Ireland is country of Europe located in north Europe

Official Name:Ireland

Capital:Dublin

Total area:70 273 km2

GDP per capita:$41,920

Native Language:Irish, English

Government:Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic

Population:4,588,252

Major Religion:Roman Catholicism

Monetary Unit:Euro (EUR)

Since joining the European Union in 1973, Ireland (Éire) has transformed from a largely agricultural society into a modern, technologically advanced Celtic tiger economy.

Agricultural lowlands make up most of the inland area, broken up in places by low hills and encompassing considerable areas of moors and lakes. In the west there are coastal mountains that rise in places to over 1,000 m. Almost a third of the population lives in Dublin.

The Dáil, or House of Commons, has 166 members, while the Seanad, or House of Lords, has 60 members. Parliamentary elections take place every five years. The president, who is elected for a seven-year term, performs primarily ceremonial duties.

Although Ireland's history has seen troubles and turmoil, people have always been associated with a love of music and storytelling. Often referred to as the land of saints and scholars, the land is the birthplace of many famous English-speaking writers such as Yeats, Joyce, Beckett, Wilde, and Shaw. In Ireland there are internationally known rock bands and singers such as U2, The Corrs and Sinéad O’Connor.

Simple meat dishes and boiled vegetables such as the potato, carrot, turnip and parsnip form the principal ingredients of traditional Irish cooking.

Free health and welfare programs for low income group and moderate for others. A number of private and public health programs exist.

Agriculture, forestry, fishing, manufacturing, mining, construction, and tourism.

Main Attractions

Dublin, Cork city, Derry town, Galway city, and Waterford medieval town.

The Irish economy has transformed since the 1980s from a predominantly agricultural to a modern knowledge-based economy centered on high-tech industries and services. Ireland introduced the euro currency in 2002 along with eleven other EU member states. The country is heavily reliant on FDI and has attracted several multinational companies due to its well-educated workforce and low corporate tax rate.

Companies like Intel invested in Ireland in the late 1980s, followed by Microsoft and Google. Ireland is the ninth largest economically free economy in the world according to the Index of Economic Freedom. In terms of GDP per capita, Ireland is one of the richest countries in the OECD and the EU. However, in terms of GDP per capita, the country is below the OECD average. GDP is significantly higher than GNP due to the large number of multinationals based in Ireland.

From the early 1990s, the country experienced unprecedented economic growth, fueled by a dramatic increase in consumer spending, construction, and investment known as the Celtic Tiger Period. The pace of growth slowed in 2007, causing the bursting of a large real estate bubble that had developed over time. The dramatic fall in house prices has highlighted the economy's over-exposure to construction and contributed to the Irish banking crisis. Ireland officially entered recession in 2008 after consecutive months of economic contraction.