Ireland is the second-largest island in Europe (James Martin, goeurope.com). It is made up of Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, which is a completely separate country. Northern Ireland consists of 26 counties and the Republic of Ireland consists of 32 counties and makes up five-sixths of the island of Ireland in landmass (James Martin, goeurope.com). Ireland is small in size to other countries. It is only 26,600 square miles of land and has only 3.7 million inhabitants with over 57% living in the urban areas. (Lorna McDowell, executiveplanet.com) There are only 4 million inhabitants in Kentucky and thus our state has more citizens than all of Ireland. The temperature averages 4-7 oC in Ireland and rises to 14-16 oC in July and August and receives considerable rain. During the sunniest period, May – June, it averages 5-7 hours of sunshine per day (Lorna McDowell, executiveplanet.com).
             Both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are in the European Union and thus the form of currency in both areas is the Euro (James Martin, goeurope.com). English is spoken in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland but Irish Gaelic is also spoken. In fact, in the Republic of Ireland, there is a strong resurgence of cultural heritage taking place. This cultural resurgence is being manifested in the fact that all children are being taught Irish Gaelic in grade-school and in some parts of the country, Irish is the primary language (Lorna McDowell, executiveplanet.com). In fact, certain professions in the Republic of Ireland are expected to speak Irish Gaelic as well as English. These professions are nursing and teaching (Lorna McDowell, executiveplanet.com).
             Historically, Ireland has suffered oppression from various outside rule over the years. In fact, "invasion" is a predominant Irish theme and is how they view their history. Thus, their history explains that they were ruled by t...