Referaat : Iirimaa (0)

road signs
All speed limit signs in the Republic changed to the metric system in 2005. Some direction signs still show distance in miles so tourists often mix them up. There are usually about 10 signs or more on one post , and its really hard to see them when driving , so tourists disturb traffic quite often when slowing down to read the signs
All the signs are multilingual ,due to high percentage of English speakers
Forests
Ireland has only about 8 % of his whole land covered with forests. Centuries ago people cut the forests and didn't think about the future so nowadays there is mostly peat ( turvas) which Ireland uses to produce energy.
Economy
Ireland had a big economic boom in the late 20’th century , but now the Republic of Ireland is ranked the second wealthiest per capita country in the European Union. Education in Ireland is free at all levels, including college.
The construction sector, which is inherently cyclical in nature, now accounts for a significant component of Ireland's GDP. ( ehitus/tõõstus sektor , mis on loomupäraselt tsükliline , mängib nüüd iirimaa GDP’s märkimisväärset rolli - GDP =SKT )
In 2005, Ireland was ranked the best place to live in the world, according to a quality of life assessment
( hindamine ) by Economist magazine.
The weather
Irish think there are 4 kinds of weather , rainy spring , rainy summer , rainy autumn and rainy winter and only the lastone is a bit diffrent from others , its more like sleet ( lõrts)
The typical Irish weather is few minutes rain , few minutes sunny then again some rain and sun will shine for a bit more again.
Energy
The vast majority ( enamus ) of Irish energy needs are met by fossil fuels . About 98% of Ireland's final energy demand is produced by burning coal , petroleum , peat, or natural gas.
This over reliance on fossil fuels ( see liigne toetumine sisseostetavatele kütustele )- particularly oil -
(eriti õli) has left Ireland vulnerable to international price fluctuations as it imports all of its oil needs.
(on jätnud iirimaa haavatavaks tänu rahvusvahelistele hindande muutumisele )
There have been recent efforts in Ireland to use renewable energy such as wind energy with large wind farms being constructed in coastal counties such as Donegal, Mayo and Antrim.
Flora
Because of Irelands mild climate , many tropic species such as palm trees grow in Ireland.
Much of the land is now covered with pasture(karjamaa) and there are many species of wild -flowers
The country has been "invaded" by some grasses, such as Spartina anglica which you can see on the picture . Gorse (Ulex europaeus ) is commonly found growing in the uplands, and ferns( sõnajalg) are plentiful in the more moist (niiske) regions, especially in the western parts of Ireland.
Transport
There are 3 main ways to travel around in Ireland : by plane , by railway or by road .
Motorists must drive on the left in Ireland and due to that tourists driving in the wrong side of the road cause many serious accidents every year .
The first monorail(üherõõpaline raudtee) was constructed in Ireland. Nowadays the fastest express trains work on same monorail basics.
Language
In Ireland there are 2 official languages in , Irish Gaelic and English
There are parts of Ireland where Irish is spoken as a traditional , native language but there are also parts where you can basically only hear English.
Many English-speaking Irish people use small and simple phrases in their everyday speech mixing it with English , such as :
Slan ("goodbye")
Slán abhaile ("get home safely")
so it can be quite hard to understand them sometimes
Attempts have been made to offer support for the language through the media , so far it has gone quite well ( made diffrent shows in irish language or so )
You can check the map for the percentage of people speaking Irish in Ireland.
St. Patrick ’s day
As everybody already knows St’ Patrick’s day is a public holiday of the Republic of Ireland
But its also a holiday in Montserrat , in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador .
In the rest of Canada, Great Britain, Australia , the United States and New Zealand , it is widely celebrated but is not an official holiday
Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated worldwide by Irish people and increasingly (kasvavalt) by non-Irish people (usually in Australia and North America). Celebrations are generally themed around all things Irish and, by association , the colour green . Both Christians and non-Christians celebrate the secular version of the holiday by wearing green or orange, eating Irish food and/or green foods , drinking Irish
drinks (such as Guinness or Baileys Irish Cream) and attending in parades.
Primary and high schools also often dress up in green on St Patrick’s day
The St. Patrick's Day parade in Dublin, Ireland is part of a five -day festival ; over 500,000 people attended the 2006 parade.
As well as being a celebration of Irish culture, Saint Patrick's Day is a Christian festival celebrated in the Catholic Church