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'When Irish eyes are smiling, sure 'tis like the morn in Spring. In the lilt of Irish laughter, you can hear the angels sing'

So goes the lyrics of a popular old song. They also say when there's more than two of them in a room there's bound to be party! That says a lot about the Irish. The Irish are a happy-go-lucky people, passionate about music, song, dance and they have certain joie de vivre that permeates through.

The Irish are known for many things: for St Patrick’s Day and four-leaf clover; for Guinness and for its almost mythical natural beauty; for the string of deep-blue Lakes of Killarney, for the serene, lovely Connemara Mountains and for the mystic beauty of the limestone desert called the Burren, for the wildly dramatic Giant’s Causeway and the many hues of green in the Glens of Antrim.

Ireland has been called the `Emerald Isle’- and with good reason too. Immortalized in poetry and prose, in painting and in tourist literature too, Ireland with its historic cities and the legendary warmth and hospitality of its people is an attractive destination as more and more visitors find out year after year!

Yes, for an island as small as it is, Ireland is well known.

Have you heard of Muckanaghederdauhaulia? A real tongue twister – it’s the longest place name in Ireland. Try saying it!

Did you know what “Pet Day” meant in Ireland? No, it has nothing to do with pets. When a day of good weather pops up after a long stretch of bad days in Ireland, it is called “Pet Day”.

Ever wondered why do most of the Irish and Scottish surnames start with the prefix “O’ or Mac”? Well, O’ in Gaelic means the son of and Mac means the Grandson of/ descendant of or to that of an earlier ancestor.

Ireland has a young population - more than half the population is under 30 years of age!

Historically Speaking

The first signs of habitation on the island of Ireland appeared around 7000 BC, but actual remains- of stone megaliths and tombs, (some of them in excellent condition and of fine craftsmanship), date back only to about 3000 BC. Around this time, the island was occupied by tribal people, who continued to make steady progress till the isle was taken over by the Celts in 300 BC. The Celtic tribes brought with them their own culture and customs. They were converted to Christianity in the fifth century AD by the arrival of the famous St Patrick, the patron saint of the country. The Christianization of Ireland resulted in the setting up of a number of monasteries, many of them so wealthy that they soon attracted marauding Vikings who arrived in the 8th century to plunder the countryside. The carnage continued till 1014, when the natives under Brian Boru, expelled them.

In the wake of the Vikings came the Normans, and it was they who brought Ireland under the English; many migrants arrived from England and by 1800, Ireland had become a part of the United Kingdom.

The late 19th century saw a terrible famine in Ireland- a result of the failure of the potato crop- and increasing resentment against the British. Anti-British feeling, fuelled further by the anti-Catholic laws enforced by the British, led to a swift escalation in the demands for freedom. During the First World War, the Irish national movement gathered even greater force, and by 1916, an attempt had been made to overthrow British rule. The continued struggle for freedom finally bore fruit, and in 1921, the Republic of Ireland came into being, composed of 26 counties on the island.

In 1972, Ireland became a part of the EEC, and in 1999, it joined the EU. It is today one of the most stable and buoyant economies in West Europe.

Habitat

Eire (as the Republic of Ireland is known) comprises about three-fourths of the island of Ireland, which lies in the Atlantic Ocean, at a distance of about 80 km from the United Kingdom. Separated from the UK by the Irish Sea, Ireland is a country of rolling hills, bogs and the largest river in the British Isles- the Shannon. Much of inland Ireland consists of flat lowlands and bogs, whereas the coastal areas are, on the whole, composed of mountains and hills. Some regions, in particular the land between Cork and Donegal, are almost completely hilly, with a highly indented coastline.

Despite the fact that Ireland’s economy is largely dependent on industry, the country has not suffered much from industrial pollution. Ironically, the main threat to the environment is from agriculture. Agricultural run-offs have polluted local water bodies considerably, and the problem is particularly severe in Ireland’s lakes.

Ireland was, at one time, covered with dense forests of oak; these have, however, been cleared over the past few decades to make way for agriculture. Only about 1% of the original oak forests still stand and efforts, rather half-hearted, to replace these have resulted only in the plantation of pine groves, very different from the native flora of the country. Along with the disappearance of the indigenous flora, some of the fauna too has vanished. However, some native species, including birds such as corncrakes and choughs (crows with vivid red beaks and feet), still chirp in the trees, and mammals like badgers, shrews, pine martens, stoats, squirrels, red deer, foxes and hedgehogs do scamper around the countryside. Many of these are fairly commonly seen, but some, like the pine marten and the stoat, are quite rare.