IRELAND

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 state Ireland (described as the Republic of Ireland in cases of ambiguity) 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 over six million (2007), with 4.34 million in the Republic and an estimated 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 Irish potato famine.

MISSIONARIES:

McKinley, Gene & Christie

HISTORY:

From the period of Christ to middle of the 9th century, Ireland was divided into five separate Kingdoms. The Danes began to invade in 853 AD and by 1152 AD had set up four ecclesiastical provinces, all under a united church.

Prompting from the Pope led England to invade Ireland in 1168. Many English began to settle on the island which eventually led to laws being enacted in 1367 which kept the Irish and English populations separate. In 1495, Henry VII extended English law over Ireland and claimed supremacy there. When Henry VIII took the throne, he tried to separate Ireland from Papal influence, but failed. This led to rebellion and Protestant/Catholic conflict, which was squelched by Henry’s daughter, Queen Elizabeth, though by this time being Irish was considered being Catholic.

Conflict between Protestants and Catholics still exists today in Ireland. The southern portion of the island became the Republic of Ireland in 1948 and the Northern portion was dissolved and put under direct control of London.

RELIGION:

The majority of Irish people claim to be Roman Catholic (approx. 87%). There is a small Protestant population (about 5%) and about 5% of people claim to be agnostic. According to the most recent census in 2006, the number of Baptists in Ireland was around 3,300 or 0.1% of the population.