Ireland

By Prof. Raju Vatsavayi

Name

Official name	Ireland — Éire; the Republic of Ireland the description by the Act of 1948
Former names	The Kingdom of Ireland (1542–1800); part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922); the Irish Free State — Saorstát Éireann (1922–1937)
Demonym	Irish
Meaning of the name	Éire, from Ériu, the goddess of the land in the myths; Ireland, "Éire's land" in the Norse-English; Hibernia to the Romans
Motto	None official — "Éire go Brách," Ireland forever, the cry

Quick facts

Capital	Dublin — Baile Átha Cliath — founded by the Vikings in 841; about 1.3 million in the city and county, 2.1 million in the Greater Dublin Area
Largest cities	Dublin; Cork, about 220,000; Limerick; Galway; Waterford; Drogheda; Dundalk; Swords; Bray
Official languages	Irish — Gaeilge, the first official language by the Constitution, spoken daily by about 70,000 in the Gaeltacht and known by 1.9 million; and English, the language of nearly all; Irish an official language of the EU since 2007, fully since 2022
Currency	Euro — EUR, €; since 1999, the notes from 2002, replacing the punt at 0.787564
Time zone	Greenwich Mean Time, UTC±0, in winter; Irish Standard Time, UTC+1, in summer
Calling code	+353
Internet domain	.ie
ISO 3166 codes	IE · IRL · 372
Vehicle registration code	IRL
Driving side	Left
Electricity	230 V, 50 Hz; plug type G
Independence	The Irish Free State, 6 December 1922, under the Treaty of 6 December 1921 with the United Kingdom; the Republic, 18 April 1949; the Easter Rising's proclamation of 24 April 1916 the date the nation keeps
National days	17 March, St. Patrick's Day — the national holiday since 1903; Easter Monday, for the Rising; 1 May; the June, August and October bank holidays; St. Brigid's Day, 1 February, the newest, since 2023; Bloomsday, 16 June, unofficial
Constitution	29 December 1937 — Bunreacht na hÉireann, approved by the plebiscite of 1 July 1937, replacing the Free State's; amended 32 times by referendum, from the EEC of 1972 through divorce in 1995, the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, marriage equality in 2015 and the repeal of the abortion ban in 2018 to the family and care proposals rejected in 2024
Population	5,149,139 at the census of 3 April 2022; about 5.46 million (CSO, April 2025 est.) — the most since 1851
Area	70,273 km² (27,133 sq mi) — land 68,883 km², water 1,390 km²; five-sixths of the island

Flag & national symbols

National flag	A vertical tricolor of green, white and orange — the green of the Gaelic and Catholic tradition, the orange of the Protestant followers of William of Orange, and the white of the peace between them, in the words of Thomas Francis Meagher, who brought it from France in 1848; flown over the General Post Office in the Rising of 1916, the flag of the Free State from 1922 and of the state by Article 7 of the Constitution of 1937.Flag of Ireland
Coat of arms	A gold harp with silver strings on a blue field — the arms of Ireland since the 16th century, the Brian Boru harp of Trinity College the model; on the seal of the president, the coins, the passports and the pint; the only country whose emblem is a musical instrument; registered 1945
National anthem	"Amhrán na bhFiann" ("The Soldier's Song") — words by Peadar Kearney, music by Kearney and Patrick Heeney, 1907, sung by the Volunteers of 1916; the anthem by decision of the government in 1926, the Irish translation of Liam Ó Rinn the version sung; "Ireland's Call" for the all-island rugby team
National colors	Green — the color of the nation since the 1790s; the flag's green, white and orange
National plant	The shamrock — the three-leafed clover of St. Patrick's lesson on the Trinity, worn on 17 March, on the airline's tail and the rugby jersey; registered as a trademark of the state
National animal	None designated — the Irish hare, the red deer of Killarney, the wolfhound and the Connemara pony widely cited
National bird	None designated — the lapwing chosen by a vote of 1990 and never adopted; the peregrine and the puffin of the cliffs
National dish	Irish stew — lamb, potatoes and onions; the boxty, the colcannon, the soda bread, the full Irish breakfast; the Guinness of St. James's Gate since 1759; widely cited
Symbol status	The flag by Article 7 of the Constitution; the harp by the state's use and the registration of 1945; the anthem by the government decision of 1926; the shamrock by trademark; the animal, bird and dishes widely cited

Geography

Location	Northwestern Europe — the island of Ireland in the Atlantic west of Great Britain, across the Irish Sea; the state the south, west and center of it, Northern Ireland the northeast
Land border	490 km (304 mi) with the United Kingdom, at Northern Ireland — the one land border, with no checks since the Good Friday Agreement and the Windsor Framework of 2023 that kept it so after Brexit
Coastline	1,448 km (900 mi) by the Factbook's count, some 3,000 km with every inlet — the Wild Atlantic Way along 2,500 km of the west
Highest point	Carrauntoohil, 1,038 m (3,406 ft), in the MacGillycuddy's Reeks of Kerry
Lowest point	The Atlantic Ocean, 0 m
Mean elevation	118 m (387 ft)
Rivers	The Shannon, 360 km, the longest in Ireland and Britain, through Lough Ree and Lough Derg to the estuary at Limerick; the Liffey of Dublin; the Lee of Cork; the Boyne of the battle and the tombs; the Barrow, Nore and Suir, the Three Sisters, to Waterford
Lakes	Lough Corrib, 176 km², the largest in the state; Lough Derg and Lough Ree on the Shannon; the lakes of Killarney; Lough Neagh, the largest in the islands, over the border
Terrain	The central lowland of limestone, bog and lake; the mountains of the rim — the Reeks of Kerry, the Wicklow Mountains south of Dublin, the Twelve Bens of Connemara, the Mournes across the border; the Burren's bare limestone; the Cliffs of Moher, 214 m; the Aran Islands, the Blaskets and Skellig Michael
Climate	Temperate oceanic — the Gulf Stream keeping it mild and wet, Dublin at 5°C in January and 16°C in July, the west with 1,500 mm of rain and 250 wet days; no extremes, the grass green all year, the "forty shades"
Natural hazards	Atlantic storms — Éowyn of January 2025, the strongest ever recorded, with 183 km/h at Mace Head and 768,000 without power; floods in the towns of the Shannon; the Night of the Big Wind of 1839 in the memory
Natural resources	Natural gas at Corrib, running out; peat, cut for a century and being restored; zinc and lead at Navan, once Europe's largest zinc mine; the pasture; the wind of the west and the sea, the country's bet
Land use	Agricultural land about 66%, most of it grass; forest about 11%, the least in the EU
National parks	8 — Killarney, the first, 1932, with the red deer and the lakes; Glenveagh in Donegal; Connemara; the Burren; Wicklow Mountains; Ballycroy; Brú na Bóinne of the tombs; the Wild Nephin
UNESCO World Heritage	2 — Brú na Bóinne (1993), the passage tombs of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, older than the pyramids; Sceilg Mhichíl — Skellig Michael (1996), the monks' rock in the Atlantic; the uilleann pipes, hurling and harping on the intangible list
Administrative divisions	4 provinces — Leinster, Munster, Connacht and three counties of Ulster — of 26 counties in the state, the 32 of the island the nation's count; 31 local authorities since 2014, the councils of the counties and the cities of Dublin, Cork and Galway

People

Population	5,149,139 (census of 2022); about 5.46 million (April 2025)
Population density	About 78 per km² (200 per sq mi) — among the lowest in western Europe outside the Nordic lands; two in five in Greater Dublin
Population growth	About 1.5% a year — the fastest in the EU in the 2020s, by immigration and the highest birth rate of the old members; the Ukrainians of 2022, above 100,000
Median age	About 39 years — the youngest in the EU
Life expectancy	About 83 years
Fertility rate	About 1.5 births per woman
Urban population	About 65%
Adult literacy	About 99%
Origin	Irish about 77%; other white about 10%, Poles, Britons, Romanians, Lithuanians and Ukrainians; Asian about 3%, Indians the largest; Black about 1.5%; about 20% born abroad; the Travellers, about 33,000, an ethnic minority recognized since 2017 (census of 2022)
Languages	English by all; Irish by 1.9 million with some knowledge and about 70,000 daily in the Gaeltacht of Donegal, Connemara, Kerry and Cork — the compulsory school subject; Polish the largest foreign tongue, then French, Romanian and Lithuanian
Religion	Roman Catholic about 69%, down from 79% in 2016 and 95% in 1961 — the church's hold broken by the abuse scandals of the 1990s and 2000s; no religion about 14%; Church of Ireland about 2%; Muslim about 2%; Orthodox, Presbyterian, Hindu
Human Development Index	0.949 (2023 data, 2025 report) — very high; about 7th of 193
The Famine and the diaspora	The Great Famine of 1845–52 — a million dead and a million fled, the island's population halved by 1911 and never recovered; some 70 million people of Irish descent in the world, 32 million in the United States, 5 million in Canada, 7 million in Australia and Britain; the emigrants of every generation since, and the return of the 2010s
Sport	Gaelic games — hurling, the fastest field game on earth, and Gaelic football, played by the parish teams of the GAA since 1884 for the All-Ireland at Croke Park; rugby — the all-island team, Six Nations champions, ranked first in the world in 2023; football; horse racing at the Curragh and Cheltenham; golf — Rory McIlroy's Masters of 2025; boxing — Katie Taylor; the Olympic golds of Paris 2024, four
Literature	Four Nobel laureates in literature — Yeats 1923, Shaw 1925, Beckett 1969, Heaney 1995; Joyce, Wilde, Swift, Stoker; the Book of Kells; Dublin a UNESCO City of Literature; the most Eurovision wins, seven

Government

Form of government	Unitary parliamentary republic under the Constitution of 1937 — the president a head of state elected for seven years, once renewable, with the power to refer bills to the Supreme Court; the Taoiseach head of government, nominated by the Dáil and appointed by the president; the Oireachtas of the president, the Dáil and the Seanad
President	Catherine Connolly (independent), since 11 November 2025 — the tenth; a barrister and psychologist of Galway, its mayor 2004–05, a deputy for Galway West 2016–25 and deputy speaker of the Dáil, born 5 November 1955; elected 24 October 2025 with 53.4% against Heather Humphreys of Fine Gael, 39.1%, with 8% of ballots spoiled in protest at the field of two; the candidate of the left and of neutrality, succeeding Michael D. Higgins after his fourteen years; her referral of the International Protection Bill to the Supreme Court in April 2026 the first such in a decade
Taoiseach	Micheál Martin (Fianna Fáil), since 23 January 2025 — the 15th person in the office, Taoiseach before in 2020–22; leader of Fianna Fáil since 2011, a teacher and Lord Mayor of Cork, deputy for Cork South-Central since 1989, born 16 August 1960; to hand the office to Simon Harris of Fine Gael in November 2027 under the coalition agreement, as Harris and Varadkar did in the last Dáil
The government	The 35th government — Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael with the Regional Independent Group, about 95 of the 174 seats; Simon Harris Tánaiste, foreign affairs and defense; Paschal Donohoe at finance; Jack Chambers at public expenditure; the Programme for Government of January 2025; the housing crisis, the cost of living, the infrastructure and the neutrality the questions
The 2024 election	Held 29 November 2024 for the 174 seats of the 34th Dáil, enlarged from 160: Fianna Fáil 21.9% and 48 seats; Sinn Féin 19.0% and 39; Fine Gael 20.8% and 38; the Social Democrats 11, Labour 11, Independent Ireland 4, People Before Profit 3, Aontú 2, the Greens 1, independents 16; turnout 59.7%; the two old parties with their independents the coalition, Sinn Féin under Mary Lou McDonald the opposition
Parliament	The Oireachtas — Dáil Éireann of 174 deputies, TDs, elected for five years by the single transferable vote in 43 constituencies, Verona Murphy the Ceann Comhairle, the first woman; Seanad Éireann of 60 senators, 43 from vocational panels, 6 from the universities and 11 named by the Taoiseach
The next election	The general election due by early 2030; the presidential election of 2032; the local and European elections of June 2029
Northern Ireland	The six counties in the United Kingdom since the partition of 1921 — the Troubles of 1968–98 with some 3,500 dead; the Good Friday Agreement of 10 April 1998, approved by referendums on both sides of the border, the state renouncing its territorial claim; the power-sharing at Stormont, Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill its first nationalist First Minister since 2024; the Shared Island unit and the talk of a border poll; the Windsor Framework keeping the border open
Neutrality	Military neutrality since 1939 — outside NATO, in the EU's common policy with reservations; the Defence Forces about 7,500; the "triple lock" of government, Dáil and UN approval for deployments, being loosened in 2025–26; the Partnership for Peace since 1999; Shannon Airport's American flights the argument
Legal system	Common law from England, under the Constitution; the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and the High Court; Donal O'Donnell the Chief Justice; the referendums by which the Constitution changes
Local government	31 councils — 26 counties and cities — with the councillors elected in June 2024; the Lord Mayors of Dublin and Cork; the directly elected mayor of Limerick since 2024, the first
European Union	Member since 1 January 1973, with Britain and Denmark; the eurozone from its founding; outside Schengen, in the Common Travel Area with Britain; the presidency of the Council of the European Union from 1 July to 31 December 2026, the eighth; the Nice and Lisbon treaties passed at the second asking; the largest recipient of the funds turned net contributor
United Nations	Member since 14 December 1955; the peacekeepers on every mission since 1958, the Lebanon battalion since 1978; Security Council seats in 1962, 1981–82, 2001–02 and 2021–22
Other memberships	The OECD (1961), the Council of Europe, a founder in 1949, the OSCE, the WTO; the Commonwealth left in 1949; the British-Irish Council

Economy

GDP (nominal)	About US$600 billion (2025, IMF) — a figure inflated by the multinationals' bookkeeping; the modified gross national income, GNI*, that the CSO publishes to correct it about €300 billion, half the headline
GDP per capita	About US$110,000 (2025) by the headline — the highest in the EU and among the highest in the world; about half that by GNI*
GDP per capita (PPP)	About US$130,000 (2025) by the headline
GDP growth	The "leprechaun economics" of 2015, when GDP grew 26% as Apple moved its assets — the figures since read by GNI*, growing about 2–3% a year; the corporation-tax windfall of the 2020s
Economy by sector	Services about 60%, industry about 38% — the pharmaceuticals, the chips and the software of the multinationals — agriculture about 1%
Currency	Euro (EUR)
The multinationals	The European base of Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Intel, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and some 1,700 American firms, drawn since the 1990s by the corporation tax of 12.5%, raised to 15% for the largest under the global deal in 2024 — about 300,000 jobs and most of the exports; the European Court of Justice's ruling of 10 September 2024 that Apple owed €13 billion in back taxes, paid into the state
Exports	About €225 billion of goods, the pharmaceuticals about half — the world's largest exporter of some drugs — with the chips, the medical devices and the food; the services of the tech firms as much again; the United States about a third of the goods, the tariff threats of 2025 the fear
Agriculture	The grass — dairy and beef the trades, Kerrygold the brand, the cattle the largest herd per head in Europe; the whiskey and the Guinness
Public finances	The surpluses of the 2020s on the corporation tax — about a quarter of all revenue from ten firms; the sovereign funds of 2024 to save it; public debt about 40% of GDP by the headline and 70% by GNI*; the bailout of 2010 of €67.5 billion repaid
Housing	The crisis of the 2020s — the rents and prices among the highest in Europe, some 15,000 in homelessness, the building target of 50,000 homes a year missed; the issue of every election
Income classification	High income (World Bank); an OECD member since 1961

Transport & infrastructure

Main airport	Dublin Airport — about 34 million passengers, held at a cap of 32 million by the planning rules of the 2020s; Cork; Shannon, the transatlantic stop and the first duty-free shop in the world, 1947; Knock; the U.S. preclearance at Dublin and Shannon
Airlines	Aer Lingus, founded 1936, in the IAG group since 2015; Ryanair, founded 1984 at Dublin — the largest airline in Europe by passengers, about 200 million a year
Main ports	Dublin, the country's port, two-thirds of the trade; Cork; Rosslare for France and Spain since Brexit; Shannon Foynes; the ferries to Holyhead, Liverpool, Cherbourg and Roscoff
Railways	About 2,700 km (1,700 mi) of the Irish gauge, 1,600 mm — Iarnród Éireann from Dublin to Cork, Belfast, Galway and the rest; the DART along Dublin Bay since 1984, the first electric line; the Luas trams of 2004; the MetroLink to the airport approved in 2025 for the 2030s
Roads	About 100,000 km (62,000 mi) — the motorways of the 2000s from Dublin to Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford and Belfast, about 1,000 km; the M50 ring of Dublin; the boreens
The ways	The Wild Atlantic Way of 2,500 km; the Ring of Kerry; the Causeway Coast over the border; the Greenways on the old railways

History in dates

c. 8000 BC	The first settlers after the ice
c. 3200 BC	Newgrange — the tomb aligned to the winter solstice
432	St. Patrick returns, by the tradition
c. 800	The Book of Kells; the monasteries of the golden age
795	The Vikings; Dublin founded, 841
1014	Clontarf, 23 April — Brian Boru
1169	The Normans land — Strongbow, 1170
1541	Henry VIII King of Ireland
1607	The Flight of the Earls; the Plantation of Ulster
1649	Cromwell at Drogheda
1690	The Boyne, 1 July
1798	The United Irishmen's rising
1801	The Act of Union, 1 January
1829	Catholic Emancipation — O'Connell
1845–1852	The Great Famine
1916	The Easter Rising, 24 April; the leaders shot
1919–1921	The War of Independence; the Treaty, 6 December 1921
1922	The Free State, 6 December; the civil war, 1922–23
1937	The Constitution, 29 December
1949	The Republic, 18 April
1955	The United Nations
1973	The European Community, 1 January
1990	Mary Robinson the first woman president, 3 December
1998	The Good Friday Agreement, 10 April
2002	The euro
2008	The crash; the bailout, 28 November 2010
2015	Marriage equality by referendum, 22 May — the first by popular vote
2018	The Eighth Amendment repealed, 25 May
2024	The Apple ruling, 10 September; the election, 29 November
2025	Martin Taoiseach, 23 January; Storm Éowyn, 24 January; Connolly president, 11 November
2026	The EU presidency, 1 July

Records & firsts

The first country to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote	22 May 2015
The only emblem that is a musical instrument	The harp
The highest GDP per head in the EU	On paper — and half that by GNI*
The largest airline in Europe	Ryanair, about 200 million passengers
The first duty-free shop	Shannon, 1947
Older than the pyramids	Newgrange, 3200 BC
Four Nobel Prizes in literature	Yeats, Shaw, Beckett, Heaney
The most Eurovision wins	Seven
A nation of 70 million abroad	The diaspora of the Famine and after
The fastest field game	Hurling
The longest river of the islands	The Shannon, 360 km
The strongest storm on record	Éowyn, 183 km/h, 2025
The Famine	A population halved and never recovered
The oldest pub, by its claim	Sean's Bar of Athlone, 900

Frequently asked questions

What is the official name of Ireland?

Ireland — Éire in Irish — the name of the state by Article 4 of the Constitution of 1937; "the Republic of Ireland" is the description given by the Republic of Ireland Act of 1948, in force from 18 April 1949, when the state left the Commonwealth, and the name most used abroad to keep the state from the island it shares with Northern Ireland. The Irish Free State of 1922 came first, under the Treaty of 6 December 1921; the name Éire is the goddess Ériu of the myths, and Hibernia the Romans' word for the land they never conquered.

What is the capital of Ireland?

Dublin — Baile Átha Cliath, "the town of the hurdle ford," and Dubh Linn, "the black pool," of the Vikings who founded it in 841 — on the Liffey at the head of its bay, the capital under the English and the state since, with about 1.3 million people in the city and county and 2.1 million in the Greater Dublin Area, two in five of the country. Cork on the Lee is the second city with about 220,000; Limerick on the Shannon, Galway on the west coast and Waterford follow, and Belfast, the largest city of the north, lies over the border.

How big is Ireland, and how many people live there?

About 70,273 km² (27,133 sq mi) — a little larger than West Virginia — five-sixths of the island of Ireland, the third-largest island of Europe, the other sixth being Northern Ireland of the United Kingdom across a border of 490 km with no posts on it. The census of April 2022 counted 5,149,139 people, and the CSO put the number at about 5.46 million in April 2025, the most since the Famine of the 1840s took the island from 8.5 million to 6.5 and a century of emigration took the state under 3 million by 1961; one in five residents now was born abroad.

What are the highest and lowest points of Ireland?

Carrauntoohil, 1,038 m (3,406 ft), in the MacGillycuddy's Reeks of Kerry in the southwest; and the Atlantic. The island is a saucer, a central lowland of bog and lake ringed by low mountains on the coasts, drained by the Shannon, at 360 km the longest river in Ireland and Britain, with the cliffs of Moher, the Burren's limestone, the lakes of Killarney and the Wild Atlantic Way along its western edge.

What currency does Ireland use?

The euro (ISO code EUR, €), since 1 January 1999 as a founder of the eurozone, with the notes and coins from 2002 replacing the Irish pound, the punt, at 0.787564. The border with Northern Ireland is the one land frontier of the eurozone with sterling. Clocks keep Greenwich Mean Time, UTC±0, in winter and Irish Standard Time, UTC+1, in summer; Ireland drives on the left.

Who governs Ireland?

Taoiseach Micheál Martin of Fianna Fáil, head of government since 23 January 2025 at the head of a coalition with Fine Gael and a group of independents formed after the election of 29 November 2024, and due under the coalition agreement to hand the office to Simon Harris of Fine Gael in November 2027; the two parties of the civil war have governed together since 2020. President Catherine Connolly, an independent from Galway of the left, is the ceremonial head of state since 11 November 2025, elected on 24 October with 53.4 percent, and used her power in April 2026 to refer the government's asylum bill to the Supreme Court. Ireland holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union from July to December 2026; the next election is due by early 2030.

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