You have arrived in Ireland on 10 January 2001 at 01:44:12 GMT

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The island of Ireland is 483 kilometres in length, 274 kilometres wide at its broadest point and has over 5,000 kilometres of coastline. Bare statistics alone belie the fact that it is among the most loved places on earth. Just what is it that makes Ireland and Irish culture so popular in the four corners of the globe?

Perhaps it’s the Irish, a uniquely loquacious people descended from the Celts. Famed for our friendliness, laughter and our sense of fun, best encapsulated in our own word "craic".

Perhaps it’s the landscape, isolated as an island for 8,500 years. The Ireland of today is a unique blend of hills, bogs, lakes, rivers and remote islands. Irish weather is ever changing, rain is never far away, and in this tempestuous climate the landscape is particularly dramatic.

Perhaps it’s the culture, from Ireland’s giants of literature, Beckett, Heaney, Joyce, Shaw, Swift, Yeats, to musicians such as the Dubliners, Phil Lynott, Christy Moore and U2.

Perhaps it's Dublin city, Europe’s hi-tech capital or the City of the Tribes, Galway, among the fastest growing cities in Europe. Contrast this with the wide-open spaces of the countryside, where large tracts of land are unspoilt by human interference.

More likely it’s a combination of all of these plus a little bit of magic unique to each visit, something that sticks in the memory and transcends words - a special moment that makes this Island forever special.

Allow us to introduce you to our magical country.