Portal:Ireland


Welcome to the Ireland Portal!
Fáilte go dtí Tairseach na hÉireann!
Fair faa ye tae tha Airlann Inlat!

Introduction

Sister portal:
Northern Ireland
Satellite image of Ireland
Satellite image of Ireland

Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially named Ireland – a sovereign state covering five-sixths of the island) and Northern Ireland (part of the United Kingdom – covering the remaining sixth). It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest in the world. As of 2022, the population of the entire island is just over 7 million, with 5.1 million in the Republic of Ireland and 1.9 million in Northern Ireland, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain.

The geography of Ireland comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. Much of Ireland was woodland until the end of the Middle Ages. Today, woodland makes up about 10% of the island, compared with a European average of over 33%, with most of it being non-native conifer plantations. Its lush vegetation is a product of its mild climate, which is influenced by the Atlantic Ocean and thus very moderate, and winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, although summers are cooler than those in continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant.

Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century AD. The island was Christianised from the 5th century onwards. During this period Ireland was divided amongst petty kings, who in turn served under the kings of the traditional provinces (Cúige; lit. 'fifth') vying for dominance and the title of High King of Ireland. Between the late 8th and early 11th centuries, Viking raids and settlement took place culminating in the Battle of Clontarf on 23 April 1014 which resulted in the end of Viking power in Ireland. Following the 12th-century Anglo-Norman invasion, England claimed sovereignty. However, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation 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. With the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. The Great Famine of the 1840s saw the population fall by over 20%, through death and emigration. A war of independence in the early 20th century was followed by the partition of the island, leading to the creation of the Irish Free State, which became increasingly sovereign over the following decades until it declared a republic in 1948 (Republic of Ireland Act, 1948) 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 the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. In 1973, both the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, with Northern Ireland as part of it, joined the European Economic Community. Following a referendum vote in 2016, the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland included, left the European Union (EU) in 2020. Northern Ireland was granted a limited special status and allowed to operate within the EU single market for goods without being in the European Union. (Full article...)

The Burren (Irish: Boireann, meaning 'Great rock', Boirinn is the modern form used by the Ordnance Survey) is a unique karst-landscape region in northwest County Clare, in Ireland. The region measures approximately 250 square kilometres and is enclosed roughly within the circle comprised by the villages Ballyvaughan, Kinvara, Tubber, Corofin, Kilfenora and Lisdoonvarna, It is bounded by the Atlantic and Galway Bay on the west and north respectively. Strictly speaking the territory of the Burren or barony of Burren only contains the villages of Lisdoonvarna, Ballyvaughan, Fanore, Craggagh, New Quay/Burrin, Bealaclugga (Bellharbour) and Carron.

The definite article (making it "the Burren") has only been added to the name in the last few decades, possibly by academics, as it had always been called Boireann in Irish and Burren in English. Read more...

Selected biography - show another

Tom Crean (20 July 1877 – 27 July 1938) was an Irish seaman and Antarctic explorer, from County Kerry. He enlisted in the British Royal Navy at the age of fifteen as a Boy 2nd class. In 1901, while on naval duty serving as an Able Seaman on HMS Ringarooma in New Zealand, he volunteered to join Robert Falcon Scott's 1901–1904 British National Antarctic Expedition on Discovery, thus beginning a distinguished career as an explorer during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

Crean was on three of the four major British expeditions to Antarctica during this period. After the Discovery Expedition he joined Captain Scott on the 1911–1913 Terra Nova Expedition, in which the race to reach the South Pole was lost to Roald Amundsen, followed by the deaths of Scott and his polar party. During this expedition Crean's 35–mile (56 km) solo walk across the Ross Ice Shelf to save the life of Edward Evans led to the award of the Albert Medal. His third Antarctic venture was the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition on Endurance led by Ernest Shackleton, in which he served as Second Officer. After the sinking of Endurance he was a participant in the 800–mile (1,280 km) open boat journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia, and was one of the party of three which undertook the first land crossing of South Georgia.

These feats earned him a reputation as a tough and dependable polar traveller. After the Endurance expedition Crean returned to the Navy, and when his naval career ended in 1920 he moved back to County Kerry. Here he opened a public house in his home town, Annascaul, called the South Pole Inn. He lived there quietly and unobtrusively until his death on 27 July 1938. Read more...

Topics

General images

The following are images from various Ireland-related articles on Wikipedia.

Selected picture

Selected city - show another

Belfast as seen from the River Lagan

Belfast (/ˈbɛlfæst/ ⓘ BEL-fast, /-fɑːst/, -⁠fahst; from Irish: Béal Feirste [bʲeːlˠ ˈfʲɛɾˠ(ə)ʃtʲə]ⓘ) is the capital, largest city and main port of Northern Ireland. It stands on the banks of the river Lagan, and is connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel. The city is the most populous in Northern Ireland and the second-largest, after Dublin, on the island of Ireland, with a recorded population in 2021 of 345,418 and of 704,406 for the greater metropolitan area.

While chartered as an English settlement in 1613, the town's early growth was driven by an influx of Scottish Presbyterians. Their descendants' disaffection with Ireland's Anglican establishment contributed to the rebellion of 1798 and to the 1801 union with Great Britain that followed. Access to British capital and markets were keys to industrial growth. When granted city status in 1888, Belfast was the world's largest centre of linen manufacture, and by the 1900s its shipyards were building up to a quarter of all United Kingdom tonnage. (Full article...)

Categories

Category puzzle
Category puzzle
Select [►] to view subcategories
Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Select [►] to view subcategories
Northern Ireland
Select [►] to view subcategories

Recognized content

Good articles

Did you know? articles

In the News articles

Picture of the day pictures

Good topics

New articles

This list was generated from these rules. Questions and feedback are always welcome! The search is being run daily with the most recent ~14 days of results. Note: Some articles may not be relevant to this project.

Rules | Match log | Results page (for watching) | Deleted articles | Last updated: 2026-10-20 19:12 (UTC)

Note: The list display can now be customized by each user. See List display personalization for details.

















{{{1}}}

Contribute

Simply add {{Portal|Ireland}} to a page. If you need to use a flag, to avoid causing offense, please use the Four Provinces flag e.g. {{Portal|Ireland}}.

If you are new to Wikipedia then Céad Mile Fáilte! This portal is for articles on Wikipedia that relate to Ireland (both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). Like all of Wikipedia, it is written collaboratively and, like any article that you find using it, it too can be edited by anyone.

There is an active community of editors working on Ireland-related articles on Wikipedia and there are dedicated projects that tie this community together. To get in touch with them - or just to find out more - drop by at one of the parent Ireland-related projects:

If you want to get involved in contributing to Wikipedia, don't worry - everybody needs some help at the start. If you get into trouble you can always ask another Wikipedian for help. These guides should get you up-and-running on how Wikipedia works and how you can contribute:

  • Getting started: This introduction explains how Wikipedia works. When you're ready, you can try the tutorial.
  • Questions about Wikipedia: The Frequent Ask Questions page has answers to all kinds of questions asked about Wikipedia.

If you would like to involve yourself with the Irish on Wikipedia, the section below will connect you to communities of editors working on specific Ireland-related topics. It also contains an up-to-date to do list for Ireland-related articles so you can start helping out right now. Click [show] (below, right) to see it all:

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Discover Wikipedia using portals

Purge server cache