Republic of Ireland

http://www.all-laptopfan.com/,http://www.all-keyboard.com/ Ireland (ⁱ/ˈaɪərlənd/; RP: [ˈʌɪələnd]; Irish: Éire [ˈeːɾʲə] ; Ulster-Scots: Airlann or Airlan) is an island to the north-west of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth.^[5]To its east is the island of Great Britain, from which it is separated by the Irish Sea. SONY Vaio VGN-SZ2XP/C CPU Fan Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, which covers the remaining area and is located in the north-east of the island. The population of Ireland is approximately 6.4 million. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland and just over 1.8 million live in Northern Ireland.^[6] DELL Latitude E4300 CPU Fan The island's geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild but changeable oceanic climate, which avoids extremes in temperature. Thick woodlands covered the island until medieval times. As of 2013, the amount of land that is forested in Ireland is about 11% of the total land area, compared with European average of 35%.^[7][8] HP Pavilion dv7-2025es CPU Fan There are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. Gaelic Ireland emerged some time in prehistory and lasted until the early 17th century. The island was converted to Christianity from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland.FUJITSU LifeBook A6030 CPU Fan However, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest. This led to the colonization of northern Ireland 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. In 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. SONY Vaio VGN-FS115Z CPU Fan A war of independence in the early 20th century was followed by the partition of the island, creating the Irish Free State, which became increasingly sovereign over the following decades, 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 a political agreement in 1998. In 1973, both parts of Ireland joined the European Economic Community. HP 532617-001 CPU Fan Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature and, to a lesser degree, science and education. Alongside mainstream Western culture, a strong indigenous culture exists, as expressed for example through Gaelic games, Irish music, and the Irish language. The culture of the island has also many features shared with Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racingand golf. ACER Aspire 5730Z CPU Fan Most of Ireland was covered with ice until the end of the last ice age over 9,000 years ago. Sea levels were lower and Ireland, like Great Britain, was part of continental Europe. Mesolithic stone age inhabitants arrived from Britain some time around 7,000 BC and agriculture followed with the Neolithic Age around 3,000 BC.^[9] HP G56-126NR CPU Fan At the Céide Fields, preserved beneath a blanket of peat in present-day County Mayo, is an extensive field system, arguably the oldest in the world,^[10] dating from not long after this period. Consisting of small divisions separated bydry-stone walls, the fields were farmed for several centuries between 3,500 and 3,000 BC. Wheat and barley were the principal crops imported from the Iberian Peninsula. HP Pavilion dv7-6166nr CPU Fan The Bronze Age – defined by the use of metal – began around 2,500 BC, with technology changing people's everyday lives during this period through innovations such as the wheel, harnessing oxen, weaving textiles, brewing alcohol, and skillful metalworking, which produced new weapons and tools, along with fine gold decoration and jewellery, such asbrooches and torcs. FUJITSU Lifebook A3210 CPU Fan According to John T. Koch and others, Ireland in the Late Bronze Age was part of a maritime trading-networked culture called the Atlantic Bronze Age that also included Britain, France, Spain and Portugal whereCeltic languages developed, but this view stands against the more generally accepted view among 'Celticists' that their origin lies in Continental Europe with the Hallstatt culture. DELL Precision M6400 CPU Fan The Iron Age in Ireland is traditionally associated with people known as the Celts. The Celts were commonly thought to have colonised Ireland in a series of invasions. The first Celtic-speaking tribes are believed to have arrived on the island about 600 BC in what is referred to as the Hallstatt era. Other colonists followed them, the main thrust arriving in the later La Tene era some time between the third and first centuries BC. Compaq Presario CQ60-615DX CPU Fan They came from neighbouring Britain, Gaul andIberia: tribes from two main stems of the Continental Celts—the Belgae originating in northern Gaul and the Gael from southern Gaul and the northern seaboard of the Iberian Peninsula. Historically four separate Celtic incursions into are deemed to have occurred in Ireland, HP Pavilion dv2660se CPU Fan The Priteni were the first to colonize the island, followed by the Belgae who invaded Ireland from northern Gaul and Britain. Later, Laighin tribes from Armorica (present-day Brittany) are believed to have invaded Ireland and Britain more or less simultaneously. Lastly, the Milesians (Gaels) reached Ireland from either northern Iberia or southern Gaul. Toshiba Satellite L500-1XC CPU Fan The Priteni tribes (Ireland and Britain were known to the early Greeks as the Pritenic Islands) are believed to have arrived a little after 700 BC. Their origin as Celts is questionable; according to some sources they were more likely to have been the descendants of the earlier Neolithic indigenous inhabitants of the island. Probably, they were a mixture of both. DELL GM0503PEB1-8 (L2.M) CPU Fan The second wave, the Euerni,belonging to the Belgae people of northern Gaul, began arriving about the sixth century BC. They called their new home Eueriio, which would later evolve through the old Irish Eriu to Eire to Ireland. The third wave of colonization is believed to have taken place some time about 300 BC. They were the Laginians or, according to their own tradition, Gauls who came to Ireland from Armorica. HP Pavilion dv7-1098eo CPU Fan Their name association with Laighi, the ancient name for Leinster, suggests that this was where they first settled. Another branch of the same people was the Galioin (or Gailenga) who settled in an area north of Dublin and Meath. The last major Celtic settlement in Ireland is believed to have taken place some time between 150–50 BC. Toshiba Satellite A205-S5804 CPU Fan These people have been identified as the Milesians (Sons of Mil, or Gaels) who, according to tradition, fled Roman incursions into northern Iberia and southern Gaul. These were Iron Age Celts and their dominance over the island was to last well over a thousand years.^[16] The Gaels, the last wave of Celts, were said to have divided the island into five or more kingdoms after conquering it. HP Pavilion dv7-1240us CPU Fan However, most academics favour a theory that emphasises the diffusion of culture from the neolithic to bronze age overseas as opposed to a military colonisation.^[17] Finds such as Clonycavan Man are given as evidence for this theory. The earliest written records of Ireland come from classical Greco-Roman geographers. Ptolemy in his Almagest refers to Ireland as Mikra Brettania (Little Britain), in contrast to the larger island, which he called Megale Brettania (Great Britain).^[19]  DELL yy529 CPU Fan In his later work, Geography, Ptolemy refers to Ireland asIouernia and to Great Britain as Albion. These "new" names were likely to have been the Celtic names for the islands at the time. The earlier names, in contrast, were likely to have been coined before direct contact with local peoples was made.^[20] The Romans would later refer to Ireland by this name too in its Latinised form, Hibernia,^[21] or Scotia.^[22] Toshiba Qosmio G40-10E CPU Fan Ptolemy records sixteen nations inhabiting every part of Ireland in 100 AD.^[23] The relationship between the Roman Empire and the tribes of ancient Ireland is unclear. However, a number of finds of Roman coins have been made, for example at Newgrange.^[24] Ireland continued as a patchwork of rival tribes but, beginning in the 7th century AD, SONY Vaio VGN-CR407E CPU Fan a concept of national kingship gradually became articulated through the concept of a High King of Ireland. Medieval Irish literature portrays an almost unbroken sequence of High Kings stretching back thousands of years but modern historians believe the scheme was constructed in the 8th century to justify the status of powerful political groupings by projecting the origins of their rule into the remote past.^[25] HP Pavilion dv6-1101au CPU Fan The High King was said to preside over the patchwork of provincial kingdoms that together formed Ireland. All of these kingdoms had their own kings but were at least nominally subject to the High King. The High King was drawn from the ranks of the provincial kings and ruled also the royal kingdom of Meath, with a ceremonial capital at the Hill of Tara. HP Pavilion dv7-3190ev CPU Fan The concept only became a political reality in the Viking Age and even then was not a consistent one.^[26] However, Ireland did have a unifying rule of law: the early written judicial system, the Brehon Laws, administered by a professional class of jurists known as thebrehons.^[27] The Chronicle of Ireland records that in 431 AD Bishop Palladius arrived in Ireland on a mission from Pope Celestine I to minister to the Irish "already believing in Christ."^[28HP Pavilion dv7-1157cl CPU Fan ^] The same chronicle records that Saint Patrick, Ireland's best known patron saint, arrived the following year. There is continued debate over the missions of Palladius and Patrick but the consensus is that they both took place^[29] and that the older druid tradition collapsed in the face of the new religion.^[30] Irish Christian scholars excelled in the study of Latin and Greek learning and Christian theology. HP COMPAQ NX9420 CPU Fan In the monastic culture that followed the Christianisation of Ireland, Latin and Greek learning was preserved in Ireland during the Early Middle Ages in contrast to elsewhere in Europe, where the Dark Ages followed the decline of the Roman Empire.^[30][31] The arts of manuscript illumination, metalworking and sculpture flourished and produced treasures such as the Book of Kells, HP Mini 110-1110ET CPU Fan ornate jewellery and the many carved stone crosses^[32] that still dot the island today. A mission founded in 563 on Iona by the Irish monk Saint Columba began a tradition of Irish missionarywork that spread Christianity and learning to Scotland, England and the Frankish Empire on Continental Europe after the fall of Rome.^[33] HP Pavilion dv7-1157cl CPU Fan These missions continued until the late Middle Ages, establishing monasteries and centres of learning, producing scholars such as Sedulius Scottus and Johannes Eriugena and exerting much influence in Europe. From the 9th century, waves of Viking raiders plundered Irish monasteries and towns.^[34] These raids added to a pattern of raiding and endemic warfare that was already deep-seated in Ireland. HP Pavilion dv6-3163eo CPU Fan The Vikings also were involved in establishing most of the major coastal settlements in Ireland: Dublin, Limerick, Cork,Wexford, Waterford, and also Carlingford, Strangford, Annagassan, Arklow, Youghal, Lough Foyle and Lough Ree. On 1 May 1169, an expedition of Cambro-Norman knights with an army of about six hundred landed at Bannow Strand in present-day County Wexford. HP Pavilion dv9740us CPU Fan It was led by Richard de Clare, called Strongbow due to his prowess as an archer.^[36] The invasion, which coincided with a period of renewed Norman expansion, was at the invitation of Dermot Mac Murrough, the king of Leinster.^[37] In 1166, Mac Murrough had fled to Anjou, France, following a war involving Tighearnán Ua Ruairc, of Breifne, and sought the assistance of the Angevin king, Henry II, in recapturing his kingdom. ACER Aspire 4743 CPU Fan In 1171, Henry arrived in Ireland in order to review the general progress of the expedition. He wanted to re-exert royal authority over the invasion which was expanding beyond his control. Henry successfully re-imposed his authority over Strongbow and the Cambro-Norman warlords and persuaded many of the Irish kings to accept him as their overlord, an arrangement confirmed in the 1175 Treaty of Windsor. HP Pavilion dv6-2170us CPU Fan The invasion was legitimised by the provisions of the Papal Bull Laudabiliter, issued by Adrian IV in 1155. The bull encouraged Henry to take control in Ireland in order to oversee the financial and administrative reorganisation of the Irish Church and its integration into the Roman Church system.^[38] Some restructuring had already begun at the ecclesiastical level following the Synod of Kells in 1152.^[39] Toshiba Satellite L675-S7018 CPU Fan There has been significant controversy regarding authenticity of Laudabiliter,^[40]and there is no general agreement as to whether the bull was genuine or a forgery.^[41][42] In 1172, the new pope, Alexander III, further encouraged Henry to advance the integration of the Irish Church with Rome. Henry was authorised to impose a titheof one penny per hearth as an annual contribution. ASUS F80Q CPU Fan This church levy, called Peter's Pence, is still extant in Ireland as a voluntary donation. In turn, Henry accepted the title of Lord of Ireland which Henry conferred on his younger son, John Lackland, in 1185. This defined the Irish state as the Lordship of Ireland. When Henry's successor died unexpectedly in 1199, John inherited the crown of England and retained the Lordship of Ireland. ACER TravelMate 4200 CPU Fan Over the century that followed, Norman feudal law gradually replaced the Gaelic Brehon Law so that by the late 13th century the Norman-Irish had established a feudal system throughout much of Ireland. Norman settlements were characterised by the establishment of baronies, manors, towns and the seeds of the modern county system. HP 434678-001 CPU Fan A version of the Magna Carta (the Great Charter of Ireland), substituting Dublin for London and Irish Church for Church of England, was published in 1216 and theParliament of Ireland was founded in 1297. From the mid-14th century, after the Black Death, Norman settlements in Ireland went into a period of decline. The Norman rulers and the Gaelic Irish elites intermarried and the areas under Norman rule became Gaelicised. HP G70-120EA CPU Fan In some parts, a hybrid Hiberno-Norman culture emerged. In response, the Irish parliament passed the Statutes of Kilkenny in 1367. These were a set of laws designed to prevent the assimilation of the Normans into Irish society by requiring English subjects in Ireland to speak English, follow English customs and abide by English law.^[43] Toshiba Satellite A300-034 CPU Fan By the end of the 15th century central English authority in Ireland had all but disappeared and a renewed Irish culture and language, albeit with Norman influences, was dominant again. English Crown control remained relatively unshaken in an amorphous foothold around Dublin known as The Pale and under the provisions of Poynings' Law of 1494, the Irish Parliamentary legislation was subject to the approval of the English Parliament. HP 606609-001 CPU Fan The title of King of Ireland was re-created in 1542 by Henry VIII, then King of England, of the Tudor dynasty. English rule of law was reinforced and expanded in Ireland during the latter part of the 16th century, leading to the Tudor conquest of Ireland. A near complete conquest was achieved by the turn of the 17th century, following the Nine Years' War and the Flight of the Earls.Compaq Presario CQ60-301sl CPU Fan This control was further consolidated during the wars and conflicts of the 17th century, which witnessed English and Scottish colonisation in the Plantations of Ireland, the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and the Williamite War. Irish losses during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (which, in Ireland, included the Irish Confederacy and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland) are estimated to include 20,000 battlefield casualties. TOSHIBA Satellite L300 CPU Fan 200,000 civilians are estimated to have died as a result of a combination of war-related famine, displacement, guerilla activity and pestilence over the duration of the war. A further 50,000^{[Note 2]}were sent to slavery in the West Indies. Some historians estimate that as much as half of the pre-war population of Ireland may have died as a result of the conflict.^[46] ASUS Eee PC 701 CPU Fan The religious struggles of the 17th century left a deep sectarian division in Ireland. Religious allegiance now determined the perception in law of loyalty to the Irish King and Parliament. After the passing of the Test Act 1672, and with the victory of the forces of the dual monarchy of William and Mary over the Jacobites, Roman Catholics and nonconforming Protestant Dissenters were barred from sitting as members in the Irish Parliament. Compaq Presario CQ60-305sa CPU Fan Under the emerging penal laws Irish Roman Catholics and Dissenters were increasingly deprived of various and sundry civil rights even to the ownership of hereditary property. Additional regressive punitive legislation followed 1703, 1709 and 1728. This completed a comprehensive systemic effort to materially disadvantage Roman Catholics and Protestant Dissenters, while enriching a new ruling class of Anglican conformists.^[47] HP 637607-001 CPU Fan The new Anglo-Irish ruling class became known as the Protestant Ascendancy. An extraordinary climatic shock known as the "Great Frost" struck Ireland and the rest of Europe between December 1739 and September 1741, after a decade of relatively mild winters. The winters destroyed stored crops of potatoes and other staples and the poor summers severely damaged harvests.^[48] HP Pavilion dv7-3067nr CPU Fan This resulted in the famine of 1740. An estimated 250,000 people (about one in eight of the population) died from the ensuing pestilence and disease.^[49] The Irish government halted export of corn and kept the army in quarters but did little more.^[49][50] Local gentry and charitable organisations provided relief but could do little to prevent the ensuing mortality.^[49][50] HP Pavilion dv5-1210ez CPU Fan In the aftermath of the famine, an increase in industrial production and a surge in trade brought a succession of construction booms. The population soared in the latter part of this century and the architectural legacy of Georgian Ireland was built. In 1782,Poynings' Law was repealed, giving Ireland legislative independence from Great Britain for the first time since 1495.Compaq Presario CQ50-211nr CPU Fan The British government, however, still retained the right to nominate the government of Ireland without the consent of the Irish parliament. In 1798, members of the Protestant Dissenter tradition (mainly Presbyterian) made common cause with Roman Catholics in a republican rebellion inspired and led by the Society of United Irishmen, with the aim of creating an independent Ireland. HP G56-114SA CPU Fan Despite assistance from France the rebellion was put down by British and Irish government and yeomanry forces. In 1800, the British and Irish parliaments both passed Acts of Union that, with effect from 1 January 1801, merged the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain to create a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. SONY Vaio VGN-CR21Z/N CPU Fan The passage of the Act in the Irish Parliament was ultimately achieved with substantial majorities, having failed on the first attempt in 1799. According to contemporary documents and historical analysis, this was achieved through a considerable degree of bribery, with funding provided by the British Secret Service Office, and the awarding of peerages, places and honours to secure votes.^[51] HP Pavilion dv7-4060eo CPU Fan Thus, Ireland became part of an extended United Kingdom, ruled directly by a united parliament at Westminster in London.Aside from the development of the linen industry, Ireland was largely passed over by the industrial revolution, partly because it lacked coal and iron resources^[52][53] and partly because of the impact of the sudden union with the structurally superior economy of England,^[54] which saw Ireland as a source of agricultural produce and capital. Toshiba Satellite M70-252 CPU Fan The Great Famine of the 1840s caused the deaths of one million Irish people and over a million more emigrated to escape it.^[57] By the end of the decade, half of all immigration to the United States was from Ireland. The period of civil unrest that followed until the end of the 19th century is referred to as the Land War. Mass emigration became deeply entrenched and the population continued to decline until the mid-20th century. Toshiba Satellite A100-455 CPU Fan Immediately prior to the famine the population was recorded as 8.2 million by the 1841 census.^[58] The population has never returned to this level since.^[59] The population continued to fall until 1961 and it was not until the 2006 census that the last county of Ireland (County Leitrim) to record a rise in population since 1841 did so. The 19th and early 20th centuries saw the rise of modern Irish nationalism, primarily among the Roman Catholic population. HP Pavilion dv5-2112br CPU Fan The pre-eminent Irish political figure after the Union was Daniel O'Connell. He was elected as Member of Parliament for Ennisin a surprise result and despite being unable to take his seat as a Roman Catholic. O'Connell spearheaded a vigorous campaign that was taken up by the Prime Minister, the Irish-born soldier and statesman, the Duke of Wellington. DELL BFB0505HA CPU Fan Steering the Catholic Relief Bill through Parliament, aided by future prime minister Robert Peel, Wellington prevailed upon a reluctant George IVto sign the Bill and proclaim it into law. George's father had opposed the plan of the earlier Prime Minister, Pitt the Younger, to introduce such a bill following the Union of 1801, fearing Catholic Emancipation to be in conflict with the Act of Settlement 1701. HP Pavilion dv6-3299en CPU Fan A subsequent campaign, led by O'Connell, for the repeal of the Act of Union failed. Later in the century, Charles Stewart Parnell and others campaigned for autonomy within the Union, or "Home Rule". Unionists, especially those located in Ulster, were strongly opposed to Home Rule, which they thought would be dominated by Catholic interests.^[60] SONY Vaio VGN-NW11Z/T CPU Fan After several attempts to pass a Home Rule bill through parliament, it looked certain that one would finally pass in 1914. To prevent this from happening, the Ulster Volunteers were formed in 1913 under the leadership of Edward Carson.^[61] Their formation was followed in 1914 by the establishment of the Irish Volunteers, whose aim was to ensure that the Home Rule Bill was passed. Toshiba Satellite L550-20W CPU Fan The Act was passed but with the "temporary" exclusion of the six counties of Ulster that would become Northern Ireland. Before it could be implemented, however, the Act was suspended for the duration of the First World War. The Irish Volunteers split into two groups. The majority, approximately 175,000 in number, under John Redmond, took the name National Volunteers and supported Irish involvement in the war. HP Pavilion dv7-4183sf CPU Fan A minority, approximately 13,000, retained the Irish Volunteers' name, and opposed Ireland's involvement in the war.The failed Easter Rising of 1916 was carried out by the latter group in alliance with a smaller socialist militia, the Irish Citizen Army. The British response, executing fifteen leaders of the Rising over a period of ten days and imprisoning or interning more than a thousand people, turned the mood of the country in favour of the rebels. HP Pavilion dv7-3190ev CPU Fan Support for Irish republicanism increased further due to the ongoing war in Europe, as well as the Conscription Crisis of 1918.^[62] The pro-independence republican party, Sinn Féin, received overwhelming endorsement in the general election of 1918, and in 1919 proclaimed an Irish Republic, setting up its own parliament (Dáil Éireann) and government. HP KSB06105HA CPU Fan Simultaneously the Volunteers, which became known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA), launched a three-year guerilla war, which ended in a truce in July 1921 (although violence continued until June 1922, mostly in Northern Ireland).^[62] In December 1921, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was concluded between the British Government and representatives of the Second Dáil.HP G62-244CA CPU Fan It gave Ireland complete independence in its home affairs and practical independence for foreign policy, but an opt-out clause allowed Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom, which it immediately exercised as expected. Additionally, an oath of allegiance to the King was to be taken.^[63] HP Pavilion dv7-3190ei CPU Fan Disagreements over these provisions led to a split in the nationalist movement and a subsequent civil war between the new government of the Irish Free State and those opposed to the treaty, led by Éamon de Valera. The civil war officially ended in May 1923 when de Valera issued a cease-fire order. During its first decade the newly formed Irish Free State was governed by the victors of the civil war. HP G62-244CA CPU Fan When de Valera achieved power, he took advantage of the Statute of Westminster and political circumstances to build upon inroads to greater sovereignty made by the previous government. The oath was abolished and in 1937 a new constitution was adopted.^[62] This completed a process of gradual separation from the British Empire that governments had pursued since independence. ASUS A6000R CPU Fan However, it was not until 1949 that the state was declared, officially, to be the Republic of Ireland. The state was neutral during World War II, but offered clandestine assistance to the Allies, particularly in the potential defence of Northern Ireland. Despite being neutral, approximately 50,000^[65] volunteers from independent Ireland joined the British forces during the war, four being awarded Victoria Crosses. HP Pavilion dv7-6011sg CPU Fan German Intelligence was also active in Ireland.^[66] German intelligence operations effectively ended in September 1941 whenpolice made arrests on the basis of surveillance carried out on the key diplomatic legations in Ireland, including that of the United States. To the authorities counterintelligence was a fundamental line of defence. Toshiba Satellite L300D-01P CPU Fan With a regular army of only slightly over seven thousand men at the start of the war, and with limited supplies of modern weapons, the state would have had great difficulty in defending itself from invasion from either side of the conflict.^[66][67] Large-scale emigration marked the 1950s and 1980s, but beginning in 1987 the economy improved, and the 1990s saw the beginning of substantial economic growth. Compaq Presario CQ60-409CA CPU Fan This period of growth became known as the Celtic Tiger.^[68] The Republic's real GDP grew by an average of 9.6% per annum between 1995 and 1999,^[69] in which year the Republic joined the euro. In 2000 Ireland was the sixth-richest country in the world in terms of GDP per capita.^[70] Social changes followed quickly on the heels of economic prosperity, HP Mini 110-3010sf CPU Fan ranging from the 'modernisation' of the annual parade in Dublin to mark the principal national holiday of Saint Patrick's Day (17 March), to the decline in authority of the Catholic Church. The financial crisis of 2008–2010 dramatically ended this period of boom. GDP fell by 3% in 2008 and by 7.1% in 2009, the worst year since records began (although earnings by foreign-owned businesses continued to grow).^[71Toshiba Satellite L645D-S4056 CPU Fan ^] The state has since experienced deep recession, with unemployment, which doubled during 2009, remaining above 14% in 2012. Northern Ireland was created as a division of the United Kingdom by the Government of Ireland Act 1920 and until 1972 it was a self-governing jurisdiction within the United Kingdom with its own parliament and prime minister. Toshiba Satellite M70-142 CPU Fan Northern Ireland, as part of the United Kingdom, was not neutral during the Second World War and Belfast suffered four bombing raids in 1941. Conscription was not extended to Northern Ireland and roughly an equal number volunteered from Northern Ireland as volunteered from the south. One, James Joseph Magennis, received the Victoria Cross for valour. DELL Inspiron E1505 CPU Fan Although Northern Ireland was largely spared the strife of the civil war, in decades that followed partition there were sporadic episodes of inter-communal violence. Nationalists, mainly Roman Catholic, wanted to unite Ireland as an independent republic, whereas unionists, mainly Protestant, wanted Northern Ireland to remain in the United Kingdom. HP 532613-001 CPU Fan The Protestant and Catholic communities in Northern Ireland voted largely along sectarian lines, meaning that the Government of Northern Ireland (elected by "first-past-the-post" from 1929) was controlled by the Ulster Unionist Party. Over time, the minority Catholic community felt increasingly alienated with further disaffection fueled by practices such as gerrymandering and discriminationin housing and employment. HP Envy 14-1080eo CPU Fan In the late 1960s, nationalist grievances were aired publicly in mass civil rights protests, which were often confronted byloyalist counter-protests.^[76] The government's reaction to confrontations was seen to be one-sided and heavy-handed in favour of unionists. Law and order broke down as unrest and inter-communal violence increased.^[77] ACER TravelMate 5230 CPU Fan The Northern Ireland government requested the British Army to aid the police, who were exhausted after several nights of serious rioting. In 1969, the paramilitary Provisional IRA, which favoured the creation of a united Ireland, emerged from a split in the Irish Republican Army and began a campaign against what it called the "British occupation of the six counties".Lenovo 3000 G430 CPU Fan Other groups, on both the unionist side and the nationalist side, participated in violence and a period known as the Troublesbegan. Over 3,600 deaths resulted over the subsequent three decades of conflict.^[78] Owing to the civil unrest during the Troubles, the British government suspended home rule in 1972 and imposed direct rule. There were several unsuccessful attempts to end the Troubles politically, such as the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973. ASUS EEE PC 1215N CPU Fan In 1998, following a ceasefire by the Provisional IRA and multi-party talks, the Good Friday Agreement was concluded as a treaty between the British and Irish governments, annexing the text agreed in the multi-party talks. The substance of the Agreement (formally referred to as the Belfast Agreement) was later endorsed by referendums in both parts of Ireland. Dell Vostro 3750 CPU Fan The Agreement restored self-government to Northern Ireland on the basis of power-sharing in a regional Executive drawn from the major parties in a new Northern Ireland Assembly, with entrenched protections for the two main communities. The Executive is jointly headed by a First Minister and deputy First Minister drawn from the unionist and nationalist parties. Toshiba Satellite L500-018 CPU Fan Violence had decreased greatly after the Provisional IRA and loyalist ceasefires in 1994 and in 2005 the Provisional IRA announced the end of its armed campaign and an independent commission supervised its disarmament and that of other nationalist and unionist paramilitary organisations.^[79] The Assembly and power-sharing Executive were suspended several times but were restored again in 2007. COMPAQ Presario CQ42-116TU CPU Fan In that year the British government officially ended its military support of the police in Northern Ireland (Operation Banner) and began withdrawing troops. On Wednesday, 27 June 2012, Northern Ireland's deputy first minister and former IRA commander, Martin McGuinness, shook hands with Queen Elizabeth II in Belfast, a handshake symbolizing reconciliation between the two nations. HP Pavilion dv6-2115eg CPU Fan Politically, the island is divided between Ireland, a sovereign state also called the Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland, a constituent country of theUnited Kingdom. They share an open border and both are part of the Common Travel Area. Both Ireland and the United Kingdom are members of the European Union, and as a consequence there is free movement of people, goods, services and capital across the border. Toshiba Satellite L645D-S4056 CPU Fan The Republic of Ireland is a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminister model with a written constitution and a popularly elected president who has mostly ceremonial powers. The Government is headed by a prime minister, the Taoiseach, who is appointed by the President on the nomination of the lower house of parliament, the Dáil. HP 646578-001 CPU Fan Members of the government are chosen from both the Dáil and the upper house of parliament, the Seanad. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland today ranks amongst the wealthiest countries in the world in terms of GDP per capita^[80] and in 2011 was ranked the seventh most developed nation in the world by the United Nations' Human Development Index.^[81] SONY VAIO PCG-6L2L CPU Fan A period of rapid economic expansion from 1995 onwards became known as the Celtic Tiger period, was brought to an end in 2008 with an unprecedentedfinancial crisis and and economic depression in 2009.