Introduction to IrelandMany come to Ireland with high expectations of its romantic scenery, a blend of the raw and rugged with mist-covered verdancy, and seldom return home disillusioned. An uncommon geological richness and the warming effect of the North Atlantic produce an astonishing diversity of terrain on this small island, accompanied overhead by an ever-changing canvas of wind-blown cloud effects. Ancient, crumpled mountains tumble into the ocean at the fringes of the land, which is splashed throughout with green, misty lakes and primeval bogland. In the east, the lonely, beautiful granite of the Wicklow Hills sits in utter contrast to the horse-grazing plain of the Curragh just a few dozen kilometres away, and in Connemara on the west coast, the ancient poets' "many-coloured land", you can walk from beach to mountain to fen, from seaweed-strewn inlet to lily-covered lough, in just a couple of hours. Coupled with the unhurried nature of rural living, this scenic array encourages leisurely investigation, especially on foot or by bicycle.
With the richest store of mythological traditions in northern Europe, Ireland adds further interest to the landscape through the sacred associations of so many of its physical features – few counties do not shelter a pile of stones called "Diarmuid and Gráinne's Bed", where the star-crossed lovers are said to have slept together on their flight from the great warrior-seer Fionn Mac Cumhaill. But there's much more than the resonance of place names to this treasure chest of myths, which still has a life of its own in the tradition of storytelling. The great body of Irish literature, though much of it concerns the dysfunction of real life, is usually spiked with wild, fantastical imaginings, from Swift, Sterne and Wilde through to Joyce, Flann O'Brien and Seamus Heaney. And unlikely stories and surreal comedy are integral elements of the
craic, the talking therapy of Ireland's pubs. Meanwhile, in the rich culture of traditional music, the two forms that are most likely to enrapture an audience – whether singing along or in silent appreciation – are ballads and
sean-nós ("old-style" Irish-language singing), which recount tales of love, history and humour.
Many of Ireland's mythical deities were reinvented by the Church after the tenth century as historical personages, which can make interpretation of the country's abundance of historic sites and relics more difficult, especially its enigmatic but awe-inspiring prehistoric tombs, stone circles and hill forts. There are few remnants of the Church itself from the so-called "Dark Ages", when the monasteries of Ireland persisted as great centres of learning, but their elaborate craftsmanship is evident in surviving illuminated manuscripts. Stone began to be used for religious buildings only in the ninth century, and the country is strewn with fine churches, distinctive round towers and high crosses from later periods. Doughty castles and tower houses are reminders of the unrest and oppression that followed the twelfth-century Anglo-Norman invasion, while numerous stately homes constructed from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries attest to the power of the Protestant Ascendancy, alongside Neoclassical institutions in the cities and Dublin's extensive Georgian areas.
Many Irish people have returned from abroad, bringing fresh ideas and vibrancy to commerce and culture
The poverty experienced by ordinary Irish people, however, during 750 years as the laboratory for British colonialism was not immediately righted by Independence in 1921, and for most of the twentieth century the economy continued to stagnate. There is little vernacular architecture of note, thanks to centuries of oppression and poverty. This last decade, however, has seen a remarkable rejuvenation of Ireland's fortunes. The North, though still blighted by sectarianism and gangsterism, has received massive British and European investment and has achieved far greater stability since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. So rapid was the Republic's economic growth during the 1990s – now somewhat abated – that it acquired the nickname of the Celtic Tiger. Such expansion resulted in immigration outstripping emigration for the first time since the Great Famine of the 1840s. Many Irish people have returned from abroad, bringing fresh ideas and vibrancy to commerce and culture, after the authoritarianism that followed Independence.
Greater prosperity has necessitated an influx of migrant workers, too, mostly from Eastern Europe and Africa. This has presented new challenges on both sides of the border, but in time may bring diversity to the South's Catholic homogeneity and the rigid duality of the North. At the same time, Ireland has one of the youngest populations in Europe, energizing the burgeoning bar, café and restaurant scenes in Dublin, Belfast, Cork and Galway. And the recent development of a modern Irish cuisine, using local ingredients and giving traditional recipes a global twist, is a telling sign of a new self-confidence. Meanwhile, an ever-expanding network of relationships with Europe and the US – where forty million people claim Irish descent – and between the two parts of the island, can only continue to have a constructive effect.
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