Ireland

Ireland is country of Europe located in north Europe.

Details

Since joining the European Union in 1973, Ireland (Éire) has transformed itself from a largely agricultural society into a modern, technologically advanced Celtic Tiger economy.

Agricultural lowlands make up most of the interior, which is broken in places by low hills and includes considerable areas of bogs and lakes. There are coastal mountains to the west, rising to over 1 000m in places. Nearly a third of the population lives in Dublin.

The Dáil , or lower house of Parliament, is composed of 166 members while the Seanad , or upper house, has 60 members. Parliamentary elections are held every five years. The President, elected for a seven-year period, mainly performs ceremonial duties.

Although the history of Ireland has seen troubles and turbulence, its people have always been associated with a love of music and storytelling. Often referred to as the land of saints and scholars, the country is the birthplace of many famous English-language writers, such as Yeats, Joyce, Beckett, Wilde and Shaw. Ireland is home to internationally known rock bands and singers such as U2, The Corrs and Sinéad O’Connor.

Simple meat dishes and boiled vegetables such as the potato, carrot, turnip and parsnip form the principal ingredients of traditional Irish cooking.

Health & Welfare

Free health and welfare programs for low income group and moderate for others. A number of private and public health programs exist.

Economy & Jobs

Agriculture, forestry, fishing, manufacturing, mining, construction, and tourism.

Main Attractions

Dublin, Cork city, Derry town, Galway city, and Waterford medieval town.

Economy

The Irish economy has transformed since the 1980s from being predominantly agricultural to a modern knowledge economy focused on high technology industries and services. Ireland adopted the euro currency in 2002 along with eleven other EU member states. The country is heavily reliant on Foreign Direct Investment and has attracted several multinational corporations due to a highly educated workforce and a low corporation tax rate.

Companies such as Intel invested in Ireland during the late 1980s, later followed by Microsoft and Google. Ireland is ranked as the ninth most economically free economy in the world, according to the Index of Economic Freedom. In terms of GDP per capita, Ireland is one of the wealthiest countries in the OECD and EU. However, the country ranks below the OECD average in terms of GNP per capita. GDP is significantly greater than GNP due to the large number of multinational corporations based in Ireland.

Beginning in the early 1990s, the country experienced unprecedented economic growth fuelled by a dramatic rise in consumer spending, construction and investment, which became known as the Celtic Tiger period. The pace of growth slowed during 2007 and led to the burst of a major property bubble which had developed over time. The dramatic fall in property prices highlighted the over-exposure of the economy to construction and contributed to the Irish banking crisis. Ireland officially entered a recession in 2008 following consecutive months of economic contraction.

The country officially exited recession in 2010, assisted by a strong growth in exports. However, due to a significant rise in the cost of borrowing and bank recapitalisation, Ireland accepted an €85 billion programme of assistance from the EU, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and bilateral loans from the United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark. Following three years of contraction, the economy grew by 0.7% in 2011 and 0.9% in 2012. In May 2013, the unemployment rate stood at 13.7%.

Immigration possibilities

If you are interested in immigration to Ireland, click here, and also get acquainted with the relevant migration documents.