IRELAND
Location:
Ireland is located in the North Atlantic Ocean, across the Irish Sea from Great Britain.
Its total area is 70,280 square kilometres.
Population:
3,539,296 (July, 1994 estimate)
Languages:
Irish Gaelic (spoken mainly in areas located along the western seaboard), English (the
language that is generally used)
Government:
Ireland's government is a republic.
Legal System:
Ireland's legal system is based on English common law, substantially modified by
indigenous concepts. There is judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court.
Ireland has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction.
Telecommunications:
Ireland has a modern telecommunication system using cable and digital
microwave circuits. There are two coaxial submarine cables and one Atlantic
Ocean INTELSAT earth station.
Economy:
The economy is small and trade dependent. Agriculture, once the most important
sector, is now dwarfed by industry, which accounts for 37% of GDP, about 80% of
exports and employs 28% of the labor force. Since 1987, real GDP growth has averaged
4% annually. Over the same period, inflation has fallen sharply and chronic trade
deficits have been transformed into annual surpluses. Unemployment remains a serious
problem, however, and job creation is the main focus of government policy. To ease
unemployment, Dublin aggressively courts foreign investors and recently created a new
industrial development agency to aid small indigenous firms. Government assistance is
constrained by Dublin's continuing deficit reduction measures.
Industries:
Ireland's main industries are food products, brewing, textiles, clothing, chemicals,
pharmaceuticals, machinery, transportation equipment, glass and crystal.
Currency:
1 Irish pound (£Ir) = 100 pence
Exchange Rates:
Irish pounds (£Ir) per US$1 - 0.6978 (January, 1994)
Related sites:
Authentic Ireland Travel
Find it Ireland
Golden Pages
Ireland Look Up
The 1916 Easter Rising
WhoIs Ireland
To the Offshore World home page.
To the Offshore Financial Centres page.