Irska

Whenever anyone mentions Ireland, the first things that leap to mind are the rolling green landscape, picturesque castles, and cheerful Irish people hanging out in pubs, listening to good music and drinking Guinness. These are typical scenes from various movies set on the “emerald isle,” as the poet William Drennan poetically called it. Ireland has a long and complicated history. Until the end of the Middle Ages, it was characterized by Celtic culture, Viking raids, and the Norman invasion, and the entire Modern Age was marked by the dispute between the British and the Irish over control of the island—and many bloody conflicts between the two. It was only in the twentieth century that the situation calmed down to some extent, and the island was divided into the independent Republic of Ireland and British Northern Ireland.

Ob omembi Irske se nam v misli prikradejo valovita zelena pokrajina, slikoviti gradovi in dobrovoljni Irci, ki se zbirajo v pubih ob dobri glasbi in pitju guinnessa. To so prizori, ki jih poznamo iz neštetih filmov, posnetih na »smaragdnem otoku«, kot je Irsko poetično poimenoval pesnik William Drennan. Dežela ima dolgo in zapleteno zgodovino. Keltska kultura, plenjenje Vikingov in vdor Normanov je zaznamovalo obdobje do konca srednjega veka, celotni novi vek pa spor med Britanci in Irci za prevlado na otoku in številna medsebojna krvava obračunavanja. Šele dvajseto stoletje je prineslo delno umiritev razmer z delitvijo otoka na neodvisno Republiko Irsko in britansko Severno Irsko. Republika Irska je izkoristila prednosti vstopa v Evropsko unijo in se postopoma iz ene najrevnejših držav prelevila v razvito. Oprijelo se jo je ime keltski tiger. Ta je začel vidno pešati sočasno z nastopom gospodarske krize. Irska je bila prisiljena zaprositi za mednarodno finančno pomoč in sprejeti stroge varčevalne ukrepe. Kljub temu je mnogo razlogov za optimizem. Mednje spada tudi povečanje obiska na otoku, kar Irsko uvrša med pomembnejše evropske turistične destinacije.