Ireland

Ireland (Éire)

Never Romanised but Christianised from the fifth century, Ireland re-evangelised continental Europe before becoming its Atlantic platform.

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Heritage

Irish monks copied and saved a considerable share of Latin literature: the Book of Kells is its summit. Columbanus founded Luxeuil and Bobbio; his disciples spread from Burgundy to Swabia. Ireland thereby transmitted to continental Europe ancient texts it had never itself received from Rome.

History

Outside the Roman Empire, Ireland was Christianised in the fifth century by Patrick. In the sixth to eighth centuries its monasteries became the West's leading centres of manuscript copying and sent missionaries across the continent.

After the Viking invasions and the Anglo-Norman intervention of 1169, the island entered a long dependence on England, worsened by confiscations, anti-papist penal laws and the Great Famine of 1845-1852, which caused a million deaths and two million emigrants.

The Easter Rising of 1916 led to independence in 1922 and the Republic in 1949. Accession to the Communities in 1973 transformed the economy; the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 pacified Northern Ireland. Brexit today makes Ireland the continent's only English-speaking member state.

Milestones

432 Christianisation

Mission of Saint Patrick

The island is Christianised without ever having been Roman: a unique case in Western Europe.

590 Christianisation

Columbanus on the continent

The Irish monk founds Luxeuil then Bobbio and replants monastic life in Gaul and Italy.

800 Middle Ages

The Book of Kells

A masterpiece of insular illumination, symbol of Ireland’s role in transmitting texts.

1845 Early modern period

The Great Famine

A million dead, two million exiled: the island’s population has never recovered.

1916 Contemporary period

Easter Rising

The Dublin revolt, at first isolated, sets the independence process in motion.

1949 European construction took part

Council of Europe

Ten states found in London the first European political organisation, matrix of the Convention on Human Rights.

1973 European construction

Accession of Ireland to the Communities

Ireland joins with the United Kingdom and begins its economic transformation.

1973 European construction took part

First enlargement

Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom join the Communities, which grow from six to nine.

1992 European construction took part

Maastricht Treaty

The European Union is created, with European citizenship and the timetable for the single currency.

1998 Contemporary period

Good Friday Agreement

Thirty years of conflict end; the Irish border becomes invisible.

1999 European construction took part

Birth of the euro

Eleven currencies are irrevocably fixed; the European Central Bank takes up its functions.

2010 European construction was affected

Sovereign debt crisis

The euro area urgently creates unprecedented financial solidarity mechanisms.

Political landscape

Results of the June 2024 European election and their translation into European Parliament groups.

Ind. — Independents 4
FF — Fianna Fáil 4
FG — Fine Gael 4
SF — Sinn Féin 2

Distribution of European seats

Non-attached Members 4
Renew Europe Group 4
Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) 4
The Left group in the European Parliament — GUE/NGL 2

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The state in numbers

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Public debt, % of GDP 35.3 % 1.7 % GDP per head (EU = 100) 223.5 3.7 Government spending, % of GDP 22.4 % 0.0 % Total tax burden, % of GDP 22.7 % 0.1 % Prisoners per 100,000 people 95.7 5.9