SOCIAL SCIENCE AND EDUCATION
I will focus this essay in many characteristics of Irish social sciences. Among them, history, demographics, economy, politics, and actual characteristics of Ireland today, as the Irish education system.
The beginning of the history of Ireland starts with the first known settlement around 8000 BC. When hunter-gatherers arrived from the continental Europe, probably through a land bridge. There are not many traces from them, but their descendants and later Neolithic arrivals were the responsible for the majority of Neolithic sites like Newgrange. At the arrival of Saint Patrick and other Christian missionaries in the early 5th century AD, Christianity began to overcome the indigenous Celtic religion, a process that lasted until the year 600.
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| Newgrange |
By the end of the 17th century, recusant Roman Catholics as adherents to the old religion, who were 85% of Ireland's population were now banned from the Irish parliament. Leaving the political power in the hands of the Anglican minority, while Catholics and Protestants suffered from political and economic privations. The Irish Parliament was abolished in 1801 and Ireland became an integral part of a new United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Act of Union.
In 1922, after the Irish War of Independence and the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the larger part of Ireland separated from the United Kingdom to become the independent Irish Free State and after the constitution of 1937, Ireland. The six north eastern counties, known as Northern Ireland remained being from United Kingdom.
Today, Ireland is a constitutional republic with a parliamentary system of government and is a member state of the European Union. The Oireachtas is a bicameral parliament composed of the President of Ireland, Seanad Éireann as the upper house and Dáil Éireann as the lower house. Áras an Uachtaráin is the official residence of the President of Ireland, while both houses are 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 confided with certain constitutional powers with the advice of the Council of State. The President has absolute discretion in some areas, such as referring a bill to the Supreme Court for a judgment on its constitutionality. Once the Dáil elects the head of government, the President appoints that person as the Taoiseach (prime minister). Most Taoisigh have served as the leader of the political party that gains the most seats in national elections. It has become usual for coalitions to form a government, as there has not been a single-party government since 1989.
The Senate is composed of sixty members, with eleven nominated by the prime minister, 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 Irish Government is constitutionally limited to fifteen members. No more than two of them can be selected from the Senate, and the Taoiseach, Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) and Minister for Finance must be members of the Dáil. 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 led by Micheál Martin and Sinn Féin led by Gerry Adams. The Dáil must be dissolved within five years after its first meeting following the previous election, and a general election for members of the Dáil must take place not later than thirty days after the dissolution. Under 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 statutory maximum term is five years.
Ireland has been a member of the European Union since 1973, but has chosen to remain outside the Schengen Area. Citizens of the United Kingdom can freely enter the country without a passport due to the Common Travel Area, which is a passport-free zone comprising the islands of Ireland, Great Britain, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. However, some identification is required at airports and seaports.
In terms of economy, it has transformed since the 1980s from being mainly agricultural to a modern knowledge economy focused on high technology industries and services. Ireland adopted the euro currency in 2002 along with eleven other EU member states. The country is heavily dependent on Foreign Direct Investment and has attracted several multinational corporations due to a highly educated workforce and a low corporation tax rate. Companies such as Intel invested in Ireland during the late 1980s, later followed by Microsoft and Google. Ireland is ranked as the world's seventh most free economy in the world according to the Index of Economic Freedom. In terms of GDP (gross domestic product) per capita, Ireland is one of the wealthiest countries in the OECD (Organization for economic co-operation and development) and EU (European Union). However, the country ranks below the OECD average in terms of GNP (gross national product) per capita. GDP is significantly greater than GNP due to the large amount of multinational corporations based in Ireland.
Beginning in the early 1990s, the country experienced unprecedented economic growth fueled by a dramatic rise in consumer spending, construction and investment, which became known as the Celtic Tiger period. The pace of growth slowed during 2007 and led to the burst of a major property bubble which had developed over time. The dramatic fall in property prices has highlighted the over-exposure of the economy to construction, and has contributed to the ongoing Irish banking crisis. Ireland officially entered a recession in 2008 following consecutive months of economic contraction. The economy contracted by −1.7% in 2008, −7.1% in 2009 and −1% in 2010. The country officially exited recession in 2010, which was helped by a strong growth in exports of 6.9% during the first quarter. However, due to a significant rise in the cost of borrowing and bank recapitalization, Ireland accepted an €85 billion program of assistance from the EU, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and bilateral loans from the United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark. Some forecasts predict Ireland to grow by 0.9% in 2011 and 2.2% in 2012. However, economic forecasting has proven highly unreliable in the country during this turbulent period and it is not uncommon for figures to be revised on an almost monthly basis.
In terms of demographics, genetic research suggests that the first settlers of Ireland migrated from Iberia following the most recent Ice Age. After the Mesolithic, the Neolithic and Bronze Age, migrants introduced Celtic language and culture. Migrants from the Neolithic to Bronze Age still represent the genetic heritage of most Irish people. Gaelic tradition expanded throughout the island and became the dominant form. Irish people are mainly of Gaelic ancestry, and some of Norse, Anglo-Norman, English, Scottish, French, and Welsh ancestry. Irish Travellers are classified as a "social group" in Ireland, but are an "ethnic minority group" in the United Kingdom, politically linked with Rome and Gypsy groups.
Ireland had one of the fastest growing populations in Europe from 2004–2006, with annual growth rates exceeding 2%. This can be attributed to low death rates, high birth rates and immigration. The birth rate is currently over double the death rate, which is highly unusual among western European countries. In April 2011, the population of Ireland was 4,581,269.
Discrimination based on age, gender, sexual orientation, marital or familial status, religion, race or membership of the travelling community is illegal in Ireland. The legislation which illegitimate homosexual acts was repealed in 1993. The Dáil and the Senate passed the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act in 2010, which recognized civil partnerships between same-sex couples. It permits same-sex couples to register their relationship before a registrar. A Sunday Times poll carried out in March 2011 showed that 73% of people believe that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry, while 60% believe that same-sex couples should be allowed to adopt children.
Ireland became the first country in the world to introduce an environmental levy for plastic shopping bags in 2002 and a public smoking ban in 2004. It was also the first European country to ban incandescent light bulbs in 2008 and in-store tobacco advertising and product display in 2009.
In terms of education, Ireland has three levels: primary, secondary and higher education. The education systems are under the direction of the Government throughout the Minister for Education and Skills. Recognized primary and secondary schools must fit to the curriculum established by the authorities. Education is obligatory 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.
The Leaving Certificate, which is taken after two years of study, is the final examination in the secondary school system. Those who want higher education take this examination, with access to third-level courses generally depending on results obtained from the best six subjects taken, on a competitive basis. Third-level education is conferred by more than 38 Higher Education Institutions approved by the Government and can grant award 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. In 2006, Irish students aged 15 years had the second highest levels of reading literacy in the EU. Ireland also has 0.747 of the World's top 500 Universities per capita, which ranks the country in 8th place in the world. Primary, secondary and higher (University/College) level education are all free in Ireland for all EU citizens. There are charges to cover student services and examinations.
As a conclusion, we can see that the history of Ireland started 8000 BC following the Ice Age, followed by the neolithic era and long after that, Christianity came into Ireland, overcoming the old religion. Many invasions took place, leaving the Catholicism in a minor role, creating divisions among Ireland. The independence is made in 1937, leaving only Northern Ireland in hands of the United Kingdom.
The Irish economy has had a transformation from agricultural to high technology industries and services. Although is highly dependent of foreign investment it has attracted many multinational corporations. Ireland is ranked as the 7th most free economy of the world. In 1990 the growth was dramatically high, called Celtic tiger period. Today is trying to recover from an ongoing Irish banking crisis with loans from the United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark.
Today Ireland has annual growth rates higher than 2%, thanks to low death rates, high birth and immigration. Every kind of discrimination is illegal, which says a lot about human quality and also very responsible with the environment.
The education in Ireland has 3 levels, they also have an examination if they want to access to third-level courses, just like Chile. The difference between the two, all three levels are of the highest quality and absolutely free in Ireland.
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