2012-2013
Esta es la programación del proyecto eTwinning:
St Patrick’s Day Celebration in European schools
We are going to share our experiences in the way our schools
celebrate St Patrick's Day. We are going to share ideas, share the
outcomes of our work and perhaps organize an art conest.
- Materias:
- Arte , Geografía , Historia , Historia de las culturas , Informática TIC , Lenguas extranjeras
- Idiomas:
- EN
- Edad de los alumnos:
- 7 - 12
- Herramientas a utilizar:
- Chat, email, Otro software (Powerpoint, video, fotos y dibujos), Publicación Web, TwinSpace
- Objetivos:
- teachers with new ideas to promote cultural awareness amongst their students this or even next year students with greater motivation to learn and use English and with a feeling of cooperation with other students from Europe
- Proceso de trabajo:
- email, share our work within the week of 18-22 March
- Resultados esperados:
- a recorded video
Esto es lo que nosotros, como colegio y desde el área de inglés, aportamos al proyecto.
Custom Glitter Text
St. Patrick's Day Note
This is our magazine
This is our POSTER
We hope you enjoy yourself!
You have to be patient because some videos need some minutes to download
This is our movie about the jobs and the festival day.
This is our St. Patrick´s exposition movie
This is Caitlin dancing an Irish dance. She is our American teacher,
This is Colcannon.
Teresa cooked for us
It was decicious!
This is the movie about the story of St. Patrick.
It was written by John Wilmott, an Irish friend.
It was ilustrated for my students.
An intervew
We did an intervew to - Caitlin(our American Teacher)
- John Wilmott (An Irish friend)
We made a small movie with the results thanking them for helping us to prepare St. Patrick´s day
Custom Glitter Text
2011-2012
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Estoy esperando vuestra información sobre este simpático Santo. |
Saint Patrick's Day (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig; Ulster-Scots: Saunt Petherick's Day) is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17 March. It commemorates Saint Patrick (c. AD 387–461), the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of Ireland, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. It is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland), the Eastern Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official feast day in the early 17th century, and has gradually become a secular celebration of Irish culture in general. The day is
generally characterised by the attendance of church services, wearing of green attire (especially shamrocks), and the lifting of Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol, which is often proscribed during the rest of the season. Saint Patrick's Day is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland,[9] Northern Ireland, Newfoundland and Labrador and in Montserrat.
By Adán
The day is generally characterised by the attendance of church services,wearing of green attire (especially shamrockrestrictions oneating and drinking alcoholn restrictions on eating and drinking alcohols)which is often proscribed during the rest of the season.
By Saray M.
Saint Patrick's Day (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig; Ulster-Scots: Saunt Petherick's Dayis a cultural and religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17March.It commemorates Saint Patrick (c. AD 387–461), the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of Ireland, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland.
By María V.
Well done, Children!
Saint Patrick's Day (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig; Ulster-Scots: Saunt Petherick's Dayis a cultural and religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17March.It commemorates Saint Patrick (c. AD 387–461), the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of Ireland, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland.
By María V.
Saint Patrick's feast day, as a kind of national day, was already being
celebrated by the Irish in Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries. In
later times he became more and more widely known as the patron of
Ireland.Saint Patrick's feast day was finally placed on the universal
liturgical calendar in the Catholic Church due to the influence of
Waterford-born Franciscan scholar Luke Wadding in the early 1600s. Saint
Patrick's Day thus became a holy day of obligation for Roman Catholics
in Ireland. The church calendar avoids the observance of saints' feasts
during certain solemnities, moving the saint's day to a time outside
those periods. Saint Patrick's Day is occasionally affected by this
requirement, when 17 March falls during Holy Week. This happened in
1940, when Saint Patrick's Day was observed on 3 April in order to avoid
it coinciding with Palm Sunday, and again in 2008, where it was
officially observed on 14 March (15 March being used for St. Joseph,
which had to be moved from
By María B.
Saint Patrick's Day is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17 March. It commemorates Saint Patrick (c. AD 387–461), the most commonly recognized of the patron saints of Ireland, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland.[1] It is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland),[3] the Eastern Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official feast day in the early 17th century, and has gradually become a secular celebration of Irish culture in general
By Andrea
Saint Patrick's Day is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17 March. It commemorates Saint Patrick (c. AD 387–461), the most commonly recognized of the patron saints of Ireland, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland.[1] It is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland),[3] the Eastern Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official feast day in the early 17th century, and has gradually become a secular celebration of Irish culture in general
By Andrea
Well done, Children!
The national flag of Ireland (Irish: bratach na hÉireann) is a vertical
tricolour of green (at the hoist), white, and orange.[1][2] It is also
known as the Irish tricolour. The flag proportion is 1:2 (length twice
the width). Although the flag's meaning is not covered by the Irish
Constitution,[3] the Irish government has stated that the green
represents the Gaelic tradition of Ireland and the orange represents the
followers of William of Orange in Ireland, with white representing
peace, or a truce, between them.[4][5]
Presented as a gift in 1848 to Thomas Francis Meagher from a small group
of French women sympathetic to the Irish cause,[6][7] it was not until
the Easter Rising of 1916, when it was raised above the General Post
Office in Dublin, that the tricolour came to be regarded as the national
flag.[8] Meagher was the son of Newfoundland-born mayor of Waterford,
Thomas Meagher Jr, however there are two theories on his inspiration for
the flag; the similarly-coloured Newfoundland
By Mª José
Sabéis a qué país
representa
esta bandera.
Muy bien:
IRELAND
Y sabéis el porqué de sus colores. He estado investigando y yo ya lo sé:
This is a map
Can you say me which country is it?
Can you talk about it?
Adán y María nos han mandado estas photos.
Os voy a contar el significado de este sombrero
Los leprechauns son criaturas que pertenecen al folclore y a la mitología irlandesa, y se dice que habitan en Irlanda junto a todas las criaturas feéricas, los Tuatha Dé Danann y las otras gentes legendarias desde antes de la llegada de los celtas.
Normalmente adoptan la forma de hombres viejos que disfrutan realizando travesuras. Su oficio es el de fabricar o arreglar zapatos. Se dice que son muy ricos, ya que custodian muchas vasijas de barro llenas de tesoros que fueron enterradas en periodos de guerra.1 Según la leyenda, si alguien logra fijar la mirada sobre un leprechaun, este no puede escapar, pero en el momento en que se retira la mirada, desaparece.
Un granjero se encontraba trabajando en sus tierras cuando descubrió por casualidad a un hombrecillo que se escondía bajo una hoja. Convencido de que se trataba de un leprechaun, el granjero capturó enseguida al hombrecillo en su mano y le preguntó dónde tenía escondido el oro. El leprechaun sólo deseaba que le liberasen, por lo que enseguida le reveló que su tesoro se hallaba oculto debajo de un arbusto cercano. Sin soltar a su diminuto cautivo, el granjero se encaminó hacia el lugar indicado, pero resultó que el arbusto estaba rodeado de otros cientos de arbustos idénticos. Como no tenía a mano ninguna herramienta para cavar, se quitó uno de sus calcetines rojos y lo ató a una rama para marcar el arbusto que el leprechaun le había señalado. Cuando se dirigía a su casa en busca de una pala, el leprechaun le señaló que ya no necesitaba sus servicios para nada y le pidió que le liberara. El granjero accedió, pero no sin antes hacerle prometer que no iría a quitar el calcetín ni a llevarse el oro. Buena idea... pero no resultó como esperaba. Cuando el granjero regresó al campo a los pocos minutos, ¡todos los arbustos estaban marcados con calcetines rojos idénticos!.
¿Por qué un trebol de cuatro hojas?
Investigad vosotros
Os voy a contar el significado de este sombrero
Los leprechauns son criaturas que pertenecen al folclore y a la mitología irlandesa, y se dice que habitan en Irlanda junto a todas las criaturas feéricas, los Tuatha Dé Danann y las otras gentes legendarias desde antes de la llegada de los celtas.
Normalmente adoptan la forma de hombres viejos que disfrutan realizando travesuras. Su oficio es el de fabricar o arreglar zapatos. Se dice que son muy ricos, ya que custodian muchas vasijas de barro llenas de tesoros que fueron enterradas en periodos de guerra.1 Según la leyenda, si alguien logra fijar la mirada sobre un leprechaun, este no puede escapar, pero en el momento en que se retira la mirada, desaparece.
El granjero y el Leprechaun
Este cuento típico sobre el ingenio del leprechaun se ha contado en Irlanda durante generaciones:Un granjero se encontraba trabajando en sus tierras cuando descubrió por casualidad a un hombrecillo que se escondía bajo una hoja. Convencido de que se trataba de un leprechaun, el granjero capturó enseguida al hombrecillo en su mano y le preguntó dónde tenía escondido el oro. El leprechaun sólo deseaba que le liberasen, por lo que enseguida le reveló que su tesoro se hallaba oculto debajo de un arbusto cercano. Sin soltar a su diminuto cautivo, el granjero se encaminó hacia el lugar indicado, pero resultó que el arbusto estaba rodeado de otros cientos de arbustos idénticos. Como no tenía a mano ninguna herramienta para cavar, se quitó uno de sus calcetines rojos y lo ató a una rama para marcar el arbusto que el leprechaun le había señalado. Cuando se dirigía a su casa en busca de una pala, el leprechaun le señaló que ya no necesitaba sus servicios para nada y le pidió que le liberara. El granjero accedió, pero no sin antes hacerle prometer que no iría a quitar el calcetín ni a llevarse el oro. Buena idea... pero no resultó como esperaba. Cuando el granjero regresó al campo a los pocos minutos, ¡todos los arbustos estaban marcados con calcetines rojos idénticos!.
¿Por qué un trebol de cuatro hojas?
Investigad vosotros
20 comentarios:
Seño que chuli es el dia de St. Patrick's.
La cerveza verde tiene que estar malísima.
buajbuaj
jejeje
Seño que chuli esta la entrada:)
Me encanta.
Saint Patrick's Day (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig; Ulster-Scots: Saunt Petherick's Dayis a cultural and religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17March.It commemorates Saint Patrick (c. AD 387–461), the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of Ireland, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland.
The day is generally characterised by the attendance of church services,wearing of green attire (especially shamrockrestrictions oneating and drinking alcoholn restrictions on eating and drinking alcohols)which is often proscribed during the rest of the season.
Saint Patrick's Day (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig; Ulster-Scots: Saunt Petherick's Day) is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17 March. It commemorates Saint Patrick (c. AD 387–461), the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of Ireland, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. It is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland), the Eastern Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official feast day in the early 17th century, and has gradually become a secular celebration of Irish culture in general.
The day is generally characterised by the attendance of church services, wearing of green attire (especially shamrocks), and the lifting of Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol, which is often proscribed during the rest of the season.
Saint Patrick's Day is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland,[9] Northern Ireland, Newfoundland and Labrador and in Montserrat. It is also widely celebrated by the Irish diaspora, especially in places such as Great Britain, Canada, the United States, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand, among others. Today, St. Patrick's Day is probably the most widely celebrated saints day in the world.
Saint Patrick's feast day, as a kind of national day, was already being celebrated by the Irish in Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries. In later times he became more and more widely known as the patron of Ireland.Saint Patrick's feast day was finally placed on the universal liturgical calendar in the Catholic Church due to the influence of Waterford-born Franciscan scholar Luke Wadding in the early 1600s. Saint Patrick's Day thus became a holy day of obligation for Roman Catholics in Ireland. The church calendar avoids the observance of saints' feasts during certain solemnities, moving the saint's day to a time outside those periods. Saint Patrick's Day is occasionally affected by this requirement, when 17 March falls during Holy Week. This happened in 1940, when Saint Patrick's Day was observed on 3 April in order to avoid it coinciding with Palm Sunday, and again in 2008, where it was officially observed on 14 March (15 March being used for St. Joseph, which had to be moved from 19 March), although the secular celebration still took place on 17 March. Saint Patrick's Day will not fall within Holy Week again until 2160.[19][20] (In other countries, St. Patrick's feast day is also 17 March, but liturgical celebration is omitted when impeded by Sunday or by Holy Week.)
BY:MARIA B.
The national flag of Ireland (Irish: bratach na hÉireann) is a vertical tricolour of green (at the hoist), white, and orange.[1][2] It is also known as the Irish tricolour. The flag proportion is 1:2 (length twice the width). Although the flag's meaning is not covered by the Irish Constitution,[3] the Irish government has stated that the green represents the Gaelic tradition of Ireland and the orange represents the followers of William of Orange in Ireland, with white representing peace, or a truce, between them.[4][5]
Presented as a gift in 1848 to Thomas Francis Meagher from a small group of French women sympathetic to the Irish cause,[6][7] it was not until the Easter Rising of 1916, when it was raised above the General Post Office in Dublin, that the tricolour came to be regarded as the national flag.[8] Meagher was the son of Newfoundland-born mayor of Waterford, Thomas Meagher Jr, however there are two theories on his inspiration for the flag; the similarly-coloured Newfoundland Tricolour credited in legend as having been created in 1843, though this seems unlikely given the actual known history surrounding the Newfoundland Tricolour, and the French Tricolour.
The flag was adopted in 1919 by the Irish Republic during its war of independence, and subsequently by the Irish Free State (1922–1937), later being given constitutional status under the 1937 Constitution of Ireland. The tricolour is used by nationalists on both sides of the border as the national flag of the whole island of Ireland since 1916.[9] Thus it is flown (often controversially) by many nationalists in Northern Ireland as well as by the Gaelic Athletic Association.[10] It is similar to the flag of Côte d'Ivoire, but that flag is shorter and the colours are reversed.
A green flag featuring a harp was an older symbol of the nation of Ireland, dating back at least to Confederate Ireland and the pursuits of Owen Roe O'Neill from 1642.[21]
BY:Maria José
Saint Patrick's Day is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17 March. It commemorates Saint Patrick (c. AD 387–461), the most commonly recognized of the patron saints of Ireland, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland.[1] It is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland),[3] the Eastern Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official feast day in the early 17th century, and has gradually become a secular celebration of Irish culture in general.[4]
Saint Patrick (Latin: Patricius; Primitive Irish: *Qatrikias;[2][3] Old Irish: Cothraige or Coithrige;[4] Middle Irish: Pátraic; Irish: Pádraig; Old Welsh: Patric; Middle Welsh: Padric; Welsh: Padrig; Old English: Patric; c. 387 – 17 March, 493[5] or c 460[6]) was a Romano-Briton and Christian missionary, who is the most generally recognized patron saint of Ireland or the Apostle of Ireland, although Brigid of Kildare and Colmcille are also formally patron saints.
Two authentic letters from him survive, from which come the only universally accepted details of his life.[7] When he was about 16, he was captured from Wales by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Ireland, where he lived for six years before escaping and returning to his family. After entering the Church, he returned to Ireland as an ordained bishop in the north and west of the island, but little is known about the places where he worked. By the seventh century, he had come to be revered as the patron saint of Ireland.
Most available details of his life are from later hagiographies from the seventh century onwards, and these are now not accepted without detailed criticism. Uncritical acceptance of the Annals of Ulster would imply that he lived from 340 to 440, and ministered in what is modern-day Northern Ireland from 428 onwards. The dates of Patrick's life cannot be fixed with certainty but, on a widespread interpretation, he was active as a missionary in Ireland during the second half of the 5th century.[8]
Saint Patrick's Day is observed on March 17, the date of Patrick's death.[9] It is celebrated both in and outside of Ireland, as both a liturgical and non-liturgical holiday. In the dioceses of Ireland, it is both a solemnity and a holy day of obligation; and, outside of Ireland, it can be a celebration of Ireland itself
by Judith
The SHAMROCK
The shamrock, which was also called the "seamroy" by the Celts, was a sacred plant in ancient Ireland because it symbolized the rebirth of spring
Seño aqui te dejo un poquito de informacion sobre el trebol de cuatro hojas:
Find a shamrock can happen to anyone, but a four-leaf is only for those who are lucky. Is believed to run into a four-leaf clover is a symbol of good omen. Each sheet represents one of four basic components of happiness, but at this point there are different conceptions. For some symbols representing the four are: wealth, fame, love and health. For other symbols representing the four are: hope, faith, love and luck. The first states that the first sheet on the left of the stem brings fame, wealth second sheet, the third and fourth love health.
BY:MARIA B.
SEÑO AQUÍ TIENES UN POCO DE INFORMACION DEL TREBOL DE 4 HOJAS:
Encontrar un trébol de tres hojas le puede suceder a cualquiera, pero uno de cuatro hojas es solo para quien tiene suerte. Se cree que toparse con un trébol de cuatro hojas es un símbolo de buen augurio. Cada hoja representa uno de los cuatro componentes básicos de la felicidad, pero en este punto existen diferentes concepciones. Para unos los cuatro símbolos que representan son: riqueza, fama, amor y salud. Para otros los cuatro símbolos que representan son: esperanza, fe, amor y suerte. La primera afirma que la primera hoja de la izquierda del tallo trae fama, la segunda hoja riqueza, la tercera amor y la cuarta salud.
andrea:)
Republic of Ireland
Ireland[8] (/ˈaɪərlənd/ or /ˈɑrlənd/; Irish: Éire, pronounced [ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen)), described as the Republic of Ireland (Irish: Poblacht na hÉireann),[9] is a sovereign state in Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. The population of the state was 4.58 million in 2011. It is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy, with an elected president serving as head of state. It is a member of the European Union. Ireland is a developed country with the seventh highest Human Development Index.[10] The country is highly ranked for press freedom, economic freedom and democracy and political freedom. Ireland is also a member of the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations.
The Constitution of Ireland provides that "[t]he name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland." Under Irish statute law, the term Republic of Ireland (or Poblacht na hÉireann in Irish) is "the description of the State"[9] but is not its official name. This official description was provided for in the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, which transferred the remaining duties of monarch to an elected president. However, the name of the State in English remained "Ireland". A change to the name of the state would require a constitutional amendment. In the UK however, the Ireland Act 1949 provided that "Republic of Ireland" may be used as a name for the Irish state (although it did not make use of that term mandatory).[19]
The name Ireland for the Irish state was previously a source of contention between the United Kingdom and Ireland. These concerns arose because part of the island of Ireland is in the United Kingdom and so the United Kingdom regarded the name as inappropriate. On one occasion in 1989, the Irish Supreme Court held that Irish authorities should not enforce extradition warrants where they referred to the state by a name other than "Ireland". The Court held that, "if the courts of other countries seeking the assistance of this country are unwilling to give this State its constitutionally correct and internationally recognised name, then in my view, the warrants should be returned to such countries until they have been rectified."[20] These tensions ended when the 1998 Good Friday Agreement was made. That Agreement resolved issues relating to Northern Ireland and following it Ireland dropped its claim to jurisdiction over the entire island of Ireland. Since that Agreement, the United Kingdom has accepted the name "Ireland" for the Irish state and uses that name in international agreements with the Dublin government.
Along with general use of the official name Ireland, the Republic of Ireland description is frequently used for the state. Irish Republic, the name of the unilaterally declared republic at the time of independence, is also often used by the international, particularly British, press.
Ireland is a constitutional republic with a parliamentary system of government. The Oireachtas is a bicameral national parliament composed of the President of Ireland and the two Houses of the Oireachtas: Seanad Éireann (Senate) and Dáil Éireann (House of Representatives).[40] Áras an Uachtaráin is the official residence of the President of Ireland, while the houses of the Oireachtas meet at Leinster House in Dublin.
The President serves as head of state, and is elected for a seven-year term and may be re-elected once. The President is primarily a figurehead, but is entrusted with certain constitutional powers with the advice of the Council of State. The office has absolute discretion in some areas, such as referring a bill to the Supreme Court for a judgement on its constitutionality.[41] Michael D. Higgins became the ninth President of Ireland on 11 November 2011.[42]
The Taoiseach serves as the head of government and is appointed by the President upon the nomination of the Dáil. Most Taoisigh have served as the leader of the political party that gains the most seats in national elections. It has become customary for coalitions to form a government, as there has not been a single-party government since 1989.[43] Enda Kenny assumed the office of Taoiseach on 9 March 2011.
Government Buildings
The Seanad is composed of sixty members, with eleven nominated by the Taoiseach, six elected by two universities, and 43 elected by public representatives from panels of candidates established on a vocational basis. The Dáil has 166 members (Teachtaí Dála) elected to represent multi-seat constituencies under the system of proportional representation and by means of the single transferable vote.
The Government is constitutionally limited to fifteen members. No more than two members can be selected from the Seanad, and the Taoiseach, Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) and Minister for Finance must be members of the Dáil. The Dáil must be dissolved within five years after its first meeting following the previous election,[44] and a general election for members of the Dáil must take place no later than thirty days after the dissolution. According to the Constitution of Ireland, parliamentary elections must be held at least every seven years, though a lower limit may be set by statute law. The current government is a coalition administration led by Fine Gael with Enda Kenny as Taoiseach, supported by the Labour Party with Eamon Gilmore as Tánaiste. Opposition parties in the current Dáil are Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, the Socialist Party, the PBPA, the WUAG, as well as a number of Independents.
The Local Government Act 1898 is the founding document of the present system of local government, while the Twentieth Amendment to the constitution of 1999 provided for its constitutional recognition. The twenty-six traditional counties of Ireland are not always coterminous with administrative divisions. County Tipperary was divided into North Tipperary and South Tipperary in 1898, while County Dublin was divided into Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Fingal, and South Dublin in 1994. The Local Government Act 2001 established a two-tier structure, with the top tier consisting of twenty-nine county councils and five city councils. The five cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, and Waterford are administered separately by their own city councils.
Fingal
Dublin City
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown
South Dublin
Wicklow
Wexford
Carlow
Kildare
Meath
Louth
Monaghan
Cavan
Longford
Westmeath
Offaly
Laois
Kilkenny
Waterford City
Waterford
Cork City
Cork
Kerry
Limerick
Limerick City
South Tipperary
North Tipperary
Clare
Galway
Galway City
Mayo
Roscommon
Sligo
Leitrim
Donegal
The second tier consists of five borough councils and seventy-five town councils. The five boroughs of Kilkenny, Sligo, Drogheda, Clonmel, and Wexford have a certain level of autonomy within their counties, but have no additional responsibilities.[45] While Kilkenny is a borough, it has retained the legal right to be referred to as a city.[46] Local authorities are responsible for matters such as planning, local roads, sanitation, and libraries. Dáil constituencies are required to follow county boundaries as much as possible. Counties with greater populations have multiple constituencies, some of more than one county, but generally do not cross county boundaries. The counties are grouped into eight regions, each with a Regional Authority composed of members delegated by the various county and city councils in the region. The regions do not have any direct administrative role as such, but they serve for planning, coordination and statistical purposes.
The Irish Defence Forces (Óglaigh na hÉireann) involves the Army, Naval Service, Air Corps and Reserve Defence Force. It is small but well equipped, with almost 10,000 full-time military personnel.[61] This is mainly due to Ireland's policy of neutrality,[62] and its "triple-lock" rules governing the participation of Irish troops in conflict zones, whereby approval must be given by the UN, the Dáil and Government.[63] Daily deployments of the Defence Forces cover aid to civil power operations, protection and patrol of Irish territorial waters and EEZ by the Irish Naval Service, and UN, EU and PfP peace-keeping missions. Over 40,000 Irish servicemen have served in international UN peacekeeping missions.
The Irish Air Corps is the air component of the Defence Forces and operates sixteen fixed wing aircraft and eight helicopters. The Irish Naval Service is Ireland's Navy, and operates eight patrol ships, and smaller numbers of inflatable boats and training vessels, and has highly trained armed boarding parties capable of seizing a ship and a special unit of frogmen. Although the Naval Service has no heavy warships, all Irish vessels have significant firepower. The military includes the Reserve Defence Forces (Army Reserve and Naval Service Reserve) for non-active reservists. Ireland's special forces are the elite Army Ranger Wing, which trains and operates with international special operations units. The President is the formal Supreme Commander of the Defence Forces, but in practice it answers to the Government via the Minister for Defence.
Irish is the "national language" according to the Constitution, but English is the dominant language. In the 2006 census, 39% of the population regarded themselves as competent in Irish. Irish is spoken as a community language only in a small number of rural areas mostly in the west of the country, collectively known as the Gaeltacht. Apart from in Gaeltacht regions, road signs are usually bilingual.[86] Most public notices and print media are in English only. Most Government publications are available in both languages, and citizens have the right to deal with the state in Irish. Media in Irish exist on TV (TG4), radio (e.g. RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta) and print (e.g. Foinse). In the Irish Defence Forces, all foot and arms drill commands are given in the Irish language.
As a result of immigration, Polish is one of the most widely spoken languages in Ireland after English and Irish. Several other Central and Eastern European languages are also spoken on a day-to-day basis. Other languages spoken in Ireland include Shelta, spoken by Irish Travellers, and a dialect of Scots is spoken by some descendants of Scottish settlers in Donegal.[87] Most secondary school students choose to learn one or two foreign languages. Languages available for the Junior Certificate and the Leaving Certificate include French, German, Italian and Spanish; Leaving Certificate students can also study Arabic, Japanese and Russian. Some secondary schools also offer Ancient Greek, Hebrew and Latin. The study of Irish is compulsory for Leaving Certificate students, but some may qualify for an exemption in some circumstances, such as learning difficulties or entering the country after age 11.[88]
Ireland has three levels of education: primary, secondary and higher education. The education systems are largely under the direction of the Government via the Minister for Education and Skills. Recognised primary and secondary schools must adhere to the curriculum established by the relevant authorities. Education is compulsory between the ages of six and fifteen years, and all children up to the age of eighteen must complete the first three years of secondary, including one sitting of the Junior Certificate examination.[92]
University College Cork was founded in 1845 and is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland.
The Leaving Certificate, which is taken after two years of study, is the final examination in the secondary school system. Those intending to pursue higher education normally take this examination, with access to third-level courses generally depending on results obtained from the best six subjects taken, on a competitive basis.[93] Third-level education awards are conferred by more than 38 Higher Education Institutions including University College Dublin, University of Dublin, Dublin City University, Dublin Institute of Technology, Higher Education and Training Awards Council, National University of Ireland, Cork Institute of Technology, Waterford Institute of Technology, and University of Limerick. These are the degree-awarding authorities approved by the Government and can grant awards at all academic levels.
The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Ireland's education as the 20th best among participating countries in science, being statistically significantly higher than the OECD average.[94] In 2006, Irish students aged 15 years had the second highest levels of reading literacy in the EU.[95] Ireland also has 0.747 of the World's top 500 Universities per capita, which ranks the country in 8th place in the world.[96] Primary, secondary and higher (University/College) level education are all free in Ireland for all EU citizens.[97] There are charges to cover student services and examinations.
Religion
Main article: Religion in the Republic of Ireland
Religion in Republic of Ireland
Religion Percent
Roman Catholicism
86.8%
Protestantism
5.4%
Other
5.4%
No Religion
4.4%
Religious freedom is constitutionally provided for in Ireland. Christianity is the predominant religion, with the Roman Catholic Church as the largest church. In 2006, 86.8% of the population identified themselves as Roman Catholic, 4.8% as Protestant or another Christian religion, 2% as non-Christian, and 1.6% did not state their religion.[98] According to the 2006 census, the non-religious group has now become the second largest group after Roman Catholic. According to a Georgetown University study, the country has one of the highest rates of regular Mass attendance in the Western World.[99] While daily attendance was 13% in 2006, there was a reduction in weekly attendance from 81% in 1990 to 48% in 2006, although the decline was reported as stabilising.[100] In 2011, it was reported that weekly Mass attendance in Dublin was just 18%, with it being even lower among younger generations.[101]
Saint Finbarre's Cathedral is a cathedral of the Church of Ireland in Cork city.
The Church of Ireland is the second largest Christian denomination. Membership declined throughout the twentieth century, but has recently experienced an increase, as have other small Christian denominations. Significant Protestant denominations are the Presbyterian Church and Methodist Church. Immigration has contributed to a growth in Hindu and Muslim populations. In percentage terms, Orthodox Christianity and Islam were the fastest growing religions, with increases of 100% and 70% respectively.[102]
Ireland's patron saints are Saint Patrick, Saint Bridget and Saint Columba. Saint Patrick is the only one commonly recognised as the patron saint. Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated on 17 March in Ireland and abroad as the Irish national day, with parades and other celebrations.
As with other predominantly Catholic European states, Ireland underwent a period of legal secularisation in the late twentieth century. In 1972, the article of the Constitution naming specific religious groups was deleted by the Fifth Amendment in a referendum. Article 44 still remains in the Constitution: The State acknowledges that the homage of public worship is due to Almighty God. It shall hold His Name in reverence, and shall respect and honour religion. The article also establishes freedom of religion, prohibits endowment of any religion, prohibits the state from religious discrimination, and requires the state to treat religious and non-religious schools in a non-prejudicial manner.
Religious studies was introduced as an optional Junior Certificate subject in 2001. Despite many schools being run by religious organisations, a secularist trend is occurring among younger generations.[103] Religious schools cannot discriminate against pupils concerning religion. A sanctioned system of preference does exist, where students of a particular religion may be accepted before those who do not share the ethos of the school, in a case where a school's quota has already been reached.
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