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Portal:Ireland

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Welcome to the Ireland Portal!
Fáilte go dtí Tairseach na hÉireann!
Fair faa ye tae tha Airlann Inlat!

Introduction

Sister portal:
Northern Ireland
Satellite image of Ireland
Satellite image of Ireland

Ireland (/ˈaɪərlənd/ IRE-lənd; Irish: Éire [ˈeːɾʲə] ; Ulster-Scots: Airlann [ˈɑːrlən]) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest in the world. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially named Ireland), a sovereign state covering five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. As of 2022, the population of the entire island is just over 7 million, with 5.1 million in the Republic of Ireland and 1.9 million in Northern Ireland, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain.

The geography of Ireland comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. Its lush vegetation is a product of its mild but changeable climate which is free of extremes in temperature. Much of Ireland was woodland until the end of the Middle Ages. Today, woodland makes up about 10% of the island, compared with a European average of over 33%, with most of it being non-native conifer plantations. The Irish climate is influenced by the Atlantic Ocean and thus very moderate, and winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, although summers are cooler than those in continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant.

Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century AD. The island was Christianised from the 5th century onwards. During this period Ireland was divided into many petty kingships under provincial kingships (Cúige "fifth" of the traditional provinces) vying for dominance and the title of High King of Ireland. In the late 8th century to early 11th century AD Viking raids and settlement took place culminating in the Battle of Clontarf on 23 April 1014 which resulted in the ending of Viking power in Ireland. Following the 12th century Anglo-Norman invasion, England claimed sovereignty. However, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, and was extended during the 18th century. With the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. A war of independence in the early 20th century was followed by the partition of the island, leading to the creation of the Irish Free State, which became increasingly sovereign over the following decades until it declared a republic in 1948 ( Republic of Ireland Act, 1948) and Northern Ireland, which remained a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s. This subsided following the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. In 1973, both the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, with Northern Ireland as part of it, joined the European Economic Community. Following a referendum vote in 2016, the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland included, left the European Union (EU) in 2020. Northern Ireland was granted a limited special status and allowed to operate within the EU single market for goods without being in the European Union. (Full article...)

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". (The Craythur is a modern Irish term for whiskey, from 'the creature', as in 'created'...)

At one time, all whisky was spelled without the extra 'e', as "whisky". In around 1870, the reputation of Scottish whisky was very poor as Scottish distilleries flooded the market with cheaper spirits produced using the Coffey still. The Irish and American distilleries adopted the spelling "whiskey", with the extra "e", to distinguish their higher quality product. Today, the spelling whisky (plural whiskies) is generally used for whiskies distilled in Scotland, Wales, Canada, Australia and Japan, while whiskey is used for the spirits distilled in Ireland and America.

Traditional Irish whiskey was distilled from a mash of mixed malted and unmalted grains whereas Scotch is either distilled exclusively from malted grain (hence "single malt"), or from unmalted grain. Today, most Irish whiskey is blended from a mixture of pot still whiskey and cheaper grain whiskey. Bushmills, however, is an exception, as it produces no Irish-style pot-still whiskey.

Most Irish whiskey is distilled three times, but so is some Scotch; thus it is a myth, although a common one, that this is the main distinction between the two varieties. Irish whiskey also differs in that peat is almost never used in the malting process, so the smoky, earthy overtones common to Scotches (particularly Islay Scotches) are not present except for the Connemara Peated Irish Malt whiskey from the Cooley distillery. Although Scotland sustains approximately 90 distilleries, Ireland has only three producing a number of different whiskeys. Read more...

Selected biography - show another

Louis le Brocquy (born November 10, 1916) is an Irish painter. Born in Dublin, Louis le Brocquy's work has received much international attention and many accolades in a career that spans seventy years of creative practice. In 1956, he represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale, winning the Premio Acquisito Internationale with A Family (coll. National Gallery of Ireland), subsequently included in the historic exhibition Fifty Years of Modern Art at Brussels, World Fair 1958. The same year he married the Irish painter Anne Madden and left London to work in the French Midi.

Le Brocquy is widely acclaimed for his evocative "Portrait ‘Heads" of literary figures and fellow artists, which include William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, and his friends Samuel Beckett, Francis Bacon and Seamus Heaney, in recent years le Brocquy's early "Tinker" subjects and Grey period "Family" paintings, have attracted headline attention on the international marketplace marking him as the fourth painter in Ireland and Britain to be evaluated within a very select group of artists, alongside Lucian Freud, David Hockney and Francis Bacon.

In Ireland, he is honoured as the first and only living painter to be included in the Permanent Irish Collection of the National Gallery of Ireland. To mark le Brocquy's 90th birthday some eleven one-person exhibitions were organised at home and abroad including the National Gallery of Ireland; the Tate; the Irish Museum of Modern Art; Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane; the Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork; and the Hunt Museum, Limerick. Read more...

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The following are images from various Ireland-related articles on Wikipedia.

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From top; left to right: Galway Cathedral, University of Galway, Eyre Square, Galway Harbour, the Long Walk

Galway (/ˈɡɔːlw/ GAWL-way; Irish: Gaillimh, pronounced [ˈɡal̠ʲɪvʲ]) is a city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the fifth most populous city on the island of Ireland and the fourth most populous in the Republic of Ireland, with a population at the 2022 census of 85,910.

Located near an earlier settlement, Galway grew around a fortification built by the King of Connacht in 1124. A municipal charter in 1484 allowed citizens of the by then walled city to form a council and mayoralty. Controlled largely by a group of merchant families, the Tribes of Galway, the city grew into a trading port. Following a period of decline, as of the 21st century, Galway is a tourist destination known for festivals and events including the Galway International Arts Festival. (Full article...)

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Ireland
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Contribute

Simply add {{Portal|Ireland}} to a page. If you need to use a flag, to avoid causing offense, please use the Four Provinces flag e.g. {{Portal|Ireland}}.

If you are new to Wikipedia then Céad Mile Fáilte! This portal is for articles on Wikipedia that relate to Ireland (both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). Like all of Wikipedia, it is written collaboratively and, like any article that you find using it, it too can be edited by anyone.

There is an active community of editors working on Ireland-related articles on Wikipedia and there are dedicated projects that tie this community together. To get in touch with them - or just to find out more - drop by at one of the parent Ireland-related projects:

If you want to get involved in contributing to Wikipedia, don't worry - everybody needs some help at the start. If you get into trouble you can always ask another Wikipedian for help. These guides should get you up-and-running on how Wikipedia works and how you can contribute:

  • Getting started: This introduction explains how Wikipedia works. When you're ready, you can try the tutorial.
  • Questions about Wikipedia: The Frequent Ask Questions page has answers to all kinds of questions asked about Wikipedia.

If you would like to involve yourself with the Irish on Wikipedia, the section below will connect you to communities of editors working on specific Ireland-related topics. It also contains an up-to-date to do list for Ireland-related articles so you can start helping out right now. Click [show] (below, right) to see it all:

How you can improve Ireland-related articles on Wikipedia
  • The main Dublin article needs to achieve featured status.
  • Every locality needs at least a 500-character stub article, built on top of its framework article.
  • All areas of historic importance need substantial articles.
  • The article on the Mahon Tribunal needs to be tidied up, verified, and fact-checked.
  • Irish (Gaelic) words and phrases should be marked up using {{lang}}, thus: {{lang-ga|Páirc na hÉireann}}.


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