View source for Ireland

{{Infobox islands
|name = Ireland
|sobriquet=The Emerald Isle / The Island of Saints and Scholars
|locator map = 
|native name = Éire / Ireland
|native name link = Irish language
<!-- *** Image *** -->
| image = 
| image_caption =
| image_size =
| image_alt = Satellite image of Ireland
|location = [[Northern Europe]] or [[Western Europe]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ei.html |title=The World Factbook|date=2009-11-27|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency (USA) |accessdate=2010-01-01}}</ref>|coordinates =
|area km2 = 84421
|area footnotes = <ref name="irlgeog">{{cite web|url=http://www.gov.ie/en/essays/geography.html |title=Geography of Ireland |publisher=[[Government of Ireland]] |accessdate=2009-11-11 |last=Nolan |first=William}}</ref>
|rank = 20th
|coastline km = 2,797
|highest mount = [[Carrauntoohil]]
|elevation m = 1041
|official_languages = [[Irish language|Irish]], [[English language|English]]
|country = 
|country largest city = [[Dublin]]
|country 2 = 
|country 2 admin divisions title = [[Administrative geography of the United Kingdom|Region]]
|country 2 admin divisions = [[Northern Ireland]]
|country 2 largest city = [[Belfast]]
|population = 6,197,100<ref name="2008population">The 2008 population of the Republic of Ireland was estimated to be 4,422,100 and that of Northern Ireland was estimated to be 1,775,000. The 2009 estimate for the Republic of Ireland is 4,459,300 persons. An official 2009 estimate for Northern Ireland has not yet been prepared. These estimates from the official governmental statistics agencies in the respective jurisdictions:
*{{cite web|url=http://www.cso.ie/releasespublications/documents/population/current/popmig.pdf|title=Population and Migration Estimates|publisher=Central Statistics Office|location=Dublin|year=2009}}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.nisra.gov.uk/archive/demography/population/midyear/mye_report_2008.pdf|title=Population and Migration Estimates Northern Ireland (2008)|author=Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency|publisher=Department of Finance and Personnel|location=Belfast|year=2008|accessdate=2010-01-11}}</ref>
|population as of = 2008
|ethnic groups = [[Irish people|Irish]], [[Ulster Scots people|Ulster Scots]], [[Irish Travellers]]<ref group="Note">Irish Travellers are an officially recognised ethnic group in Northern Ireland under the Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order, 1997. In the Republic of Ireland they are classed as a "social group". Census forms in both jurisdictions contain tick-boxes for respondents to describes themselves as being an Irish Traveller. For more information see:
*{{cite web|url=http://www.itmtrav.com/Legal-ResourcePack2.html|title=Pack 2 – Traveller Culture|year=2006|work=Traveller Legal Resource|publisher=Irish Traveller Movement|accessdate=3 March 2010 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080528195727/http://www.itmtrav.com/Legal-ResourcePack2.html |archivedate = May 28, 2008}}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.ofmdfmni.gov.uk/race-equality-strategy.pdf|title=A Racial Equality Strategy for Northern Ireland 2005–2010|year=2005|publisher=Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister|accessdate=3 March 2010}}</ref>
|density km2 = 73.4
| freedom rank     = {{efindex|78.7|7}}<ref name="Heritage_IE">Heritage Foundation. [http://www.heritage.org/Index/Country/Ireland "Ireland"], Economic Freedom score & world rank. A higher score, and lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2011-05-07.</ref>
| corruption rank  = {{efindex|8.0|14}}<ref name="Transparency_IE">Transparency International. [http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2010/in_detail "Ireland"], Corruption Perceptions Index 2010. A higher score, and lower ranking is better; but please note that different methodology may be used between countries and in different years. Referenced 2011-05-07.</ref>
| integrity score  = 
| business rank    = 9<ref name="Business_IE">Doing Business. [http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/ireland/ "Ireland"], Doing Business 2011 (part of The World Bank Group). A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2011-05-07.</ref>
|website           = [http://www.discoverireland.com DiscoverIreland.com]
}}


Celtic [[tribe]]s arrived on the island between 600-150 B.C. Invasions by Norsemen that began in the late 8th century were finally ended when King Brian BORU defeated the Danes in 1014. English invasions began in the 12th century and set off more than seven centuries of Anglo-Irish struggle marked by fierce rebellions and harsh repressions. A failed 1916 Easter Monday Rebellion touched off several years of guerrilla warfare that in 1921 resulted in independence from the [[United Kingdom]] for 26 southern counties; six northern (Ulster) counties remained part of the UK. In 1949, '''Ireland''' withdrew from the British Commonwealth; it joined the [[European Union|European Community]] in 1973. Irish governments have sought the peaceful unification of Ireland and have cooperated with Britain against terrorist groups. A peace settlement for Northern Ireland is gradually being implemented despite some difficulties. In 2006, the Irish and British governments developed and began to implement the St. Andrews Agreement, building on the Good Friday Agreement approved in 1998.<ref name="CIA_IE">CIA - The World Factbook. [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/countrytemplate_ei.html "Ireland"], from The World Factbook. Referenced 2010-09-29.</ref>

==Housing bubble and financial crisis==
In the [[Irish property bubble]], around 2006 more than a fifth of the Irish workforce was employed building houses. The Irish construction industry had swollen to become nearly a quarter of the country’s G.D.P.—compared with less than 10 percent in a normal economy—and [[Ireland]] was building half as many new houses a year as the United Kingdom, which had almost 15 times as many people to house. Since 1994 the average price for a Dublin home had risen more than 500 percent. In parts of the city, rents had fallen to less than 1 percent of the purchase price—that is, you could rent a million-dollar home for less than $833 a month. The investment returns on Irish land were ridiculously low: it made no sense for capital to flow into Ireland to develop more of it. Irish home prices implied an economic growth rate that would leave Ireland, in 25 years, three times as rich as the United States. By 2007, Irish banks were lending 40 percent more to property developers than they had to the entire Irish population seven years earlier. [[Morgan Kelly]], a professor of economics at University College Dublin, predicted the Irish real-estate prices could fell relative to income—by 40 to 50 per cent, and they did.

Many of housing developments are called "[[Malinvestment|ghost estates]]" because they’re empty. According to the audit of Ireland’s Department of the Environment published in October, 2010, of the nearly 180,000 units that had been granted planning permission, only 78,195 were completed and occupied. Others are occupied but remain unfinished. Virtually all construction has ceased. There were never enough people in Ireland to fill the new houses.<ref name="Lewis_Irish">Michael Lewis. [http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2011/03/michael-lewis-ireland-201103 "When Irish Eyes Are Crying"], ''Vanity Fair'', March 2011 issue. Referenced 2011-02-15.</ref>

{{See also|2010 European sovereign debt crisis}}

==Economical characteristics==
* '''Currency''': Euro (ISO code: EUR)
* Central bank '''[[Wikipedia:Discount rate|discount rate]]''': 3% (31 December 2008)<ref name="CIA_IE" />
* Commercial banks '''lending rate''': 6.76% (31 December 2008)<ref name="CIA_IE" />
* is part of the '''[[Eurozone]]'''

===Notable events:===
* [[Banking crisis]]: 1863-1837, 1856<ref name="Reinhart_crisis">Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff. [http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8973.html "This Time is Different"], ''Princeton University Press'', ISBN 978-0-691-14216-6, p. 368. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-20.</ref>, 2007<ref name="Reinhart_histories">Carmen M. Reinhart. [http://www.princeton.edu/economics/seminar-schedule-by-prog/macro-s10/papers/Reinhardt-Chartbook.pdf "This Time is Different Chartbook: Country Histories on Debt, Default, and Financial Crises"] (pdf), March 3, 2010, p. 64. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-20.</ref>

===Statistics===
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" style="text-align:center"
| Statistic / Year
! 1999
! 2000
! 2001
! 2002
! 2003
! 2004
! 2005
! 2006
! 2007
! 2008
|-
! [[GDP]] (million USD)<ref name="WorldBank_GDP_IE">World Bank. [http://open.worldbank.org/countries/ie/indicators%5BNY.GDP.MKTP.CD%5D?date=1999:2009 "Ireland: GDP"], from World Bank [http://data.worldbank.org/ Data]. Referenced 2010-09-29.</ref>
| 96 421
| 96 596
| 104 688
| 122 520
| 157 384
| 184 970
| 201 676
| 222 414
| 260 871
| 267 576
|-
! Govt. debt (% of GDP)<ref name="WorldBank_Debt_IE">World Bank. [http://open.worldbank.org/countries/ie/indicators%5BGC.DOD.TOTL.GD.ZS%5D?date=1999:2009 "Ireland: government debt"], from World Bank [http://data.worldbank.org/ Data]. Referenced 2010-09-29.</ref>
| 49.367
| 40.125
| 36.785
| 34.741
| 33.607
| 32.024
| 31.830
| 27.868
| 27.176
| 
|-
! Govt. revenue (% of GDP)<ref name="WorldBank_Revenue_IE">World Bank. [http://open.worldbank.org/countries/ie/indicators%5BGC.REV.XGRT.GD.ZS%5D?date=1999:2009 "Ireland: government revenue"], from World Bank [http://data.worldbank.org/ Data]. Referenced 2010-09-29.</ref>
| 32.370
| 32.369
| 30.685
| 29.505
| 29.916
| 31.202
| 32.458
| 33.957
| 33.071
| 
|-
! Govt. expenses (% of GDP)<ref name="WorldBank_Expenses_IE">World Bank. [http://open.worldbank.org/countries/ie/indicators%5BGC.XPN.TOTL.GD.ZS%5D?date=1999:2009 "Ireland: government expenses"], from World Bank [http://data.worldbank.org/ Data]. Referenced 2010-09-29.</ref>
| 30.558
| 27.789
| 29.337
| 29.608
| 29.750
| 29.985
| 30.538
| 30.657
| 31.989
| 
|-
! Debt to revenue (years)
| 1.525
| 1.240
| 1.199
| 1.177
| 1.123
| 1.026
| 0.981
| 0.821
| 0.822
| 
|}

==Notes==
<small>Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.</small>
{{Reflist}}
<references group="Note"/>

==Links==
* [http://www.centralbank.ie Central bank] of Ireland
* BBC [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/1038581.stm country profile]
* [http://mises.org/journals/lf/1971/1971_04.pdf Stateless Societies: Ancient Ireland] (pdf), by Joseph R. Peden, April 1971
* [http://mises.org/daily/3773 The Death of the Celtic Tiger] by Brian Ó Caithnia, October 2009
* [http://mises.org/journals/jls/22_1/22_1_2.pdf Reflections on Legal Polycentrism] (pdf), by Gerard Casey, 2010, on polycentric law in Ireland
* [http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/1108/1224282865400.html If you thought the bank bailout was bad, wait until the mortgage defaults hit home] by Morgan Kelly, November 2010
* [http://www.spectator.co.uk/essays/all/6345293/the-irish-problem.thtml The Irish problem: It isn’t spending cuts] by Allister Heath, October 2010
* [http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_IRELAND_FINANCIAL_CRISIS?SITE=FLPET&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-11-21-21-34-14 S&P cuts ratings on Irish banks; Anglo deemed junk] by Shawn Pogatchnik, November 2010
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/24/AR2010112401510.html?hpid=topnews Irish government, seeking bailout, unveils $20 billion in spending cuts, taxes] by Anthony Faiola, November 2010
* [http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/11/30/bailout_boosts_ireland_banks/ Bailout boosts Ireland banks] by Shawn Pogatchnik, November 2010
* [http://mises.org/daily/4876 The Irish Subjugation] by Philipp Bagus, November 2010
[[Category:Countries]]
* [http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/central-bank-steps-up-its-cash-support-to-irish-banks-financed-by-institution-printing-own-money-2497212.html Central Bank steps up its cash support to Irish banks financed by institution printing own money] by Donal O'Donovan, January 2011
* [http://mises.org/journals/jls/1_2/1_2_1.pdf Property Rights In Celtic Irish Law] by Joseph R Peden, 1977, Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 81-95.
* [http://www.businessinsider.com/irish-bombshell-government-raids-private-pensions-to-pay-for-jobs-program-2011-5 Irish Bombshell: Government Raids Private Pensions To Pay For Spending] by Joe Weisenthal and Gregory White, May 2011
* {{md|6060|Private Law in the Emerald Isle|Finbar Feehan-Fitzgerald|June 2012}}
* [http://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_07_4_burnham.pdf Why Ireland Boomed] by James B. Burnham, 2003
* [http://www.iea.org.uk/blog/iceland-versus-ireland-lessons-from-the-banking-crisis Iceland versus Ireland: lessons from the banking crisis] by David Howden, October 2013

* {{wplink}}

{{See also|Brehon Law}}