Ireland

THE COUNTRY OF IRELAND is composed of five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The remaining portion of the island has become known as Northern Ireland. The Irish people have spent much of their history trying to rid themselves of English rule. After centuries of fighting and repression, 26 counties in predominantly Catholic southern Ireland became independent of the United Kingdom in 1921.

Six northern (Ulster) counties continued to be part of the United Kingdom. Ireland withdrew from the British Commonwealth of Nations in 1948. Repeated efforts to reunite Ireland have been unsuccessful. In 1998 the Good Friday Agreement halted the bitter fighting within the country, but tensions have remained high.

Despite the years of political turmoil, in the summer of 2005, Ireland became the second richest country in the European Union (EU). Ireland's per capita income of $31,900 is outranked in the EU only by Luxembourg, with a per capita income of $58,900. Ireland's journey to prosperity began with the implementation of free secondary education in the 1960s. As a result of free education through the secondary level, only two percent of the population over the age of 15 are unable to read and write. All students complete primary school, and nearly all complete secondary school.

In the 1980s, Ireland experienced an economic slump because of declining exports and years of protectionism and mismanagement. The economy revived only when the major trade unions, farmers, and industrialists banded together to pressure the government to institute fiscal austerity by cutting corporate taxes and promoting foreign investment. The government also made college education basically free. The result has been phenomenal. Nearly one million people were added to the workforce between 1990 and 2005, and increased levels of education have led to a well-trained workforce that attracts a host of investors from all over the world. In 2005, unemployment stood at 4.3 percent.

Agriculture has declined in importance in Ireland and the agricultural sector now employs only eight percent of the workforce. Services dominate the Irish economy, engaging 63 percent of the workforce. Approximately 29 percent of the labor force are involved in industries, accounting for 46 percent of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 80 percent of all exports. Ireland's abundant resources include natural gas, peat, copper, lead, zinc, silver, barite, gypsum, limestone, and dolomite.

Even though Ireland has prospered economically, poverty has continued to be a persistent problem. The Irish government defines the poverty line as those earning less than 70 percent of the median income. From 1990 to 2001, the number of those living in poverty according to this definition fell from 15.1 percent to 5.2 percent as unemployment declined and social assistance increased.

When poverty is determined according to the number of individuals earning less than 60 percent of the median income, data for 2002 indicate that 4.7 percent of women and 3.5 percent of men fell into this category. On the other hand, when poverty is defined according to those who earn less than 50 percent of the median income, the poverty level increases to 12.3 percent. This is the figure generally accepted as the most accurate assessment of poverty in Ireland. The poorest 20 [Page 579]percent of the population live on 7.1 percent of resources, while the richest 20 percent hold 43.3 percent of resources. Ireland ranks 35.7 on the Gini Index of Human Inequality.

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