Ireland

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Revision as of 20:45, 6 February 2010

Conservlogo late april.png
For those living in an alternate reality, Conservapedia has an "article" about Ireland
The island of Ireland, as seen by space aliens.

Ireland is an island off the northwestern coast of Europe. It is home to both the Republic of Ireland, an independent country, and Northern Ireland, which is a part of the The United Kingdom.

Ireland can refer either to the island of Ireland or the Republic of Ireland, which recognises the name "Ireland" in its constitution.[1]

Contents

Government

The Republic of Ireland is a Democratic Republic which elects Members of Parliament (Teachtaí Dáila) to sit in a parliament (Dáil) situated on Kildare Street in Dublin City centre. These TDs then elect the Prime Minister (Taoiseach) and ensure they are performing their duties, as well as scrutinise the actions of the government.

Ireland has a bicameral system, having a Lower House (The Dáil) and a Upper House (An Seanad, which means "the Senate")

An Seanad is not elected by the public at large. The election procedure consists of nominations from the Taoiseach, University graduates and special interest groups[2]. An Seanad has very few political powers, partly as a result of historical pressures (since the Senate was established by the British government during the reign of the Irish Free state) as well as political necessity.

War

Until U.S. President Bill Clinton sent former Senator George Mitchell over to help with negotiations, instructing him not to come home until they stopped fighting, Ireland was the scene of ugly violence over the issue of Northern Ireland. The British Army acted as an occupation force, and the Irish Republican Army and "Loyalist" paramilitaries both engaged in terrorist attacks on civilians in various parts of Britain and Ireland. The Irish were also brutal to each other. The British Government claimed that the army prevented this violence and brutality from escalating further. This battle, essentially fought over whether to allow Northern Ireland to come under the control of the Republic of Ireland, was referred to colloquially as the "Troubles".

Amazingly, things have quieted down tremendously since the agreements were forged. This has led to a meteoric rise in tourism, since so many Irish emigrated over the last century or two, and they are prime candidates for nostalgia and genealogy trips to the "Emerald Isle". Ireland's economy was growing at almost double-digit rates for many years after the blowing things up stopped.

One RW editor thinks that if only Clinton had been allowed to run for a third term, perhaps the same magical solution could reduced tensions in the Middle East over the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

Religion

The rapid growth of its economy in recent years has facilitated the decline of the Catholic Church's influence in the country, and consequently religious involvement in Irish life has decreased dramatically. However, the Church still maintains some temporal power, despite many high profile child sex abuse claims[3][4][5] brought against Catholic Priests. This power includes a near monopoly over the education system, especially the primary school system.

The Magdalene laundries scandal is less well known outside Ireland, but it also decreased trust in the Roman Catholic Church.

Blasphemy criminalised

In 2009, Ireland passed the Defamation Act[6], by which blasphemy is punishable by a fine of up to €25,000 (approximately $35,000 at time of writing).[7] A person has committed blasphemy if "he or she publishes or utters matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion, and he or she intends, by the publication or utterance of the matter concerned, to cause such outrage."

There is a clause excepting cases where a defendant can prove that a "reasonable person" would find genuine literary, artistic, political, scientific, or academic value in the matter to which the offence relates, but this is somewhat subjective. We can be certain that religious groups would never become outraged by anything so minor as parody of their beliefs[8] or cartoon depictions of their supernatural friends.[9]

To add to the fun, the European Arrest Warrant allows for residents of Ireland to be extradited to EU states with comparable laws on their books.[10]

Snakes

There are no snakes in Ireland. Legend has it that St. Patrick, the Patron Saint of Ireland, banished them. The snakes are actually an allegory for pagans.

See also

Footnotes

  1. Irish Constitution
  2. Breakdown of Seanad election process
  3. Irish Children Abused In A Land Of Deference, Irish Independent, Nov 20, 2005, article reviews the findings of the Ferns Report
  4. Ferns Report to rock church, Sunday Business Post, Oct 23, 2005
  5. wp:Roman_Catholic_sex_abuse_cases_by_country#Ireland
  6. The Defamation Act of 2009
  7. The original version proposed prescribed a maximum fine of €100,000.
  8. The Life of Brian controversy
  9. The Mohammed cartoons
  10. Austrian cartoonist fights extradition to Greece on charge of blasphemy Something for Irish residents to look forward to
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