1.
Republic of Ireland
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Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, is a sovereign state in north-western Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the part of the island. The state shares its land border with Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, Saint Georges Channel to the south-east, and it is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The head of government is the Taoiseach, who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President, the state was created as the Irish Free State in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It was officially declared a republic in 1949, following the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, Ireland became a member of the United Nations in December 1955. It joined the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union, after joining the EEC, Ireland enacted a series of liberal economic policies that resulted in rapid economic growth. The country achieved considerable prosperity between the years of 1995 and 2007, which known as the Celtic Tiger period. This was halted by a financial crisis that began in 2008. However, as the Irish economy was the fastest growing in the EU in 2015, Ireland is again quickly ascending league tables comparing wealth and prosperity internationally. For example, in 2015, Ireland was ranked as the joint sixth most developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index and it also performs well in several national performance metrics, including freedom of the press, economic freedom and civil liberties. Ireland is a member of the European Union and is a member of the Council of Europe. The 1922 state, comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland, was styled, the Constitution of Ireland, adopted in 1937, provides that the name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland. Section 2 of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 states, It is hereby declared that the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland. The 1948 Act does not name the state as Republic of Ireland, because to have done so would have put it in conflict with the Constitution. The government of the United Kingdom used the name Eire, and, from 1949, Republic of Ireland, for the state, as well as Ireland, Éire or the Republic of Ireland, the state is also referred to as the Republic, Southern Ireland or the South. In an Irish republican context it is referred to as the Free State or the 26 Counties. From the Act of Union on 1 January 1801, until 6 December 1922, during the Great Famine, from 1845 to 1849, the islands population of over 8 million fell by 30%
2.
Government Buildings
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Government Buildings is a large Edwardian building enclosing a quadrangle on Merrion Street in Dublin, Ireland, in which several key offices of the Government of Ireland are located. It was originally shared between the Dublin Castle administration and the Royal College of Science for Ireland, the foundation stone for the building was laid by King Edward VII in 1904. It was built on the site of a row of Georgian houses that were being controversially demolished one by one as the new building was erected, the building itself was designed by Sir Aston Webb, a British architect who was later to redesign the facade of Buckingham Palace. The final completed building was opened by King George V in 1911 and it may have been intended for use by the Royal College of Science, but it soon attracted the attention of the Lord Lieutenant of Irelands Dublin Castle administration. It was chosen to be the location for the first meeting of the new Parliament of Southern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, in June 1921. The planned State Opening of Parliament proved a fiasco, as four members of the House of Commons of Southern Ireland. The Houses were adjourned sine die, the Executive Council of the Irish Free State immediately commandeered part of the college as temporary office space. Two years later the Free State decided to buy Leinster House outright from the RDS, Government usage of part of the Royal College of Science also became permanent. From 1922 to 1991 the former College of Science building was divided between a number of bodies, the wing to the right of the main entrance was used by the Department of the President, later in 1938 renamed Department of the Taoiseach. The Attorney General, the Department of Justice and Equality and other offices also occupied that wing of the building, the south wing was occupied permanently by the Department of Finance. The centre block of the courtyard under the dome was used by the Royal College of Science. Over the decades, some moved out to purpose built offices, leaving the north wing for the Taoiseach, Government Secretariat. In the mid-1980s, increasingly unhappy at the office space. A new engineering faculty was built on University College Dublins Belfield campus at tens of millions of pounds. Much of the interior of the original building was gutted to facilitate the creation of a state-of-the-art new government office. Haughey finally moved into the new building in 1991, critics of the expenditure, at a time when Ireland was in financial difficulties, nicknamed the building the Chaz Mahal. The entrance hall is dominated light streaming through Evie Hones critically acclaimed stained glass window, originally the Office of Public Works had planned a new cabinet suite of rooms also. However the Government opted to continue to use the Council Chamber which had been the room for all Irish governments since 1922
3.
Dublin
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Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland. Dublin is in the province of Leinster on Irelands east coast, the city has an urban area population of 1,345,402. The population of the Greater Dublin Area, as of 2016, was 1,904,806 people, founded as a Viking settlement, the Kingdom of Dublin became Irelands principal city following the Norman invasion. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire before the Acts of Union in 1800, following the partition of Ireland in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, later renamed Ireland. Dublin is administered by a City Council, the city is listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network as a global city, with a ranking of Alpha-, which places it amongst the top thirty cities in the world. It is a historical and contemporary centre for education, the arts, administration, economy, the name Dublin comes from the Irish word Dubhlinn, early Classical Irish Dubhlind/Duibhlind, dubh /d̪uβ/, alt. /d̪uw/, alt /d̪u, / meaning black, dark, and lind /lʲiɲ pool and this tidal pool was located where the River Poddle entered the Liffey, on the site of the castle gardens at the rear of Dublin Castle. In Modern Irish the name is Duibhlinn, and Irish rhymes from Dublin County show that in Dublin Leinster Irish it was pronounced Duílinn /d̪ˠi, other localities in Ireland also bear the name Duibhlinn, variously anglicized as Devlin, Divlin and Difflin. Historically, scribes using the Gaelic script wrote bh with a dot over the b and those without knowledge of Irish omitted the dot, spelling the name as Dublin. Variations on the name are found in traditionally Irish-speaking areas of Scotland, such as An Linne Dhubh. It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. Baile Átha Cliath, meaning town of the ford, is the common name for the city in modern Irish. Áth Cliath is a name referring to a fording point of the River Liffey near Father Mathew Bridge. Baile Átha Cliath was an early Christian monastery, believed to have been in the area of Aungier Street, there are other towns of the same name, such as Àth Cliath in East Ayrshire, Scotland, which is Anglicised as Hurlford. Although the area of Dublin Bay has been inhabited by humans since prehistoric times and he called the settlement Eblana polis. It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. The subsequent Scandinavian settlement centred on the River Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey in an area now known as Wood Quay, the Dubhlinn was a small lake used to moor ships, the Poddle connected the lake with the Liffey. This lake was covered during the early 18th century as the city grew, the Dubhlinn lay where the Castle Garden is now located, opposite the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin Castle
4.
Taoiseach
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The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The current Taoiseach is Enda Kenny, TD, who was appointed on 9 March 2011, on 10 March 2016, at the first sitting of the 32nd Dáil, Kenny failed to gain the support of the house and tendered his resignation to the President. He remained in office in a capacity until being re-elected on 6 May 2016. The word means chieftain or leader in Irish and was adopted in the 1937 Constitution of Ireland as the title of the head of the Government, Taoiseach is the official title of the head of government in both English and Irish. Outside of Ireland, the Taoiseach is often referred to as the Prime Minister of Ireland, under the Constitution of Ireland, the Taoiseach is nominated by a simple majority of Dáil Éireann from among its members. He/she is then appointed to office by the President, who is required to appoint whomever the Dáil designates. For this reason, it is said that the Taoiseach is elected by Dáil Éireann. The Taoiseach may lose the support of Dáil Éireann by the passage of a vote of no confidence, or the failure of a vote of confidence, or alternatively, the Dáil may refuse supply. In the event of the Taoiseachs resignation, he/she continues to exercise the duties, the Taoiseach nominates the remaining members of the Government, who are then, with the consent of the Dáil, appointed by the President. The Taoiseach also has authority to advise the President to dismiss cabinet ministers from office, advice the President is required to follow by convention, the Taoiseach is further responsible for appointing eleven members of the Seanad. The Department of the Taoiseach is the government department which supports, since 2013, the Taoiseachs annual salary is €185,350. It was cut from €214,187 to €200,000 when Kenny took office, a proposed increase of €38,000 in 2007 was deferred when Brian Cowen became Taoiseach and in October 2008, the government announced a 10% salary cut for all ministers, including the Taoiseach. However this was a cut and the salaries remained nominally the same with ministers. This courted controversy in December 2009 when a cut of 20% was based on the higher figure before the refused amount was deducted. The Taoiseach is also allowed an additional €118,981 in annual expenses, there is no official residence of the Taoiseach. The house, which part of the Farmleigh estate acquired by the State in 1999 for €29. 2m, was renovated at a cost of nearly €600,000 in 2005 by the Office of Public Works. Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern did not use it as a residence, the words Taoiseach and Tánaiste are both from the Irish language and of ancient origin. Though the Taoiseach is described in the Constitution of Ireland as the head of the Government or Prime Minister, Tánaiste in turn refers to the system of tanistry, the Gaelic system of succession whereby a leader would appoint an heir apparent while still living
5.
President of Ireland
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The President of Ireland is the head of state of Ireland and the Supreme Commander of the Irish Defence Forces. The President holds office for seven years, and can be elected for a maximum of two terms, unless a candidate runs unopposed, the President is directly elected by the people. The presidency is largely a ceremonial office, but the President does exercise certain limited powers with absolute discretion, the President acts as a representative of the Irish state. Former President Mary McAleese described the office as the guardian of the constitution, the Presidents official residence is Áras an Uachtaráin, which is located in the Phoenix Park in Dublin. The office was established by the Constitution of Ireland in 1937, the current president is His Excellency Michael D Higgins, who was elected on 29 October 2011. His inauguration was held on 11 November 2011, President Higgins is a veteran left-wing politician and human rights campaigner. As a member of the Labour Party, he has served in both houses of the Oireachtas, President Higgins is also a poet and speaks the Irish language fluently. The Constitution of Ireland provides for a system of government. The President is formally one of three parts of the Oireachtas, which also comprises Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann, unlike most other parliamentary democracies, the President is not even the nominal chief executive. Rather, executive authority is vested in the Government. The Government is obliged, however, to keep the President generally informed on matters of domestic, most of the functions of the President may be carried out only in accordance with the strict instructions of the Constitution, or the binding advice of the Government. The President does, however, possess certain personal powers that may be exercised at his or her discretion, the main functions are prescribed by the Constitution, Appoints the government The President formally appoints the Taoiseach and other ministers, and accepts their resignations. The Taoiseach is appointed upon the nomination of the Dáil, ministers are dismissed on the advice of the Taoiseach and the Taoiseach must, unless there is a dissolution of the Dáil, resign upon losing the confidence of the house. Appoints the judiciary The President appoints the judges to all Courts of the Republic of Ireland, convenes and dissolves the Dáil This power is exercised on the advice of the Taoiseach, government or Dáil approval is not needed. The President may only refuse a dissolution when a Taoiseach has lost the confidence of the Dáil, signs bills into law The President cannot veto a bill that the Dáil and the Seanad have adopted. However, he/she may refer it to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality, if the Supreme Court upholds the bill, the President must sign it. If, however, it is found to be unconstitutional, the President will decline to give assent, represents the state in foreign affairs This power is exercised only on the advice of the Government. The President accredits ambassadors and receives the letters of credence of foreign diplomats, ministers sign international treaties in the Presidents name
6.
Northern Ireland
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Northern Ireland is a constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the north-east of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, region, or part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the total population. Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the British parliament, Northern Ireland has historically been the most industrialised region of Ireland. After declining as a result of the political and social turmoil of the Troubles, its economy has grown significantly since the late 1990s. Unemployment in Northern Ireland peaked at 17. 2% in 1986, dropping to 6. 1% for June–August 2014,58. 2% of those unemployed had been unemployed for over a year. Prominent artists and sports persons from Northern Ireland include Van Morrison, Rory McIlroy, Joey Dunlop, Wayne McCullough, some people from Northern Ireland prefer to identify as Irish while others prefer to identify as British. Cultural links between Northern Ireland, the rest of Ireland, and the rest of the UK are complex, in many sports, the island of Ireland fields a single team, a notable exception being association football. Northern Ireland competes separately at the Commonwealth Games, and people from Northern Ireland may compete for either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympic Games. The region that is now Northern Ireland was the bedrock of the Irish war of resistance against English programmes of colonialism in the late 16th century, the English-controlled Kingdom of Ireland had been declared by the English king Henry VIII in 1542, but Irish resistance made English control fragmentary. Victories by English forces in war and further Protestant victories in the Williamite War in Ireland toward the close of the 17th century solidified Anglican rule in Ireland. In Northern Ireland, the victories of the Siege of Derry and their intention was to materially disadvantage the Catholic community and, to a lesser extent, the Presbyterian community. In the context of open institutional discrimination, the 18th century saw secret, militant societies develop in communities in the region and act on sectarian tensions in violent attacks. Following this, in an attempt to quell sectarianism and force the removal of discriminatory laws, the new state, formed in 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was governed from a single government and parliament based in London. Between 1717 and 1775 some 250,000 people from Ulster emigrated to the British North American colonies and it is estimated that there are more than 27 million Scotch-Irish Americans now living in the US. By the close of the century, autonomy for Ireland within the United Kingdom, in 1912, after decades of obstruction from the House of Lords, Home Rule became a near-certainty. A clash between the House of Commons and House of Lords over a controversial budget produced the Parliament Act 1911, which enabled the veto of the Lords to be overturned. The House of Lords veto had been the unionists main guarantee that Home Rule would not be enacted, in 1914, they smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition from Imperial Germany for use by the Ulster Volunteers, a paramilitary organisation opposed to the implementation of Home Rule
7.
Irish Free State
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The Irish Free State was an independent state established in 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. That treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between the forces of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic, the Irish Republican Army, and British Crown forces, the Free State was established as a Dominion of the British Commonwealth of Nations. It comprised 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland, Northern Ireland, which comprised the remaining six counties, exercised its right under the Treaty to opt out of the new state. W. T. Cosgrave, who had led both of these governments since August 1922, became the first President of the Executive Council, the legislature consisted of Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann, also known as the Senate. Members of the Dáil were required to take an Oath of Allegiance, the oath was a key issue for opponents of the Treaty, who refused to take the oath and therefore did not take their seats. Pro-Treaty members, who formed Cumann na nGaedheal in 1923, held a majority in the Dáil from 1922 to 1927. In the first months of the Free State, the Irish Civil War was waged between the newly established National Army and the anti-Treaty IRA, who refused to recognise the state. The Civil War ended in victory for the government forces, with the anti-Treaty forces dumping its arms in May 1923, the anti-Treaty political party, Sinn Féin, refused to take its seats in the Dáil, leaving the relatively small Labour Party as the only opposition party. In 1926, when Sinn Féin president Éamon de Valera failed to have this policy reversed, he resigned from Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil entered the Dáil following the 1927 general election, and entered government after the Irish general election,1932, when it became the largest party. De Valera abolished the Oath of Allegiance and embarked on a war with Britain. In 1937 he drafted a new constitution, which was passed by a referendum in July of that year, the Free State came to an end with the coming into force of the new constitution on 29 December 1937. Under the new constitution the Irish state was named Ireland, meanwhile, opposition increased to Irelands participation in World War I in Europe and the Middle East. This came about when the Irish Parliamentary Party supported the Allied cause in World War I in response to the passing of the Third Home Rule Bill in 1914. Many people had begun to doubt whether the Bill, passed by Westminster in September 1914 but suspended for the duration of the war, Sinn Féin, the Irish Party and all other Nationalist elements joined forces in opposition to the idea during the Conscription Crisis of 1918. At the same time the Irish Parliamentary lost in support on account of the crisis, Irish republicans felt further emboldened by successful anti-monarchical revolutions in the Russian Empire, the German Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Sinn Féin party, founded by Arthur Griffith in 1905, had espoused non-violent separatism, under Éamon de Valeras leadership from 1917, it campaigned aggressively and militantly for an Irish republic. On 21 January 1919, Sinn Féin MPs, refusing to sit at Westminster, assembled in Dublin and it affirmed the formation of an Irish Republic and passed a Declaration of Independence, the irish people is resolved. To promote the common weal, to re-establish justice, with equal rights and equal opportunity for every citizen
8.
European Union
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The European Union is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2, the EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished, a monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002, and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency. The EU operates through a system of supranational and intergovernmental decision-making. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community, the community and its successors have grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. While no member state has left the EU or its antecedent organisations, the Maastricht Treaty established the European Union in 1993 and introduced European citizenship. The latest major amendment to the basis of the EU. The EU as a whole is the largest economy in the world, additionally,27 out of 28 EU countries have a very high Human Development Index, according to the United Nations Development Programme. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, through the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the EU has developed a role in external relations and defence. The union maintains permanent diplomatic missions throughout the world and represents itself at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G7, because of its global influence, the European Union has been described as an emerging superpower. After World War II, European integration was seen as an antidote to the nationalism which had devastated the continent. 1952 saw the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, the supporters of the Community included Alcide De Gasperi, Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, and Paul-Henri Spaak. These men and others are credited as the Founding fathers of the European Union. In 1957, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany signed the Treaty of Rome and they also signed another pact creating the European Atomic Energy Community for co-operation in developing nuclear energy. Both treaties came into force in 1958, the EEC and Euratom were created separately from the ECSC, although they shared the same courts and the Common Assembly. The EEC was headed by Walter Hallstein and Euratom was headed by Louis Armand, Euratom was to integrate sectors in nuclear energy while the EEC would develop a customs union among members. During the 1960s, tensions began to show, with France seeking to limit supranational power, Jean Rey presided over the first merged Commission. In 1973, the Communities enlarged to include Denmark, Ireland, Norway had negotiated to join at the same time, but Norwegian voters rejected membership in a referendum
9.
Leo Varadkar
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Leo Varadkar is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has been the Minister for Social Protection since 6 May 2016 and Teachta Dála for Dublin West since 2007. Varadkar was born in Dublin and studied Medicine at Trinity College and he spent several years as a junior doctor before qualifying as a general practitioner in 2010. In 2004 he was co-opted onto Fingal County Council and served as deputy mayor before his election to Dáil Éireann, after the formation of the Coalition Government in March 2011, he was appointed Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. A cabinet reshuffle in July 2014 saw Varadkar appointed to the position of Minister for Health, during his tenure he became the first openly gay Irish government minister. Following the formation of a Fine Gael minority government in May 2016, born on 18 January 1979 in the Rotunda Hospital in Parnell Square, Dublin, Varadkar is the youngest child and only son of Ashtok and Miriam Varadkar. His Mumbai-born father had moved to England as a doctor in the 1960s and his Dungarvan-born mother met her future husband while working as a nurse in Slough. Later they lived in Leicester, where the eldest of their three children, Sophie, was born, the family then moved to India, however, they settled in Dublin in 1973 before their second child, Sonia, was born. It was during his secondary schooling that his involvement began when he joined Fine Gael. He was also selected for the prestigious Washington Ireland Program, which prepares ambitious young people for future leadership roles, Varadkar graduated from the school of medicine in 2003 and spent several years working as a junior doctor in Connolly Hospital before qualifying as a general practitioner in 2010. Varadkar was just twenty years-old and a medical student when he contested the 1999 local elections in the Mulhuddart area. Polling just 380 first-preference votes and eliminated on the ninth count, on 13 October 2003, Varadkar was co-opted to Fingal County Council for the Castleknock area as a replacement for Sheila Terry. At the 2004 local elections he received the highest first-preference vote in the country with 4,894 votes and was elected on the first count, Varadkar was elected to Dáil Éireann at the 2007 general election, and became party spokesperson for Enterprise, Trade and Employment from 2007–2010. At the 2011 general election, Varadkar was re-elected to Dáil Éireann with 8,359 first preference votes, Fine Gael formed a coalition government with Labour and Varadkar was appointed Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport on 9 March 2011. This was considered a surprise appointment as Varadkar was not renowned as a sports lover and he said that while he knew a lot of facts. I dont play the sports. In May 2011, Varadkar suggested Ireland was very unlikely to resume borrowing in 2012 and might need a second bailout, many of Varadkars cabinet colleagues were not impressed with Varadkars forthrightness, nor was the European Central Bank. Varadkar said that reaction to the story was hyped up but that he was not misquoted, responding to Varadkars decision to express his opinion in public, Independent News & Medias Evening Herald paper described the minister as gaffe prone, as it had also done previously. In the cabinet reshuffle of July 2014, Varadkar replaced James Reilly as Minister for Health and he was returned to the Dáil at the February 2016 general election. He retained the portfolio in an acting capacity until May that year
