Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United Kingdom but within the British Empire. The civil war was waged between two opposing groups, the pro-treaty Provisional Government and the anti-treaty IRA, over the Anglo-Irish Treaty; the forces of the Provisional Government supported the Treaty, while the Republican opposition saw it as a betrayal of the Irish Republic. Many of those who fought on both sides in the conflict had been members of the Irish Republican Army during the War of Independence; the Civil War was won by the Free State forces, who benefitted from substantial quantities of weapons provided by the British Government. The conflict may have claimed more lives than the War of Independence that preceded it, left Irish society divided and embittered for generations. Today, two of the main political parties in the Republic of Ireland, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, are direct descendants of the opposing sides of the war.
The Anglo-Irish Treaty was agreed to end the 1919–1921 Irish War of Independence between the Irish Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The treaty provided for a self-governing Irish state, having its own police; the Treaty allowed Northern Ireland to opt out of the new state and return to the United Kingdom – which it did immediately. However, rather than creating the independent republic favoured by most nationalists, the Irish Free State would be an autonomous dominion of the British Empire with the British monarch as head of state, in the same manner as Canada and Australia; the British suggested dominion status in secret correspondence before treaty negotiations began, but Sinn Féin leader Éamon de Valera rejected the dominion. The treaty stipulated that members of the new Irish Oireachtas would have to take the following "Oath of Allegiance" I... do solemnly swear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the Irish Free State as by law established, that I will be faithful to His Majesty King George V, his heirs and successors by law in virtue of the common citizenship of Ireland with Great Britain and her adherence to and membership of the group of nations forming the British Commonwealth of nations.
This oath was objectionable to many Irish Republicans. Furthermore, the partition of Ireland, decided by the Westminster parliament in the Government of Ireland Act 1920, was confirmed in the Anglo-Irish treaty; the most contentious areas of the Treaty for the IRA were the disestablishment of the Irish Republic declared in 1919, the abandonment of the First Dáil, the status of the Irish Free State as a dominion in the British Commonwealth and the British retention of the strategic Treaty Ports on Ireland's south western and north western coasts which were to remain occupied by the Royal Navy. All these issues were the cause of a split in the IRA and civil war. Michael Collins, the republican leader who had led the Irish negotiating team, argued that the treaty gave "not the ultimate freedom that all nations aspire and develop, but the freedom to achieve freedom". However, anti-treaty militants in 1922 believed that the treaty would never deliver full Irish independence; the split over the treaty was personal.
Many of the leaders on both sides had been close friends and comrades during the War of Independence. This made their disagreement over the treaty all the more bitter. Michael Collins said that Éamon de Valera had sent him as plenipotentiary to negotiate the treaty because he knew that the British would not concede an independent Irish republic and wanted Collins to take the blame for the compromise settlement, he said that he felt betrayed when de Valera refused to stand by the agreement that the plenipotentiaries had negotiated with David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. De Valera, for his part, was furious that Collins and Arthur Griffith had signed the treaty without consulting him or the Irish cabinet as instructed. Dáil Éireann narrowly passed the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64 votes to 57 on 7 January 1922. Following the Treaty's ratification, in accordance with article 17 of the Treaty, the British-recognised Provisional Government of the Irish Free State was established, its authority under the Treaty was to provide a "provisional arrangement for the administration of Southern Ireland during the interval" before the establishment of the Irish Free State.
In accordance with the Treaty, the British Government transferred "the powers and machinery requisite for the discharge of its duties". Before the British Government transferred such powers, the members of the Provisional Government each "signified in writing acceptance of ". Upon the Treaty's ratification, de Valera resigned as President of the Republic and failed to be re-elected by an closer vote of 60–58, he challenged the right of the Dáil to approve the treaty, saying that its members were breaking their oath to the Irish Republic. De Valera continued to promote a compromise whereby the new Irish Free State would be in "external association" with the British Commonwealth rather than be a member of it. In early March, he formed the "Cumann na Poblachta" party while remaining a member of Sinn Féin and commenced a s
Time (magazine)
Time is an American weekly news magazine and news website published in New York City. It was founded in 1923 and run by Henry Luce. A European edition is published in London and covers the Middle East, and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong; the South Pacific edition, which covers Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, is based in Sydney. In December 2008, Time discontinued publishing a Canadian advertiser edition. Time has the world's largest circulation for a weekly news magazine; the print edition has a readership of 26 million. In mid-2012, its circulation was over three million, which had lowered to two million by late 2017. Richard Stengel was the managing editor from May 2006 to October 2013, when he joined the U. S. State Department. Nancy Gibbs was the managing editor from September 2013 until September 2017, she was succeeded by Edward Felsenthal, Time's digital editor. Time magazine was created in 1923 by Briton Hadden and Henry Luce, making it the first weekly news magazine in the United States.
The two had worked together as chairman and managing editor of the Yale Daily News. They first called the proposed magazine Facts, they wanted to emphasize brevity. They changed the name to Time and used the slogan "Take Time–It's Brief". Hadden was liked to tease Luce, he saw Time as important, but fun, which accounted for its heavy coverage of celebrities, the entertainment industry, pop culture—criticized as too light for serious news. It set out to tell the news through people, for many decades, the magazine's cover depicted a single person. More Time has incorporated "People of the Year" issues which grew in popularity over the years. Notable mentions of them were Steve Jobs, etc.. The first issue of Time was published on March 3, 1923, featuring Joseph G. Cannon, the retired Speaker of the House of Representatives, on its cover. 1, including all of the articles and advertisements contained in the original, was included with copies of the February 28, 1938 issue as a commemoration of the magazine's 15th anniversary.
The cover price was 15¢ On Hadden's death in 1929, Luce became the dominant man at Time and a major figure in the history of 20th-century media. According to Time Inc.: The Intimate History of a Publishing Enterprise 1972–2004 by Robert Elson, "Roy Edward Larsen was to play a role second only to Luce's in the development of Time Inc". In his book, The March of Time, 1935–1951, Raymond Fielding noted that Larsen was "originally circulation manager and general manager of Time publisher of Life, for many years president of Time Inc. and in the long history of the corporation the most influential and important figure after Luce". Around the time they were raising $100,000 from wealthy Yale alumni such as Henry P. Davison, partner of J. P. Morgan & Co. publicity man Martin Egan and J. P. Morgan & Co. banker Dwight Morrow, Henry Luce, Briton Hadden hired Larsen in 1922 – although Larsen was a Harvard graduate and Luce and Hadden were Yale graduates. After Hadden died in 1929, Larsen purchased 550 shares of Time Inc. using money he obtained from selling RKO stock which he had inherited from his father, the head of the Benjamin Franklin Keith theatre chain in New England.
However, after Briton Hadden's death, the largest Time, Inc. stockholder was Henry Luce, who ruled the media conglomerate in an autocratic fashion, "at his right hand was Larsen", Time's second-largest stockholder, according to Time Inc.: The Intimate History of a Publishing Enterprise 1923–1941. In 1929, Roy Larsen was named a Time Inc. director and vice president. J. P. Morgan retained a certain control through two directorates and a share of stocks, both over Time and Fortune. Other shareholders were the New York Trust Company; the Time Inc. stock owned by Luce at the time of his death was worth about $109 million, it had been yielding him a yearly dividend of more than $2.4 million, according to Curtis Prendergast's The World of Time Inc.: The Intimate History of a Changing Enterprise 1957–1983. The Larsen family's Time stock was worth around $80 million during the 1960s, Roy Larsen was both a Time Inc. director and the chairman of its executive committee serving as Time's vice chairman of the board until the middle of 1979.
According to the September 10, 1979, issue of The New York Times, "Mr. Larsen was the only employee in the company's history given an exemption from its policy of mandatory retirement at age 65." After Time magazine began publishing its weekly issues in March 1923, Roy Larsen was able to increase its circulation by using U. S. radio and movie theaters around the world. It promoted both Time magazine and U. S. political and corporate interests. According to The March of Time, as early as 1924, Larsen had brought Time into the infant radio business with the broadcast of a 15-minute sustaining quiz show entitled Pop Question which survived until 1925". In 1928, Larsen "undertook the weekly broadcast of a 10-minute programme series of brief news summaries, drawn from current issues of Time magazine, broadcast over 33 stations throughout the United States". Larsen next arranged for a 30-minute radio program, The March of Time, to be broadcast over CBS, beginning on March 6, 1931; each week, the program presented a dramatisation of the week's news for its listeners, thus Time magazine itself was brought "to the attention of millions unaware
National Library of Ireland
The National Library of Ireland is the Republic of Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The Minister for Culture and the Gaeltacht is the member of the Government of Ireland responsible for the library; the mission of the National Library of Ireland is'To collect, preserve and make accessible the documentary and intellectual record of the life of Ireland and to contribute to the provision of access to the larger universe of recorded knowledge' The library is a reference library and, as such, does not lend. It has a large quantity of Irish-related material which can be consulted without charge. Included in their collections is material issued by private as well as government publishers; the Chief Herald of Ireland and National Photographic Archive are attached to the library. The library holds an archive of Irish newspapers, it is the ISSN National Centre for Ireland. The library provides a number of other services including genealogy; the main library building is on Kildare Street, adjacent to Leinster House and the archaeology section of the National Museum of Ireland.
The National Library of Ireland was established by the Dublin Science and Art Museum Act 1877, which provided that the bulk of the collections in the possession of the Royal Dublin Society, should be vested in the Department of Science and Art for the benefit of the public and of the Society, for the purposes of the Act. An Agreement of 1881 provided that the Library should operate under the superintendence of a Council of twelve Trustees, eight of whom were appointed by the Society and four by the Government; this arrangement remained in place until the library became an autonomous cultural institution in 2005. After the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1924/5 the Library was transferred to the Department of Education under which it remained until 1986 when it was transferred to the Department of the Taoiseach. In 1927 the Library was granted legal deposit status under the Industrial and Commercial Property Act 1927. In 1992 the Library transferred to the newly established Department of Arts and the Gaeltacht and on 3 May 2005 became an autonomous cultural institution under the National Cultural Institutions Act 1997.
The National Library of Ireland houses collections of archival papers, including personal notes and work books, of the following eminent writers: Roddy Doyle Seamus Heaney Michael D. Higgins James Joyce Colm Tóibín W. B. Yeats List of Ireland-related topics Thomas William Lyster, director of the library between 1895 and 1920. National Archives of Ireland National Photographic Archive Trinity College Library, Dublin UCD Library Official website National Library of Ireland Catalogue, including digitised material Sources: A National Library of Ireland database for Irish research National Library of Ireland on Facebook National Library of Ireland on Flickr National Library of Ireland on Twitter The National Library of Ireland's online exhibition, Yeats: The Life and Works of William Butler Yeats The National Library of Ireland's online exhibition, Discover your National Library The National Library of Ireland's online exhibition, The 1916 Rising: Personalities and Perspectives National Library of Ireland Collections on the European Library Portal
Pound sterling
The pound sterling known as the pound and less referred to as sterling, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, the British Antarctic Territory, Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence. A number of nations that do not use sterling have currencies called the pound. Sterling is the third most-traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar, the euro. Together with those two currencies and the Chinese yuan, it forms the basket of currencies which calculate the value of IMF special drawing rights. Sterling is the third most-held reserve currency in global reserves; the British Crown dependencies of Guernsey and the Isle of Man produce their own local issues of sterling which are considered equivalent to UK sterling in their respective regions. The pound sterling is used in Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands, Saint Helena and Ascension Island in Saint Helena and Tristan da Cunha; the Bank of England is the central bank for the pound sterling, issuing its own coins and banknotes, regulating issuance of banknotes by private banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Banknotes issued by other jurisdictions are not regulated by the Bank of England. The full official name pound sterling, is used in formal contexts and when it is necessary to distinguish the United Kingdom currency from other currencies with the same name. Otherwise the term pound is used; the currency name is sometimes abbreviated to just sterling in the wholesale financial markets, but not when referring to specific amounts. The abbreviations "ster." and "stg." are sometimes used. The term "British pound" is sometimes incorrectly used in less formal contexts, it is not an official name of the currency; the exchange rate of the pound sterling against the US dollar is referred to as "cable" in the wholesale foreign exchange markets. The origins of this term are attributed to the fact that in the 1800s, the GBP/USD exchange rate was transmitted via transatlantic cable. Forex traders of GBP/USD are sometimes referred to as "cable dealers". GBP/USD is now the only currency pair with its own name in the foreign exchange markets, after IEP/USD, known as "wire" in the forward FX markets, no longer exists after the Irish Pound was replaced by the euro in 1999.
There is apparent convergence of opinion regarding the origin of the term "pound sterling", toward its derivation from the name of a small Norman silver coin, away from its association with Easterlings or other etymologies. Hence, the Oxford English Dictionary state that the "most plausible" etymology is derivation from the Old English steorra for "star" with the added diminutive suffix "-ling", to mean "little star" and to refer to a silver penny of the English Normans; as another established source notes, the compound expression was derived: However, the perceived narrow window of the issuance of this coin, the fact that coin designs changed in the period in question, led Philip Grierson to reject this in favour of a more complex theory. Another argument that the Hanseatic League was the origin for both the origin of its definition and manufacture, in its name is that the German name for the Baltic is "Ost See", or "East Sea", from this the Baltic merchants were called "Osterlings", or "Easterlings".
In 1260, Henry III granted them a charter of protection and land for their Kontor, the Steelyard of London, which by the 1340s was called "Easterlings Hall", or Esterlingeshalle. Because the League's money was not debased like that of England, English traders stipulated to be paid in pounds of the "Easterlings", contracted to "'sterling". For further discussion of the etymology of "sterling", see sterling silver; the currency sign for the pound is £, written with a single cross-bar, though a version with a double cross-bar is sometimes seen. This symbol derives from medieval Latin documents; the ISO 4217 currency code is GBP, formed from "GB", the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for the United Kingdom, the first letter of "pound". It does not stand for "Great Britain Pound" or "Great British Pound"; the abbreviation "UKP" is used but this is non-standard because the ISO 3166 country code for the United Kingdom is GB. The Crown dependencies use their own codes: GGP, JEP and IMP. Stocks are traded in pence, so traders may refer to pence sterling, GBX, when listing stock prices.
A common slang term for the pound sterling or pound is quid, singular and plural, except in the common phrase "quids in!". The term may have come via Italian immigrants from "scudo", the name for a number of coins used in Italy until the 19th century.
Douglas Hyde
Douglas Ross Hyde, known as An Craoibhín Aoibhinn, was an Irish academic, scholar of the Irish language and diplomat who served as the first President of Ireland from June 1938 to June 1945. He was a leading figure in the Gaelic revival, the first President of the Gaelic League, one of the most influential cultural organisations in Ireland at the time. Hyde was born at Longford House in Castlerea, County Roscommon, while his mother, Elizabeth née Oldfield was on a short visit there, his father, Arthur Hyde, whose family were from Castlehyde, County Cork, was Church of Ireland rector of Kilmactranny, County Sligo from 1852 to 1867, it was here that Hyde spent his early years. Arthur Hyde and Elizabeth Oldfield married in County Roscommon, in 1852, had three other children, John Oldfield, Hugh Hyde. In 1867, his father was appointed prebendary and rector of Tibohine, the family moved to neighbouring Frenchpark, in County Roscommon, he was home schooled by his father and his aunt due to a childhood illness.
While a young man, he became fascinated with hearing the old people in the locality speak the Irish language. He was influenced in his friend's wife, Mrs. Connolly. Aged 14, Hyde was devastated when Hart died, his interest in the Irish language—the first language he began to study in any detail, as his own undertaking—flagged for a while. However, he visited Dublin a number of times and realised that there were groups of people, just like him, interested in Irish, a language looked down on at the time by many and seen as backward and old-fashioned. Rejecting family pressure that, like past generations of Hydes, he would follow a career in the Church, Hyde instead became an academic, he entered Trinity College, where he became fluent in French, German and Hebrew, graduating in 1884 as a moderator in modern literature. A medallist of the College Historical Society, he was elected its President in 1931, his passion for Irish a language in severe decline, led him to help found the Gaelic League, or in Irish, Conradh na Gaeilge, in 1893.
Hyde married German-born but British-raised Lucy Kurtz in 1893 and had two daughters, Nuala and Úna. Hyde joined the Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language around 1880, between 1879 and 1884 he published more than a hundred pieces of Irish verse under the pen name "An Craoibhín Aoibhinn". Derided, the Irish language movement gained a mass following. Hyde helped establish the Gaelic Journal in 1892. In 1893, he helped found Conradh na Gaeilge to encourage the preservation of Irish culture, music and language. A new generation of Irish republicans, became politicised through their involvement in Conradh na Gaeilge. Hyde filled out the 1911 census form in Irish. Uncomfortable at the growing politicisation of the movement, Hyde resigned the presidency in 1915, he was succeeded by the League's co-founder Eoin MacNeill. Hyde had no association with the Independence movement, he was elected to Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Irish Free State's Oireachtas, at a by-election on 4 February 1925, replacing Sir Hutcheson Poë.
In the 1925 Seanad election, Hyde placed 28th of the 78 candidates, with 19 seats available. The Catholic Truth Society opposed him for his Protestantism and publicised his supposed support for divorce. Historians have suggested that the CTS campaign was ineffective, that Irish-language advocates performed poorly, with all those endorsed by the Gaelic League losing, he returned to academia as Professor of Irish at University College Dublin, where one of his students was future Attorney General of Ireland, Chief Justice of Ireland and President of Ireland, Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh. In April 1938, by now retired from academia, Hyde was plucked from retirement by Taoiseach Éamon de Valera and again appointed to Seanad Éireann. Again his tenure proved short shorter than before, he was selected for a number of reasons: Both the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, the Leader of the Opposition, W. T. Cosgrave, admired him. Both wanted to choose a non-Catholic to disprove the assertion that the State was a "confessional state".
Hyde was inaugurated as the first President of Ireland, on 26 June 1938. The Irish Times reported it as follows: In the morning attended a service in St. Patrick's Cathedral presided over by the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Gregg. Mr. de Valera and his Ministerial colleagues attended a solemn Votive Mass in the Pro-Cathedral, there were services in the princ
Conradh na Gaeilge
Conradh na Gaeilge is a social and cultural organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as its first president, when it emerged as the successor of several 19th century groups such as the Gaelic Union; the organisation would be the spearhead of Gaeilgeoir activism. The organisation intended to be apolitical, but many of its participants became involved in Irish nationalism. Bruce Stewart suggests that an address by Douglas Hyde "led to the formation of the Gaelic League" with Hyde as the president; the address titled ‘The Necessity for De-Anglicising Ireland’ was delivered by Hyde to the Irish National Literary Society, on 25 November 1892. Conradh na Gaeilge was founded in Dublin on 31 July 1893 by Douglas Hyde, the son of a Church of Ireland rector from Frenchpark, County Roscommon with the aid of Eugene O'Growney, Eoin MacNeill, Thomas O'Neill Russell and others; the organisation developed from Ulick Bourke's earlier Gaelic Union and became the leading institution promoting the Gaelic Revival, carrying on efforts like the publishing of the Gaelic Journal.
The League's first newspaper was An Claidheamh Soluis and its most noted editor was Pádraig Pearse. The motto of the League was Sinn Féin amháin; the League encouraged female participation from the start and a number of women played a prominent role. They were not restricted to subordinate roles, but played an active part in leadership, although males were in the overwhelming majority. Local notables, such as Lady Gregory in Galway, Lady Esmonde in County Wexford, Mary Spring Rice in County Limerick, others such as Norma Borthwick and led branches in their communities. At the annual national convention in 1906 women were elected to seven of the forty-five positions on the Gaelic League executive. Executive members included Máire Ní Chinnéide, Úna Ní Fhaircheallaigh, Bean an Doc Uí Choisdealbha, Máire Ní hAodáin, Máire de Buitléir, Nellie O'Brien, Eibhlín Ní Dhonnabháin and Eibhlín Nic Néill. Though apolitical, the organisation attracted many Irish nationalists of different persuasions, much like the Gaelic Athletic Association.
It was through the League that many future political leaders and rebels first met, laying the foundation for groups such as the Irish Volunteers. However, Conradh na Gaeilge did not commit itself to the national movement until 1915, whereupon Douglas Hyde resigned as president, feeling that the culture of language should be above politics. Most of the signatories of the 1916 Proclamation were members, it still continued to attract many Irish Republicans. Seán MacStiofáin, the first chief of staff of the Provisional IRA was a prominent member in his life. After the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922, the organisation had a less prominent role in public life as Irish was made a compulsory subject in state-funded schools, it did unexpectedly badly in the Irish Seanad election, 1925, when all the candidates it endorsed were defeated, including Hyde. In 1927, An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha was founded as a subcommittee of the League to investigate the promotion of traditional Irish dance. CLRG became a independent organisation, though it is required by its constitution to share 3 board members with the League.
Conradh na Gaeilge, in alliance with other groups such as Gluaiseacht Chearta Sibhialta na Gaeltachta, was instrumental in the community campaigns which led to the creation of RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, Údarás na Gaeltachta, TG4. The organisation campaigned for the enactment of the Official Languages Act, 2003 which gave greater statutory protection to Irish speakers and created the position of An Coimisinéir Teanga. Conradh na Gaeilge was among the principal organisations responsible for co-ordinating the successful campaign to make Irish an official language of the European Union. In 2008 during the presidency of Dáithí Mac Cárthaigh, Conradh na Gaeilge adopted a new constitution reverting to its pre 1915 non-political stance restating its aim as that of an Irish-speaking Ireland "Is í aidhm na hEagraíochta an Ghaeilge a athréimniú mar ghnáththeanga na hÉireann" and dropping any reference to Irish freedom. In recent years Conradh na Gaeilge has remained central to campaigns to protect language rights throughout Ireland.
This strategy encompasses the promotion of increased investment in Gaeltacht areas, advocacy for increased provision of state services through Irish, the development of Irish language hubs in urban areas, the Acht Anois campaign for the enactment of legislation to protect the Irish language in Northern Ireland. The organisation has branches in several parts of Ireland and overseas and is involved in the development of the Seachtain na Gaeilge promotional campaign. Conradh na Gaeilge has opened free legal advice centres in Dublin and Galway in partnership with Free Legal Advice Centres; the Gaelic League publishes a magazine called Feasta, founded in 1948. This magazine, while it promotes the aims of the League has an important role in promoting new writing in Irish. 1893–1915, Douglas Hyde 1916–1919, Eoin Mac Néill 1919–1922, Seán Ua Ceallaigh 1922–1925, Peadar Mac Fhionnlaoich 1925–1926, Seán P. Mac Énrí 1926-1928, Cormac Breathnach 1928–1933, Mac Giolla Bhríde 1933–1940, Peadar Mac Fhionnlaoich 1940–1941, L
County Kildare
County Kildare is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region, it is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county which has a population of 222,504. Kildare is the 24th-largest of Ireland's 32 counties in area and seventh largest in terms of population, it is the eighth largest of Leinster's twelve counties in size, second largest in terms of population. It is bordered by the counties of Carlow, Meath, Offaly and Wicklow; as an inland county, Kildare is a lowland region. The county's highest points are the foothills of the Wicklow Mountains bordering to the east; the highest point in Kildare is Cupidstown Hill on the border with Dublin, with the better known Hill of Allen in central Kildare. The county has three major rivers running through it: the Liffey and the Boyne; the Grand Canal crosses the county from Lyons on the east to Monasterevin on the west. A southern branch joins the Barrow navigation at Athy; the Royal Canal stretches across the north of the county along the border with Meath.
Pollardstown Fen is the largest remaining calcareous fen in Ireland, covering an area of 220 hectares and is recognised as an internationally important fen ecosystem with unique and endangered plant communities, declared a National Nature Reserve in 1986. The Bog of Allen is a large bog that extends across 958 km2 and into County Kildare, County Meath, County Offaly, County Laois, County Westmeath. Kildare has 243 km2 of bog located in the south-west and north-west, a majority of this being Raised Bog, it is habitat to over 185 animal species. There are 8,472 hectares of Forested land in Kildare, accounting for 5% of the county's total land area. 4,056 hectares of this is Coniferous, while there is 2,963 hectares of Broadleaf and the remaining area are Unclassified Species. Coillte and Dúchas own 47% of the forestry. Coillte run Donadea Forest Park, in North-Central Kildare; the forest is the largest forest park in Kildare. Kildare was shired in 1297 and assumed its present borders in 1832, following amendments to remove a number of enclaves and exclaves.
The county was the home of the powerful Fitzgerald family. Parts of the county were part of the Pale area around Dublin. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county; the Local Electoral Areas of Kildare are Athy, Celbridge - Leixlip, Kildare - Newbridge and Naas. The Council has 40 members; the current council was elected in May 2013. Under the Local Government Reform Act 2014 the towns of Leixlip, Naas and Athy ceased to have separate town councils and were absorbed into their corresponding local electoral area. For elections to Dáil Éireann, there are two constituencies in the area of the county. In the Irish general election, 2016, Kildare North returned Catherine Murphy, James Lawless, Frank O'Rourke and Bernard Durkan, while Martin Heydon, Fiona O'Loughlin and Sean O Fearghail were returned for Kildare South; as part of the Mid-East Region, it is within the purview of the Mid-East Regional Authority. For elections to the European Parliament, it is part of the Midlands North-West constituency which returns four MEPs.
The county's population has nearly doubled to some 186,000 in 1990-2005. The north eastern region of Kildare had the highest average per-capita income in Ireland outside County Dublin in 2003. East Kildare's population has increased for example the amount of housing in the Naas suburb of Sallins has increased sixfold since the mid-1990s; as of 2016 the population of the county was 222,504. Ethnically, the 2016 census recorded County Kildare as 84% white Irish, 9% other white ethnicities, 2% black, 2% Asian, 1% of other ethnicity, 2% not stated. For religion, the census recorded a population, 80% Catholic, 9% of other stated religions, 10% with no religion and 2% not stated. Kildare contains the European base of electronics firms and Hewlett Packard, two of the largest employers in this sector in the entire island. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has its European Manufacturing base in Newbridge, with another plant in nearby Newcastle in County Dublin. Major pizza-making, soft drinks, frozen food enterprises are located in Naas.
Large supermarket distribution centres are located in Naas and Kilcock. Kerry Group has developed a Global Innovation Centre in Millennium Park in Naas and employs over 1,000 people across 3 developments. Further developments including a new Education Campus are to be constructed in Millennium Park in the future; the Irish Army's largest military base containing its command headquarters and training centre is located at the Curragh. Kildare is the centre of the Irish horse industry. Kildare has more stud farms than any other county in Ireland. Several prominent international breeders have substantial stud farms in Kildare, including many from the Arab world. Racecourses The Irish National Stud farm The National Equestrian Centre Equine auction centre. County Kildare is the richest county in Ireland outside of Dublin and has the lowest unemployment rates in Ireland, throughout the economic recession of the 1980s. House prices in the county but in the North East of the county e.g. Naas and Maynooth have always been higher than the other counties in the country outside Dubl
