Ireland
Are there really leprechauns here?
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Here is a nice video to see what Ireland has to offer:
Click here to listen to an Irish accent.