Republic of Ireland
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==Flag Symbolism== | ==Flag Symbolism== | ||
The flag of the Republic of Ireland, also known as the Irish Tricolour. The green represents Irish nationalists while orange represents Irish Unionist traditions, with the white indicating peace between the two. | The flag of the Republic of Ireland, also known as the Irish Tricolour. The green represents Irish nationalists while orange represents Irish Unionist traditions, with the white indicating peace between the two. | ||
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| + | ==Languages== | ||
| + | The first official language of Ireland is Irish (''Gaeilge''), spoken regularly by about 260,000 people<ref>[[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=ie|Ethnologue]]</ref>. It is a mandatory subject in schools, with the result that most people under the age of 30 despise it. | ||
| + | |||
| + | English (''Béarla'') is constitutionally considered the second official language, but it the language spoken by the majority of people as well as the language in which government and the courts are conducted. The majority of schools teach through English, with the exception of the all-Irish ''Gaelscoilleanna''. | ||
| + | |||
| + | After Ireland got rich, many [[Poland|Poles]] emigrated to it in search of decent living, with the result that Polish (''Pholainnis'') is now one of the most spoken languages in the country. Statistics are hard to come by; however, many government buildings and places of business have notices and rules written in Polish as well as English and Irish (or sometimes Polish to the exclusion of Irish), which suggests that Polish is spoken by at least as many people as Irish. | ||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||
Revision as of 23:49, 31 May 2011
The Republic of Ireland is a country in the British Isles located on the island of Ireland. It was founded as an autonomous region within the United Kingdom in 1922 after guerrilla war against the Crown. By 1948, through devious use of colonial law, the country was a fully fledged republic. It is one of the richest countries in the world, having a GDP greater than the U.K. and the United States. The government has two houses, the Dáil (lower house) and the Seanad (the fact it has been relocated to the Irish National History museum says it all), everybody else lives in apartments. The country is lead by the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) and the Tainaiste (Deputy Prime Minister).
Contents |
History with Great Britain and partition
The Kingdom of Ireland - which comprised the entire island of Ireland - was joined with the Kingdom of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) on January 1, 1801, to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Before this, the King of England was also the King of Ireland, and the parliament in Dublin was presided over by the Protestant ascendancy - a class of Anglican landowners who had a monopoly of political power on the island. Although nationalist historians refer to the period 1782-1801 as that of 'Grattans Parliament' (Named after the Liberal Henry Grattan who led a campaign to bring greater autonomy to the Dublin institution) the idea that this institution had sole political authority on the island is a nationalist myth. In 1921, Ireland was parted into Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland, both of which were constituent countries of the United Kingdom. The former became the Irish Free State in December 1922, still retaining links to the United Kingdom as a dominion within the British Commonwealth, eventually becoming a fully independent republic in 1949.
Government
The Republic of Ireland is a democracy and 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[1]. 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.
The head of state is a President. All presidential candidates must secure the backing of at least one political party, but are elected by direct vote. The presidential term lasts seven years, and there is a limit of two terms on all presidents. The president is mostly a figurehead, like the Queen of England, and real power rests with the Taoiseach.
Ireland has three big political parties: Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and Labour; there are also several smaller ones. TDs are elected by a fairly elaborate proportional representation system which has the interesting effect that very small parties, and even independent candidates, have a decent shot at getting elected and influencing policy. The result is that coalition governments are not only common, they are pretty much expected.
The main parties are:
- Fianna Fáil (Warriors of Destiny): The biggest party, and the only one ever to have so far obtained enough of a majority of the vote to form a non-coalition government. Right of centre, which makes them darn liberal by American standards. Presided over a severe buggering of the economy in the mid-2000s, which led to them being voted out of office in the 2010 general election.
- Fine Gael (Irish Family): Slightly to the left of centre. Generally Fianna Fáil-lite.
- Labour: Socialism-lite.
- Socialist party: Actual socialists, but have trouble persuading people to vote for them.
- Green Party: A party that claims to be primarily concerned with environmental issues, but the one time they actually got into power (by going into a coalition with Fianna Fáil), they promptly ignored their ideals in order to focus on having power.
- Progressive Democrats (PDs): Neoconservative laissez-faire capitalists who worship at the feet of Ronald Reagan and think giving tax money to private schools and hospitals is a jolly good idea. Defunct as of 2009 following a disastrous (for them) coalition with Fianna Fáil.
- Sinn Féin (We Ourselves, or Ourselves Alone): A party with the stated mandate of returning the six counties of Northern Ireland from the UK to Ireland, and who also operate in the UK. Considered by many to be the political wing of the IRA, a fact which they deny. Following the collapse of the PDs, many wished Sinn Féin would go into coalition with Fianna Fáil and suffer a similar fate.
- Libertas: A transnational party that began in Ireland and whose platform is opposing whatever EU directives get the most criticism in the country, with the result that while the Irish branch was campaigning for a tightening of border restrictions to reduce immigration, the Polish branch was simultaneously calling for more open borders to allow easier emigration. Seem to now be defunct.
Ireland joined the European Union's predeccesor organisation in 1973. They are a full member state and they use the Euro.
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[2][3][4] brought against Catholic Priests. This power includes a near monopoly over the education system, especially the primary school system. The dominance is so inherently unfair that catholic schools are almost entirely funded by the state. Atheist parents in most areas have little choice but to baptise their child as a Catholic, otherwise it is extremely difficult to get the child into his/her local school. Some urban areas, such as Dublin, have religion neutral schools, but these are few and far between.
Ireland is predominantly Catholic, although Irish adherence to the doctrines of Catholicism pretty much consists of popping along to church every now and then to apologise for not going enough, and then not going again for a few years. Religious moderation is the norm, with it being quite rare to see extremist beliefs expressed. The Irish do not hold any one religion above others, but it contains many references to God.
Although moderate in many ways, Ireland has an unfortunate history of obedience to mother Rome. The constitution had originally prohibited divorce, and still limits abortion to cases where the life of the mother is at risk. Ireland has sought, and received, assurances from the EU that she retains the right to be a bit backwards when it comes to things that would make the Pope frown.
No blasphemy here
In 2009 Ireland decided that it'd be a rather good idea to make blasphemy a criminal offence.[5]The constitution requires blasphemy to be illegal, leading Dermot Ahern, Justice Minister, to set about fixing this with some additions to the Defamation Act.
Ahern claimed that these blasphemy provisions are there because the Irish Constitution requires such a law to be in place. This would make one assume that such a law would be a mere formality for constitutional reasons, since a blasphemy law is a bit odd in 21st century Europe. A glance at some of the proposals in the original draft would suggest that Ahern approached this with an unusual level of enthusiasm.:
- Fine of up to €100,000 (approximately $145,000)
- Garda Siochana (the police) having the right to enter a premises to confiscate offending materials (reminiscent of the movie Fahrenheit 451[6]
- Guilt is largely based on how angry religious people get
The introduction of this draft led to a number of "WTF" reactions, so a later version reduced the fine to a mere €25,000. All the other proposals remain, so citizens may wish to hide any material that may be offensive to the religious (basically everything, including wrong versions of the Bible).
The law has been widely criticised in Ireland and overseas. The law doesn't just affect Ireland, since under the European Arrest Warrant, member states can request extradition from a fellow EU state with a comparable law on their books. Were Turkey to join the EU, Anybody in Ireland could be extradited for making rude comments about Muhammad. This is sure to do wonders for tourism.[7]
The law is, in practice, difficult to enforce, since it (rather ironically) contradicts other provisions of the Irish Constitution as well as European human rights legislation. The act specifies some exceptions, such as works of artistic merit, but it pretty much depends on how offended people get, or how offended a judge thinks that people may get. The law would appear to encourage Ireland's small but noisy band of Christian and Islamic fundamentalists to yell loudly when they think that their imaginary friend is not getting the respect they feel he deserves.
Flag Symbolism
The flag of the Republic of Ireland, also known as the Irish Tricolour. The green represents Irish nationalists while orange represents Irish Unionist traditions, with the white indicating peace between the two.
Languages
The first official language of Ireland is Irish (Gaeilge), spoken regularly by about 260,000 people[8]. It is a mandatory subject in schools, with the result that most people under the age of 30 despise it.
English (Béarla) is constitutionally considered the second official language, but it the language spoken by the majority of people as well as the language in which government and the courts are conducted. The majority of schools teach through English, with the exception of the all-Irish Gaelscoilleanna.
After Ireland got rich, many Poles emigrated to it in search of decent living, with the result that Polish (Pholainnis) is now one of the most spoken languages in the country. Statistics are hard to come by; however, many government buildings and places of business have notices and rules written in Polish as well as English and Irish (or sometimes Polish to the exclusion of Irish), which suggests that Polish is spoken by at least as many people as Irish.
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ Breakdown of Seanad election process
- ↑ Irish Children Abused In A Land Of Deference, Irish Independent, Nov 20, 2005, article reviews the findings of the Ferns Report
- ↑ Ferns Report to rock church, Sunday Business Post, Oct 23, 2005
- ↑ wp:Roman_Catholic_sex_abuse_cases_by_country#Ireland
- ↑ President McAleese signs blasphemy law.
- ↑ Not the fat man mockumentary. It's the novel Fahrenheit 451, set in a dystopian future in which reading is outlawed, and firemen are the people employed to burn books.
- ↑ Overview of the law and its side-effects
- ↑ [[1]]