remain the primary engine for Ireland's robust growth, the economy is also benefiting from a rise in consumer spending and recovery in both construction and business investment. Ireland has substantially reduced its external debt since 1987, to 40% of GDP in 1994. Over the same period, inflation has fallen sharply and chronic trade deficits have been transformed into annual surpluses. Unemployment remains a serious problem, however, and job creation is the main focus of government policy. To ease unemployment, Dublin aggressively courts foreign investors and recently created a new industrial development agency to aid small indigenous firms. Government assistance is constrained by Dublin's continuing deficit reduction measures. 

Language

The English language is the official business and commercial language. However there are many areas referred to as "An Gaeltacht" such as the Aran Islands, Connemara, Galway and Cork etc. where Irish Gaelic is spoken.

Currency

The Irish Pound or "Punt" is linked to the European Monetary System. 1 Irish Punt equals approximately US $1.50.

Exchange Control

None.