IRELANDÉIRE

IRELAND• Ireland, or Irish, Éire, is the third largest island

in Europe. Also known as the Emerald Isle because it is very green due to the rains. It is famous for its beautiful fields, cottages and those beautiful landscape perfect for a lush painting.

• Ireland has a rich history and its evidence is found everywhere in the ruins of ancient monuments and castles, some of which are older than the pyramids. The country's past remains part of the consciousness of everyday life and creativity of the people.

• For a relatively small island, Ireland offers an extraordinarily wide variety of countryside and coastline. An ecologically clean environment with clean air, clean water and unspoiled stretches of countryside. Pure fun is absolutely essential for a holiday in Ireland.

Province Population Area (km²) Area (sq mi) Largest city

Connacht 504,121 17,713 6,839 Galway

Leinster 2,295,123 19,774 7,635 Dublin

Munster 1,173,340 24,608 9,501 Cork

Ulster 1,993,918 24,481 9,452 Belfast

Demographics

After Dublin, at 1.7 miles in the Greater Dublin Area, Ireland's largest cities are:

• Belfast — 700,000 in Belfast Metropolitan Area • Cork — 380,000 in Greater Cork • Derry — 110,000 in Derry Urban Area • Limerick — 93,321 including suburbs • Galway — 71,983 • Lisburn — 71,465 • Waterford — 49,240 including suburbs • Newry — 27,433 • Kilkenny — 23,967 including suburbs • Armagh — 14,590Several Irish towns contain larger populations than many of these cities, but are not recognized as cities because they lack historic charters.

The list below refers to all-Ireland (or nominally all-Ireland) states and to the post-partition states, not the patchwork of small Gaelic kingdoms.

• The Lordship of Ireland (1171-1541) • The Kingdom of Ireland (1541-1800) • Confederate Ireland was an Irish government that controlled much of

Ireland between during the War of the Three Kingdoms. • Part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801-1922) • The unilaterally declared Irish Republic (1919-22) also called Poblacht na

hÉireann and later known as Saorstat na hÉireann or Respublica Hibernica. • Northern Ireland (1921- present) and Southern Ireland (1921-22), both

created by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, though only the former existed in reality.

• The Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann) (1922-37), and then • Ireland (1937 - present), often known since 1949 by its official description,

Republic of Ireland, and sometimes in English as Éire, the word for Ireland in Irish.

• Because Ireland was isolated from continental Europe by rising sea levels after the ice age, it has less diverse animal and plant species than either Great Britain or mainland Europe. Only 26 land mammal species are native to Ireland.

• Some species, such as the red fox, hedgehog and badger, are very common, whereas others, like the Irish hare, red deer and pine marten are less so. Aquatic wildlife, such as species of turtle, shark, whale, and dolphin, are common off the coast.

Fauna

• About 400 species of birds have been recorded in Ireland. Many of these are migratory, including the Barn Swallow.

• Most of Ireland's bird species come from Iceland, Greenland and Africa.

The red deer (Cervus elaphus) is Ireland's largest wild mammal.

• Like all countries, Ireland has its day, which is celebrated on March 17, the day of Saint Patrick.

• St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. Wherever there are Irish people there is St. Patrick. This holiday is celebrated all over the world.

Holydays

• St. Patrick's Day is more than four leaf clovers, green beer, and shamrocks. Many of the stories traditionally associated with St. Patrick, including the famous account of his banishing all the snakes from Ireland, are false. It is known that St. Patrick was born in the end of the fourth century.

• During this time the Irish people were not Christians, but were Pagans. St. Patrick is believed to have died on March 17, around 460 A.D. At the age of sixteen, Patrick was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders who were attacking his family's estate. They transported him to Ireland where he spent six years in captivity.

• According to his writing, a voice (which he believed to be God's) spoke to him in a dream, telling him it was time to leave Ireland. Patrick reported that he experienced a second revelation, an angel in a dream told him to return to Ireland as a missionary. Soon after his ordination as a priest, he was sent to Ireland with a mission to convert the Irish to Christianity.