Geography
Demographics
Government
Communications Infrastructure
Transportation
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Geography: 

Ireland is situated in the Atlantic Ocean and separated from Great Britain by St. George's Channel on the southeast, the Irish Sea on the east and the north channel on the northeast. Ireland resembles a basin—a central plain rimmed with mountains, except in the Dublin region. The mountains are low, with the highest peak, Carrantuohill in County Kerry, rising to 3,415 feet (1,041 m). The principal river is the Shannon, which begins in the north-central area, flows south and southwest for about 240 miles (386 km), and empties into the Atlantic.¹

The area of the island is 32,599 square miles. 
The population of the island is 4,925,364. (1991)

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Demographics:

Population: 3,632,944 (July 1999 est.) 

Age structure: 
0-14 years: 21% (male 399,379; female 377,366) 
15-64 years: 67% (male 1,232,072; female 1,213,364) 
65 years and over: 12% (male 174,519; female 236,244) (1999 est.)

Languages: English is the language generally used, Irish (Gaelic) spoken mainly in areas located along the western seaboard 

Literacy: 
definition: age 15 and over can read and write 
total population: 98% (1981 est.)

Economy: 
GDP—real growth rate: 9.5% (1998 est.) 
GDP—per capita: purchasing power parity—$18,600 (1998 est.) 
GDP—composition by sector: 
agriculture: 7% 
industry: 39% 
services: 54% (1997) 

Household income or consumption by percentage share: 
Lowest 10% -  2.5% Highest 10% -  27.4% (1987) 
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.4% (1998) 

Labor force: 1.52 million (1997 est.) 
Labor force—by occupation: services 62.1%, manufacturing and construction 27%, agriculture, forestry, and fishing 10%,
utilities 0.9% (1996 est.)

Unemployment rate: 7.7% (1998 est.) 

Budget:
revenues: $23.5 billion 
expenditures: $20.6 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1998) 

Industries: food products, brewing, textiles, clothing, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, machinery, transportation equipment, glass and crystal 

Industrial production growth rate: 15.8% (1998 est.) 

Electricity—production: 17.843 billion kWh (1996) 
Electricity—production by source: 
fossil fuel: 95.83% 
hydro: 3.99% 
nuclear: 0% 
other: 0.18% (1996) 

Electricity—consumption: 17.743 billion kWh (1996) 
Electricity—exports: 200 million kWh (1996) 
Electricity—imports: 100 million kWh (1996) 

Exports: $60.9 billion (f.o.b., 1998) 
Exports—commodities: chemicals, data processing equipment, industrial machinery, live animals, animal products (1997) 
Exports—partners: EU 67% (UK 24%, Germany 12%, France 8%), US 11% (1997) 

Imports: $43.7 billion (c.i.f., 1998) 
Imports—commodities: food, animal feed, data processing equipment, petroleum and petroleum products, machinery, textiles, clothing (1997) 
Imports—partners: EU 55% (UK 34%, Germany 6%, France 6%), US 15% (1997)

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Cultural Aspects:
Government:

Politically, the island is divided into Northern Ireland, a constituent part of the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, formerly known as Eire.  The island is divided into four historical provinces - Connacht, Leinster, Munster, and Ulster, which is controlled by administrative units called counties.  The republic of Ireland consists of Connacht, Leinster and Munster provinces, totaling 23 counties.

Currency:
£Ir 1.00   (Ireland Punt) = $1.28651 (U.S.)
as of December 17, 1999.  For current exchange rate:

The Universal Currency Converter™

Administrative divisions: 26 counties; Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford, Wicklow 

Independence: 6 December 1921 (from UK) 

Constitution: 29 December 1937; adopted 1 July 1937 by plebiscite 

Legal system: based on English common law, substantially modified by indigenous concepts; judicial review of legislative acts in Supreme Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction. 

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal 

Executive branch: 
chief of state: President Mary MCALEESE (since 11 November 1997) 
head of government: Prime Minister Bertie AHERN (since 26 June 1997) 
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president with previous nomination by the prime minister and approval of the House of Representatives 
Elections: President elected by popular vote for a seven-year term; election last held 31 October 1997 (next to be held NA November 2004); prime minister nominated by the House of Representatives and appointed by the president 
election results: Mary MCALEESE elected president; percent of vote—Mary MCALEESE 44.8%, Mary BANOTTI
29.6% 

Legislative Branch: bicameral Parliament or Oireachtas consists of the Senate or Seanad Eireann (60 seats—49 elected by the universities and from candidates put forward by five vocational panels, 11 are nominated by the prime minister; members serve five-year terms) and the House of Representatives or Dail Eireann (166 seats; members are elected by popular vote on the basis of proportional representation to serve five-year terms) 
Recent Elections: Senate—last held NA August 1997 (next to be held NA 2002); House of Representatives—last held 6 June 1997 (next to be held NA 2002) election results: Senate—percent of vote by party—NA; seats by party—NA; House of Representatives—percent of vote by party—NA; seats by party—Fianna Fail 76, Fine Gael 53, Labor Party 19, Progressive Democrats 4, Democratic Left 4, Greens 2, Sinn Fein 1, independents 7 

Judicial branch: Supreme Court, judges appointed by the president on the advice of the government (prime minister and cabinet) 

Political parties and leaders: Fianna Fail [Bertie AHERN]; Labor Party [Ruairi QUINN]; Fine Gael [John BRUTON]; Communist Party of Ireland [Michael O'RIORDAN]; Sinn Fein [Gerry ADAMS]; Progressive Democrats [Mary HARNEY]; The Workers' Party [Marion DONNELLY]; Green Alliance [Patricia HOWARD] note: Prime Minister AHERN heads a two-party coalition consisting of Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats; Democratic Left merged into the Labor Party on 1 February 1999 

International organization participation: Australia Group, BIS, CCC, CE, EBRD, ECE, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, MINURSO, MTCR, NEA, NSG, OECD, OPCW, OSCE, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNIKOM, UNITAR, UNMIBH, UNMOP, UNPREDEP, UNTSO, UPU, WEU (observer), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC .

Source:  U.S. CIA Country Factbook ⁵ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/ei.html

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Communication Infrastructure:

Telephones:1.1 million phone lines 
Telephone system: modern digital system using cable and microwave radio relay 
domestic: microwave radio relay 
international: satellite earth station—1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) 

Radio & Television:
Radio broadcast stations: AM 9, FM 45, shortwave 0 
Radios: 2.2 million (1991 est.) 
Television broadcast stations: 10 (in addition, there are 36 low-power repeaters)
Televisions: 1.025 million (1997 est.) 

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Transportation:

Railways: A total: 1,947 km 
broad gauge: 1,947 km 1.600-m gauge (38 km electrified; 485 km double track) (1996) 

Highways: A total: 92,500 km (1996 est)
paved: 87,042 km (including 80 km of expressways) & unpaved: 5,458 km 

Waterways: limited for commercial traffic 

Ports and Harbors: Arklow, Cork,  Drogheda, Dublin, Foynes, Galway,  Limerick, New Ross, Waterford

Merchant Marine: total: 31 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 79,284 GRT/117,652 DWT  ships by type: bulk 1, cargo 28, container 2 (1998 est.)

Airports:

Airports—with paved runways: 16 over 3,047 m: 1  2,438 to 3,047 m: 1  1,524 to 2,437 m: 4  914 to 1,523 m: 3  under 914 m: 7 (1998 est.)

Airports—with unpaved runways: 28 914 to 1,523 m: 3  under 914 m: 25 (1998 est.)

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Questions?  E-mail the authors at either mailbox:
           Elizabeth Duffy                                      Murdock Martin

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