Ireland (For Want of a Telegram)

Ireland (Irish: Éire), also described as the Republic of Ireland (Poblacht na hÉireann), is a sovereign state in north-western Europe occupying the entirety of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is, which is located on the eastern part of the island, and whose metropolitan area is home to around a quarter of the country's 6.63 million inhabitants. The state is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, Saint George's Channel to the south-east, and the Irish Sea to the east. It is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The legislature, the Oireachtas, consists of a lower house, Dáil Éireann, an upper house, Seanad Éireann, and an elected President (Uachtarán) who serves as the largely ceremonial head of state, but with some important powers and duties. The head of government is the Taoiseach (Prime Minister, literally 'Chief', a title not used in English), who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President; the Taoiseach in turn appoints other government ministers.

The state was created as an independent republic by the Treaty of Vienna in 1919 after World War I. Ireland became a member of the United Nations in December 1955. It joined the European Economic Community (EEC), the predecessor of the European Union, in 1973. A low-intensity guerrilla conflict was fought throughout the country between pro and anti-independence factions for most of the twentieth century, but during the 1980s and 1990s the British and Irish governments worked with the disparate parties towards a resolution to "the Troubles". Since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, the Irish government and the autonomous Ulster Executive have co-operated on a number of policy areas.