My Country IRELAND ÉIRE We are here

The beginning The first settlers in Ireland were the Celts. Our native language is a Celtic language. The Celts had a great love of art and music and this is still evident in Ireland today. Examples of Celtic architecture can still be found in Ireland.

 It is worth remembering that the Irish have lived in the same country and spoken the same language for a very long time. No other race in North Western Europe have inhabited the same country for as long as the Irish.  The Irish language has been spoken all this time making it one of the world’s most ancient languages.

 Under the Roman empire, Christianity came to Britain.  Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland.  Christianity developed and spread in Ireland due to the influence of the monks and the monasteries.

Christianity  Main faith in Ireland  Two patron Saints – St Patrick and St Brigid  Our national emblem is the shamrock. St Patrick used this to teach about Christianity.  We celebrate St Patrick’s day on 17 th March. People wear shamrocks and the colour green on this day.  We celebrate St Brigid’s day on 1 st February. People make St Brigid’s crosses on the eve of this day. St Brigid used these to teach about Christianity.

My Country  1840’s – Ireland ruled by England  Population of 8 million – 2/3 of which depended on agriculture  Two main problems in Ireland which England could not solve and really did not try to solve – over-population and poverty.  Potato was a dietary staple  Blight struck the potato crop repeatedly between

The Great Hunger  Death (2 million) – extinction of lowest class of agricultural tenant  Emigration (2 million) – mainly to America. Birth of Irish Americans!  Demise of the cottiers – people at the lowest rung of the agricultural ladder, lived in mud huts, lived off potatoes.  Change from tillage to pasture farming. Pasture farming needed more land without the small cabins that Irish tenants had so the English landlords began to clear the land i.e. evicted the Irish farmers out of their homes. Thus the number of larger farms grew and the tenants farmers had no homes or land to grow their food on.  Made the Irish aware of how badly and unfairly they were treated  Ireland still ruled by England

 Failed to understand and solve question on land  Home Rule – a demand for an independent Irish Parliament to control Irish affairs. Three Home Rule Bills presented to Westminster in 1886, 1893 and 1912  Home Rule to come into being in 1914  Ulster unionists opposed this – Solemn League and Covenant. Rise of Ulster Volunteers. Appeared civil war was imminent in Ireland. Became known as the Ulster Question.  Outbreak of First World War meant that Home Rule was postponed. Many of the Ulster Volunteers fought and died for England in the war.  Irish Volunteers split into National Volunteers and Irish Volunteers (those who were prepared to fight for Britain in WW1 and those who were not)  Ulster Question was not solved.

Nationalists were in agreement that Ireland was a separate nation therefore Irish people had the right to control their own affairs. Irish Ireland The GAA The Gaelic League The Literary Revival Sinn Féin IRB The Labour Movement The Irish Volunteers Irish Nationalism

The Easter Rising 1916  IRB began planning this in 1914  Formation of Military Council 1915  Weapons from Germany  Rising cancelled on Holy Saturday by Mac Néill  Military Council met on Easter Sunday and decided to go ahead with Rising the following day

Personalities of the Rising  Pádraic Pearse  Eoin Mac Néill  James Connolly  Joseph Mary Plunkett  Sir Roger Casement  Arthur Griffith  Éamonn de Valera

Aftermath of Rising  450 killed  2600 injured  Dublin city in ruins  People of Dublin were hostile towards insurgents  English introduced martial law in Ireland to deal with insurgents  16 insurgents were executed  Internment  Two months after Rising majority of Irish were in favour of Easter rebels.  Growth of Sinn Féin – 1918 election

 War of Independence 1919 – 21  Black and Tans 1920  Truce and Treaty 1921  Civil War 1921 – 23  Dissolution of the Treaty – De Valera

The Ulster Question  Due to Unionist opposition to Home Rule  1914 – six of the nine Ulster counties (Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Down, Fermanagh, Tyrone) were mainly Unionist and wanted to stay as part of the United Kingdom  Government of Ireland Act 1920 – guaranteed to Unionists that they had a place in the UK, divided Ireland and created Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland  Mistreatment of Catholics  Civil Rights – Bloody Sunday  War  Peace

Today  Ireland still divided  Two governments – Dublin and Belfast  Good Friday Agreement multi- party agreement by most of Northern Ireland’s political parties, an international agreement between the British and Irish governments

Facts about Ireland  Population – 6,298,000  32 Counties – 4 provinces  Capital – Dublin  84.2% of population are Catholic  Currency –Euro, Sterling  English majority language but Irish is official language in 26 counties and is being revived on whole island.  More than 100 million people around the world claim to have Irish ancestry

Irish National Anthem  A Soldier's Song Amhrán na bhFiann Soldiers are weSinne Laochra Fáil Whose lives are pledged to Ireland Atá faoi gheall ag Éirinn  Some have come Buíon dár slua From a land beyond the wave Thar toinn do ráinig chugainn  Sworn to be free Faoi mhóid bheith saor No more our ancient sire land Seantír ár sinsear feasta  Shall shelter the despot or the slave Ní fhágfar faoin tíorán ná faoin tráill  Tonight we man the bearna baol Anocht a théim sa bhearna bhaoil  In Erin’s cause, come woe or weal Le gean ar Ghaeil, chun báis nó saoil  ’Mid cannon’s roar and rifles’ peal Le gunna scréach, faoi lámhach na bpiléar  We’ll chant a soldier’s song Seo libh canaídh Amhrán na bhFiann

Irish Flag present

Places of Interest in Ireland  Walls of Derry City  The Giants Causeway  Croke Park  New Grange  The Burren  Cliffs of Moher  Kilmainham Gaol  Islands off the West Coast  Titanic Museum  Book of Kells  Croagh Patrick  The Gaeltacht

Famous Irish People  Liam Neeson  Colin Farrell  Brendan Gleeson  Pierce Brosnan  Roy Keane  Robbie Keane  U2  West Life  Boyzone  Niall from One Direction

Land of saints and Scholars  Some of our most famous writers are  Bram Stoker  Jonathon Swift  JM Synge  James Joyce  Oliver Goldsmith  Brendan Behan  Flann O Brien  Oscar Wilde  George Bernard Shaw  Samuel Beckett  WB Yeats  C S Lewis  Maeve Binchy  Seamas Heaney  Brian Friel  Roddy Doyle

Celebrations and Events  St Brigid’s Day – 1 st February  Shrove Tuesday  Ash Wednesday and Lent  St Patrick’s Day - March 17 th  Easter  The Twelfth of July  Halloween  Christmas