Ireland is the third-largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain. Politically, the sovereign country of Ireland (described as the Republic of Ireland) covers five-sixths of the island, with Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, covering the remainder in the north-east.

The population of the island is slightly under 6 million (2006), with 4.2 million in the republic and an estimated almost 1.75 million in Northern Ireland. This is a significant increase from a modern historical low in the 1960s, but still much lower than the peak population of over 8 million in the early 19th century, prior to the Great Famine.

Ireland a dynamic, lively, modern country with a young population and one of the fastest growing economies in the world … a country where music, conversation, culture, traditions, time to relax, listen and make friends … matter. A country renowned for its beautiful, unspoiled countryside and scenery as well as its cultured, cosmopolitan and lively cities. Ireland is an English-speaking country with close cultural, economic and educational links with the English-speaking world.  Irish people have a great love of conversation and have a genuine interest in other people. This friendliness and hospitality for which the Irish people are renowned contributes to the ease with which The name Ireland derives from the name of the Celtic goddess Eriu (in modern Irish, Éire) with the addition of the Germanic word land. Most other western European names for Ireland, such as French Irlande, derive from the same source.