Changes

==People==

==People==

The Irish people are mainly of Celtic origin. Traditionally the country's only significant sized minority were those people descended from the [[Normans]]. Today, the country has many minorities including substantial numbers of people from the [[United Kingdom]], [[Poland]], [[China]] and [[Nigeria]]. English is the common language, but Irish (Gaelic) is also an official language and is taught in schools.  

The Irish people are mainly of Celtic and Norman origin with history of some Anglo-Saxon settlers during failed English plantations(successful in Northern Ireland only). Today, the country has many minorities including substantial numbers of people from the [[United Kingdom]], [[Poland]], [[China]] and [[Nigeria]]. Traditionally the language of Irish (Gaelic) was the primary one on the island but after centuries of British colonialism by the end of the 19th century it had all but died and was confined to very small,peripheral regions in the West of the country as it continues to today following an unsuccessful attempt to revive the language by Ireland's government. England tried to secure unity with Ireland by using multiple large scale plantations of English Protestant settlers. All of these where failures due to the native Irish violently opposing such settlers,the only success was the Ulster plantation which is the reason for the large Protestant population in Northern Ireland and the partitioning of the country. There is still sectarian conflict in this part of the island.

 

Irish writers such as Swift, Sheridan, Goldsmith, Burke, O'Casey, Wilde, Joyce, Yeats, Shaw, and Beckett have made major contributions to English literature over the past 300 years.  

Irish writers such as Swift, Sheridan, Goldsmith, Burke, O'Casey, Wilde, Joyce, Yeats, Shaw, and Beckett have made major contributions to English literature over the past 300 years.  

*Population: 4,470,700 (2010 est.).

*Population: 4,470,700 (2010 est.).