Ireland

Celtic tribes arrived on the island between 600-150 B.C. Invasions by Norsemen that began in the late 8th century were finally ended when King Brian BORU defeated the Danes in 1014. English invasions began in the 12th century and set off more than seven centuries of Anglo-Irish struggle marked by fierce rebellions and harsh repressions. A failed 1916 Easter Monday Rebellion touched off several years of guerrilla warfare that in 1921 resulted in independence from the UK for 26 southern counties; six northern (Ulster) counties remained part of the UK. In 1949, Ireland withdrew from the British Commonwealth; it joined the European Community in 1973. Irish governments have sought the peaceful unification of Ireland and have cooperated with Britain against terrorist groups. A peace settlement for Northern Ireland is gradually being implemented despite some difficulties. In 2006, the Irish and British governments developed and began to implement the St. Andrews Agreement, building on the Good Friday Agreement approved in 1998.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Euro (ISO code: EUR)
* Central bank discount rate: 3% (31 December 2008)
* Commercial banks lending rate: 6.76% (31 December 2008)
* is part of the Eurozone
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Ireland: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	96 421	96 596	104 688	122 520	157 384	184 970	201 676	222 414	260 871	267 576
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Ireland: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	49.367	40.125	36.785 	34.741 	33.607 	32.024 	31.830 	27.868 	27.176 	
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Ireland: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	32.370	32.369	30.685 	29.505 	29.916 	31.202 	32.458 	33.957 	33.071 	
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Ireland: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.	30.558	27.789	29.337 	29.608 	29.750 	29.985 	30.538 	30.657 	31.989 	
Debt to revenue (years) 	1.525 	1.240 	1.199 	1.177 	1.123 	1.026 	0.981 	0.821 	0.822 	
==References==
Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.
==External links==
* Ireland on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Ireland
* BBC country profile
* Stateless Societies: Ancient Ireland (pdf), by Joseph R. Peden, April 1971
* The Death of the Celtic Tiger by Brian Ó Caithnia, October 2009
* Reflections on Legal Polycentrism (pdf), by Gerard Casey, 2010, on polycentric law in Ireland
Category:Countries