ireland continues

President




Michael Daniel Higgins (Irish: Mícheál D. Ó hUiginn; born 18 April 1941) is the incoming President of Ireland and will become the ninth president after winning the 2011 Irish presidential election held on 27 October 2011. Higgins is an Irish politician, poet, sociologist,author and broadcaster. Higgins was President of the Labour Party of Ireland until his resignation from the party following the presidential election.He was formerly a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Galway West constituency,and was the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht from 1993 to 1997.

Primeminister



Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish Fine Gael politician, and is the Taoiseach (head of government in the Republic of Ireland). He has led Fine Gael since 2002. He served as Minister for Tourism and Trade from 1994 to 1997. He is also a two-term Vice President of the European People's Party. Kenny has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for Mayo since 1975, having succeeded his father Henry Kenny.He is the longest-serving TD currently in Dáil Éireann

 Singer





Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), most commonly known by his stage name Bono, is an Irish singer
 and musician, best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his future wife, Ali Hewson, and the future members of U2.Bono writes almost all U2 lyrics, often using political, social, and religious themes.

Bus service.



Dublin Bus  is a public transport operator in Ireland.It operates an extensive bus network of 172 radial, cross-city and peripheral routes and 24 night routesin the city of Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area.
Dublin Airport , is operated by the Dublin Airport Authority.Located in Collinstown, in the Fingal part of County Dublin, 20.5 million passengers passed through the airport in 2009.

Airport.



 Dublin Airport is the busiest airport in the Republic of Ireland, followed by Cork and Shannon.
It is the busiest on the island of Ireland followed by Belfast, Cork and Shannon.

Private airline.



Ryanair  is an Irish low-cost airline with its head office at Dublin Airport, Ireland,
 and with primary operational bases at Dublin Airport and London Stansted Airport.
Ryanair operates 254 Boeing 737-800 aircraft on over 1,100 routes across Europe and Morocco from over 43 bases.The airline has been characterised by rapid expansion, a result of the deregulation of the air industry in Europe in 1997 and the success of its low cost business model. Ryanair is Europe's largest low-cost carrier, the 2nd-largest airline in Europe in terms of passenger numbers and the largest in the world in terms of international passenger numbers.

Famous Drinks



Irish whiskey (Irish: Fuisce or Uisce beatha) is a whiskey made in Ireland. There are several types of whiskey common to Ireland: Single Malt, Single Grain, Pure Pot Still and Blended Whiskey.
The word whiskey is an Anglicisation of the ancient Gaelic term "uisce beatha" which translates as "water of life".

Place for a drink



Public houses in Ireland, usually known as pubs, are establishments licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for
 consumption on the premises. Irish pubs are known for their atmosphere or "craic". Irish pubs are known
worldwide to the extent that there is scarcely a city in Europe and North America that does not have one.

Paramilitary



The Irish Republican Army (IRA)was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation.
It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913
that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916.The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA
(informally "the Officials" or "the Stickies") is an Irish republican paramilitary group whose
 goal was to create a "32-county workers' republic" in Ireland. It emerged from a split in the
Irish Republican Army in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of "The Troubles".

Ireland Goes On

IRELAND

The population of Ireland is approximately 6.2 million people. Just under 4.5 million live in the Republic of Ireland and just under 1.8 million live in Northern Ireland. Relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a centralplain epitomise Ireland's geography with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild but changeable oceanic climate, which avoids extremes in temperature. Thick woodlands covered the island until the 17th century. Today, it is the most deforested area in EuropeIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world.It lies to the north west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland is Great Britain, separated from it by the Irish Sea. The island is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers just under five-sixths of the island,and Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom.

         Most of Ireland was covered with ice until the end of the last ice age over 9,000 years ago.

The Iron Age in Ireland is traditionally associated with people known as the Celts. The Celts were commonly thought to have colonised Ireland in a series of invasions between the 8th and 1st centuries BC.

The Romans would later refer to Ireland by this name too in its Latinised form, Hibernia, or Scotia.

Saint Patrick, Ireland's best known patron saint, arrived in the  year  AD 432

Saint Patrick was a Romano-Briton and Christian missionary, who is the most generally recognized patron saint of Ireland.

Saint Patrick's Day is a religious holiday on the 17th of March. 

 It began as a purely Catholic holiday and became an official feast day in the early 17th century.

 It has gradually become more of a secular celebration of Ireland's culture.

The shamrock is a symbol of Ireland. It is a three-leafed old white clover. 

The name shamrock is derived from Irish seamróg, which is the diminutive version of the Irish word for clover.

A leprechaun  is a type of fairy in Irish folklore, usually taking the form of an old man, 

clad in a red or green coat, who enjoys partaking in mischief. Like other fairy creatures, 

 The Leprechauns spend all their time busily making shoes, and store away all 

their coins in a hidden pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. If ever captured by a human, the Leprechaun has the magical power to grant three wishes in exchange for their release. Popular depiction shows the Leprechaun as being no taller than a small child.

The Irish Famine of 1740–1741 in the Kingdom of Ireland 

was perhaps of similar magnitude to the better-known Great Famine of 1845–1852. The famine of the 1840s, 

which was caused in part by a fungal infection in the potato crop resulting in a series of poor harvests.

 Hunger compounded a range of fatal diseases. In Ireland, the Great Famine was a period of mass starvation,

 disease and emigration between 1845 and 1852. It is also known, mostly outside of Ireland, 

as the Irish Potato Famine.During the Famine, Ireland's population fell by between 20 and 25 percent.

 Approximately one million people died and a million more emigrated from Ireland.

The harp has been used as a political symbol of Ireland for centuries. Its origin is from the time of Brian Boru, a famous 'High King' of the whole island of Ireland who played the harp. 

Guinness is a popular Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness (1725–1803)

 at St. James's Gate, Dublin. Guinness is directly descended from the porter style that originated in London 

in the early 18th century and is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide. A distinctive feature is 

the burnt flavour which is derived from the use of roasted unmalted barley.

Dublin  is the primate and capital city of Ireland.

 It is officially known in Irish as Baile Átha Cliath .

 The English name is derived from the Irish Dubh Linn (meaning "black pool"). 

The city has an urban population of over 1 million people and is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast,

 at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region.

The Cliffs of Moher are located in the parish of Liscannor at the south-western edge of the Burren area near

 Doolin, which is located in County Clare, Ireland.The Cliffs of Moher rank as one of the most popular tourist destinations in Ireland and topped the list of attractions in 2006 by drawing almost one million visitors.

The Dingle Peninsula  is the northernmost of the major peninsulas in County Kerry. 

Its ends beyond the town of Dingle at Dunmore Head, the westernmost point of Ireland.

"Molly Malone" (also known as "Cockles and Mussels" or "In Dublin's Fair City") is a popular song, set in Dublin, Ireland,

 which has become the unofficial anthem of Dublin City.

The Spire of Dublin, officially titled the Monument of Light is a large, stainless steel,

 pin-like monument 121.2 metres (398 ft) in height, located on the site of the former Nelson's Pillar on O'Connell Street 

in Dublin.

The Liffey (An Life in Irish) is a river in Ireland, which flows through the centre of Dublin.

Aer Lingus (ISEQ: EIL1, LSE: AERL) (a phonetic rendering of the Irish Aer-Loingeas, "air fleet") is the flag carrier of Ireland

Hurling  is an outdoor team sport of ancient Gaelic origin, administered by the Gaelic

 Athletic Association, and played with sticks called hurleys and a ball called a sliotar. 

The game, played primarily in Ireland, has prehistoric origins and is thought to be the world's 

fastest field team sport in terms of game play.

Irish (Gaeilge) is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and

 historically spoken by the Irish people.

The euro (sign: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of the eurozone:

 16 of the 27 Member States of the European Union (EU) including ireland. 

The coins are issued in €2, €1, 50c, 20c, 10c, 5c, 2c, and 1c denominations.  

Notes are issued in €500, €200, €100, €50, €20, €10, €5.

Garda Síochána na hÉireann  Irish for "Guard(ians) of the Peace of Ireland"), more commonly 

referred to as the Gardaí, is the police force of the Republic of Ireland.