Republic of Ireland

Ireland (ⁱ/ˈaɪərlənd/; Irish: Éire [ˈeːɾʲə]), also known as the Republic of Ireland (Poblacht na hÉireann), is a sovereign state in north-western Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the eastern part of the island, and whose metropolitan area is home to around a third of the country's 4.6 million inhabitants. The state shares its only land border with Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, Saint George's Channel to the south-east and the Irish Sea to the east. It is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The Oireachtas (legislature) consists of a lower house, Dáil Éireann (House of Representatives, lit. 'Assembly of Ireland'), an upper house, Seanad Éireann (Senate of Ireland), and an elected President (Uachtarán) who serves as the largely ceremonial head of state, but with some important powers and duties. The head of government is the Taoiseach (Prime Minister, literally 'Chief', a title not used in English), who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President, and appoints other government ministers.

Matches of the Republic of Ireland national football team

This is a sortable list of all association football matches played by the Republic of Ireland national football team since 1924.

Following the Irish War of Independence from the United Kingdom, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) was founded in September 1921. Ireland joined world football governing body FIFA in August 1923 as the Football Association of the Irish Free State (FAIFS). Ireland's first post-Independence internationals were played at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. The team played as Irish Free State between 1924 and 1935. The name Football Association of Ireland was re-adopted in 1936, and from then until 1954, they played as Ireland; since 1954 they have been Republic of Ireland following the renaming of the team by FIFA, to distinguish them from Northern Ireland.

Ireland competed every four years in the qualification phases of the World Cups and, from 1960, in the qualification phases of the European Nations' Cup, later known as the European Football Championships.

Names of the Irish state

There have been various names for the state that is today officially known as Ireland. The state makes up almost five-sixths of the island of Ireland. Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, covers the rest of the island. When the state was created in 1922 it was named the Irish Free State. In 1937 it adopted a new constitution which claimed all of Ireland as its territory, becoming Ireland in English and Éire in Irish, although the latter was often used in English too. In 1949 it declared itself a republic and adopted the term Republic of Ireland as its official description while keeping the name Ireland.

The terms Republic of Ireland (ROI), the Republic or the South are often used when there is a need to distinguish the state from the island or when Northern Ireland (NI or the North) is being discussed. Some Irish republicans avoid calling the state Ireland because they view it as partitionist.

Constitutional name

Article 4 of the Constitution of Ireland, adopted in 1937, provides that "[t]he name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland". Hence, the Irish state has two official names, Éire (in Irish) and Ireland (in English). For official purposes, including in international treaties and other legal documents, and where the language of the documents is English, the Irish government uses the name Ireland. The same is true in respect of the name Éire for documents written in Irish. Similarly, the name of the state is reflected in its institutions and public offices. For example, there is a President of Ireland and a Constitution of Ireland. The name Ireland is also used in the state's diplomatic relations with foreign nations and at meetings of the United Nations,European Union,Council of Europe,International Monetary Fund, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Television in the Republic of Ireland

Television in Ireland is available through a variety of platforms. The digital terrestrial television service is known as Saorview and is the primary source of broadcast television since analogue transmissions ended on 24 October 2012. Digital satellite (from Sky Ireland, Saorsat and other European satellite service providers are available) and Cable (from Virgin Media Ireland) are also widely used.

The Irish satellite fill-in service (Saorsat) is via Ka-Sat using the Irish K_a band spot and has been available since June 2011.

While many people receive their television via Saorview, which is broadcast by 2RN, more than half subscribe to multichannel television networks. The biggest single multichannel television network in Ireland is Sky Ireland, which broadcasts digital satellite television services.Virgin Media Ireland, Magnet Networks, Eir and Smart Vision, among others, provide similar digital television services to Irish viewers.

History

Television was first received in Ireland from 1949, following the opening of high power BBC transmitters at Sutton Coldfield and later Holme Moss, giving marginal reception along parts of the East coast. The first transmissions on the island of Ireland began with the launch of BBC in Northern Ireland (BBC Northern Ireland) when it began broadcasting television programmes in 1953, followed in 1959 with the launch of Ulster Television (now known as UTV).

Ireland (disambiguation)

Ireland usually refers to:

Ireland may also refer to:

Former political arrangements of Ireland

Ireland, Bedfordshire

Coordinates: 52°03′36″N 0°20′54″W / 52.06002°N 0.34836°W / 52.06002; -0.34836

Ireland is a hamlet in the civil parish of Southill, Bedfordshire, England.

External links

Media related to Ireland, Bedfordshire at Wikimedia Commons

History of Ireland (1691–1801)

The history of Ireland from 1691–1801 was marked by the dominance of the Protestant Ascendancy. These were Anglo-Irish families of the Anglican Church of Ireland, whose English ancestors had settled Ireland in the wake of its conquest by England and colonisation in the Plantations of Ireland, and now owned most of the land. Many were absentee landlords based in England, but others lived full-time in Ireland and increasingly identified as Irish. (See Early Modern Ireland 1536-1691). During this time, Ireland was a theoretically autonomous Kingdom with its own Parliament; in reality it was a client state controlled by the King of Great Britain and supervised by his cabinet in London. The great majority of its population, Roman Catholics, were excluded from power and land ownership under the Penal Laws. The second-largest group, the Presbyterians in Ulster, owned land and businesses but could not vote and had no political power. The period begins with the defeat of the Catholic Jacobites in the Williamite War in Ireland in 1691 and ends with the Acts of Union 1800, which formally annexed Ireland in a United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 and dissolved the Irish Parliament.