GEOGRAPHY: Ireland lies on the continental shelf to the west of the European
mainland. On the east it is separated from Britain by the Irish Sea. To
the northest, the west lies the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean, while to
the south St.George´s channel separates Ireland from France.
Two great mountain ranges converge in Ireland. The older Caledonian system
extending from Scandinavia and Scotland to the north and west of Ireland,
gives rise to the rugged terrain of Counties Donegal, Galway and Mayo.
The younger Armorican system extends from central Europe through Brittany
to southwest Ireland, culminating in 1,041 m-high Carrauntoohill, the country´s
highest mountain, in Macgillycuddy´s Reeks. Killarney´s celebrated
"Lakes and fells" are on the eastern slopes of the reeks.
A narrow belt of lowland crosses the country from the Carlingford Peninsula
and the Wicklow Mountains in the east to the Atlantic Ocean In the west,
along the Shannon Estuary, Galway bay, Clew Bay and Donegal Bay. In Co
Clare, the Lowland rises westward, terminating at the magnificent Cliffs
of Moher. The stately 340km-long River Shannon is the largest of Ireland´s
rivers. Rising in Co Leitrim, it opens up into a series of attractive lakes
before reaching its broad, indented estuary between Counties Clare and
Limerick. The main easyward-flowing rivers are the Lagan, which runs to
the sea at Belfast: the Liffey, with Dublin at its mouth: and the Slaney,
which meets the sea at Wexford. In Ulster, the river Erne flows north,
Opening into Upper and Lower Lough Erne before entering Donegal bay. Ireland´s
climate is legendary, and there is some truth in the joke that observes:
"When you can see the mountain it means it is going to rain: when you cannot
see it, it is raining. "In reality, though the climate is mild and without
extremes, due largely to the Gulf Stream, whose relatively warn waters
wash Ireland´s shores. The heaviest rainfall is in Donegal, Kerry
and Mayo, where it may exceed 3,000mm. Eastern Ireland is much drier, with
Dublin averaging only 785mm a year. Two bonuses, however, arise from Ireland´s
variable weather: the constantlwy changing light and verdant vegetation.
Though limited, the flora has many interesting features. The lanes of Cork
an Kerry, for example, are noted for their profuse fuchsia hedgerows, while
an Arctic-Alpine flora thrives in the Burren in Co Clare. Among Ireland´s
27 mammal species are red deer, pine martens, badgers, hares, otters and
stoats. The only reptile is the common lizard.Rivers and Lakes are rich
in salmon, trout and char, as well as coarse fish. Around 125 species of
wild birds breed in the island and more than 250 visiting species have
been recorded.
POLITICS: For outsiders, ine issue dominates all irish politics,
"The troubles", while it is true that serious political unrest continues,
the majority of people. North and south of the border, lead peaceful lives
and are able to focus on normal domestic political issues.
However, even though the easy-going Irish can and do talk about any subject
under the sun, politics, while not taboo, is a topic best avoided by visitors,
this advice, which also embraces religion, is frequently meted out to people
travelling anywhere in the world, but is particularly applied to Ireland,
because even the most reasonable character can get hot under the collar
when a stranger talks Irish politics in a less-than-knowledgeable way.
Politicians from the Republic, Northern Ireland and the UK have tried many
times to find ways to stop "the troubles". The 1994 ceasefire which followed
the signing of the Downing Street Declaration in 1993 floundered with the
IRA´s bombing of Canary Wharf in London in 1996. Progress towards
a final solution is slow and old attitudes on all sides die hard. The facts
outlined here may provide a little backround to the current situation.
Ireland has been politically divided since 1920-1. After centuries of British
rule, including a 120-year period when the whole of Ireland was governed
as part of the United Kingdom, 26 of its 32 counties gained their independence.
Six stayed out forming Northern Ireland and remaining in the United Kingdom.
They are Antrim, Armagh, Londonderry, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone, in the
province of Ulster. Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan are in the republic of
Ireland. The constitution of Ireland and the republic of Ireland Act (1949)
severed Ireland´s last formal links with Britain.
Northern Ireland elects 17 Mps to parliament at Westminster. From 1921
to 1972, although Northern Ireland was represented at Westminster, the
devolved Government at Stormont operated with virtual autonomy from London
on local matters. In 1972, as a result of increased IRA activity in Northern
Ireland and paramilitary action by so-called Loyalist extremist groups,
the British Goverment resumed direct responsibility for all aspects of
the government of Northern Ireland. The secretary of State for Northern
Ireland is a member of the British Cabinet. The Government of the Republic
is a parliamentary democracy, with two Houses of Parliament, the Dail,
or House of Representatives, and the Seanad (senate). The president is
the head of State, and the prime (Taoiseach) is heak of the Government.
Where there is more than one candidate for the presidency, the president
is elected by direct vote of the people. The constitution of Ireland, adopted
by referendum in 1937, sets out the form of government, defining its powers
and those of the president an Prime minister. It also defines the structure
and powers of the courts, sets out the fundamental rights of citizens and
contains a number of directive principles of social policy. The Dail currently
has 166 members, with six main political parties represented: Fianna Fail,
Fine Gael, Labour, Progressive Democrats, Democratic lefts and the Workers
party. The Seanad, with 60 members many initiate or amend legislation.
Under the constitution every citizen has the right to petition the couts
to secure his or her rights or to have a judgement pronounced as to whether
given legislation is compatible with the Constitution. Before signing a
bill, the President may refer it to the Supreme Court for a decision on
its compatibility with the Constitution. This procedure has led to a number
of laws ot parts of laws being declared unsconstitutional and therefore
void. Local government, responsible for public housing, water and sanitation,
road maintenance, vocational education and other services, is administered
by 113 local authorities funded by state grants and local taxes on non-residential
property.
CULTURE: Irish culture is a mystic blend of past and present, and the borders
between myth and reality, magic and technology, absurdity and order are
blurred. Legend merged into history, and myth becomes more tangible with
the realisation that the places of legend actually exist.
Ireland´s roots are firmly embedded in Celtic soil. The Celts, initially
migrants, were an independent, imaginative people who loved a good song,
a good story, a good argument and a good fight. You will find them today,
as proud of their heritage among the chic boutiques of Dublin´s Grafton
Street as they are on the windswept moorlands of Kerry and Connemara. The
Celtic character has survived the violent prejudice of centuries. Oppression
by the English, especially the 18th-centurey Penal laws, stifled Irish
culture and the Irish Language almost to the point of extintion.Almost
but not quite. Clandestine "hedgerow schools" were set up, and when Ireland
eventually became fully independent, Irish (Gaelic) was adopted as the
first national language. It is now a compulsory subject i schools and is
more widely spoken than at any time since the 19th century. A major part
of Britain´s efforts to subjugate the Irish was the policy of "plantation",
under which Protestant migrants from England and Scotland were settled
on lands confiscated from native Irish Catholics. Descendants of the Anglo-Irish
Ascendancy, the privileged elite who controlled Ireland, still hold estates
in the Republic. Caught between two worlds, an Irish homeland and an English
heritage, they are treated with polite caution by their Irish neighbours,
who still regard them as more English than the English.
Today, the Irish have regained a sense of identity that was almost
lost forever, and Celtic pride is reflected in the traditional lettering
on high street shop fronts, in literature, the arts and music.
JAMES JOYCE: James Joyce, one of Ireland´s greatest writers, spent
most of his life outside the country, but he wrote only about Dublin and
Dubliners. He knew the city so well and used its detail so minutely in
his works, that it was claimed if Dublin were to be totally destroyed,
his novel "Ulysses" could be used as a blue-print to rebuild it.
Born in 1882 at 41 Brighton Square, in Rathgar, 5km from the city centre,
Joyce lived at more than other addresses before leaving Dublin at the age
of 22. After that he wrote about the city as he travelled abroad. Between
1893 and 1898 he attended Belvedere College in great Denmark Street before
studying at University College in Dublin. At 35 North Great George´s
Street is the James Joyce Cultural Centre whose libreary and archives attract
serious students of the writer and his work. Each year, 16 June, the day
on which the whole action of "Ulysses" takes place, sees special Bloomsday
events throughout the city and at the Ormond Hotel on Upper Ormond Quay,
a meeting place for Leopold Bloom, the principal character in the book.
A short walk from the eastern end of Railway Street is the DART system´s
Connolly Station, from where Joyce fans can take a train two stops to Pearse
Station, south of the Liffey. Just outside the Station is Westland Row,
at the end of which is Sweny´s Pharmacy, remaining much as it is
described in "Ulysses". Sandymount Strand, a 5km beach between Ringsend
and Booterstown, is another "Ulysses" setting and was a favourite spot
with Joyce and his wife, Nora Barnacle. The Martello tower at Dun Laoghaire,
featured in the first chapter of "Ulysses", is now a Joyce museum.