Native name
Conventional long name	Ireland
Common name	Ireland
Image coat	Coat of arms of Ireland.svg
Map caption
National anthem	The Soldier's Song
Official languages	Irish, English
Demonym	Irish (Éireannaigh)
Capital	Dublin
Largest city	capital
Government type	Constitutional republicParliamentary democracy
Leader title1	President
Leader name1	Mary McAleese
Leader title2	Taoiseach
Leader name2	Brian Cowen TD
Leader title3	Tánaiste
Leader name3	Mary Coughlan TD
Legislature	Oireachtas
Upper house	Seanad Éireann
Lower house	Dáil Éireann
Accessioneudate	1 January 1973
Area km2	70,273
Area sq mi	27,133
Area rank	119th
Area magnitude	1 E9
Percent water	2.00
Population estimate	4,470,700
Population estimate year	2010
Population census	4,239,848
Population census year	2006
Population estimate rank	120th
Population density km2	63.4
Population density sq mi	164.2
Population density rank	139th
Ethnic groups	87% Irish, 13% Other
Gdp ppp year	2009
Gdp ppp	$175.055 billion
Gdp ppp per capita	$39,468
Hdi rank	5th
Hdi category	very high
Sovereignty type	Independence
Sovereignty note	from the United Kingdom
Established event1	Declared
Established date1	24 April 1916
Established event2	Ratified
Established date2	21 January 1919
Established event3	Recognised
Established date3	6 December 1922
Established event4	Constitution
Established date4	29 December 1937
Established event5	Became a Republic
Established date5	18 April 1949
Currency	Euro (€)
Currency code	EUR
Time zone	WET
Utc offset	+0
Time zone dst	IST (WEST)
Utc offset dst	+1
Drives on	left
Cctld	.ie
Calling code	353

Ireland (, locally ; , ), described as the Republic of Ireland (), is a state in Western Europe of almost 4.5 million inhabitants. The country shares its only land border with Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the Irish Sea to the east, St George's Channel to the southeast, and the Celtic Sea to the south.

At the conclusion of the Irish War of Independence, the Anglo-Irish Treaty established the Irish Free State on 6 December 1922 as a self-governing dominion within the British Commonwealth. It gained increasing sovereignty through the Statute of Westminster and the abdication crisis of 1936. A new constitution introduced in 1937 declared it an entirely sovereign state named Ireland. The last formal link with the United Kingdom was severed in 1949 when the Oireachtas (national parliament) passed the Republic of Ireland Act, which proclaimed Ireland a republic by discarding the remaining duties of the monarch. Ireland seceded from the British Commonwealth, having discontinued attending meetings in 1937. Britain officially recognised the new republic through the Ireland Act 1949.

During British rule and initial independence, Ireland was one of Western Europe's most impoverished countries and suffered high levels of emigration. However, in contrast to many other states during that period, it remained democratic and financially solvent. The protectionist economy was opened in the late 1950s and Ireland joined what is now called the European Union in 1973. An economic crisis led to large-scale economic reforms in the late 1980s, as the Irish Government reduced taxation and regulation dramatically compared to other EU countries. The rapid growth of the economy experienced during the 1990s saw the beginning of unprecedented economic expansion in the phenomenon known as the "Celtic Tiger", which lasted until the global financial crisis of 2007–2010.

Ireland is one of the world's most developed countries, and is ranked fifth in the Human Development Index, first in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s quality-of-life index, and sixth on the Global Peace Index. It is also ranked first for press freedom and fourth for economic freedom. Ireland also has high rankings for its education system, political freedom and democracy. It is one of the most sustainable countries in the world, ranking fifth from bottom in the Failed States Index. Ireland is a member of the OECD, the WTO, and the UN.

History

Etymology

The official name of the country is Ireland for documents written in English and Éire for documents written in Irish. EU institutions follow the same practice, as the names of EU member states must be written and abbreviated according to the Interinstitutional Style Guide, and neither "Republic of Ireland" nor "Irish Republic" should be used when referring to the country. Since Irish became an official language of the Union in 2007, name plates for the state at EU meetings read as Éire – Ireland, as used on Irish passports. Article 4 of the 1937 Constitution of Ireland states that "The name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland." The wording of this article has been criticised in a report by the Constitution Review Group in 1996, stating that the wording was "unnecessarily complicated and that it should be simplified". An amendment was recommended to state that, "The name of the state is Ireland", with an equivalent change in the Irish text. The Constitution Review Group also considered whether the article should be amended to include "Republic of" in the name. It is satisfied that the legislative provision declaring the state's description to be the "Republic of Ireland" is sufficient.

The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 described the state as the "Republic of Ireland" (Poblacht na hÉireann),

The island of Ireland was unilaterally proclaimed an independent republic by rebels in 1916 and called the Irish Republic (Poblacht na hÉireann). Following the 1918 general election, that proclamation was ratified by the First Dáil. Between 1921 and 1922, the British government legislated to establish Ireland as an autonomous region of the United Kingdom, creating Southern Ireland (and Northern Ireland). Following the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the state was established as an independent dominion in the British Commonwealth, styled the Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann). All of these names are still sometimes used unofficially. Other colloquial names, such the twenty-six counties and the South are also often used, particularly among residents of Northern Ireland. Likewise, from the perspective of the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland is often called the six counties or the North.

Home-rule movement

From the Act of Union on 1 January 1801 until 6 December 1922, all of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. During the Great Famine, from 1845 to 1849, the island's population of over 8 million fell by 30%. One million Irish died of starvation and/or disease and another 1.5 million emigrated. This set the pattern of emigration for the century to come, resulting in a constant decline up to the 1960s.

From 1874, particularly under Charles Stewart Parnell from 1880, the Irish Parliamentary Party moved to prominence through widespread agrarian agitation, via the Irish Land League, that won improved tenant land reforms in the form of the Irish Land Acts, and with its attempts to achieve Home Rule, via two unsuccessful Bills which would have granted Ireland limited national autonomy. These led to the “grass-roots” control of national affairs under the Local Government Act 1898 previously in the hands of landlord-dominated grand juries of the Protestant Ascendancy.

Home Rule seemed certain when the Parliament Act 1911 abolished the veto of the House of Lords, and John Redmond secured the Third Home Rule Act 1914. However, the Unionist movement had been growing since 1886 among Irish Protestants after the introduction of the first home rule bill, fearing discrimination and loss of economic and social privileges if Irish Catholics achieved real political power. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century unionism was particularly strong in parts of Ulster, where industrialisation was more common in contrast to the more agrarian rest of the island. It was feared that any tariff barriers would heavily affect that region. In addition, the Protestant population was more prominent in Ulster, with a majority in four counties. Under the leadership of the Dublin-born Sir Edward Carson of the Irish Unionist Party and the northerner Sir James Craig of the Ulster Unionist Party, unionists became strongly militant in order to oppose the Coercion of Ulster. After the Home Rule Bill passed parliament in May 1914, to avoid rebellion with Ulster, the British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith introduced an Amending Bill reluctantly conceded to by the Irish Party leadership. This provided for the temporary exclusion of Ulster from the workings of the bill for a trial period of six years, with an as yet undecided new set of measures to be introduced for the area to be temporarily excluded.

Revolution

Though it received the Royal Assent and was placed on the statute books in 1914, the implementation of the Third Home Rule Act was suspended until after the Great War. For the prior reasons of ensuring the implementation of the Act at the end of the war, Redmond and his Irish National Volunteers supported the Allied cause, and 175,000 joined Irish regiments of the 10th (Irish), 16th (Irish), while Unionists joined the 36th (Ulster) divisions of the New British Army. In January 1919, after the December 1918 general election, 73 of Ireland's 106 MPs elected were Sinn Féin members who refused to take their seats in the British House of Commons. Instead, they set up an Irish parliament called Dáil Éireann. This Dáil in January 1919 issued a Declaration of Independence and proclaimed an Irish Republic. The Declaration was mainly a restatement of the 1916 Proclamation with the additional provision that Ireland was no longer a part of the United Kingdom. The new Irish Republic was recognised internationally only by the Russian Soviet Republic. The Republic's Aireacht (ministry) sent a delegation under Ceann Comhairle Seán T. O'Kelly to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, but it was not admitted. in 1922, a new parliament called the Oireachtas was established, of which Dáil Éireann became the lower house.]] After the War of Independence and truce called in July 1921, representatives of the British government and the Irish treaty delegates, led by Arthur Griffith, Robert Barton and Michael Collins, negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty in London from 11 October to 6 December 1921. The Irish delegates set up headquarters at Hans Place in Knightsbridge and it was here in private discussions that the decision was taken on 5 December to recommend the Treaty to Dáil Éireann. The Second Dáil Éireann narrowly ratified the Treaty.

In accordance with the Treaty, on 6 December 1922 the entire island of Ireland became a self-governing British dominion called the Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann). Under the Constitution of the Irish Free State, the Parliament of Northern Ireland had the option to leave the Irish Free State exactly one month later and return to the United Kingdom. During the intervening period, the powers of the Parliament of the Irish Free State and Executive Council of the Irish Free State did not extend to Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland exercised its right under the Treaty to opt out of the new dominion and rejoined the United Kingdom on 8 December 1922. It did so by making an Address to the King requesting, "that the powers of the Parliament and Government of the Irish Free State shall no longer extend to Northern Ireland." However, the Irish Free State was a constitutional monarchy over which the British monarch reigned. It had a Governor-General, a bicameral parliament, a cabinet called the "Executive Council" and a prime minister called the President of the Executive Council.

Irish Civil War

The Irish Civil War was the consequence of the creation of the Irish Free State. Anti-Treaty forces, led by Éamon de Valera, objected to the fact that acceptance of the Treaty abolished the Irish Republic of 1919 to which they had sworn loyalty, arguing in the face of public support for the settlement that the "people have no right to do wrong". They objected most to the fact that the state would remain part of the British Commonwealth and that members of the Free State Parliament would have to swear, what the Anti-Treaty side saw as, an oath of fidelity to the British King. Pro-Treaty forces, led by Michael Collins, argued that the Treaty gave "not the ultimate freedom that all nations aspire to and develop, but the freedom to achieve it".

At the start of the war, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) split into two opposing camps: a pro-treaty IRA and an anti-treaty IRA. The pro-Treaty IRA disbanded and joined the new Irish Army. However, through the lack of an effective command structure in the anti-Treaty IRA, and their defensive tactics throughout the war, Michael Collins and his pro-treaty forces were able to build up an army with many tens of thousands of WWI veterans from the 1922 disbanded Irish regiments of the British Army, capable of overwhelming the anti-Treatyists. British supplies of artillery, aircraft, machine-guns and ammunition boosted pro-treaty forces, and the threat of a return of Crown forces to the Free State removed any doubts about the necessity of enforcing the treaty. The lack of public support for the anti-treaty forces (often called the Irregulars) and the determination of the government to overcome the Irregulars contributed significantly to their defeat.

In the Northern Ireland question, Irish governments started to seek a peaceful reunification of Ireland and have usually cooperated with the British government in the violent conflict involving many paramilitaries and the British Army in Northern Ireland known as "The Troubles". A peace settlement for Northern Ireland, the Belfast Agreement, was approved in 1998 in referendums north and south of the border. As part of the peace settlement, Ireland dropped its territorial claim to Northern Ireland.

1937 Constitution

On 29 December 1937, the new Constitution of Ireland (Bunreacht na hÉireann) came into force, which replaced the Constitution of the Irish Free State and called the state Ireland, or Éire in Irish. Although the Constitution established the office of President of Ireland, between 1937 and 1949 Ireland was not technically a republic. This was because the principal key role possessed by a head of state, that of symbolically representing Ireland internationally remained vested under statutory law, in the British king as an organ of the Irish government. The King's title in the Irish Free State was exactly the same as it was elsewhere in the British Empire:

1922–1927 – By the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India.

1927–1937 – By the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India.

Ireland remained neutral during World War II, a period it described as The Emergency. The position of King ceased with the passage of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, which came into force on 18 April 1949 when the office of President of Ireland replaced that of the King. The Act declared that the state could be described as a republic. Later, the Crown of Ireland Act was formally repealed in Ireland by the Statute Law Revision (Pre-Union Irish Statutes) Act, 1962. Ireland was technically a member of the British Commonwealth after independence until the declaration of a republic on 18 April 1949. At the time, a declaration of a republic terminated Commonwealth membership. This rule was changed 10 days after Ireland declared itself a republic, with the London Declaration of 28 April 1949. Ireland immediately ceased membership and did not reapply when the rules were altered to permit republics to join.

Recent history

Ireland became a member of the United Nations in December 1955, after previously being denied membership due to its neutral stance during the Second World War and not supporting the Allied cause. At the time, joining the UN involved a commitment to using force to deter aggression by one state against another if the UN thought it was necessary.

along with the United Kingdom and Denmark. It signed the Lisbon Treaty in 2007.]]

Interest towards membership of the European Economic Community developed in Ireland during the 1950s, with consideration also given to membership of the European Free Trade Area. As the United Kingdom intended on EEC membership, Ireland formally applied for membership in July 1961 due to the substantial economic linkages with the United Kingdom. However, the founding EEC members remained skeptical regarding Ireland's economic capacity, neutrality, and unattractive protectionist policy. Many Irish economists and politicians realised that economic policy reform was necessary. The prospect of EEC membership became doubtful in 1963 when French President General Charles de Gaulle stated that France opposed Britain's accession, which ceased negotiations with all other candidate countries. However, in 1969 his successor, George Pompidou, was not opposed to British and Irish membership. Negotiations began and in 1972 the Treaty of Accession was signed. A referendum held in 1972 confirmed Ireland’s entry, and finally succeeded in joining the EEC in 1973.

The economic crisis of the late 1970s was fueled by Fianna Fáil's budget, the abolition of the car tax, excessive borrowing, and global economic instability. From 1989, there were significant policy changes with economic reform, tax cuts, welfare reform, an increase in competition, and a ban on borrowing to fund current spending. This policy began in 1989–1992 by the Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrat government, and continued by the subsequent Fianna Fáil/Labour government and Fine Gael/Labour/Democratic Left government. Ireland became one of the world's fastest growing economies by the late 1990s in what was known as the Celtic Tiger period, which lasted until the global financial crisis of 2007–2010.

Geography

The island of Ireland extends over an area of , of which about five-sixths belongs to the Republic of Ireland () and the remainder constitutes Northern Ireland. It is bounded to the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the northeast by the North Channel. To the east coast is the Irish Sea, which reconnects to the ocean via the southwest with St George's Channel and the Celtic Sea. The west coast is more rugged than that of the east, with many islands, peninsulas, headlands and bays.

The western landscape mostly consists of cliffs, hills and mountains. The highest point is Carrauntoohil (), located in the Macgillycuddy's Reeks mountain range. The country's interior is relatively flat, traversed by rivers such as the River Shannon and numerous lakes or loughs. The large central lowlands consist of limestone covered with glacial deposits of clay and sand. The River Shannon watershed contains large areas of bogland used for peat extraction and production. Ireland also has some small off-shore deposits of oil and gas. The main urban areas include Dublin in the east, Cork in the south, Limerick in the mid-west, Galway in the west, and Waterford in the southeast.

Environment

Agriculture and food is an important industry in Ireland, with about 64% of the total land area used for agriculture. The long history of agricultural production coupled with modern agricultural methods, such as pesticide and fertiliser use, has placed pressure on biodiversity. Agriculture is the main factor determining land use patterns in Ireland, leaving limited land to preserve natural habitats (also forestry and urban development to a lesser extent), in particular for larger wild mammals with greater territorial requirements.

has Ireland's most extensive covering of native forest.]]

Due to a lack of top predators, animal populations that cannot be controlled by smaller predators are controlled by annual culling. Large numbers of fields for crop cultivation and cattle rearing limits the establishment of native wild species. However, hedgerows, which are traditionally used for maintaining and marking land boundaries, act as a refuge for native wild flora. Their ecosystems stretch across the countryside, acting as a network of connections to preserve remnants of the ecosystem that once covered the island.

Agricultural pollution is a principal source of environmental damage. Runoff of contaminants into rivers and lakes impact natural fresh-water ecosystems. Subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy, which supported these agricultural practices, are undergoing reforms. The CAP still subsidises some potentially destructive agricultural practices, but reforms have introduced environmental requirements. The five other national parks in Ireland are Ballycroy, Connemara, Glenveagh, The Burren, and the Wicklow Mountains.

Climate

Due to a temperate oceanic climate, temperatures are rarely lower than in winter or higher than in summer. The Atlantic Ocean and the warming influence of the Gulf Stream shape Ireland's weather patterns. Temperatures differ regionally, with central and eastern areas tending to be more extreme. Sunshine duration is highest in the south-east. The highest temperature recorded in Ireland was on 26 June 1887 at Kilkenny Castle in Kilkenny, while the lowest was on 16 January 1881 at Markree Castle in Sligo. The President serves as the head of state, and is elected for a seven-year term and may be re-elected only once. President Mary McAleese is currently serving a second term after taking office in November 1997. The next presidential election is scheduled for October 2011. The President is primarily a figurehead, but is entrusted with certain constitutional powers with the advice of the Council of State. The President has absolute discretion in some areas, such as referring a bill to the Supreme Court for a judgement on its constitutionality or refusing to dissolve the . Once the elects the head of government, the President appoints that person as the (prime minister). Most have served as the leader of the political party that gains the most seats in national elections. It has become customary for coalitions to form a government, as there has not been a single-party government since 1989. The is composed of sixty members, with eleven nominated by the , six elected by two universities, and 43 elected by public representatives from panels of candidates established on a vocational basis. The has 166 members () elected to represent multi-seat constituencies under the system of proportional representation and by means of the single transferable vote. Under the Constitution of Ireland, parliamentary elections must be held at least every seven years, though a lower limit may be set by statute law. The current statutory maximum term is five years. Áras an Uachtaráin is the official residence of the President of Ireland, while both houses of the Oireachtas meet at Leinster House in Dublin.

The Government is constitutionally limited to fifteen members. No more than two members can be selected from the , and the , (deputy prime minister) and Minister for Finance must be members of the . The current government consists of a coalition of two parties; under Brian Cowen and the Green Party under leader John Gormley, along with numerous independents. The opposition parties in the current are Fine Gael under Enda Kenny, the Labour Party under Eamon Gilmore, and Sinn Féin led by Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin. The last general election to the Dáil took place on 24 May 2007. The Dáil must be dissolved within five years after its first meeting following the previous election, and the Constitution of Ireland requires that a general election for members of the Dáil must take place not later than thirty days after the dissolution. The next general election must, therefore, take place no later than 14 July 2012. However, the Taoiseach has confirmed that a general election will take place in early 2011.

Ireland has been a member of the European Union since 1973, but has chosen to remain outside the Schengen Area. Citizens of the United Kingdom can freely enter the country without a passport due to the Common Travel Area, which is a passport-free zone comprising of the islands of Ireland, Great Britain, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. However, some identification is required at airports and seaports. Ireland's current European Commissioner is Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, who was allocated the Research, Innovation and Science portfolio. The portfolio is responsible primarily for research and improving the conditions in the EU for researchers.

Administrative divisions

Although Ireland has twenty-six traditional counties, they are not always coterminous with administrative divisions. County Tipperary was divided into two in the 1890s while County Dublin was divided into three in the 1990s. This gives a present-day total of twenty-nine administrative counties, with the five cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, and Waterford administered separately. The five boroughs of Clonmel, Drogheda, Kilkenny, Sligo, and Wexford have a certain level of autonomy within their counties. While Kilkenny is a borough, it has retained the legal right to be referred to as a city. Dáil constituencies are required by statute to follow county boundaries as much as possible. Hence counties with greater populations have multiple constituencies, some of more than one county, but generally do not cross county boundaries. The counties are grouped into eight regions for statistical purposes. {| | valign="top" | {| style="margin:auto;" cellpadding="10" |- | |style="font-size: 85%; font-weight:bold;"| #Fingal #Dublin City #South Dublin #Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown #Wicklow #Wexford #Carlow #Kildare #Meath #Louth #Monaghan #Cavan #Longford #Westmeath #Offaly #Laois #Kilkenny |style="font-size: 85%; font-weight:bold;"|

18. Waterford City
19. Waterford
20. Cork City
21. Cork
22. Kerry
23. Limerick
24. Limerick City
25. South Tipperary
26. North Tipperary
27. Clare
28. Galway
29. Galway City
30. Mayo
31. Roscommon
32. Sligo
33. Leitrim
34. Donegal

|} |}

The Local Government Act 1898 is the founding document of the present system of local government. Local authorities are responsible for matters such as planning, local roads, sanitation, and libraries. The Twentieth Amendment of 1999 provided for constitutional recognition of local government. The Local Government Act 2001 established a two-tier structure, with the top tier consisting of 29 county councils and five city councils. Twenty-four of the 26 traditional counties have had county councils since 1898. County Tipperary has had two (North Tipperary and South Tipperary), and since 1994 the traditional County Dublin has had three (Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, and South Dublin). The five cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, and Galway have city councils, which have the same status as county councils. The second tier consists of town councils. The city of Kilkenny and four towns which had borough corporation status before 2001 (Sligo, Drogheda, Clonmel, and Wexford), are allowed to use the title of "Borough Council" instead of "Town Council", but have no additional responsibilities. There are 75 town councils in addition to these five borough councils. Outside the towns, the county councils are solely responsible for local services.

Law

is the principal building for criminal courts.]] Ireland has a common law legal system with a written constitution that provides for a parliamentary democracy. The court system consist of the Supreme Court, the Court of Criminal Appeal, the High Court, the Circuit Court and the District Court, all of which apply the law of Ireland. Trials for serious offences must usually be held before a jury. The High Court and the Supreme Court have authority, by means of judicial review, to determine the compatibility of laws and activities of other institutions of the state with the constitution and the law. Except in exceptional circumstances, court hearings must occur in public. The Criminal Court of Justice is the principal building for the criminal courts. It includes the District Court Court of Criminal Appeal, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court and Central Criminal Court.

Ireland's citizenship laws relate to "the island of Ireland" (incl. islands and seas), thereby extending them to Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. Therefore, anyone born in Northern Ireland who meets the requirements for being an Irish citizen, such as birth on the island of Ireland to an Irish or British citizen parent or a parent who is entitled to live in Northern Ireland or the Republic without restriction on their residency, may exercise an entitlement to Irish citizenship, such as an Irish passport.

Foreign relations

Foreign relations are substantially influenced by membership of the European Union, although bilateral relations with the United States and United Kingdom are also important. Ireland is the most pro-European EU member state according to a Eurobarometer poll, with 66% of the population approving membership. In 2004, Ireland was one of only three countries to open its borders to workers from 10 new member states. It held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union on six occasions and is due to hold the position again in 2013.

in 1949 and has been a member of the European Union since 1973.]]

Ireland tends towards independence in foreign policy, thus the country is not a member of NATO and has a longstanding policy of military neutrality. This policy has helped the Irish Defence Forces to be successful in their contributions to peace-keeping missions with the United Nations since 1960, during the Congo Crisis and subsequently in Cyprus, Lebanon and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Ireland's air facilities were used by the United States military for the delivery of military personnel involved in the 2003 invasion of Iraq through Shannon Airport. The airport had previously been used for the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, as well as the First Gulf War. This is part of a longer history of use of Shannon for controversial military transport, under Irish military policy which, while ostensibly neutral, was biased towards NATO during the Cold War. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Seán Lemass authorised the search of Cuban and Czechoslovak aircraft passing through Shannon and passed the information to the CIA.

During the Second World War, although officially neutral, Ireland supplied similar, though more extensive, support for the Allied Forces. (see Irish neutrality during World War II) Since 1999, Ireland has been a member of NATO's Partnership for Peace program, which is aimed at creating trust between NATO and other states in Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Military

AFV at 2006 Easter Military Parade in Dublin.]] The Irish Defence Forces () involves the Army, Naval Service, Air Corps and Reserve Defence Force. It is small but well equipped, with almost 10,000 full-time military personnel. This is mainly due to Ireland's policy of neutrality, and its "triple-lock" rules governing the participation of Irish troops in conflict zones, whereby approval must be given by the UN, the Dáil and Government. Daily deployments of the Defence Forces cover aid to civil power operations, protection and patrol of Irish territorial waters and EEZ by the Irish Naval Service, and UN, EU and PfP peace-keeping missions. Over 40,000 Irish servicemen have served in international UN peacekeeping missions.

The Irish Air Corps is the air component of the Defence Forces and operates sixteen fixed wing aircraft and eight helicopters. The Irish Naval Service is Ireland's Navy, and operates eight patrol ships, and smaller numbers of inflatable boats and training vessels, and has highly trained armed boarding parties capable of seizing a ship and a special unit of frogmen. Although the Naval Service has no heavy warships, all Irish vessels have significant firepower. The military includes the Reserve Defence Forces (Army Reserve and Naval Service Reserve) for non-active reservists. Ireland's special forces are the elite Army Ranger Wing, which trains and operates with international special operations units. The President is the formal Supreme Commander of the Defence Forces, but in practice it answers to the Government via the Minister for Defence.

Economy

The Irish economy has transformed since the 1980s from being predominantly agricultural to a modern knowledge economy focused on high-tech industries and services. In 2002 Ireland joined the euro currency along with 11 other EU member states. The country relies heavily on Foreign Direct Investment and has attracted several multinational corporations due to its highly educated workforce, a low corporation tax rate, and the fact that it is the only English-speaking country within the eurozone. Companies such as Intel invested in Ireland in the late 1980s and was later followed by Microsoft and Google. According to the US tax journal Tax Notes, Ireland is the world's most profitable country for US corporations. The country is one of the largest exporters of pharmaceuticals and software-related goods and services in the world, the seventh largest producer of zinc concentrates, and the twelfth largest producer of lead concentrates. The combined output from these mines make Ireland the largest zinc producer in Europe and the second largest producer of lead. The country also has significant deposits of gypsum, limestone, and smaller quantities of copper, silver, gold, barite, and dolomite. Natural gas extraction occurs in the Kinsale Head gas field and the Corrib gas field in the southern and western counties, where there is 19.82 bn cubic metres of proven reserves.

.]]

Ireland is ranked as the world's third most "economically free" economy according to the Index of Economic Freedom. In terms of GDP per capita, Ireland is one of the wealthiest countries in the OECD and the EU. However, Ireland ranks below the OECD average in terms of GNP per capita, despite significant growth in recent years. GDP is significantly greater than GNP due to the large amount of multinational firms based in Ireland. A 2005 study by The Economist found Ireland to have the best quality of life in the world.

Ireland's economy has been significantly affected by the global financial crisis of 2007–2010. A dramatic rise in consumer spending, construction, and business investment led to rapid economic growth between 1995 and 2007, which became known as the Celtic Tiger period. A major property bubble developed overtime and eventually burst in 2008. The fall in domestic and commercial property prices has highlighted the over-exposure of the Irish economy to construction, and has contributed to the ongoing Irish banking crisis. Ireland was the first country in the EU to officially enter a recession as declared by the CSO, as the economy contracted by 1.7% in 2008 and 7.1% in 2009. The country officially exited recession in 2010 following growth of 0.3% in Q4 of 2009 and 2.7% in Q1 of 2010. However, the Irish economy experienced a Q2 contraction of 1.2% and remains quite fragile. In November 2010, Ireland accepted an €85 billion programme for assistance from the EU and IMF, including bilateral loans from the United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark.

Transport

The State has three main international airports in Dublin, Shannon, and Cork. They serve many European and intercontinental routes with scheduled and chartered flights. The London and Dublin route is the busiest international air route in Europe, with 4.5 million people flying between the two cities in 2006. Aer Lingus is the flag carrier of Ireland, although Ryanair is the largest. Ryanair is Europe's largest low-cost carrier, the 2nd-largest in terms of passenger numbers, and the world's largest in terms of international passenger numbers.

Railway services are provided by Iarnród Éireann. Dublin is the centre of the network with two main stations, Heuston station and Connolly station, linking to the main towns and cities. The Enterprise service, which runs jointly with Northern Ireland Railways, connects Dublin and Belfast. Dublin has a steadily improving public transport network including the DART, Luas, Dublin Bus, and dublinbikes.

The road network is primarily focused on Dublin. Motorways are currently being extended to other cities as part of the Transport 21 programme, which is a capital investment framework through which Ireland's transport system will be developed over the period 2006 to 2015. Dublin has been the focus of major projects such as the East-Link and West-Link toll-bridges, as well as the Dublin Port Tunnel. The Jack Lynch Tunnel under the River Lee in Cork, and the Limerick Tunnel under the River Shannon were two major projects outside Dublin. Several by-pass projects are underway at other cities and towns. The motorways and national routes (national primary roads and national secondary roads) are managed by the National Roads Authority. The others (regional roads and local roads) are managed by the local authorities in each of their areas. Regular ferry services operate between Ireland and Britain, the Isle of Man and France.

Demographics

Genetic research suggests that the first settlers of Ireland came through migrations from Iberia following the end of the most recent ice age. After the Mesolithic, the Neolithic and Bronze Age, migrants introduced Celtic culture and languages. These later migrants from the Neolithic to Bronze Age still represent a majority of the genetic heritage of Irish people. Culture spread throughout the island, and the Gaelic tradition became the dominant form in Ireland. Today, Irish people are mainly of Gaelic ancestry, and some of Norse, Anglo-Norman, English, Scottish, French and Welsh ancestry. Gaelic culture forms an important part of national identity. In the United Kingdom, Irish Travellers are a recognised ethnic minority group, politically linked with Roma and Gypsy groups, but are classified as a "social group" in Ireland.

From 2004 to 2006, Ireland had one of the fastest growing populations in Europe, with annual growth rates of over 2%. This was due to falling death rates, rising birth rates and high immigration. Ireland has the youngest population in Europe, with only 11.2% over 65, and is forecast to have the least proportion of the 65+ age group in Europe until 2035. Although a pattern of emigration has occurred recently because of economic challenges, the population increased by approximately 11,400 in the twelve months to April 2010 due to high birth rates.

Population

{| class="toccolours" style="float:right; float:auto; text-align:center; background:#fff; color:#000; font-weight:bold;" |- style="background:#E5E4E2" ! colspan="2"|Country of origin (2006) |- | style="text-align:left"| Republic of Ireland |3,774,518 |- |style="text-align:left"| United Kingdom |112,548 |- |style="text-align:left"| Poland |63,276 |- |style="text-align:left"| Lithuania |24,628 |- |style="text-align:left"| Nigeria |16,300 |- |style="text-align:left"| Latvia |13,319 |- |style="text-align:left"| United States |12,475 |- |style="text-align:left"| China |11,161 |- |style="text-align:left"| Germany |10,289 |- |style="text-align:left"| Philippines |9,548 |- |style="text-align:left"| France |9,046 |- |style="text-align:left"| Other |182,740 |}

As of April 2010, Ireland's estimated population stood at 4,470,700. The country's population increased significantly in recent years, which can be attributed to high immigration levels. In addition, the birth rate in Ireland is currently over double the death rate, which is highly unusual in Western Europe. Approximately 10% of Ireland's population are foreign citizens. (see Irish Population Analysis)

The total population of Ireland on Census Day, 23 April 2006, was 4,239,848, an increase of 322,645 (8.2%) since 2002.

Allowing for births (245,000) and deaths (114,000), the derived net immigration of people between 2002 and 2006 was 186,000.

Ireland has 419,733 foreign citizens. This does not include 1,318 people with 'no nationality', and 44,279 people with no stated nationality.

The single largest group of immigrants comes from the United Kingdom, followed by Poland, Lithuania, Nigeria and Latvia.

94.8% of the population was recorded as having a 'White' ethnic or cultural background. 1.1% had a 'Black or Black Irish' background, 1.3% had an 'Asian or Asian Irish' background and 1.7% of the population's background was 'not stated'.

The average annual growth rate of 2% is the highest on record (1.3% from 1996 to 2002 and 1.5% from 1971 to 1979).

The 2006 population was last exceeded in the 1861 Census when the population then was 4.4 million.

The population of Leinster grew by 8.9%; Munster by 6.5%; and the population decline of the Connacht–Ulster region halted.

The ratio of males to females declined in all four provinces between 1979 and 2006. Leinster is the only province where the number of females exceeds the number of males. Males predominate in rural counties, while there are more females in cities and urban areas.

A detailed breakdown of these figures is available here: .

Urbanisation

{|class="infobox" style="text-align:center; width:97%; margin-right:10px; font-size:90%" !align=center colspan=11 style="background:#f5f5f5;"|List of towns in the Republic of Ireland by population |- !rowspan=13 width:100| !align=center style="background:#f5f5f5;"| !align=center style="background:#f5f5f5;"|City/Town !align=center style="background:#f5f5f5;"|County !align=center style="background:#f5f5f5;" colspan="2"|Population (2006) !align=center style="background:#f5f5f5;"| !align=center style="background:#f5f5f5;"|City/Town !align=center style="background:#f5f5f5;"|County !align=center style="background:#f5f5f5;"|Population (2006) |- |align=center style="background:#f0f0f0;"|1||align=left|Dublin||align=center|Dublin||align=center|1,045,769||   ||align=center style="background:#f0f0f0;"|11||align=left|Ennis||align=center|Clare||align=center|24,253 |- |align=center style="background:#f0f0f0;"|2||align=left|Cork||align=center|Cork||align=center|190,384||   ||align=center style="background:#f0f0f0;"|12||align=left|Tralee||align=center|Kerry||align=center|22,744 |- |align=center style="background:#f0f0f0;"|3||align=left|Limerick||align=center|Limerick||align=center|90,757||   ||align=center style="background:#f0f0f0;"|13||align=left|Kilkenny||align=center|Kilkenny||align=center|22,179 |- |align=center style="background:#f0f0f0;"|4||align=left|Galway||align=center|Galway||align=center|72,729||   ||align=center style="background:#f0f0f0;"|14||align=left|Carlow||align=center|Carlow||align=center|20,724 |- |align=center style="background:#f0f0f0;"|5||align=left|Waterford||align=center|Waterford||align=center|49,213||   ||align=center style="background:#f0f0f0;"|15||align=left|Naas||align=center|Kildare||align=center|20,044 |- |align=center style="background:#f0f0f0;"|6||align=left|Drogheda||align=center|Louth||align=center|35,090||   ||align=center style="background:#f0f0f0;"|16||align=left|Sligo||align=center|Sligo||align=center|19,402 |- |align=center style="background:#f0f0f0;"|7||align=left|Dundalk||align=center|Louth||align=center|35,085||   ||align=center style="background:#f0f0f0;"|17||align=left|Newbridge||align=center|Kildare||align=center|18,520 |- |align=center style="background:#f0f0f0;"|8||align=left|Swords||align=center|Fingal||align=center|33,998||   ||align=center style="background:#f0f0f0;"|18||align=left|Mullingar||align=center|Westmeath||align=center|18,416 |- |align=center style="background:#f0f0f0;"|9||align=left|Bray||align=center|Wicklow||align=center|31,901||   ||align=center style="background:#f0f0f0;"|19||align=left|Wexford||align=center|Wexford||align=center|18,163 |- |align=center style="background:#f0f0f0;"|10||align=left|Navan||align=center|Meath||align=center|24,851||   ||align=center style="background:#f0f0f0;"|20||align=left|Letterkenny||align=center|Donegal||align=center|17,586 |- |}

Language

Irish is the "national language" according to the Constitution, but English is the dominant language. In the 2006 census, 39% of the population regarded themselves as competent in Irish. Fluent Irish-speakers are limited to low tens of thousands in isolated western areas and Gaeltacht regions. Apart from in Gaeltacht regions, road signs are usually bilingual. The legal status of place names has been controversial, with an order made in 2005 under the Official Languages Act changing the official name of certain locations from English back to Irish. Dingle had its name changed to An Daingean despite local opposition and a local plebiscite requesting that the name be changed to a bilingual version: Dingle Daingean Uí Chúis. Most public notices and print media are in English only. Most Government publications are available in both languages, and citizens have the right to deal with the state in Irish. Media in Irish exist on TV (TG4), radio (e.g. RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta), and in print (e.g. Foinse). In the Irish Defence Forces all foot and arms drill commands are given in the Irish language.

As a result of immigration, Polish is one of the most widely spoken languages in Ireland after English and Irish. Several other Central and Eastern European languages are also spoken on a day-to-day basis. Other languages spoken in Ireland include Shelta, spoken by Irish Travellers, and a dialect of Scots is spoken by some descendants of Scottish settlers in Ulster. Most secondary school students choose to learn one or two foreign languages. Languages available for the Junior Certificate and the Leaving Certificate include French, German, Italian and Spanish; Leaving Certificate students can also study Arabic, Japanese and Russian. Some secondary schools also offer Ancient Greek, Hebrew studies and Latin. The study of Irish is compulsory for Leaving Certificate students, but some may qualify for an exemption in some circumstance, such as learning difficulties or entering the country after age 11.

Healthcare

was founded in 1745 and is the oldest continuously operating maternity hospital in the world.]] The Minister for Health and Children has responsibility for setting overall policy with regard to the health service. Every individual resident in Ireland is entitled to receive health care through the public health care system, which is managed by the Health Service Executive and funded by general taxation. A person may be required to pay a subsidised fee for certain health care received; this depends on income, age, illness or disability. All maternity services are provided free of charge and children up to the age of 6 months . Emergency care is provided at a cost of €100 for a visit to the Accident and Emergency department.

Anyone holding a European Health Insurance Card is entitled to free maintenance and treatment in public beds in Health Service Executive and voluntary hospitals. Outpatient services are also provided for free. However the majority of patients on median incomes or above are required to pay subsidised hospital charges. Private health insurance is available to the population for those who want to avail of it. Vhi Healthcare (government owned), Quinn Healthcare, and Aviva provide health insurance, among other services.

The average life expectancy in Ireland is 79.2 years, with 76.8 years for men and 81.6 years for women. It has the highest birth rate in the EU (16.8 births per 1,000 inhabitants, compared to an EU average of 10.7) and a very low infant mortality rate (3.5 per 1,000 live births).

Education

Ireland has three levels of education: primary, secondary and higher education. The education systems are largely under the direction of the government via the Minister for Education and Science. Recognised primary and secondary schools must adhere to the curriculum established by authorities that have power to set them. All children must receive compulsory education between the ages of six and fifteen years, and all children up to the age of eighteen must complete the first three years of secondary, including one sitting of the Junior Certificate examination. The Leaving Certificate, taken after two years of study, is the final examination in the secondary school system.

Those intending to pursue higher education normally take this examination, with access to third-level courses generally depending on results obtained from the best six subjects taken, on a competitive basis. Third-level education awards are conferred by more than 38 Higher Education Institutions including University College Dublin (UCD), University of Dublin (Trinity College), Dublin City University, Dublin Institute of Technology, Higher Education and Training Awards Council, National University of Ireland, Cork Institute of Technology, Waterford Institute of Technology, University of Limerick and Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. These are the degree-awarding authorities approved by the Government and can grant awards at all academic levels.

The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Ireland's education as the 20th best among participating countries in science, being statistically significantly higher than the OECD average. In 2006, Irish students aged 15 years had the second highest levels of reading literacy in the EU. Ireland also has 0.747 of the World's top 500 Universities per capita, which ranks the country in 8th place in the world. Primary, secondary and higher (University/College) level education are all free in Ireland for all EU citizens. There are charges to cover student services and examinations.

Religion

Religious freedom is provided for by Ireland's constitution. Christianity is the predominant religion, with the largest church being the Roman Catholic Church. In 2006, 86.8% of the population identified themselves as Roman Catholic, 4.4% had "no religion", and 1.7% did not respond to the question. According to a Georgetown University study, the country has one of the Western World's highest rates of regular Mass attendance. While daily attendance was 13% in 2006, there was a reduction in weekly attendance from 81% to 48% between 1990 and 2006, although the decline was reported as levelling off.

Other significant Protestant denominations are the Presbyterian Church, followed by the Methodist Church. The second largest Christian denomination, the Church of Ireland (Anglican), declined in membership for most of the twentieth century, but has more recently experienced an increase, as have other small Christian denominations. Mainly due to immigration, Hindu and Muslim populations have experienced growth, as has the very small Jewish community. In percentage terms, Orthodox Christianity and Islam were the fastest growing religions, with increases of 100% and 70% respectively.

Ireland's patron saints are Saint Patrick, Saint Bridget and Saint Columba. Saint Patrick is the only one commonly recognised as the patron saint. Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated on 17 March in Ireland and abroad as the Irish national day, with parades and other celebrations.

As with other predominantly Catholic European states, Ireland underwent a period of legal secularisation in the late twentieth century. In 1972, the article of the Constitution naming specific religious groups was deleted by the Fifth Amendment in a referendum. Article 44 still remains in the Constitution: The State acknowledges that the homage of public worship is due to Almighty God. It shall hold His Name in reverence, and shall respect and honour religion. The article also establishes freedom of religion, prohibits endowment of any religion, prohibits the state from religious discrimination, and requires the state to treat religious and non-religious schools in a non-prejudicial manner.

Despite many schools being run by religious organisations, a secularist trend is occurring among younger generations. Religious studies was introduced as an optional subject in the state administered Junior Certificate in 2001. Recognised schools run by religious organisations cannot discriminate against pupils based on religion. A sanctioned system of preference does exist, where students of a particular religion may be accepted before those who do not share the ethos of the school, in a case where a school's quota has already been reached.

Culture

Literature and theatre

Ireland has made a large contribution to all areas of world literature, in both Irish and English. James Joyce published his most famous work Ulysses, an interpretation of the Odyssey set in Dublin, in 1922. Edith Somerville continued writing after the death of her partner Martin Ross in 1915. Dublin's Annie M. P. Smithson was one of several authors catering for fans of romantic fiction in the 1920s and 1930s. After the war popular novels were published by, among others, Brian O'Nolan, who published as Flann O'Brien, Elizabeth Bowen, Kate O'Brien. In the last few decades of the 20th century Edna O'Brien, John McGahern, Maeve Binchy, Joseph O'Connor, Roddy Doyle, Colm Tóibín and John Banville came to the fore as novelists.

Patricia Lynch (1898–1972) was a prolific children's author, while recently Eoin Colfer has been particularly successful in this genre. In the genre of the short story, a form favoured by Irish writers, Seán Ó Faoláin, Frank O'Connor and William Trevor are prominent. Poets include W.B. Yeats (Nobel Prize in Literature laureate), Patrick Kavanagh, Seamus Heaney (born in Northern Ireland but resides in Dublin) (Nobel Prize in Literature laureate), Thomas McCarthy and Dermot Bolger. Prominent writers in the Irish language are Pádraic Ó Conaire, Máirtín Ó Cadhain, Séamus Ó Grianna and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill. Following in the tradition of Shaw (Nobel Prize in Literature Laureate), Wilde and Samuel Beckett (Nobel Prize in Literature Laureate), playwrights such as Seán O'Casey, Brian Friel, Sebastian Barry, Brendan Behan, Conor McPherson and Billy Roche have gained popular success.

The history of Irish theatre in the familiar sense begins with the rise of the English administration in Dublin during the early 17th century, and since then, Ireland has significantly contributed to English drama. In its early history, theatrical productions in Ireland tended to serve political purposes, but as more theatres opened and the popular audience grew, a more diverse range of entertainments were staged. Many Dublin-based theatres developed links with their London equivalents, and British productions frequently found their way to the Irish stage. However, most Irish playwrights from William Congreve to George Bernard Shaw went abroad to establish themselves. At the beginning of the 20th century, theatre companies dedicated to the staging of Irish plays and the development of writers, directors and performers began to emerge, which allowed many Irish dramatists to learn their trade and establish their reputations in Ireland rather than in Britain or the United States.

Music and dance

Traditional Irish music has remained vibrant despite globalising cultural forces, and has retained many of its traditional aspects and has influenced many forms of music, such as country and roots music in the United States, which in turn have had some influence on modern rock music. It has occasionally been fused with rock and roll, punk rock and other genres. Among the best-known modern performers are groups such as The Dubliners, The Chieftains, Clannad, The Saw Doctors and Altan, singers such as Christy Moore and Mary Black, ensembles such as Anúna and Celtic Woman, and cross-over artists such as singers Enya and Sinéad O'Connor.

Ireland has also produced many internationally known artists in other genres such as rock, pop, jazz and blues including The Pogues, U2, Boyzone, Westlife, Chris de Burgh, Ronan Keating, Thin Lizzy, The Corrs, The Cranberries, Damien Rice, Blues guitarist Rory Gallagher and Academy Award winner Glen Hansard of The Frames. Contemporary artists include My Bloody Valentine, The Script, The Coronas, Republic of Loose, Bell X1, Cathy Davey, Cruachan, Jape, Two Door Cinema Club, Fight Like Apes, The Blizzards, Mick Flannery and Lisa Hannigan.

There are a number of classical music ensembles around the country, such as the RTÉ Performing Groups. Ireland also has three opera organisations. Opera Ireland produces large-scale operas in Dublin, the Opera Theatre Company tours its chamber-style operas throughout the country, and the annual Wexford Opera Festival, which promotes lesser-known operas, takes place during October and November.

Irish dance can broadly be divided into social dance and performance dance. Irish social dance can be divided into céilí and set dancing. Irish set dances are quadrilles, danced by 4 couples arranged in a square, while céilí dances are danced by varied formations of couples of 2 to 16 people. There are also many stylistic differences between these two forms. Irish social dance is a living tradition, and variations in particular dances are found across the country. In some places dances are deliberately modified and new dances are choreographed. Performance dance is traditionally referred to as stepdance. Irish stepdance, popularised by the show "Riverdance", is notable for its rapid leg movements, with the body and arms being kept largely stationary. The solo stepdance is generally characterised by a controlled but not rigid upper body, straight arms, and quick, precise movements of the feet. The solo dances can either be in "soft shoe" or "hard shoe".

Media

News studio.]] Ireland has four national terrestrial channels: RTÉ One, RTÉ Two, TV3 and TG4. 3e and RTÉ News Now are available on digital terrestrially. RTÉ is the country’s public service broadcaster, with RTÉ News being the public's most popular news source. RTÉ One has various political and current affairs programmes such as Prime Time and The Frontline. The Late Late Show is RTÉ’s flagship programme and is the world’s longest running chat show. RTÉ Two focuses on sport and imported programmes, along with its children's strand, RTÉjr and TRTÉ, and its youth strand, Two Tube. Subscription to multichannel networks such as Sky allows for hundreds of available channels.

The Irish film industry, state-supported by Bord Scannán na hÉireann, helped launch the careers of directors Neil Jordan and Jim Sheridan, and supported Irish films such as Intermission and Breakfast on Pluto. International films such as Braveheart and Saving Private Ryan have also been attracted to Ireland. Maureen O'Sullivan is considered by many to be Ireland's first film star. Famous Irish actors include Maureen O'Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Richard Harris, Evanna Lynch, Peter O'Toole, Liam Neeson, Pierce Brosnan, Gabriel Byrne, Brendan Gleeson, Colm Meaney, Colin Farrell, Brenda Fricker, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Saoirse Ronan, Stuart Townsend, Michael Gambon, and Cillian Murphy.

RTÉ Radio broadcasts four nationwide radio stations: RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ 2fm, RTÉ lyric fm and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta. The independent national radio stations are Today FM and Newstalk. There are four independent regional stations which aim for a younger audience: Beat 102-103, Spin South West, i102-104FM and i105-107FM. There are 25 local radio stations. Some counties are covered by only one station, but Dublin and Cork have several. There are also many licensed community radio stations operating on a non-commercial basis.

There are several daily newspapers in Ireland, including the Irish Independent, The Irish Examiner, The Irish Times, Irish Daily Star, and the Evening Herald. Sunday newspaper include the Sunday Independent, The Sunday Tribune, The Sunday Business Post, Ireland on Sunday and the Sunday World. There are also many local newspapers in counties and towns.

Sport

is the headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association.]]

Ireland's national sports, Gaelic football and hurling, are administerd by the Gaelic Athletic Association and organised on an all-Ireland basis. They are the most popular sports, with 34% of total attendances at sports events being to football and 24% to hurling. Golf and soccer are the most played at 17% of the population each. Notable former Gaelic games players include DJ Carey and Seamus Moynihan. Former Taoiseach Jack Lynch was a noted hurler. Current players include Henry Shefflin, Sean Cavanagh and Colm Cooper.

The League of Ireland is the national soccer league, but most well-known players play in the English and Scottish Premier Leagues. Notable international players include the former Roy Keane, Johnny Giles, Liam Brady, Denis Irwin, Packie Bonner, Niall Quinn and Paul McGrath, and current Steve Finnan, Shay Given, Damien Duff, John O'Shea, Richard Dunne, Robbie Keane and Aiden McGeady.

In rugby union the all-Ireland national team has produced players like Brian O'Driscoll, Ronan O'Gara, Paul O'Connell and Keith Wood. Recent achievements include winning the RBS Six Nations and Grand Slam 2009. In athletics, Sonia O'Sullivan, Eamonn Coghlan, Catherina McKiernan, Ronnie Delaney, John Treacy, David Gillick and Derval O'Rourke have won medals at international events. In cricket, the Ireland national cricket team represents all-Ireland, and is an associate member of the International Cricket Council with One Day International status.

John L. Sullivan, born 1858 in the United States to Irish parents, was the first modern world heavyweight champion. Barry McGuigan and Steve Collins were also world champion boxers, while Bernard Dunne was a European super bantamweight champion and WBA Super Bantamweight champion. Michael Carruth won a gold medal at welterweight at the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992. Current prospects in the middleweight division are John Duddy and Andy Lee. At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the Irish team won 3 medals, with Kenneth Egan winning silver and Darren Sutherland and Paddy Barnes earning bronzes. Ken Doherty is a former World Champion (1997) snooker player.

In motor sport, during the 1990s Jordan Grand Prix became the only independent team to win multiple Formula One races. In 2007 the Rally of Ireland became a qualifying round of the FIA World Rally Championship and attracted an estimated attendance of some 200,000 spectators. In cycling, Ireland produced Stephen Roche, the first and only Irishman to win the Tour de France in 1987, and the prolific Sean Kelly. In clay pigeon shooting Derek Burnett, David Malone and Philip Murphy are notable for their silver and gold medals in ISSF World Cup competitions, as well as Malones single gold medal in a world cup. Malone and Burnett are also notable for their appearances in the Summer Olympics, with Malone competing in Sydney in 2000, and Burnett competing in Sydney, Athens and Beijing, from 2000 to 2008. In golf, the 2008 USPGA champion was Irishman Pádraig Harrington, which was his third major win. In 2002, Dermott Lennon became the first Irish rider to win a Show Jumping World Championship gold medal.

Architecture

, County Clare, was built during the neolithic period.]] Some architectural features in Ireland date back to the prehistoric period, including standing stones and tombs. The best known example is the World Heritage Site, Brú na Bóinne (Palace of the Boyne), as well as the Poulnabrone dolmen, Castlestrange stone, Turoe stone and Drombeg circle. As the Romans never conquered the island, ancient architecture of Greco-Roman origin is extremely rare. Ireland instead had an extended but developing period of Iron Age architecture. The Irish round tower originated during the Early Medieval period.

With the introduction of Christianity, simple monastic houses such as Clonmacnoise, Skellig Michael and Scattery Island were built. A stylistic similarity has been remarked between these double monasteries and those of the Copts of Egypt. Gaelic kings and aristocrats lived in ringforts on top of hills or crannógs on lakes. 12th century Church reforms via the Cistercians stimulated continental influence as abbeys Mellifont, Boyle and Tintern were built in a Romanesque style. Gaelic settlement had been limited to the Monastic proto-towns such as Kells, where the present street pattern to an extent preserves the outline of the original circular settlement. Significant urban settlements only developed after the period of Viking invasions. They introduced the concept of the planned walled trading town, which was owned by the castle dwelling landlord. Such towns gained legal status and the right to levy rents, hold fairs etc., by grant of a Charter under the Feudal System. These charters usually stipulated the width of the plots, thereby confirming that these towns were laid out to a specific design. Two significant waves of planned town formation followed, the first being the 16th and 17th century plantation towns, and a further 18th century spurt of landlord towns built for estate employees, frequently to replace or update existing small settlements. However, such new town foundations were hindered by the Irish Famine until the planning of new towns in the late 20th century. Surviving Norman founded planned towns include Drogheda and Youghal, whilst examples of the plantation towns include Portlaoise and Portarlington, and well preserved 18th century planned towns include Westport and Ballinasloe. These three historic waves of planned settlement account for the majority of present day Irish towns.

is an example of neoclassical architecture in Ireland.]] on O'Connell Street.]] Gothic cathedrals with high-pointed arches and clustered columns such as St Patrick's were also introduced by the Normans. Franciscans were dominant in directing the abbeys by the Late Middle Ages, while elegant tower houses, such as Bunratty Castle, were built by the Gaelic and Norman aristocracy. After the Tudor conquest many religious buildings were ruined with the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Following the Restoration, palladianism and rococo, particularly country houses, swept through Ireland under the initiative of Edward Lovett Pearce, with the Irish Parliament House being the most significant. With the erection of buildings such as the Custom House, Four Courts, General Post Office and King's Inns, the neoclassical and Georgian styles flourished, especially in the capital Dublin.

Since the 20th century, starting with the American designed art deco church at Turner's Cross in 1927, various modernist forms have been created, including Busáras and the Spire of Dublin, sometimes controversial in public reception. Traditional projects are still undertaken, such as Galway Cathedral in 1958. Modern developments include the regeneration of Ballymun and an urban extension of Dublin at Adamstown, facilitated by its designation under planning legislation as a Strategic Development Zone. The professional body regulating the practice of architecture in the state is the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland

Society

Since the 1970s, the reducing influence of the Catholic Church and the effects of immigration have led to Ireland becoming an increasingly secularised society. Contraception was controlled in Ireland until 1979. In 1983, the Eighth Amendment recognised "the right to life of the unborn", subject to qualifications concerning the "equal right to life" of the mother. The case of Attorney General v. X subsequently prompted passage of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, guaranteeing the right to have an abortion performed abroad, and the right to learn about "services" that are illegal in Ireland but legal abroad. The prohibition on divorce in the 1937 Constitution was repealed in 1995 under the Fifteenth Amendment.

The legislation which outlawed homosexual acts was repealed in 1993, though before this it was generally for dealing with under-age sex. Same-sex civil partnership legislation was published in June 2008. In July 2010, the Dáil and the Seanad passed the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act, recognising civil partnerships between same-sex couples. The legislation will allow same-sex couples to register their relationship before a registrar. A poll carried out in 2008 showed that 84% of Irish people supported civil marriage or civil partnerships for gay and lesbian couples, with 58% supporting full marriage rights in registry offices. A later poll put support for same-sex marriage at 63%. Discrimination based on age, gender, sexual orientation, maritial or familial status, religion, race or membership of the travelling community is illegal in Ireland.

In 2002, Ireland became the first country to have an environmental levy for all plastic shopping bags; while in 2004 the country became the first in the world to ban smoking in all workplaces. The country was also the first in Europe to ban incandescent lightbulbs in 2008. The death penalty is constitutionally banned in Ireland, and the country was one of the main nations involved in the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, which was formally endorsed in Dublin. Ireland became the first country in the European Union to ban in-store tobacco advertising and displays of tobacco products on 1 July 2009. Ireland ranks sixth in the world in terms of gender equality.

See also

Island of Ireland

List of Ireland-related topics

}}

References

;Notes ;Further Reading (the 1937 constitution)

The Irish Free State Constitution Act, 1922

J. Anthony Foley and Stephen Lalor (ed), Gill & Macmillan Annotated Constitution of Ireland (Gill & Macmillan, 1995) (ISBN 0-7171-2276-X)

FSL Lyons, Ireland Since the Famine

Alan J. Ward, The Irish Constitutional Tradition: Responsible Government and Modern Ireland 1782–1992 (Irish Academic Press, 1994) (ISBN 0-7165-2528-3)

Michael J. Geary, An Inconvenient Wait: Ireland's Quest for Membership of the EEC, 1957–73 (Institute of Public Administration, 2009) (ISBN 9781904541837)

External links

; Government

Irish State – Official governmental portal

– Official presidential site

Taoiseach – Official prime ministerial site

Tithe an Oireachtais – Houses of Parliament, official parliamentary site

Chief of State and Cabinet Members

; General information

Ireland information from the United States Department of State

Portals to the World from the United States Library of Congress

Ireland at UCB Libraries GovPubs

Category:European countries Category:Member states of the European Union Category:Countries bordering the Atlantic Ocean Category:Northern Europe Category:Western Europe Category:Island countries Category:Republics Category:Liberal democracies Category:English-speaking countries and territories Category:States and territories established in 1922 Category:1922 establishments

Playername	Robbie Keane
Fullname	Robert David Keane
Dateofbirth	July 08, 1980
Cityofbirth	Tallaght, Dublin
Countryofbirth	Ireland
Height
Position	Striker
Currentclub	Tottenham Hotspur
Clubnumber	10
Youthclubs1	Crumlin United
Youthyears2	1995–1997
Youthclubs2	Wolves
Years1	1997–1999
Years2	1999–2000
Years3	2000–2001
Years4	2001
Years5	2001–2002
Years6	2002–2008
Years7	2008–2009
Years8	2009–
Years9	2010
Clubs1	Wolves
Clubs2	Coventry City
Clubs3	Internazionale
Clubs4	→ Leeds United (loan)
Clubs5	Leeds United
Clubs6	Tottenham Hotspur
Clubs7	Liverpool
Clubs8	Tottenham Hotspur
Clubs9	→ Celtic (loan)
Caps1	74
Goals1	24
Caps2	31
Goals2	12
Caps3	14
Goals3	3
Caps4	18
Goals4	9
Caps5	28
Goals5	4
Caps6	197
Goals6	80
Caps7	19
Goals7	5
Caps8	40
Goals8	11
Caps9	16
Goals9	12
Nationalyears1	1998–
Nationalteam1	Republic of Ireland
Nationalcaps1	104
Nationalgoals1	45
Pcupdate	30 October 2010
Ntupdate	8 October 2010

Robert David "Robbie" Keane (born 8 July 1980) is an Irish footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. He is also the current captain of the Irish national team, where he has 104 caps. With 45 goals, he is Ireland's all-time record goalscorer. Keane is the ninth highest goalscorer in Tottenham's history and the eleventh highest goalscorer in the history of the Premier League with 122 goals (as of 5th December 2010).

He began his professional career at Wolverhampton Wanderers, scoring twice in his first team debut aged 17. The following season he was the club's leading goalscorer and scored his first international goal with Republic of Ireland. He changed club frequently between 1999 and 2002, breaking transfer fee records, but his brief spells at Inter Milan and Leeds United were unexceptional. He joined Tottenham Hotspur in 2002 and played there for six years. The 2007–08 season was the most fruitful of his career as he set a career record of 23 goals in a season, scored a landmark 100th competitive goal for Tottenham and won his first senior honour, the League Cup. He moved to Liverpool in July 2008 but he spent only six months at the club and soon returned to Tottenham and was made first team captain. In January 2010, Keane moved on loan to Scottish Premier League side Celtic for the rest of the season.

Keane is best known for his performances at Tottenham, where he gained repute as a consistent goalscorer and often finished the season having scored the most goals on his team. Keane's pedigree was reinforced when he became Ireland's record goalscorer in 2004 and Steve Staunton appointed him national team captain in 2006.

Early life

Keane was born on 8 July 1980 in Tallaght, Dublin, Ireland; the son of Robert Senior and Ellie Keane. He started his football career with South Dublin schoolboy team Crumlin United where his talent was recognised at an early age. Keane received offers from both Liverpool and Wolverhampton Wanderers but decided to go to the First Division side, judging that it would be harder to break into the first team at Liverpool. He moved to Wolves at the age of fifteen, joining their youth team.

Club career

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Keane progressed through Wolves' youth ranks and made his professional debut aged 17 on 9 August 1997, scoring twice against Norwich City. The following season he excelled at the club, earning praise from both the press and Wolves manager Colin Lee. He went on to be the club's leading scorer, with 16 goals in the 1998–99 season. However, with three years left on his contract, Wolves sought a high price for their Irish starlet and managing director John Richards stated his reluctance to sell Keane unless their asking price was met.

Coventry City

Just weeks into the 1999–2000 season, he was sold to Premier League club Coventry City for £6m, then a British record for a teenager. Keane got off to a great start, scoring two goals in his debut. During a successful season at Coventry, he played a major role in a stylish attacking side boasting the likes of Gary McAllister, Mustapha Hadji and Youssef Chippo. He scored 12 goals in 34 games, many of them showpiece finishes, and came to both national and international prominence. Although his 12 goals and one season stay at the club may seem unremarkable today, his popularity among Sky Blues fans remains undiminished, with many pointing to his departure to Serie A as the principal catalyst in the club's eventual relegation after 34 consecutive seasons.

Internazionale

Marcello Lippi succeeded in obtaining Keane's signature, for a fee of £13 million. Lippi went on to say "At that time at Inter, they had a policy of going for young players and Robbie Keane was the best one that I saw." However, Keane's dream move to Italy soon soured when Lippi was sacked. Lippi's successor, Marco Tardelli, deemed Keane to be surplus to requirements. Keane's ambition refused to let him stagnate in Italy and in December 2000, he was loaned out to Leeds United after only 14 appearances and three goals for Internazionale in all competitions.

Leeds United

His Leeds career got off to an impressive start, scoring 9 goals in 14 starts before the Leeds manager, David O'Leary, made his loan deal permanent in May 2001 at an original cost of £12 million. The following season was not so bright, and he found himself dropping down the pecking order. His form suffered and he only managed 10 goals in 36 appearances. Meanwhile, Leeds' financial troubles forced the club to sell many of its players and Keane joined the exodus when he was sold to Tottenham Hotspur just before the 2002–03 transfer deadline for a fee of £7 million.

Tottenham Hotspur

On signing him for Tottenham, manager Glenn Hoddle said that Keane was ideally suited to Tottenham and could make White Hart Lane his "spiritual home" for years to come. Keane had an impressive debut at Spurs, winning a penalty during a 3–2 win over West Ham. Keane's first goal for Tottenham came in a 2–1 win against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park. Although Spurs finished in a disappointing tenth place, Keane was their success story of the season, finishing as Tottenham's top scorer with 13 goals, including a spectacular hat-trick in a win over Everton at White Hart Lane.

In the 2003–04 season, Spurs battled with relegation, but Keane's goals played a major part in helping secure Tottenham's Premier League status. A hat-trick against Wolves and a last minute penalty to equalise in the North London derby against Arsenal were highlights as Keane once again ended the season as Tottenham's top scorer with 16 goals.

His third season, 2004–05, was more frustrating. Despite finishing with his highest return of goals in a season for Tottenham, 17, he played second-fiddle to the likes of Jermain Defoe, Fredi Kanoute and Mido for much of the season. The frustration culminated in Keane storming from the dugout towards the end of a game against Birmingham City in April 2005 after all the substitutes had been used, meaning he would not get a chance to appear. He was fined £10,000 and forced to train with the reserves after the outburst and his future at the club was thrown into doubt.

The 2005–06 season started as the previous one had ended, with Defoe being preferred to partner Mido in Tottenham's strikeforce. However, Defoe's strike-rate continued to disappoint and Keane's persistence paid off in November when manager Martin Jol eventually gave Keane a chance to replace Defoe and stake his claim.

By March he had overtaken Mido as the top goalscorer at the club. Keane went on to finish the season with 16 league goals — making him the Premier League's joint fourth top goalscorer that season. He had also been made the vice-captain, taking the captaincy on occasions when Ledley King was not available. Edgar Davids and Keane were involved in a training ground fight in December 2005, but the pair subsequently made up publicly and were seen encouraging each other on the pitch.

In February 2006, Inter's owner and president, Massimo Moratti, admitted his regret at letting Keane go after being impressed by his performances at Tottenham. Keane extended his commitment to Tottenham, signing a new four year contract in March 2006. Keane was named as one of ten Spurs squad members to be struck down by norovirus on 6 May 2006. However, he still managed to play in their final game of the season against West Ham United.

Keane had a slow start to the 2006–07 season which was further set back by a knee ligament injury that Keane suffered against Middlesbrough on 5 December 2006. His coming back from injury marked the beginning of a return to form and a dynamic partnership with Dimitar Berbatov. Keane and Berbatov were jointly awarded the FA Premier League's Player of the Month Award for April 2007. Keane finished the season with a total of 22 goals in all competitions – the highest ever season tally of his career – scoring 15 goals in his last 15 appearances of the season.

Keane started in his 200th appearance for Tottenham in the final game of the 2006–07 season against Manchester City scoring the first goal in a 2–1 victory that saw Tottenham secure fifth place in the league.

He signed a new five year contract with Tottenham on 28 May 2007. On 26 December 2007 he became the thirteenth player in the history of the league to score 100 Premier League goals. 2007 proved to be a remarkable year for the striker with a total of 31 goals and 13 assists from just 40 starts. His tally of 19 league goals in the calendar year was the highest of any player in the Premier League throughout 2007.

He scored his 100th competitive goal for Tottenham in the 2–0 win against Sunderland on 19 January 2008. He is the fifteenth Tottenham player to achieve this feat. On 24 February 2008 he won his first senior honour as a player as his Tottenham side won the first League Cup Final to be played at the new Wembley Stadium, beating Chelsea 2–1 after extra time. On 12 April 2008 Keane made his 250th appearance for Spurs in the 1–1 draw with Middlesbrough. Keane finished the 2007–08 season equal top scorer for Spurs with Berbatov, with 23 goals in all competitions. His 15 Premier League goals making him the first Spurs player to score double figures in the Premier League in 6 consecutive seasons. Keane in his Tottenham career won the player of year three times (2003–04, 2005–06 and 2007–08); the first player to do so. Tottenham agreed to a £20.3 million deal for the player.

Liverpool

Liverpool publicly announced their interest in Keane on 1 July 2008. Amid accusations that Liverpool had unsettled the player, Tottenham Hotspur filed a complaint to the Premier League regarding the club's conduct. Keane agreed terms with Liverpool shortly afterwards, signing a four year contract with the Merseyside club. Upon his arrival to Liverpool, Robbie Keane said, "I've been a Liverpool fan all my life, going back to when I was a kid growing up in Dublin, and I always had a Liverpool shirt on my back. So, to be here now as a Liverpool player is incredible and I couldn't be happier." Following the transfer, Tottenham withdrew their official complaint against Liverpool after the club made a donation to the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation and apologised for their behaviour prior to the deal. Tottenham Chairman Daniel Levy publicly stated his dissatisfaction, saying he had been forced into transferring the player due to Liverpool's interference. Keane was given the squad number 7, and scored his first goal for Liverpool on 1 October 2008 in a Champions League win against PSV Eindhoven at Anfield. A second Champions League goal quickly followed scoring the opening goal in Liverpool's 1–1 draw with Atlético Madrid. Premier League goals were less forthcoming but he scored twice for Liverpool against West Bromwich Albion on 8 November. The double after a goalless spell came as a relief to the striker but he reflected upon the situation with maturity:

"The goals have been a long time coming but deep down I knew they would. I might have worried about it when I was younger but not now."

Six weeks passed before Keane scored again but it was a crucial equaliser against Arsenal, giving Liverpool a 1–1 away draw against their league rivals. In the following Premier League match against Bolton Wanderers, Keane scored two more league goals to seal a 3–0 win for Liverpool. During the January transfer window, Tottenham Hotspur made an approach for the striker and Liverpool accepted the offer, allowing the Irishman to return to his former club.

Return to Tottenham Hotspur

Keane rejoined Tottenham on 2 February 2009, signing for a basic fee of £12 million, potentially rising to £16 million with add-ons. The deal meant that the cumulative transfer fees paid for Keane over his career amounted to around £75 million.

Despite his spell at Liverpool being short and disappointing, he was at that time the most expensive player ever to be sold by the club.

He signed a four-year contract with the north London club. Keane was one of three players to make returns to Tottenham during the transfer window, along with Jermain Defoe and Pascal Chimbonda. after often deputising for Ledley King during his first spell there. Keane scored his first goal since his return to the club on 4 March, opening the scoring in the crucial 4–0 home victory against Middlesbrough. He followed this up by scoring another vital goal, this time a last-minute equaliser, away to Sunderland in a 1–1 draw on 7 March.

Soon after Keane's return to White Hart Lane, railway service Virgin Trains ran an advertisement with the slogan "A Liverpool to London return faster than Robbie Keane." On his return to Liverpool on the final day of the season, he scored in a 3–1 defeat. He received a generally warm reception from the fans despite scoring against them.

On 31 July 2009, Keane captained Tottenham to winning the Premier League Asia Trophy in a pre-season competition in China. He scored twice in the 3–0 win over Hull City inside Beijing National Stadium. On 26 September 2009, Keane scored four goals in a 5–0 win over Burnley. During Tottenham's Carling Cup Fourth Round match, Keane scored one of two goals against Everton on 27 October 2009 at White Hart Lane. He continued his scoring form with another against Sunderland in their 2–0 home win on 7 November 2009.

Celtic

On 1 February 2010, Keane signed for Celtic in a loan deal until the end of the 2009–10 season and was assigned the number 7 shirt, previously worn by Jimmy Johnstone and Henrik Larsson. After signing for Celtic, Keane said "The club is brilliant. I am a Celtic fan and did not have to ask much about it. I always wanted to play for Celtic.

He made his Celtic debut in a 1–0 defeat on 2 February at Rugby Park against Kilmarnock. He scored his first goal for Celtic in a 4–2 victory in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup against Dunfermline at East End Park. He scored his first goal in the SPL against Aberdeen in the 4–4 draw on 13 February. Celtic were ahead 3 times during the match, only for Aberdeen to come back. His first goal at Celtic Park proved to be the winner against Dundee United on 20 February. He got his first sample of the Old Firm derby atmosphere against Rangers for the first time on 28 February, where Celtic lost 1–0. On 13 March 2010, Keane scored his first Celtic hat-trick in a 3–0 Scottish Cup win over Kilmarnock, and then scored a brace in a league clash against them two weeks later.

On 12 April 2010, Keane was announced as SPL Player of the Month for March 2010. On 19 April 2010, Keane was announced as Celtic's Fans' Player of the Year.

International career

Keane was part of so called "Golden Generation" of Republic of Ireland youth football of the late 1990s. Under the guidance of Brian Kerr, the unfancied Republic won the UEFA U-16 and U-18 European championships in 1998, and Robbie was part of the victorious U-18 side in Cyprus. In 1999, he played at the World Youth Cup in Nigeria, where the Republic reached the last 16 before going out on penalties to the hosts.

His first Ireland cap came against the Czech Republic in Olomouc in March 1998, scoring his first senior goal against Malta in October that year. He won his 70th cap in the Republic's 5–0 defeat of San Marino, scoring a hat-trick along the way.

Keane was selected by Mick McCarthy as part of the Republic of Ireland squad for the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, scoring three goals in Ireland's four games. Keane scored an injury-time equaliser against Germany in the group stage match as the Irish surprised many by holding the former champions to a draw. This was the first of only three goals which Germany conceded in the tournament (the other two were scored in the final by Ronaldo). In the Round of 16 match against Spain, he scored a last-minute penalty to force the game into extra-time and a penalty shoot-out after the Irish had gone a goal down early in the first half, but eventually lost 3–2 on penalties.

Although the Republic of Ireland failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, Keane scored four goals in the Republic's eight qualifying matches and remains their most prolific goalscorer, topping the national team scoring charts.

Following Steve Staunton's appointment as the manager of the Republic of Ireland, Keane was appointed captain. In their first game under Staunton, Keane scored the second goal in the 3–0 victory against Sweden at Lansdowne Road, and celebrated the final match at the Lansdowne Road stadium, against San Marino, with a hat trick.

As captain, Keane led the team to a second place finish in the 2010 World Cup qualifying. He scored his 40th international goal against Cyprus, a header in the 83rd minute, which secured a 2–1 win for Ireland. Along with Dimitar Berbatov, he topped the scoring chart in the qualifying group with 5 goals in 10 games. His 41st international goal came in the 2010 World cup play-off with France on 18 November 2009. This was his 26th goal in competitive (non-friendly) internationals.

He won his 100th cap against Argentina in a 1-0 friendly defeat on 11 August 2010. This match was also the first international football match at the new Aviva Stadium.

He scored his 44th international goal against Andorra in September 2010 .

Personal life

On 7 June 2008, he married former Miss Ireland contestant Claudine Palmer, in Ballybrack, South Dublin. The couple had their first child on 10 May 2009, a boy named Robert Ronan Keane.

Honours

Club

;Tottenham

Football League Cup (1): 2007-08

Peace Cup (1): 2005

Barclays Asia Trophy (1): 2009

International

;Republic of Ireland

UEFA U-19 Championship: 1998

Individual

Premier League Player of the Month (3): August 1999, January 2001, April 2007*

Peace Cup Best Player: 2005

Peace Cup Top Scorer: 2005

Barclays Asia Trophy Best Player: 2009

SPL Player of the Month (1): March 2010

FAI Senior International Player of the Year 2010

(* Jointly shared with Dimitar Berbatov)

Career statistics

{|border=1 align=center cellpadding=4 cellspacing=2 style="background: ivory; font-size: 95%; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; clear:center" |+ All-Time Club Performance |- style="background:beige" !rowspan="2"|Club !rowspan="2"|Season !colspan="2"|League !colspan="2"|FA Cup !colspan="2"|League Cup !colspan="2"|Europe !colspan="2"|Total |- style="background:beige" !App !Goals !App !Goals !App !Goals !App !Goals !App !Goals |- |rowspan="3" align=center valign=center|Wolves (First Division) |align="center"|1997–98 |align="center"|38 |align="center"|11 |align="center"|3 |align="center"|0 |align="center"|4 |align="center"|0 |align="center"| |align="center"| |align="center"|45 |align="center"|11 |- |align="center"|1998–99 |align="center"|33 |align="center"|11 |align="center"|2 |align="center"|2 |align="center"|4 |align="center"|3 |align="center"| |align="center"| |align="center"|39 |align="center"|16 |- |align="center"|1999-00 |align="center"|2 |align="center"|2 |align="center"| |align="center"| |align="center"|1 |align="center"|0 |align="center"| |align="center"| |align="center"|3 |align="center"|2 |- |- style="background:lemonchiffon" ! !! Total !!73!!24!!5!!2!!9!!3!! !! !!87!!29 |- style="background:beige" !colspan="2"| !colspan="2"|Premier League !colspan="2"|FA Cup !colspan="2"|League Cup !colspan="2"|Europe !colspan="2"|Total |- |rowspan="1" align=center valign=center|Coventry City (Premier League) |align="center"|1999–2000 |align="center"|31 |align="center"|12 |align="center"|3 |align="center"|0 |align="center"| |align="center"| |align="center"| |align="center"| |align="center"|34 |align="center"|12 |- style="background:lemonchiffon" ! !! Total !!31!!12!!3!!0!! !! !! !! !!34!!12 |- style="background:beige" !colspan="2"| !colspan="2"|Serie A !colspan="2"|Coppa Italia !colspan="2"|Supercoppa Italiana !colspan="2"|Europe !colspan="2"|Total |- |rowspan="1" align=center valign=center|Internazionale(Serie A) |align="center"|2000–01 |align="center"|6 |align="center"|0 |align="center"|3 |align="center"|1 |align="center"|1 |align="center"|1 |align="center"|4 |align="center"|1 |align="center"|14 |align="center"|3 |- |- style="background:lemonchiffon" ! !! Total !!6!!0!!3!!1!!1!!1!!4!!1!!14!!3 |- style="background:beige" !colspan="2"| !colspan="2"|Premier League !colspan="2"|FA Cup !colspan="2"|League Cup !colspan="2"|Europe !colspan="2"|Total |- |rowspan="3" align=center valign=center|Leeds United (Premier League) |align="center"|2000–01 |align="center"|18 |align="center"|9 |align="center"|2 |align="center"|0 |align="center"| |align="center"| |align="center"| |align="center"| |align="center"|20 |align="center"|9 |- |align="center"|2001–02 |align="center"|25 |align="center"|3 |align="center"| |align="center"| |align="center"|2 |align="center"|3 |align="center"|6 |align="center"|3 |align="center"|33 |align="center"|9 |- |align="center"|2002–03 |align="center"|3 |align="center"|1 |align="center"| |align="center"| |align="center"| |align="center"| |align="center"| |align="center"| |align="center"|3 |align="center"|1 |- |- style="background:lemonchiffon" ! !! Total !!46!!13!!2!!0!!2!!3!!6!!3!!56!!19 |- |rowspan="6" align=center valign=center|Tottenham Hotspur (Premier League) |align="center"|2002–03 |align="center"|29 |align="center"|13 |align="center"|1 |align="center"|0 |align="center"|2 |align="center"|0 |align="center"| |align="center"| |align="center"|32 |align="center"|13 |- |align="center"|2003–04 |align="center"|34 |align="center"|14 |align="center"|3 |align="center"|1 |align="center"|4 |align="center"|1 |align="center"| |align="center"| |align="center"|41 |align="center"|16 |- |align="center"|2004–05 |align="center"|35 |align="center"|11 |align="center"|6 |align="center"|3 |align="center"|4 |align="center"|3 |align="center"| |align="center"| |align="center"|45 |align="center"|17 |- |align="center"|2005–06 |align="center"|36 |align="center"|16 |align="center"|1 |align="center"|0 |align="center"|1 |align="center"|0 |align="center"| |align="center"| |align="center"|38 |align="center"|16 |- |align="center"|2006–07 |align="center"|27 |align="center"|11 |align="center"|5 |align="center"|5 |align="center"|3 |align="center"|1 |align="center"|9 |align="center"|5 |align="center"|44 |align="center"|22 |- |align="center"|2007–08 |align="center"|36 |align="center"|15 |align="center"|3 |align="center"|2 |align="center"|5 |align="center"|2 |align="center"|10 |align="center"|4 |align="center"|54 |align="center"|23 |- |- style="background:lemonchiffon" ! !! Total !!197!!80!!19!!11!!19!!7!!19!!9!!254!!107 |- |rowspan="1" align=center valign=center|Liverpool (Premier League) |align="center"|2008–09 |align="center"|19 |align="center"|5 |align="center"|1 |align="center"|0 |align="center"|1 |align="center"|0 |align="center"|7 |align="center"|2 |align="center"|28 |align="center"|7 |- |- style="background:lemonchiffon" ! !! Total !!19!!5!!1!!0!!1 !!0 !!7 !!2 !!28!!7 |- |rowspan="2" align=center valign=center|Tottenham Hotspur (Premier League) |align="center"|2008–09 |align="center"|14 |align="center"|5 |align="center"|- |align="center"|- |align="center"|- |align="center"|- |align="center"|- |align="center"|- |align="center"|14 |align="center"|5 |- |align="center"|2009–10 |align="center"|20 |align="center"|6 |align="center"|1 |align="center"|1 |align="center"|2 |align="center"|2 |align="center"|- |align="center"|- |align="center"|25 |align="center"|9 |- style="background:lemonchiffon" ! !! Total !!34!!11!!1!!1!!2!!2!!-!!-!!39!!14 |- style="background:lemonchiffon" ! !! Spurs Total !!231!!91!!20!!12!!21!!9!!19!!9!!293!!121 |- |- style="background:beige" !colspan="2"| !colspan="2"|League !colspan="2"|Scottish Cup !colspan="2"|League Cup !colspan="2"|Europe !colspan="2"|Total |- |rowspan="1" align=center valign=center|Celtic (Scottish Premier League) |align="center"|2009–10 |align="center"|16 |align="center"|12 |align="center"|3 |align="center"|4 |align="center"|0 |align="center"|0 |align="center"|- |align="center"|- |align="center"|19 |align="center"|16 |- style="background:lemonchiffon" ! !! Total !!16!!12!!3!!4!!0!!0!!-!!-!!19!!16 |- |- style="background:beige" !colspan="2"| !colspan="2"|Premier League !colspan="2"|FA Cup !colspan="2"|League Cup !colspan="2"|Europe !colspan="2"|Total |- |rowspan="1" align=center valign=center|Tottenham Hotspur (Premier League) |align="center"|2010–11 |align="center"|6 |align="center"|0 |align="center"|0 |align="center"|0 |align="center"|1 |align="center"|1 |align="center"|2 |align="center"|0 |align="center"|9 |align="center"|1 |- style="background:lemonchiffon" ! !! Total !!6!!0!!0!!0!!1!!1!!2!!0!!9!!1 |- |- ! style="background:beige"|Career Totals ! style="background:beige" colspan="1" | ! style="background:beige"|428 ! style="background:beige"|157 ! style="background:beige"|37 ! style="background:beige"|19 ! style="background:beige"|35 ! style="background:beige"|17 ! style="background:beige"|38 ! style="background:beige"|15 ! style="background:beige"|538 ! style="background:beige"|208 |}

Statistics correct as of matches played 30 October 2010

|- |1998||5||2 |- |1999||8||3 |- |2000||9||2 |- |2001||7||1 |- |2002||11||6 |- |2003||7||4 |- |2004||10||6 |- |2005||7||1 |- |2006||6||4 |- |2007||8||3 |- |2008||7||3 |- |2009||11||6 |- |2010||8||4 |- !Total||104||45 |}

International goals

:Scores and results list Ireland's goal tally first {| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" style="font-size:85%" ! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Result !! Competition !! Scored(Tally) |- | 14 October 1998 || Lansdowne Road, Dublin || || 5–0 || Euro 2000 qualification || 2 (2) |- | 1 September 1999 || Lansdowne Road, Dublin || || 2–1 || Euro 2000 qualification || 1 (3) |- | 8 November 1999 || Ta' Qali Stadium, Mdina || || 3–2 || Euro 2000 qualification || 1 (4) |- | 13 November 1999 || Lansdowne Road, Dublin || || 1–1 || UEFA Euro 2000 qualification || 1 (5) |- | 23 February 2000 || Lansdowne Road, Dublin || || 2–0 || Friendly match || 1 (6) |- | 2 September 2000 || Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam || || 2–2 || 2002 World Cup qualification || 1 (7) |- | 10 November 2001 || Lansdowne Road, Dublin || || 2–0 || 2002 World Cup qualification || 1 (8) |- | 13 February 2002 || Lansdowne Road, Dublin || || 2–0 || Friendly match || 1 (9) |- | 27 March 2002 || Lansdowne Road, Dublin || || 3–0 || Friendly match || 1 (10) |- | 5 June 2002 || Kashima Stadium, Kashima, Ibaraki || || 1–1 || 2002 World Cup || 1 (11) |- | 11 June 2002 || International Stadium of Yokohama, Yokohama || || 3–0 || 2002 World Cup || 1 (12) |- | 16 June 2002 || Suwon Big Bird Stadium, Suwon || || 1–1 || 2002 World Cup || 1 (13) |- | 21 August 2002 || Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki || || 3–0 || Friendly match || 1 (14) |- | 7 June 2003 || Lansdowne Road, Dublin || || 2–1 || Euro 2004 qualification || 1 (15) |- | 11 June 2003 || Lansdowne Road, Dublin || || 2–0 || Euro 2004 qualification || 1 (16) |- | 18 November 2003 || Lansdowne Road, Dublin || || 3–0 || Friendly match || 2 (18) |- | 31 March 2004 || Lansdowne Road, Dublin || || 2–1 || Friendly match || 1 (19) |- | 5 June 2004 || Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam || || 1–0 || Friendly match || 1 (20) |- | 4 September 2004 || Lansdowne Road, Dublin || || 3–0 || 2006 World Cup qualification || 1 (21) |- | 13 October 2004 || Lansdowne Road, Dublin || || 2–0 || 2006 World Cup qualification || 2 (23) |- | 16 November 2004 || Lansdowne Road, Dublin || || 1–0 || Friendly match || 1 (24) |- | 4 June 2005 || Lansdowne Road, Dublin || || 2–2 || 2006 World Cup qualification || 1 (25) |- | 1 March 2006 || Lansdowne Road, Dublin || || 3–0 || Friendly match || 1 (26) |- | 15 November 2006 || Lansdowne Road, Dublin || || 5–0 || Euro 2008 qualification || 3 (29) |- | 22 August 2007 || NRGi Park, Aarhus || || 4–0 || Friendly match || 2 (31) |- | 11 November 2007 || Millennium Stadium, Cardiff || || 2–2 || Euro 2008 qualification || 1 (32) |- | 29 May 2008 || Craven Cottage, London || || 1–0 || Friendly match || 1 (33) |- | 20 August 2008 || Ullevaal Stadium, Oslo || || 1–1 || Friendly match || 1 (34) |- | 15 October 2008 || Croke Park, Dublin || || 1–0 || 2010 World Cup qualification || 1 (35) |- | 11 February 2009 || Croke Park, Dublin || || 2–1 || 2010 World Cup qualification || 2 (37) |- | 1 April 2009 || Stadio San Nicola, Bari || || 1–1 || 2010 World Cup qualification || 1 (38) |- | 29 May 2009 || Craven Cottage, London || || 1–1 || Friendly match || 1 (39) |- | 5 September 2009 || GSP Stadium, Nicosia || || 2–1 || 2010 World Cup qualification || 1 (40) |- | 18 November 2009 || Stade De France, Paris || || 1–1 || 2010 World Cup qualification play-off || 1 (41) |- | 28 May 2010 || RDS Arena, Dublin || || 3–0 || Friendly match || 2 (43) |- | 7 September 2010 || Aviva Stadium, Dublin || || 3–1 || Euro 2012 qualification || 1 (44) |- | 8 October 2010 || Aviva Stadium, Dublin || || 2-3 ||Euro 2012 qualification|| 1 (45) |}

References

Accolades

External links

Robbie Keane Tottenham Hotspur

Profile - Robbie Keane BBC Sport

FIFA Player Statistics: Robbie KEANE FIFA.com

ESPN Profile

Category:1980 births Category:Living people Category:People from County Dublin Category:Association football forwards Category:Republic of Ireland association footballers Category:Republic of Ireland international footballers Category:2002 FIFA World Cup players Category:Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Category:Coventry City F.C. players Category:F.C. Internazionale Milano players Category:Leeds United A.F.C. players Category:Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Category:Liverpool F.C. players Category:Celtic F.C. players Category:The Football League players Category:Premier League players Category:Serie A footballers Category:Scottish Premier League players Category:Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers Category:Expatriate footballers in England Category:Expatriate footballers in Italy Category:Expatriate footballers in Scotland Category:FIFA Century Club

Name	Nigel Farage
Honorific-suffix	MEP
Office	Leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party
Term start	5 November 2010
Predecessor	Jeffrey Titford
Term start1	27 September 2006
Term end1	27 November 2009
Predecessor1	Roger Knapman
Successor1	The Lord Pearson of Rannoch
Constituency mp2	the South East
Parliament2	European
Term start2	15 July 1999
Birth date	April 03, 1964
Birth place	Kent, England, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Party	UK Independence Party
Spouse	Kirsten MehrGráinne Hayes (div.)
Children	4
Alma mater	Dulwich College

Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British politician and is the leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), a position he previously held from September 2006 to November 2009. He is a current Member of the European Parliament for South East England and co-chairs the Eurosceptic Europe of Freedom and Democracy group.

Farage was a founding member of the UKIP, having left the Conservative Party in 1992 after they signed the Maastricht Treaty. Having unsuccessfully campaigned in European and Westminster parliamentary elections for UKIP since 1994, he was elected as the MEP for South East England in the 1999 European Parliament Election and was re-elected in 2004 and 2009.

In September 2006, Farage became the UKIP Leader and led the party through the 2009 European Parliament Election in which it received the second highest share of the popular vote, defeating Labour and the Liberal Democrats with over two million votes. However he stepped down in November 2009 to concentrate on contesting the Speaker John Bercow's seat of Buckingham in the 2010 general election.

At the 2010 General Election, Farage failed to unseat John Bercow and only received the third highest share of the vote in the constituency. Shortly after the polls opened on 6 May 2010, Nigel Farage was injured in a plane crash in Northamptonshire. The two-seated PZL-104 Wilga 35A had been towing a pro-UKIP banner when it flipped over and crashed shortly after takeoff. Both Farage and the pilot were hospitalised with non life threatening injuries.

In November 2010, Farage successfully stood in the 2010 UKIP leadership contest, following the resignation of its leader, Malcolm Pearson. Farage was also ranked 41st (out of 100) in The Daily Telegraph's Top 100 most influential right-wingers poll in October 2009, citing his media savvy and his success with UKIP in the European Elections. Farage was ranked 58th in the 2010 list compiled by Iain Dale and Brian Brivati for the Daily Telegraph.

Political career

Conservative Party

Active in the Conservative Party from his school days until the resignation of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1990, Farage left the party in 1992 when John Major's government signed the Treaty on European Union at Maastricht.

UKIP and the European Parliament

Farage became a founding member of UKIP in 1993.

He was elected to the European Parliament in 1999 and re-elected in 2004 and 2009. Farage is currently leader of the thirteen-member UKIP contingent in the European Parliament, and co-leader of the multinational eurosceptic group, Europe of Freedom and Democracy.

UKIP party leadership

On 12 September 2006, Farage was elected leader of UKIP with 45% of the vote, 20% ahead of his nearest rival. He pledged to bring discipline to the party and to maximise UKIP's representation in local, parliamentary and other elections. In a PM programme interview on BBC Radio 4 that day he pledged to end the public perception of UKIP as a single-issue party and to work with allied politicians in the Better Off Out campaign, committing himself not to stand against the MPs who have signed up to that campaign (ten in all at this moment).

At his maiden speech to the UKIP conference on 8 October 2006, he told delegates that the party was "at the centre-ground of British public opinion" and the "real voice of opposition". Farage said: "We've got three social democratic parties in Britain — Labour, Lib Dem and Conservative are virtually indistinguishable from each other on nearly all the main issues" and "you can't put a cigarette paper between them and that is why there are nine million people who don't vote now in general elections that did back in 1992."

At 10pm on 19 October 2006, Farage took part in a three-hour live interview and phone-in with James Whale on national radio station talkSPORT. Four days later, Whale announced on his show his intention to stand as UKIP's candidate in the 2008 London Mayoral Election. Farage said that Whale "not only has guts, but an understanding of what real people think". However Whale later decided not to stand and UKIP was represented by Gerard Batten. He stood again for UKIP leadership in 2010 after his successor Lord Pearson stood down.

Westminster elections

Farage had unsuccessfully contested UK parliamentary elections for UKIP five times, both before and after his election as an MEP in 1999. Under the 2002 European Union decision to forbid MEPs from holding a dual mandate, if he was ever elected to the House of Commons, he would have to resign his seat as an MEP.

When he contested the Bromley & Chislehurst constituency in a May 2006 by-election, organised after the sitting MP representing it, eurosceptic Conservative Eric Forth, died, Farage came third, winning 8% of the vote, beating the Labour Party candidate. This was the second-best by-election result recorded by UKIP out of 25 results, and the first time since the Liverpool Walton by-election in 1991 that a party in government had been pushed into fourth place in a parliamentary by-election on mainland Britain.

2010 UK General election

On 4 September 2009 Farage resigned as leader of UKIP to concentrate on his campaign to become Member of Parliament for Buckingham at Westminster in the 2010 general election. He later told Times journalist Camilla Long that UKIP internal fights took up too much time.

He stood against Buckingham MP John Bercow, the newly elected Speaker of the House of Commons, despite a convention that the speaker, as a political neutral, is not normally challenged in their bid for re-election by any of the major parties.

On 6 May, on the morning the polls opened in the election, just before eight o'clock Farage was involved in a light plane crash, suffering injuries described as non-life threatening. A spokesperson told the BBC that "it was unlikely Mr Farage would be discharged from hospital today [6 May] Although his injuries were originally described as minor, his sternum and ribs were broken, and his lung punctured. The Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) report said that the plane was towing a banner, which caught in the tail plane forcing the nose down. On 1 December 2010, the pilot of the aircraft involved in the accident was charged with threatening to kill Farage. He was also charged with threatening to kill an AAIB official involved in the investigation into the accident.

Farage came third with 8,401 votes. Bercow was re-elected, and an independent who campaigned with "Flipper the Dolphin" (a reference to MPs flipping second homes) came second.

Controversies and whistleblowing

Copyright infringement

In 1999 the BBC spent four months filming a documentary about his European elections campaign but didn't show it. Farage, then head of UKIP's South East office, asked for a video and got friends to make illegal copies which were sold for £5 through the UKIP magazine. Surrey Trading Standards investigated and Farage has admitted the offence.

Expenses disclosure

In May 2009, The Guardian reported that Farage had said in a speech to the Foreign Press Association that over ten years as a member of the European Parliament he received and spent nearly £2 million of taxpayers' money in expenses and allowances, on top of his £64,000 a year salary.

The former Europe Minister, Denis MacShane, said that this showed that Farage was "happy to line his pockets with gold". Farage called this a "misrepresentation", pointing out that the money had been used to promote UKIP's message, not salary, but he welcomed the focus on the issue of MEP expenses, claiming that "[o]ver a five year term each and every one of Britain's 78 MEPs gets about £1 million. It is used to employ administrative staff, run their offices and to travel back and forth between their home, Brussels and Strasbourg." He also pointed out the money spent on the YES campaign in Ireland by the European Commission was "something around 440 million", making the NO campaign's figure insignificant in comparison.

Jacques Barrot

On 18 November 2004, Farage announced in the European Parliament that Jacques Barrot, the French Commissioner designate, had been barred from elected office in France for 2 years, after being convicted in 2000 of embezzling £2 million from government funds and diverting it into the coffers of his party. He claimed that French President Jacques Chirac had granted Barrot amnesty. Although initial BBC reports claimed that, under French law, it was illegal even to mention the conviction, the prohibition in question only applies to French officials in the course of their duties. The president of the Parliament, Josep Borrell, enjoined him to retract his comments under threat of "legal consequences".However, the following day it was confirmed that Barrot had received an 8 month suspended jail sentence in the case, and that this had been quickly expunged by the amnesty decided by Chirac and his parliamentary majority. The Commission's president, Jose Manuel Barroso admitted that he had not known of Barrot's criminal record when appointing him as a Commission vice-president. The Socialist and Liberal groups in the European Parliament then joined UKIP in demanding the sacking of Barrot for failing to disclose the conviction during his confirmation hearings.

José Manuel Barroso

During the spring of 2005, Farage requested that the European Commission disclose where the individual Commissioners had spent their holidays. The Commission did not provide the information requested, on the basis that the Commissioners had a right of privacy. The German newspaper Die Welt reported that the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso had spent a week on the yacht of the Greek shipping billionaire Spiro Latsis. It emerged soon afterwards that this had occurred a month before the Commission under Barroso's predecessor Romano Prodi approved 10.3 million euro of Greek state aid for Latsis' shipping company. It also became known that Peter Mandelson, then a member of the Commission, had accepted a trip to Jamaica from an unrevealed source.

Farage persuaded around 75 MEPs from across the political divide to back a motion of no confidence in Barroso, which would be sufficient to compel Barroso to appear before the European Parliament to be questioned on the issue. The motion was successfully tabled on 12 May 2005, and Barroso appeared before Parliament at a debate on 26 May 2005. The motion was heavily defeated. A Conservative MEP, Roger Helmer, was expelled from his group, the European People's Party - European Democrats (EPP-ED) in the middle of the debate by that group's leader Hans-Gert Poettering as a result of his support for Farage's motion.

Joseph Daul

In January 2007, the French farmers' leader Joseph Daul was elected the new leader of the European People's Party–European Democrats (EPP-ED), the European Parliamentary grouping which then included the British Conservatives. The UK Independence Party almost immediately revealed that Daul had been under judicial investigation in France since 2004 as part of an inquiry into the alleged misuse of public funds worth €16 million (£10.6 million) by French farming unions." It was not suggested that Daul had personally benefited, but was accused of "complicity and concealment of the abuse of public funds." Daul accused Farage of publicising the investigation for political reasons and threatened to sue Farage, but did not do so though the court dropped all charges against him.

Prince Charles

Prince Charles gave a speech to the European Parliament on 14 February 2008, in which he called for EU leadership in the war against climate change. During the standing ovation that followed, Farage was the only MEP to remain seated and went on to describe the Prince's advisers as "naïve and foolish at best." Farage continued: "How can somebody like Prince Charles be allowed to come to the European Parliament at this time to announce he thinks it should have more powers? It would have been better for the country he wants to rule one day if he had stayed home and tried to persuade Gordon Brown to give the people the promised referendum [on the Treaty of Lisbon]." The leader of the UK Labour Party's MEPs, Gary Titley, accused Farage of anti-Royalism. Titley said: "I was embarrassed and disgusted when the Leader of the UK Independence Party, Nigel Farage, remained firmly seated during the lengthy standing ovation Prince Charles received. I had not realised Mr Farage's blind adherence to right wing politics involved disloyalty and discourtesy to the Royal Family. He should be thoroughly ashamed of himself and should apologise to the British people he represents." also asserting that Van Rompuy's "intention is to be the quiet assassin of European democracy and of European nation states." Van Rompuy commented afterwards, "There was one contribution that I can only hold in contempt, but I'm not going to comment further." The President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, said after his meeting with Farage:- 'I defend absolutely Mr Farage's right to disagree about the policy or institutions of the Union, but not to personally insult our guests in the European Parliament or the country from which they may come. [. . .] I myself fought for free speech as the absolute cornerstone of a democratic society. But with freedom comes responsibility - in this case, to respect the dignity of others and of our institutions. I am disappointed by Mr Farage's behaviour, which sits ill with the great parliamentary tradition of his own country. I cannot accept this sort of behaviour in the European Parliament. I invited him to apologise, but he declined to do so. I have therefore - as an expression of the seriousness of the matter - rescinded his right to ten days' daily allowance as a Member'.

Footnotes

References

2002 amnesty law

Penal Code, articles L133-9, L133-10, L133-11

External links

Profile at European Parliament website

Official website of the UK Independence Party in the European Parliament

Political group in the European Parliament

Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:United Kingdom Independence Party politicians Category:Members of the European Parliament for English constituencies Category:Critics of the European Union Category:Anti-globalist activists Category:People from Farnborough, London Category:Old Alleynians Category:Leaders of the United Kingdom Independence Party Category:British libertarians Category:UK Independence Party MEPs Category:MEPs for the United Kingdom 1999–2004 Category:MEPs for the United Kingdom 2004–2009 Category:MEPs for the United Kingdom 2009–2014

Name	Muhammad Ali
Nationality	American
Nickname	The GreatestThe ChampThe Louisville Lip
Height
Reach
Weight	Heavyweight
Birth date	January 17, 1942
Birth place	Louisville, Kentucky, United States
Style	Orthodox
Total	61
Wins	56
Ko	37
Losses	5
Draws	0
No contests	0

}} Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.; January 17, 1942) is a former American boxer and three-time World Heavyweight Champion, who is widely considered one of the greatest heavyweight championship boxers. As an amateur, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. After turning professional, he went on to become the first boxer to win the lineal heavyweight championship three times.

Originally known as Cassius Clay, Ali changed his name after joining the Nation of Islam in 1964, subsequently converting to Sunni Islam in 1975 and more recently to Sufism. In 1967, Ali refused to be conscripted into the U.S. military, based on his religious beliefs and opposition to the Vietnam War. He was arrested and found guilty on draft evasion charges, stripped of his boxing title, and his boxing license was suspended. He was not imprisoned, but did not fight again for nearly four years while his appeal worked its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it was successful.

Nicknamed "The Greatest", Ali was involved in several historic boxing matches. Notable among these are three with rival Joe Frazier and one with George Foreman, whom he beat by knockout to win the world heavyweight title for the second time. He suffered only five losses (four decisions and one TKO by retirement from the bout) with no draws in his career, while amassing 56 wins (37 knockouts and 19 decisions). Ali was well known for his unorthodox fighting style, which he described as "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee", and employing techniques such as the rope-a-dope. He was also known for his pre-match hype, where he would "trash talk" opponents on television and in person some time before the match, often with rhymes. These personality quips and idioms, along with an unorthodox fighting technique, made him a cultural icon. In later life, Ali developed Parkinson's disease. In 1999, Ali was crowned "Sportsman of the Century" by Sports Illustrated and "Sports Personality of the Century" by the BBC.

Biography

Amateur career and Olympic gold

Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., was born on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky. and his mother, Odessa Grady Clay, was a household domestic. Although Cassius Sr. was a Methodist, he allowed Odessa to bring up both Cassius and his elder brother Rudolph "Rudy" Clay (later renamed Rahman Ali) as Baptists. He is a descendant of pre-Civil War era American slaves in the American South, and is predominantly of African-American descent, with some Irish and English ancestry.

Clay was first directed toward boxing by the white Louisville police officer and boxing coach Joe E. Martin, who encountered the 12-year-old fuming over the theft of his bicycle. However, without Martin's knowledge, Clay also began training with Fred Stoner, an African-American trainer working at the local community center. In this way, Clay could make $4 a week on Tomorrow's Champions, a local, weekly TV show that Martin hosted, while benefiting from the coaching of the more experienced Stoner, who continued working with Clay throughout his amateur career.

Under Stoner's guidance, Cassius Clay won six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, two national Golden Gloves titles, an Amateur Athletic Union National Title, and the Light Heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. Clay's amateur record was 100 wins with five losses.

Ali states (in his 1975 autobiography) that he threw his Olympic gold medal into the Ohio River after being refused service at a 'whites-only' restaurant, and fighting with a white gang. Whether this is true is still debated, although he was given a replacement medal at a basketball intermission during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, where he lit the torch to start the games.

Early professional career

After his Olympic triumph, Clay returned to Louisville to begin his professional career. There, on October 29, 1960, he won his first professional fight, a six-round decision over Tunney Hunsaker, who was the police chief of Fayetteville, West Virginia.

Standing tall, at 6-ft, 3-in (1.91 m), Clay had a highly unorthodox style for a heavyweight boxer. Rather than the normal style of carrying the hands high to defend the face, he instead relied on foot speed and quickness to avoid punches, and carried his hands low.

From 1960 to 1963, the young fighter amassed a record of 19–0, with 15 knockouts. He defeated boxers such as Tony Esperti, Jim Robinson, Donnie Fleeman, Alonzo Johnson, George Logan, Willi Besmanoff, Lamar Clark (who had won his previous 40 bouts by knockout), Doug Jones and Henry Cooper.

Clay built a reputation by correctly predicting the round in which he would "finish" several opponents, and by boasting before his triumphs. had Clay's colorful persona and nonstop braggadocio as its sole appeal.

Faversham confronted Clay about his association with Malcolm X (who, at the time, was actually under suspension by the Nation as a result of controversial comments made in the wake of President Kennedy's assassination). While stopping short of admitting he was a member of the Nation, Clay protested the suggested cancellation of the fight. As a compromise, Faversham asked the fighter to delay his announcement about his conversion to Islam until after the fight. The incident is described in the 1975 book The Greatest: My Own Story by Ali (with Richard Durham).

During the weigh-in on the day before the bout, the ever-boastful Clay, who frequently taunted Liston during the buildup by dubbing him "the big ugly bear" (among other things), declared that he would "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee," and, summarizing his strategy for avoiding Liston's assaults, said, "Your hands can't hit what your eyes can't see."

First title fight and aftermath

At the pre-fight weigh-in, Clay's pulse rate was around 120, more than double his norm of 54. Liston, among others, misread this as nervousness. In the opening rounds, Clay's speed kept him away from Liston's powerful head and body shots, as he used his height advantage to beat Liston to the punch with his own lightning-quick jab. And in relation to inter-racial marriage: "No intelligent black man or black woman in his or her right black mind wants white boys and white girls coming to their homes to marry their black sons and daughters."

Appearing shortly thereafter for his scheduled induction into the U.S. Armed Forces on April 28, 1967 in Houston, he refused three times to step forward at the call of his name. An officer warned him he was committing a felony punishable by five years in prison and a fine of $10,000. Once more, Ali refused to budge when his name was called. As a result, he was arrested and on the same day the New York State Athletic Commission suspended his boxing license and stripped him of his title. Other boxing commissions followed suit.

At the trial on June 20, 1967, after only 21 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Ali guilty.

Quotes about Vietnam war

}}

The Fight of the Century

In 1970, while his case was still on appeal, Ali was allowed to fight again. On August 12, 1970, with the help of Leroy R. Johnson, a Georgia State Senator, he was granted a license to box by the City of Atlanta Athletic Commission. In Atlanta on October 26, 1970, he stopped Jerry Quarry on a cut after three rounds. Shortly after the Quarry fight, the New York State Supreme Court ruled that Ali had been unjustly denied a boxing license. Once again able to fight in New York, he fought Oscar Bonavena at Madison Square Garden in December 1970. After a tough 14 rounds, Ali stopped Bonavena in the 15th, paving the way for a title fight against Joe Frazier, who was himself undefeated.

Ali and Frazier met in the ring on March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden. The fight, known as '"The Fight of the Century," was one of the most eagerly anticipated bouts of all time and remains one of the most famous. It featured two skilled, undefeated fighters, both of whom had legitimate claims to the heavyweight crown. Frank Sinatra—unable to acquire a ringside seat—took photos of the match for Life magazine. Legendary boxing announcer Don Dunphy and actor and boxing aficionado Burt Lancaster called the action for the broadcast, which reached millions of people. The fight lived up to the hype, and Frazier punctuated his victory by flooring Ali with a hard, leaping left hook in the 15th and final round. Frazier retained the title on a unanimous decision, dealing Ali his first professional loss.

In 1973, Ali fought Ken Norton, who broke Ali's jaw and won by split decision in 12 rounds. Ali won the rematch, also by split decision, on September 10, 1973, which set up Ali-Frazier II, a nontitle rematch with Joe Frazier, who had already lost his title to George Foreman. The bout was held on January 28, 1974, with Ali winning a unanimous 12-round decision.

The Rumble in the Jungle

In one of the biggest upsets in boxing history, Ali regained his title on October 30, 1974 by defeating champion George Foreman in their bout in Kinshasa, Zaire. Hyped as "The Rumble In The Jungle", the fight was promoted by Don King.

Almost no one, not even Ali's long-time supporter Howard Cosell, gave the former champion a chance of winning. Analysts pointed out that Joe Frazier and Ken Norton had given Ali four tough battles in the ring and won two of them, while Foreman had knocked out both of them in the second round. As a matter of fact, so total was the domination that, in their bout, Foreman had knocked down Frazier an incredible six times in only four minutes and 25 seconds.

During the bout, Ali employed an unexpected strategy. Leading up to the fight, he had declared he was going to "dance" and use his speed to keep away from Foreman and outbox him. However, in the first round, Ali headed straight for the champion and began scoring with a right hand lead, clearly surprising Foreman. Ali caught Foreman nine times in the first round with this technique but failed to knock him out. He then decided to take advantage of the young champion's weakness: staying power. Foreman had won 37 of his 40 bouts by knockout, mostly within three rounds. Eight of his previous bouts didn't go past the second round. Ali saw an opportunity to outlast Foreman, and capitalized on it.

In the second round, the challenger retreated to the ropes—inviting Foreman to hit him, while counterpunching and verbally taunting the younger man. Ali's plan was to enrage Foreman and absorb his best blows to exhaust him mentally and physically. While Foreman threw wide shots to Ali's body, Ali countered with stinging straight punches to Foreman's head. Foreman threw hundreds of punches in seven rounds, but with decreasing technique and potency. Ali's tactic of leaning on the ropes, covering up, and absorbing ineffective body shots was later termed "The Rope-A-Dope".

By the end of the seventh round, Foreman was exhausted. In the eighth round, Ali dropped Foreman with a combination at center ring and Foreman failed to make the count. Against the odds, Ali had regained the title.

The "Rumble in the Jungle" was the subject of a 1996 Academy Award winning documentary film, When We Were Kings. The fight and the events leading up to it are extensively depicted in both John Herzfeld's 1997 docudrama and Michael Mann's 2001 docudrama, Ali.

The Thrilla in Manila

In March 1975, Ali faced Chuck Wepner in a bout that inspired the original Rocky. While it was largely thought that Ali would dominate, Wepner surprised everyone by not only knocking Ali down in the ninth round, but nearly going the distance. Ali eventually stopped Wepner in the fading minutes of the 15th round. Following a title defense with Ron Lyle, in July Ali faced Joe Bugner, winning a 15 round decision.

On October 1, 1975, Ali fought Joe Frazier for the third time. Although widely perceived as a publicity stunt, the match against Inoki would have a long-term detrimental affect on Ali's mobility. Inoki spent much of the fight on the ground trying to damage Ali’s legs, while Ali spent most of the fight dodging the kicks or staying on the ropes. At the end of 15 rounds, the bout was called a draw. Ali's legs, however, were bleeding, leading to an infection. He suffered two blood clots in his legs as well.

In 1993, the Associated Press reported that Ali was tied with Babe Ruth as the most recognized athlete, out of over 800 dead or alive athletes, in America. The study, conducted by Nye Lavalle's Sports Marketing Group, found that over 97% of Americans, over 12-years of age, identified both Ali and Ruth.

He was the recipient of the 1997 Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

In retirement

Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1984, a disease for which those subject to severe head trauma, such as boxers, are many times more susceptible. Despite the disability, he remains a beloved and active public figure. In 1985, he served as a guest referee at the inaugural WrestleMania event. In 1987 he was selected by the California Bicentennial Foundation for the U.S. Constitution to personify the vitality of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights in various high profile activities. Ali rode on a float at the 1988 Tournament of Roses Parade, launching the U.S. Constitution's 200th birthday commemoration. He also published an oral history, by Thomas Hauser, in 1991. That same year Ali traveled to Iraq during the Gulf War and met with Saddam Hussein in an attempt to negotiate the release of American hostages. Ali received a Spirit of America Award calling him the most recognized American in the world. In 1996, he had the honor of lighting the flame at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.

, alongside Interstate 64 on Louisville's riverfront]]

He appeared at the 1998 AFL (Australian Football League) Grand Final, where Anthony Pratt invited him to watch the game. He also greets runners at the start line of the Los Angeles Marathon every year.

In 1999, the BBC produced a special version of its annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award ceremony, and Ali was voted their Sports Personality of the Century, receiving more votes than the other four contenders combined. His daughter Laila Ali also became a boxer in 1999, despite her father's earlier comments against female boxing in 1978: "Women are not made to be hit in the breast, and face like that... the body's not made to be punched right here [patting his chest]. Get hit in the breast... hard... and all that."

On September 13, 1999, Ali was named "Kentucky Athlete of the Century" by the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame in ceremonies at the Galt House East.

on display at the Ali Center]]

In 2001, a biographical film, entitled Ali, was made, directed by Michael Mann, with Will Smith starring as Ali. The film received mixed reviews, with the positives generally attributed to the acting, as Smith and supporting actor Jon Voight earned Academy Award nominations. Prior to making the Ali movie, Will Smith had continually rejected the role of Ali until Muhammad Ali personally requested that he accept the role. According to Smith, the first thing Ali said about the subject to him was: "Man, you're almost pretty enough to play me."

On November 17, 2002, Muhammad Ali went to Afghanistan as "U.N. Messenger of Peace". He was in Kabul for a three-day goodwill mission as a special guest of the United Nations.

On January 8, 2005, Muhammad Ali was presented with the Presidential Citizens Medal by President George W. Bush.

He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony on November 9, 2005, and the "Otto Hahn Peace Medal in Gold" of the United Nations Association of Germany (DGVN) in Berlin for his work with the US civil rights movement and the United Nations (December 17, 2005).

embraces Muhammad Ali after presenting him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 9, 2005, during ceremonies at the White House.]]

On November 19, 2005 (Ali's 19th wedding anniversary), the $60 million non-profit Muhammad Ali Center opened in downtown Louisville. In addition to displaying his boxing memorabilia, the center focuses on core themes of peace, social responsibility, respect, and personal growth.

According to the Ali Center website, "Since he retired from boxing, Ali has devoted himself to humanitarian endeavors around the globe. He is a devout Muslim, and travels the world over, lending his name and presence to hunger and poverty relief, supporting education efforts of all kinds, promoting adoption and encouraging people to respect and better understand one another. It is estimated that he has helped to provide more than 22 million meals to feed the hungry. Ali travels, on average, more than 200 days per year."

At the FedEx Orange Bowl on January 2, 2007, Ali was an honorary captain for the Louisville Cardinals wearing their white jersey, number 19. Ali was accompanied by golf legend Arnold Palmer, who was the honorary captain for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, and Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade.

A youth club in Ali's hometown and a species of rose (Rosa ali) have also been named after him. On June 5, 2007, he received an honorary doctorate of humanities at Princeton University's 260th graduation ceremony.

Ali lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with his fourth wife, Yolanda "Lonnie" Ali. They own a house in Berrien Springs, Michigan, which is for sale. On January 9, 2007, they purchased a house in eastern Jefferson County, Kentucky for $1,875,000. Lonnie converted to Islam from Catholicism in her late 20s.

On the 17th of August 2009, it was voted unanimously by the town council of Ennis, Co Clare, Ireland to make Ali the first Freeman of Ennis. Ennis was the birthplace of Ali's great grandfather before he emigrated to the U.S. in the 1860s, before eventually settling in Kentucky. On September 1, 2009, Ali visited the town of Ennis and at a civic reception he received the honour of the freedom of the town.

Ranking in heavyweight history

are preserved in the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History]]

Ali is generally considered to be one of the greatest heavyweights of all time by boxing commentators and historians. Ring Magazine, a prominent boxing magazine, named him number 1 in a 1998 ranking of greatest heavyweights from all eras.

Ali was named the second greatest fighter in boxing history by ESPN.com behind only welterweight and middleweight great Sugar Ray Robinson. In December 2007, ESPN listed Ali second in its choice of the greatest heavyweights of all time, behind Joe Louis.

Personal life

Muhammad Ali has been married four times and has seven daughters and two sons. Ali met his first wife, cocktail waitress Sonji Roi, approximately one month before they married on August 14, 1964. Roi's objections to certain Muslim customs in regard to dress for women contributed to the breakup of their marriage. They divorced on January 10, 1966.

On August 17, 1967, Ali (aged 25) married 17-year old Belinda Boyd. After the wedding, she converted to Islam and changed her name to Khalilah Ali, though she was still called Belinda by old friends and family. They had four children: Maryum (b. 1968), Jamillah and Liban (b. 1970), and Muhammad Ali Jr. (b. 1972).

In 1975, Ali began an affair with Veronica Porsche, an actress and model. By the summer of 1977, Ali's second marriage was over and he had married Veronica. At the time of their marriage, they had a baby girl, Hana, and Veronica was pregnant with their second child. Their second daughter, Laila, was born in December 1977. By 1986, Ali and Veronica were divorced.

On November 19, 1986, Ali married Yolanda Ali. They had been friends since 1964 in Louisville. They have one adopted son, Asaad Amin, who they adopted when Amin was five.

Ali has two other daughters, Miya and Khaliah, from extramarital relationships.

Ali in the media and popular culture

As a world champion boxer and social activist, Ali has been the subject of numerous books, films and other creative works. In 1963, he released an album of spoken word on Columbia Records titled I am the Greatest! He has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated on 37 different occasions, second only to Michael Jordan. He appeared in the documentary film Black Rodeo (1972) riding both a horse and a bull. His autobiography The Greatest: My Own Story, written with Richard Durham, was published in 1975. In 1977 the book was adapted into a film called The Greatest, in which Ali played himself and Ernest Borgnine played Angelo Dundee. When We Were Kings, a 1996 documentary about the Rumble in the Jungle, won an Academy Award, and the 2001 biopic Ali garnered an Oscar nomination for Will Smith's portrayal of the lead role.

For contributions to the entertainment industry, Muhammed Ali was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard.

Professional boxing record

|- | style="text-align:center;" colspan="8"|56 Wins (37 knockouts, 19 decisions), 5 Losses (4 decisions, 1 retirement), 0 Draws |- style="text-align:center; background:#e3e3e3; background:#e3e3e3;" | style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Res. | style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Opponent | style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Type | style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Rd., Time | style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Date | style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Location | style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Notes |- style="text-align:center;" | Loss | Trevor Berbick | Decision | 10 | 1981-12-11 | Align=left| Nassau, Bahamas | |- style="text-align:center;" | Loss | Larry Holmes | TKO | 10 | 1980-10-02 | Align=left| Las Vegas, NV | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Leon Spinks | Decision | 15 | 1978-09-15 | Align=left| New Orleans, LA | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Loss | Leon Spinks | Decision | 15 | 1978-02-15 | Align=left| Las Vegas, NV | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Earnie Shavers | Decision | 15 | 1977-09-29 | Align=left| New York City, NY | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Alfredo Evangelista | Decision | 15 | 1977-05-16 | Align=left| Landover, MD | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Ken Norton | Decision | 15 | 1976-09-28 | Align=left| The Bronx, New York | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Richard Dunn | TKO | 5 | 1976-05-24 | Align=left| Munich, Germany | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Jimmy Young | Decision | 15 | 1976-04-30 | Align=left| Landover, MD | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Jean-Pierre Coopman | KO | 5 | 1976-02-20 | Align=left| San Juan, Puerto Rico | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Joe Frazier | TKO | 14 , 0:59 | 1975-10-01 | Align=left| Quezon City, Philippines | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Joe Bugner | Decision | 15 | 1975-06-30 | Align=left| Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Ron Lyle | TKO | 11 | 1975-05-16 | Align=left| Las Vegas, NV | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Chuck Wepner | TKO | 15 , 2:41 | 1975-03-24 | Align=left| Richfield, OH | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | George Foreman | KO | 8 , 2:58 | 1974-10-30 | Align=left| Kinshasa, Zaire | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Joe Frazier | Decision | 12 | 1974-01-28 | Align=left| New York City, NY | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Rudi Lubbers | Decision | 12 | 1973-10-20 | Align=left| Jakarta, Indonesia | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Ken Norton | Decision | 12 | 1973-09-10 | Align=left| Inglewood, CA | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Loss | Ken Norton | Decision | 12 | 1973-03-31 | Align=left| San Diego, CA | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Joe Bugner | Decision | 12 | 1973-02-14 | Align=left| Las Vegas, NV | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Bob Foster | KO | 7 | 1972-11-21 | Align=left| Stateline, NV | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Floyd Patterson | TKO | 7 | 1972-09-20 | Align=left| New York City, NY | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Alvin Lewis | TKO | 11 , 1:15 | 1972-07-19 | Align=left| Dublin, Ireland | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Jerry Quarry | TKO | 7 , 0:19 | 1972-06-27 | Align=left| Las Vegas, NV | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | George Chuvalo | Decision | 12 | 1972-05-01 | Align=left| Vancouver, Canada | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Mac Foster | Decision | 15 | 1972-04-01 | Align=left| Tokyo, Japan | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Jürgen Blin | KO | 7 , 2:12 | 1971-12-26 | Align=left| Zurich, Switzerland | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Buster Mathis | Decision | 12 | 1971-11-17 | Align=left| Houston, TX | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Jimmy Ellis | TKO | 12 , 2:10 | 1971-07-26 | Align=left| Houston, TX | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Loss | Joe Frazier | Decision | 15 | 1971-03-08 | Align=left| New York City, NY | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Oscar Bonavena | TKO | 15 , 2:03 | 1970-12-07 | Align=left| New York City, NY | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Jerry Quarry | TKO | 3 | 1970-10-26 | Align=left| Atlanta, GA | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Zora Folley | KO | 7 , 1:48 | 1967-03-22 | Align=left| New York City, NY | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Ernie Terrell | Decision | 15 | 1967-02-06 | Align=left| Houston, TX | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Cleveland Williams | TKO | 3 | 1966-11-14 | Align=left| Houston, TX | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Karl Mildenberger | TKO | 12 | 1966-09-10 | Align=left| Frankfurt, Germany | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Brian London | KO | 3 | 1966-08-06 | Align=left| London, England | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Henry Cooper | TKO | 6 , 1:38 | 1966-05-21 | Align=left| London, England | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | George Chuvalo | Decision | 15 | 1966-03-29 | Align=left| Toronto, Canada | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Floyd Patterson | TKO | 12 , 2:18 | 1965-11-22 | Align=left| Las Vegas, NV | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Sonny Liston | KO | 1 , 2:12 | 1965-05-25 | Align=left| Lewiston, ME | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Sonny Liston | TKO | 7 | 1964-02-25 | Align=left| Miami Beach, FL | Align=left| |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Henry Cooper | TKO | 5 , 2:15 | 1963-06-18 | Align=left| London, England | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Doug Jones | Decision | 10 | 1963-03-13 | Align=left| New York City, NY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Charley Powell | KO | 3, 2:04 | 1963-01-24 | Align=left| Pittsburgh, PA | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Archie Moore | TKO | 4 , 1:35 | 1962-11-15 | Align=left| Los Angeles, CA | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Alejandro Lavorante | KO | 5 , 1:48 | 1962-07-20 | Align=left| Los Angeles, CA | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Billy Daniels | TKO | 7 , 2:21 | 1962-05-19 | Align=left| New York City, NY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | George Logan | TKO | 4 , 1:34 | 1962-04-23 | Align=left| New York City, NY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Don Warner | TKO | 4, 0:34 | 1962-03-28 | Align=left| Miami Beach, FL | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Sonny Banks | TKO | 4 , 0:26 | 1962-02-10 | Align=left| New York City, NY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Willi Besmanoff | TKO | 7 , 1:55 | 1961-11-29 | Align=left| Louisville, KY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Alex Miteff | TKO | 6 , 1:45 | 1961-10-07 | Align=left| Louisville, KY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Alonzo Johnson | Decision | 10 | 1961-07-22 | Align=left| Louisville, KY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Duke Sabedong | Decision | 10 | 1961-06-26 | Align=left| Las Vegas, NV | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | LaMar Clark | KO | 2 , 1:27 | 1961-04-19 | Align=left| Louisville, KY | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Donnie Fleeman | TKO | 7 | 1961-02-21 | Align=left| Miami Beach, FL | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Jimmy Robinson | KO | 1 , 1:34 | 1961-02-07 | Align=left| Miami Beach, FL | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Tony Esperti | TKO | 3 , 1:30 | 1961-01-17 | Align=left| Miami Beach, FL | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Herb Siler | KO | 4 | 1960-12-27 | Align=left| Miami Beach, FL | |- style="text-align:center;" | Win | Tunney Hunsaker | Decision | 6 | 1960-10-29 | Align=left| Louisville, KY |

See also

List of heavyweight boxing champions

List of North American Muslims

List of people from Louisville, Kentucky

List of WBA world champions

List of WBC world champions

Notable boxing families

Conscientious Objector

Notes

References

External links

www.maprc.com Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center (MAPC)

Muhammad Ali: Made in Miami

Cassius Clay: Before He Was Ali - slideshow by Life magazine

Honors and Awards.com - Presidential Citizens Medal

http://boxrec.com/ratings.php?country=&sex;=m&division;=Heavyweight&status;=E&SUBMIT;=Go

http://boxrec.com/ratings.php?country=&sex;=m&division;=P4P&status;=E&SUBMIT;=Go

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Category:1942 births Category:Living people Category:African American boxers Category:American boxers of Irish descent Category:American boxers of English descent Category:American anti-Vietnam War activists Category:Boxers from Kentucky Category:World Heavyweight Champions Category:Heavyweights Category:WBA Champions Category:WBC Champions Category:African American Muslims Category:American conscientious objectors Category:American Sufis Category:Boxers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Category:COINTELPRO targets Category:Converts to Islam from Christianity Category:International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Category:Kentucky colonels Category:Olympic boxers of the United States Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States Category:People with Parkinson's disease Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Category:Presidential Citizens Medal recipients Category:Professional wrestling referees Category:People from Louisville, Kentucky Category:People from Paradise Valley, Arizona Category:Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers Category:African American converts to Islam Category:Former Nation of Islam members

Name	Mary McAleese
Office	8th President of Ireland
Term start	11 November 1997
Predecessor	Mary Robinson
Birth date	June 27, 1951
Birth place	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Party	Independent (2004–present)
Otherparty	Fianna Fáil (1987–2004)
Spouse	Martin McAleese (1976–present)
Children	3
Alma mater	Queen's University BelfastTrinity College, Dublin
Profession	BarristerJournalist
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature	Mary McAleese Signature.svg

Mary Patricia McAleese (, née Leneghan) (, ; born 27 June 1951) is the eighth and current President of Ireland. Prior to becoming president she was a barrister, journalist and academic.

McAleese is Ireland's second female president. She was first elected president in 1997 and won a second term, without a contest, in 2004. Her birth in Belfast means she is the first president to have come from both Northern Ireland and the Province of Ulster. She is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders.

Background

McAleese was born Mary Patricia Leneghan () in Ardoyne, north Belfast, the eldest of nine children. She is a Roman Catholic. Educated at St Dominic's High School, she also spent some time when younger with the Poor Clares, The Queen's University of Belfast (from which she graduated in 1973), and Trinity College Dublin. She was called to the Northern Irish Bar in 1974, and is also a member of the Irish Bar (which operates in the Republic of Ireland). In 1975, she was appointed Reid Professor of Criminal Law, Criminology and Penology in Trinity College, succeeding Mary Robinson.

During the same decade, she acted as legal advisor to, and a founding member of, the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform, but she left this position in 1979 to join RTÉ as a journalist and presenter, during one period as a reporter and presenter for their Today Tonight programme. However, in RTE she was attacked and criticized by a group led by Eoghan Harris and associated with the Workers' Party of Ireland over what they perceived as her bias towards Republican groups in the North. While McAleese was highly critical of the Provisional IRA, she believed that it was important to hear their side of the story and was critical of the Harris faction's support for Section 31 which she believed was an attack on free speech. In 1981, she returned to the Reid Professorship, but continued to work part-time for RTÉ for a further four years. In 1987, she returned to Queen's University to become Director of the Institute of Professional Legal Studies. In the same year, she stood, unsuccessfully, as a Fianna Fáil candidate in the Dublin South East constituency at the general election, receiving 2,243 votes (5.9%). Under the Constitution of Ireland, residents of Northern Ireland are eligible to run in elections in the Republic.

McAleese was a member of the Catholic Church Episcopal Delegation to the New Ireland Forum in 1984, and a member of the Catholic Church delegation to the Northern Ireland Commission on Contentious Parades in 1996. She was also a delegate to the 1995 White House Conference on Trade and Investment in Ireland and to the subsequent Pittsburgh Conference in 1996. She became the Pro-Vice Chancellor of The Queen's University of Belfast. He has assisted his wife with some of her initiatives as president. They have three children: eldest daughter Emma graduated as an engineer from University College, Dublin and is now a dentistry student at Trinity College, Dublin, and her siblings are twins: Justin, an accountant with a master's degree from University College Dublin, and SaraMai, who obtained a master's degree in biochemistry at the University of Oxford. All the family are said to be "fitness fanatics" bar Justin.

First term (1997–2004)

In 1997, McAleese defeated former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds in an internal party election held to determine the Fianna Fáil nomination for the Irish presidency. In 1990, the journalist and commentator Eoghan Harris referred to her as a "tribal time bomb".

Her opponents in the 1997 presidential election were Mary Banotti of Fine Gael, Adi Roche (the Labour Party candidate) and two independents: Dana Rosemary Scallon and Derek Nally. Some people at the time expressed anger at the thought of having McAleese or Scallon, both from Northern Ireland, as President of Ireland.

She won the seat for Presidency with 45.2% of first preference votes. In the second and final count against Banotti, she won 58.7% of preferences. On 11 November 1997, she was inaugurated as the eighth President of Ireland.

McAleese described the theme of her presidency as "building bridges". The first individual born in Northern Ireland to become President of Ireland, President McAleese is a regular visitor to Northern Ireland, where she has been on the whole warmly welcomed by both communities, confounding the critics who had believed she would be a divisive figure. People from Northern Ireland, indeed people from right across the nine-county Province of Ulster, are regular and recurring visitors to Áras an Uachtaráin while she is there.

On 27 January 2005, following her attendance at the ceremony commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp, she caused controversy by making reference to the way in which some Protestant children in Northern Ireland had been brought up to hate Catholics just as European children "for generations, for centuries" were encouraged to hate Jews. These remarks caused outrage among unionist politicians. McAleese later apologised, conceding that, because she had criticised only the sectarianism found on one side of the community, her words had been unbalanced. , Canada, 2007]] On 22 May 2005, she was the Commencement Speaker at Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania, USA. The visit prompted protests by conservatives due to the President's professing heterodox Roman Catholic views on homosexuality and women in priesthood. She was the commencement speaker at the University of Notre Dame on 21 May 2006. In her commencement address, among other topics, she spoke of her pride at Notre Dame's Irish heritage, including the nickname the "Fighting Irish".

She attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II on 8 April 2005 and the Papal Inaugration of Pope Benedict XVI on 24 April.

On 3 June 2007, McAleese attended the canonization by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome of Saint Charles of Mount Argus. She was accompanied by Martin McAleese, Cardinal Desmond Connell, Mary Hanafin, TD, the Minister for Education and Science, together with bishops and other pilgrims. She later met the Pope and embarked on other official duties, including a trip to St. Isidore's College, a talk at the Pontifical Irish College and a Mass said especially for the Irish Embassy at Villa Spada chapel.

In August 2007, McAleese spoke out against homophobia at the International Association of Suicide Prevention 24th Biennial Conference.

In December 2008, she embarked on a seven-day visit to Hollywood alongside Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Film Board on a mission to promote the Irish film and television industry.

On 21 January 2009, she signed into law the Anglo Irish Bank Corporation Act 2009 at a ceremony in Áras an Uachtaráin, facilitating the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank.

In 2009, Forbes named her among the 100 Most Powerful Women in the world.

In November 2009 she signed into law the National Asset Management Agency.

McAleese underwent an official two-day visit to London from 28 February 2010, where she visited the site of the 2012 Summer Olympics and was guest of honour at the Madejski Stadium for a rugby union match between London Irish and Harlequin F.C.

On 13 May 2010, she attended the Balmoral Show at the Balmoral Showgrounds, which includes the King's Hall, in south Belfast. Northern Irish Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and Northern Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew gave her breakfast and walked around with her during the day.

From 16 May 2010, McAleese underwent an official visit to New York over several days. She began by appearing at an Irish Voice event in honour of life science. and opened An Gorta Mor exhibition with a speech declaring her promise that Ireland's foreign policy focused on global hunger. She was also present at St. Patrick's Cathedral for a Famine mass and went to the Battery Park's Irish Hunger Memorial to see the official New York commemoration of the Famine.

From 13 June 2010, McAleese underwent an official visit to China. She met with Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping and the pair spoke for 35 minutes over lunch.

Alongside Minister of State Billy Kelleher, she made an official visit to the Russian Federation for four days in September 2010 and she met with President Dmitry Medvedev. She spoke kindly of Mikhail Gorbachev, officially invited Medvedev to Ireland and addressed students at a university in Saint Petersburg. On her state tour to Russia, highlighting the importance of competence, she launched an unprecedented attack on the Financial Regulator for their role in the financial crisis which resulted in tens of thousands of people in mortgage arrears.

The president turned down an invitation to be Grand Marshall at the 250th St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York City planned for 2011. The parade organisers refuse to allow gay people to march under their banner, and there was media speculation that this was the reason for the refusal. A spokesperson for the President's office stated that, while honoured by the invitation, she could not attend due to "scheduling constraints".

Council of State

Meetings

{|class="wikitable" |- !No. !Article !Reserve power !Subject !Outcome |- |1. |1999 meeting |Address to the Oireachtas |The new millennium |Address given |- |2. |2000 meeting |Referral of bill to the Supreme Court |Planning and Development Bill, 1999 Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Bill, 1999 |Sections of both bills referred(Both upheld) |- |3. |2002 meeting |Referral of bill to the Supreme Court |Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No. 2) Bill, 2001 |Bill not referred |- |4. |2004 meeting |Referral of bill to the Supreme Court |Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2004 |Bill referred(Struck down) |- |5. |2009 meeting |Referral of bill to the Supreme Court |Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009Defamation Bill 2009 |Bills not referred |- |6. |2010 meeting |Referral of bill to the Supreme Court |Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Bill 2010 |Signed without referral |}

Presidential appointees

First term

Gordon Brett

Brian Crowley

Ruth Curtis

Christina Carney Flynn

Stanislaus Kennedy

Martin Naughton

Noel Stewart

Second term

Harvey Bicker

Anastasia Crickley

Mary Davis

Martin Mansergh

Enda Marren

Denis Moloney

Daráine Mulvihill

Awards and honorary doctorates

McAleese has received awards and honorary doctorates throughout her career.

On 3 May 2007, she was awarded the The American Ireland Fund Humanitarian Award.

On 31 October 2007, she was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of Otago, New Zealand.

On 19 May 2009, she became the third living person to be awarded the freedom of Kilkenny, succeeding Brian Cody and Séamus Pattison.

On 24 May 2009, she was awarded an honorary doctorate of law from Mount Holyoke College, in, South Hadley, Massachusetts.

On 22 May 2010, she was awarded an honorary doctorate of law Fordham University, in Bronx, New York, where she delivered the commencement speech to the class of 2010.

References

Further reading

Mary McAleese-The Outsider: An Unauthorised Biography, Justine McCarthy, Dublin, Blackwater Press, 1999

Máire Mhic Ghiolla Íosa: Beathaisnéis, Ray Mac Mánais. Irish Language Biography. Later translated as ''The Road From Ardoyne: The Making Of A President', Ray Mac Mánais, Dingle, Brandon, 2004

First citizen: Mary McAleese and the Irish Presidency, Patsy McGarry, Dublin, O'Brien Press, 2008

External links

Rome Reports TV interview

Official biography

BBC Extended interview with Mary McAleese (audio) (interview of 2/3/2003)

AIF Humanitarian Award speech

2009 Commencement speech - Mount Holyoke College

Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:Presidents of Ireland Category:Current national leaders Category:Female heads of state Category:Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Category:Academics of Queen's University Belfast Category:People associated with Trinity College, Dublin Category:Barristers from Northern Ireland Category:Members of the Bar of Northern Ireland Category:Irish legal scholars Category:People from Belfast Category:LGBT rights activists from Ireland

Playername	Keiren Westwood
Fullname	Keiren Westwood
Dateofbirth	October 23, 1984
Cityofbirth	Manchester
Countryofbirth	England
Height
Position	Goalkeeper
Currentclub	Coventry City
Clubnumber	1
Youthclubs1	Manchester City
Years1	2003–2004 | clubs1 = Manchester City | caps1 = 0 | goals1 = 0
Years2	2004 | clubs2 = → Oldham Athletic (loan) | caps2 = 0 | goals2 = 0
Years3	2004–2008 | clubs3 = Carlisle United | caps3 = 131 | goals3 = 0
Years4	2008– | clubs4 = Coventry City | caps4 = 114 | goals4 = 0
Club-update	28 December 2010
Nationalyears1	2009– | nationalteam1 = Republic of Ireland | nationalcaps1 = 5 | nationalgoals1 = 0
Nationalteam-update	30 May 2009

Keiren Westwood (born 23 October 1984 in Manchester, Greater Manchester) is an English-born footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. He currently plays for Coventry City. He qualifies to play for the Irish national team by virtue of an Irish born Grandmother.

Club career

Manchester City

Westwood started his career at Manchester City where he never played a first team game and was released as he was understudy to David James and Nicky Weaver.

Carlisle United

Westwood then joined Carlisle United, becoming the understudy to Matt Glennon. Although he played in most cup games, in March 2005, when Glennon was injured, Westwood played some Conference games for Carlisle before being replaced by the fit-again Glennon.

In the 2005–06 season, Glennon left Carlisle and they signed Anthony Williams as his replacement. It looked like Westwood would be the club's number two goalkeeper again, though he finally got his chance to compete for the number one shirt and he succeeded in taking his chance. He started 35 League Two games in their title season and continued to be the club's number one goalkeeper. At the end of the 2007–08 season in League One, Westwood was named in the PFA Team of the Year and also won all of the club's Player of the Season awards.

Coventry City

On 18 June 2008, Westwood signed a three year contract with Championship club Coventry City for an undisclosed fee. Westwood was named in the Championship PFA Team of the Year for 2009 after many excellent displays for Coventry City in his debut season at the club. He was also awarded the South Wales Supporters' Club's Player of the season award for 2008/09. He made his 100th appearance for Coventry City in their 2–1 win at Doncaster Rovers in the 2010-11 Football League Championship.

His excellent form continued during the 2009/10 season. This was shown as he took a clean sweep of the player of the season awards; picking up Player of the Season, Players' Player of the Season; and also Player of the Season awards from the Official Coventry City Supporters Club, London, Irish and South Wales Supporters' Clubs.

International career

On 17 May 2008, Westwood was called up by the Irish team to attend their training camp in Portugal after impressing against Leeds United in a League One match. Three days later he made his debut as a second half substitute in a practice match against Portuguese club Lagos, replacing Joe Murphy after 66 minutes.

Westwood made his first appearance for Ireland in a friendly against Nigeria in May 2009.

References

External links

Category:Living people Category:1984 births Category:People from Manchester Category:English footballers Category:English Roman Catholics Category:Republic of Ireland association footballers Category:Republic of Ireland international footballers Category:Association football goalkeepers Category:Manchester City F.C. players Category:Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Category:Carlisle United F.C. players Category:Coventry City F.C. players Category:Conference National players Category:The Football League players

Giovanni Trapattoni (born 17 March 1939), known as "[Il] Trap", is an Italian football coach and former player, considered the most successful club coach in the history of Serie A.

Trapattoni is currently the manager of the Republic of Ireland national team. He also coached the Italian national team and throughout Europe. He is also the only manager to have won all UEFA club competitions and the Intercontinental Cup. He achieved this with Juventus over his two spells with the club.

One of the most celebrated managers in football history, Trapattoni is one of only two coaches, alongside the Austrian Ernst Happel, to have won the league title (10) in four different countries (Italy, Germany, Portugal, and Austria). Alongside the German Udo Lattek, he is the only coach to have won all three major European club titles. Also, he is the only one to have won all UEFA club competitions and the World Club title, also having the record of UEFA Cup wins (three).

Playing career

Born in Cusano Milanino near Milan, Trapattoni had a successful career as a player with Milan in the 1960s and early 1970s. Playing primarily as a defender and defensive midfielder with the main task of passing the ball to more creative players such as Giovanni Lodetti and Gianni Rivera, he also played for the Italian national team, mostly as centre back with notable marking skills, appearing at the 1962 FIFA World Cup in Chile.

After taking a break from the national team, Trapattoni thought he could settle with a mid-table team for one last season instead of being at one club all his life, subsequently moving to Varese and, after a successful season with them, retired from professional football and embarked on a highly successful managerial career two years later.

Statistics

|- |1958/59||rowspan="13"|Milan||rowspan="13"|Serie A||0||0|||||||||||| |- |1959/60||2||0|||||||||||| |- |1960/61||30||1|||||||||||| |- |1961/62||32||0|||||||||||| |- |1962/63||30||0|||||||||||| |- |1963/64||28||1|||||||||||| |- |1964/65||30||0|||||||||||| |- |1965/66||18||1|||||||||||| |- |1966/67||23||0|||||||||||| |- |1967/68||24||0|||||||||||| |- |1968/69||22||0|||||||||||| |- |1969/70||20||0|||||||||||| |- |1970/71||15||0|||||||||||| |- |1971/72||Varese||Serie A||10||0|||||||||||| 284||3|||||||||||| 284||3|||||||||||| |}

|- |1960||1||0 |- |1961||5||0 |- |1962||2||0 |- |1963||6||1 |- |1964||3||0 |- !Total||17||1 |}

Coaching career

Trapattoni began coaching at Milan as a youth team coach, before becoming caretaker coach. He was appointed first team coach in 1975. In 1976, he moved on to Italian giants Juventus, where he won all UEFA club competitions (European record) and, ten years later, went to Internazionale, being very successful with both sides. He returned to Juventus in 1991 before taking his first job outside Italy, as coach of Bayern Munich in 1994, and then from 1996 to 1998. He is well remembered by German fans for an emotional outburst in broken German during a press conference on 10 March 1998 ("Was erlauben Strunz?"..Ich habe fertig!" − How dare Strunz? … I have finished) where he criticized the team's attitude ("Diese Spieler waren schwach wie eine Flasche leer!" − These players were weak like an empty bottle). He also coached Cagliari (1994–95) and Fiorentina (1998 to 2000, leading them to a UEFA Champions League place).

Italy

In July 2000, Trapattoni took charge of the Italian national team after the resignation of Dino Zoff. He led the team to the 2002 FIFA World Cup. In that tournament, after winning its first match against Ecuador, Italy's form dropped and they controversially lost to Croatia. They drew with Mexico, with Alessandro Del Piero scoring a late equalizer. In the second round, Italy were eliminated by South Korea, in a controversial match that saw Italy lead for most of the game, concede an equaliser two minutes from full time, and lose in extra-time with Ahn Jung-Hwan scoring a golden goal that sealed their fate.

At the 2004 European Championship, Italy once again failed to impress. They drew with both Denmark and Sweden, leading to an unexpected early exit. On 25 June 2004, Marcello Lippi was named as Trapattoni's replacement, as his contract ran out on 15 July 2004.

Benfica

On 5 July 2004, Trapattoni was named as new coach of Portuguese League club Sport Lisboa e Benfica, which he led to win the 2005 league, the first in 11 years, and also to the Portuguese Cup final (which Benfica lost to Vitória de Setúbal). He resigned after the 2005 season, saying he wanted to be closer to his family (in the north of Italy).

Stuttgart

Trapattoni returned to management in the German Bundesliga in the summer of 2005, by signing at VfB Stuttgart, with much hype about his appointment. However, during his 20 games at the helm, Stuttgart produced poor results. Denmark internationals Jon Dahl Tomasson and Jesper Grønkjær openly criticized their coach, claiming he was afraid to attack. Trapattoni responded by dropping both players to the bench. With the atmosphere in the team worsening, he was sacked after just seven months, on 9 February 2006, reportedly for "not fulfilling the ambitions of the club". He was replaced as manager by Armin Veh.

Red Bull Salzburg

In May 2006, Red Bull Salzburg announced it had signed Trapattoni as its new director of football, along with one of his former players, Lothar Matthäus, as coach. Trapattoni initially cast doubt on this report, claiming he had not signed any contract. But three days later, both he and Matthäus signed and made their hirings official. After their successful season of 2006–07, the club's board of directors unanimously decided to dismiss Matthäus, making Thorsten Fink Trapattoni's new assistant.

Ireland

On 11 February 2008, Trapattoni "agreed in principle" to take over the Irish manager's job, but finished the season with Red Bull before taking up the Irish position on 1 May. Former Ireland midfielder Liam Brady was expected to be part of the Italian's backroom staff, while Marco Tardelli was confirmed as Trapattoni's assistant manager. Trapattoni signed Brady back in 1980 for Juventus from Arsenal for just over £500,000.

Red Bull Salzburg confirmed, on 13 February 2008, that at the end of the 2007–08 season, Trapattoni would be leaving the club to take over as the Republic of Ireland manager.

Trapattoni's first game in charge, a friendly against Serbia on 24 May 2008, ended in a 1–1 draw. His second, another friendly, against Colombia five days later, meant his first victory with the national side, 1–0. This was followed by a 1–1 draw with Norway, his first competitive win against Georgia and a draw with Montengro in the 2010 World Cup qualifying stage. He then went on to say that Paul McShane was one of the most talented footballers he had ever seen, comparing him to a young Fabio Cannavaro.

Trapattoni's first defeat came in a friendly against Poland on 19 November 2008, a 3–2 loss at Croke Park. He also managed to claim a 1–1 away draw against 2006 FIFA World Cup champions Italy, that he had managed himself from 2000 to 2004, thanks to a late equaliser from Robbie Keane. He finished the qualifying campaign unbeaten, becoming only the third Irish manager to do so, qualifying for a playoff place for the 2010 World Cup.

In September 2009, he signed a new contract with Ireland that would have seen him continue as manager until the 2012 European Championships. In the first leg of the World Cup playoff in Croke Park on 14 November 2009, France won 1–0 with a goal by Nicolas Anelka. In the second leg in Paris, on 18 November 2009, a goal from Robbie Keane levelled the aggregate scores at 1–1 in the first half. In extra time, however, a William Gallas equaliser put France through 2–1 on aggregate. Replays of the French goal showed that Thierry Henry had twice used his hand to control the ball before crossing for Gallas to head home.

Manuela Spinelli is Trapattoni's interpreter. Because she speaks both Italian and English, she is with him for most interviews.

Personal life

Trapattoni is a cooperator of Opus Dei. He is married to Paola and has several grandchildren.

Health

In August 2010, Trapattoni was submitted to hospital in Dublin, one day before Ireland's friendly with Argentina. It was initially believed that shellfish he ate before arriving in the country was to blame for him feeling unwell. Trap underwent surgery in the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin on 11 August. He missed the Argentina game due to his surgery. In January 2011, reports in the Italian media, claimed that Trapattoni was at home recovering from a mild stroke he suffered during surgery on 28 December 2010. The reports claimed that the stroke had caused partial paralysis down the right side of his body. In a statement released through the FAI, Trapattoni said that while he did have scheduled surgery in Italy over Christmas, he had not suffered a stroke.

Style

Trapattoni is very popular in Italy also due to his peculiar style, including original press conference speeches often featuring language mistakes and trademark quotes, one of the most famous being "non dire gatto se non l'hai nel sacco ("don't say cat until you've got it in the bag"). Such approach, coupled with his difficulties with the local language, won him a significant amount of popularity also in Germany during his spell at FC Bayern Munich; about this period, it is worth to mention his most famous press conference while at the helm of the Bavarians, during which he soundingly attacked many of his player, including Thomas Strunz (whose last name incidentally resembles an Italian swear word) in a speech full of mistakes and neologisms, most famously using "Ich habe fertig" (roughly translatable as "I am finished") and "Schwach wie eine Flasche leer" ("weak like an empty bottle").

Trapattoni is also popular for his two-fingered whistle he regularly performs to capture the attention of his players during games. Trapattoni also used to bring a bottle of holy water during all the 2002 FIFA World Cup games in charge of the Italian national team. and the fourth coach with the most international competitions for clubs won in the world — second in Europe — with seven titles in eight finals, including the Intercontinental Cup final (mainly with Juventus). Alongside the German Udo Lattek, he is the only coach to have won all three major European club titles. Also, he is the only one to have won all UEFA club competitions and the World Club title, also having the record of UEFA Cup wins (three).

Player honours

; Milan

Italian League (2): 1961–62, 1967–68

Italian Cup (1): 1966–67

European Cup (2): 1963, 1969

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1): 1967–68

Intercontinental Cup (1): 1969

Managerial honours

; Juventus

Italian League (6): 1976–77, 1977–78, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1983–84, 1985–86

Italian Cup (2): 1978–79, 1982–83

European Cup (1): 1984-85

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1): 1984

UEFA Cup (2): 1977, 1993

European Super Cup (1): 1984

Intercontinental Cup (1): 1985

; Internazionale

Italian League (1): 1988–89

UEFA Cup (1): 1991

; Bayern Munich

German League (1): 1996–97

German Cup (1): 1997–98

German League Cup (1): 1996–97

; Benfica

Portuguese League (1): 2004–05

; Red Bull Salzburg

Austrian League (1): 2006–07

Managerial statistics

See also

List of UEFA club competition winning managers

List of Intercontinental Cup winning managers

List of European Cup and Champions League winning managers

List of UEFA Cup Winners' Cup winning managers

List of UEFA Cup winning managers

List of UEFA Super Cup winning managers

References

External links

FIFA.com Playing Profile

Trapattoni's German website

Support for Charity

FAI Profile

UEFA Profile

Category:1939 births Category:Living people Category:People from the Province of Milan Category:Italian footballers Category:Serie A footballers Category:A.C. Milan players Category:A.S. Varese 1910 players Category:Italy international footballers Category:1962 FIFA World Cup players Category:Footballers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Category:Olympic footballers of Italy Category:Association football defenders Category:Italian football managers Category:Serie A managers Category:A.C. Milan managers Category:Juventus F.C. managers Category:F.C. Internazionale Milano managers Category:ACF Fiorentina managers Category:Cagliari Calcio managers Category:FC Bayern Munich managers Category:Italy national football team managers Category:2002 FIFA World Cup managers Category:UEFA Euro 2004 managers Category:Republic of Ireland national football team managers Category:VfB Stuttgart managers Category:FC Red Bull Salzburg managers Category:Primeira Liga managers Category:Expatriate football managers in Germany Category:Expatriate football managers in Portugal Category:Fußball-Bundesliga managers