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Ireland fields a single national rugby team and a single association, the Irish Rugby Football Union, governs the sport across the island. The Irish rugby team have played in every Rugby World Cup, making the quarter-finals in eight of them. [196] Ireland also hosted games during the 1991 and the 1999 Rugby World Cups (including a quarter-final).
Ireland (Irish: Éire [ˈeːɾʲə] ⓘ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (Poblacht na hÉireann), [a] is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. [4]
The postage stamps of Ireland are issued by the postal authority of the independent Irish state. Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland when the world's first postage stamps were issued in 1840. These stamps, and all subsequent British issues, were used in Ireland until the new Irish Government assumed power in 1922.
Ireland's geological history includes a wide range of elements, from volcanism and tropical seas to the last glacial period. Ireland was formed in two distinct parts, which slowly joined, uniting about 440 million years ago. As a result of tectonics and the effect of ice, the sea level has risen and fallen.
The island of Ireland's population has fluctuated over history. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, Ireland experienced a major population boom as a result of the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions. In the 50-year period 1790–1840, the population of the island doubled from 4 million to 8 million.
The Government of Ireland (Irish: Rialtas na hÉireann) is the executive authority of Ireland, headed by the Taoiseach, the head of government.The government – also known as the cabinet – is composed of ministers, each of whom must be a member of the Oireachtas, which consists of Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann.
The Irish state came into being in 1919 as the 32 county Irish Republic.In 1922, having seceded from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, it became the Irish Free State.
Ireland participates in a number of cross-border bodies with the United Kingdom as a result of the Good Friday Agreement/Belfast Agreement, and certain government functions, including tourism, food safety and inland waterways, are partially run on an all-island basis. Ireland's population is the fastest growing in Europe, with an annual growth ...