The offical name of the country is The Republic of Ireland. It's a quite small country with population of 4.2 million (with more than 10% of foreigners). The head of the state is the President of Ireland. Ireland is (quite logically) a republic with parliamentary system of government.
The parliament (Oireachtas) consists of the President of Ireland, the Senate (Seanad Éireann) and the House of Representatives (Dáil Éireann). Very interesting is the way of election to the Senate. The Senate has 60 members, only 43 of them are elected by public representatives, 11 members are nominated by the Prime minister and 6 of them are elected by two universities.
The anthem is The Soldier's Song (Amhrán na bhFiann). The national symbols are the harp and the shamrock.
The patron of Ireland is St. Patrick (more in history).
Spoken languages are Gaelic and English.
The currency in Ireland is EURO.
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