Overview

Ireland is a parliamentary democracy with a president and house of representatives, and a senate. The president is head of the state, and the current president is Mary McAleese. The Ireland government is very involved with almost every industry in Ireland to built a strong IT country. They invest in the educational systems early on by providing internet access to all primary and secondary schools. They provide financing and capital to business looking to move into Ireland. They have free-trade zones established to make it easier to trade goods, and they have tax laws that are condusive to companies setting up plants, and software manufacturing facilitates. The government provides guidelines for web-sites of public organizations within Ireland. 14

The government’s low-tax policy has helped Ireland lead the European union in growth for the last 15 years. The government has also shifted the focus of the country from being an agricultural exporter to the largest in computer and computer parts export. In addition, A low corporate tax rate of 10% is attracting a huge flow of foreign - mainly American - investment as multinationals move to Ireland as the key entry point to an increasingly unified market of 300 million people.15

The advancement of the political parties can be seen as a woman hold the presidency of the government.16 The department of foreign affairs web-site provides information about Ireland 18. The Ireland Government site 19 provides a search for government information. The country is democratic with a house of representative and a senate, and roughly seven political parties.

Key Statistics

n Corporate Tax rate 10%

n 100 State sponsored bodies employing over 60,000 people

n Democratic government with House of representatives and Senate

n The political parties include: Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Labour Party, Progressive Democrats, Democratic Left, Sinn Fein, Green Party

n They have an electoral system, and anybody over the age of 18 can vote

n The system of currency is the Euro

Sources

14. http://www.irlgov.ie/taoiseach/publication/webpg/guidelines.htm

15. http://www.nationalpost.com/content/features/taxreport/tax11.html

16. http://europa.eu.int/abc/governments/ireland/index_en.html

17. http://www.irlgov.ie/iveagh/

18. http://www.irlgov.ie/iveagh/

19. http://www.irlgov.ie/gov.htm

20.