Import Export leads from companies wanting to do business with Ireland

Area: total: 70,280 sq km
land: 68,890 sq km
water: 1,390 sq km

Climate: temperate maritime modified by North Atlantic Current mild winters, cool summers consistently humid overcast about half the time

Terrain: mostly level to rolling interior plain surrounded by rugged hills and low mountains sea cliffs on west coast

Natural resources: natural gas, peat, copper, lead, zinc, silver, barite, gypsum, limestone, dolomite

Population: 4,156,119 [July 2008 est.]

Age structure: 0-14 years: 20.9% [male 448,333/female 418,476]
15-64 years: 67.3% [male 1,400,222/female 1,398,194]
65 years and over: 11.8% [male 218,459/female 272,435] [2008 est.]

Nationality: noun: Irishman[men], Irishwoman[women], Irish [collective plural]
adjective: Irish

Ethnic groups: Celtic, English

Languages: English [official] is the language generally used, Irish [Gaelic or Gaeilge] [official] spoken mainly in areas located along the western seaboard

Capital: name: Dublin
geographic coordinates: 53 19 N, 6 14 W
time difference: UTC 0 [5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time]
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March ends last Sunday in October

National holiday: Saint Patrick's Day, 17 March

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 5%
industry: 46%
services: 49% [2002 est.]

Labor force: 2.22 million [2007 est.]

Budget: revenues: $93.97 billion
expenditures: $88.27 billion [2007 est.]

Agriculture - products: turnips, barley, potatoes, sugar beets, wheat beef, dairy products

Industries: steel, lead, zinc, silver, aluminum, barite, and gypsum mining processing food products, brewing, textiles, clothing chemicals, pharmaceuticals machinery, rail transportation equipment, passenger and commercial vehicles, ship construction and refurbishment glass and crystal software, tourism

Exports: $115.6 billion f.o.b. [2007 est.]

Exports - commodities: machinery and equipment, computers, chemicals, pharmaceuticals live animals, animal products

Exports - partners: US 18.7%, UK 17.9%, Belgium 14.4%, Germany 7.8%, France 5.8%, Italy 4.2% [2006]

Imports: $84.2 billion f.o.b. [2007 est.]

Imports - commodities: data processing equipment, other machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum and petroleum products, textiles, clothing

Imports - partners: UK 37.5%, US 11.5%, Germany 9.6%, Netherlands 4.6% [2006]

Currency (code): euro [EUR]

Exchange rates: euros per US dollar - 0.7345 [2007], 0.7964 [2006], 0.8041 [2005], 0.8054 [2004], 0.886 [2003]

Airports: 34 [2007]

Railways: total: 3,237 km
broad gauge: 1,872 km 1.600-m gauge [37 km electrified]
narrow gauge: 1,365 km 0.914-m gauge [operated by the Irish Peat Board to transport peat to power stations and briquetting plants] [2006]

Merchant marine: total: 27 ships [1000 GRT or over] 116,091 GRT/161,808 DWT
by type: cargo 23, chemical tanker 2, container 1, roll on/roll off 1
foreign-owned: 3 [Spain 1, US 2]
registered in other countries: 18 [Bahamas 2, Bermuda 1, Bulgaria 1, Cyprus 1, Germany 1, Isle of Man 1, Netherlands 9, Panama 1, UK 1, unknown 1] [2007]

Ports and terminals: Cork, Dublin, Shannon Foynes