Micheál Martin is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who is serving as Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Minister for Defence since December 2022. He served as Taoiseach from 2020 to 2022 and has been Leader of Fianna Fáil since January 2011. He has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for Cork South-Central since 1989. He served as Leader of the Opposition from 2011 to 2020 and held various Cabinet offices under Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen.
Michael Daniel Higgins is an Irish politician, poet, broadcaster and sociologist who has served as the ninth president of Ireland since 2011. Entering national politics through the Labour Party, he served as a senator from 1973 to 1977 having been nominated by the Taoiseach. Elected in 1981 as a Teachta Dála (TD), he represented the Galway West constituency from 1981 to 1982 and 1987 to 2011. Between these terms, he returned to Seanad Éireann from 1983 to 1987 as a senator for the National University. He served as minister for arts, culture and the Gaeltacht from 1993 to 1997 and mayor of Galway from 1981 to 1982 and 1990 to 1991. Higgins was the president of the Labour Party from 2003 to 2011, until he resigned following his election as president of Ireland.
Ireland is one of five members of the European Union that are not members of NATO. The country has a longstanding policy of military neutrality: it does not join military alliances or defense pacts, or take part in international conflicts. The nature of Irish neutrality has varied over time. Ireland declared itself a neutral state during the Second World War, and during the Cold War it did not join NATO nor the Non-Aligned Movement. Since the 1970s, some have defined it more broadly to include a commitment to "United Nations peacekeeping, human rights and disarmament". Recent Irish governments have defined it narrowly as non-membership of military defensive alliances. The compatibility of neutrality with Ireland's membership of the European Union has been a point of debate in EU treaty referendum campaigns since the 1990s. The Seville Declarations on the Treaty of Nice acknowledge Ireland's "traditional policy of military neutrality". The Irish Defence Forces have been involved in many UN peacekeeping missions.
Events from the year 1950 in Ireland.
The Connolly Youth Movement is an all-Ireland Marxist–Leninist youth organisation named after revolutionary socialist, James Connolly. Until 2021 it was affiliated with the Communist Party of Ireland. It is a member of the World Federation of Democratic Youth.
Dame Louise Mary Richardson is an Irish political scientist whose specialist field is the study of terrorism. In January 2023, she became president of the philanthropic foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York. In January 2016, she became the vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford, having formerly been the principal and vice-chancellor of the University of St Andrews, and as the executive dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. Her leadership at the University of Oxford played an important role in the successful development of a vaccine to combat COVID-19.
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and her husband Prince Philip made a state visit to the Republic of Ireland from 17 to 20 May 2011, at the invitation of the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese. It was the first visit by a reigning British monarch to the area that is now the Republic of Ireland since the 1911 tour by Elizabeth's grandfather King George V, when the entire island of Ireland was still part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Events during the year 2012 in Ireland.
The anti-austerity movement in Ireland saw major demonstrations from 2008 to 2015.
Events during the year 2013 in Ireland.
The President of Ireland's Cup, also known simply as the President's Cup, is an association football super cup featuring clubs from the Republic of Ireland football league system. It is a one-off match between the winners of the previous season's League of Ireland Premier Division and the FAI Cup, and similarly to the FA Community Shield in England, functions both as a domestic Super cup and a unofficial opener to the football season in Ireland. Because it is organised by the Football Association of Ireland, it is sometimes misleadingly referred to as the FAI President's Cup. However the president in the title refers to the President of Ireland and not the president of the FAI. The FAI has previously organised similar competitions, the Top Four Cup and the FAI Super Cup. A similarly named and formatted competition, the LFA President's Cup was organised by the Leinster Football Association.
Events during the year 2016 in Ireland.
Michael Collins is an Irish independent politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork South-West constituency since the 2016 general election.
Events during the year 2017 in Ireland.
Events during the year 2018 in Ireland.
Events during the year 2019 in Ireland.
Events during the year 2020 in Ireland. As in most of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic dominated events in Ireland during this year.
Events during the year 2021 in Ireland. As in most of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has dominated events in Ireland during this year.
Events during the year 2022 in Ireland.
Events during the year 2023 in Ireland.
