Ireland(Irish:Éire;UlsterScots:Airlann)isthethirdlargestislandinEurope.[1]ItliestothenorthwestofContinentalEuropewiththeislandofGreatBritainlyingtotheeast.PoliticallyitisdividedintotheRepublicofIreland,asovereignstateoccupyingfive-sixthsoftheisland,andNorthernIreland,apartoftheUnitedKingdom,occupyingthenortheasternsixthoftheisland.[2]Thename'Ireland'derivesfromthenameÉriu(inmodernIrish,Éire)withtheadditionoftheGermanicword'land'.
Thepopulationoftheislandisslightlyundersixmillion(2006),with4.2millionintheRepublicofIreland[3](1.7millioninGreaterDublin[4])andabout1.7millioninNorthernIreland[5](0.6millioninGreaterBelfast).[6]
Politicalgeography
MapofIrelandshowingtheRepublicofIrelandandNorthernIreland.
MapofIrelandshowingtheRepublicofIrelandandNorthernIreland.
TheislandofIrelandhastwodistinctjurisdictions:
*Ireland(describedasTheRepublicofIreland),asovereignstate,withitscapitalinDublin,coveringfivesixthsoftheisland.
*theUnitedKingdomofGreatBritainandNorthernIreland,coveringtheremainingsixth.