Flight ticket Belfast Bucarest

Bucarest

Culture

The Museum of Romanian History is another important museum in Bucharest, containing a collection of artefacts detailing Romanian history and culture from the prehistoric times, Dacian era, medieval times and the modern era.

There are a number of cultural festivals in Bucharest throughout the year, in various domains, even though most festivals take place in the summer months of June, July and August. The National Opera organises the International Opera Festival every year in May and June, which includes ensembles and orchestras from all over the world. The Romanian Athaeneum Society hosts the George Enescu Classical Music Festival at various locations throughout the city in September every year. Additionally, the Museum of the Romanian Peasant and the Village Museum organise a number of events throughout the year showcasing Romanian folk arts and crafts.

In the 2000s, due to the growing prominence of the Chinese community in Bucharest, several Chinese cultural events have taken place. The first officially-organised Chinese festival was the Chinese New Year's Eve Festival of February 2005 which took place in Nichita St?nescu Park and was organised by the Bucharest City Hall. In 2005, Bucharest was the first city in Southeastern Europe to host the international CowParade, which resulted in dozens of decorated cow sculptures being placed at various points across the city.

Since 2005 Bucharest has its own contemporary art biennale, the Bucharest Biennale. The current (2006) issue (curated by Zsolt Pétranyi) will go on until the end of June, the next edition will be in 2008.

The 2000s also saw an increasing visibility of Bucharest gay culture, with the opening of the Queen's Club, the first LGBT club in the city, in 2001, and the launch of the annual Bucharest GayFest in 2004. The city's first gay pride parade was held as part of the 2005 GayFest.

Architecture

Bucharest's architecture is highly eclectic due to the many influences on the city throughout its history. The city centre is a mixture of medieval, neoclassical and art nouveau buildings, as well as 'neo-Romanian' buildings dating from the beginning of the 20th century and a remarkable collection of modern buildings from the 30s and 40s. Very present as well the mostly-utilitarian Communist-era architecture. The city is lately invaded by contemporary structures such as skyscrapers and office buildings, mainly constructed after 2000.

Of the city's medieval architecture, most of what survived into modern times was destroyed by the Communists and replaced by high-rise apartment blocks. Still, some historical precincts remain, the most notable of which is the Lipscani area. This precinct contains buildings such as Manuc's Inn and the ruins of the Curtea Veche (the Old Court of the King), and during the Middle Ages was the heart of Bucharest's commercial world. From the 1970s onwards, the area went through urban decline, and many historical buildings fell into disrepair. In 2005, the Lipscani area was entirely pedestrianised and is currently undergoing restoration.

The city centre has also retained architecture from the late 19th century and early 20th century, particularly the interwar period, which is often seen as the "golden age" of Bucharest architecture. During this time, the city grew significantly in size and sought to emulate other large European capitals such as Paris. Much of the architecture of the time belongs to a remarkably strong Modern (rationalist) Architecture current, led by Horia Creanga and Marcel Iancu, which managed to literally change the face of the city. Two notable buildings from this time are the Cre?ulescu Palace, currently housing cultural institutions including UNESCO's European Centre for Higher Education, and the Cotroceni Palace, the current residence of the Romanian President. Many large-scale constructions such as Gara de Nord, the main railway station, and the National Bank of Romania's headquarters, date from these times. In the 2000s, a wide variety of historic buildings in the city centre underwent restoration. In some residential areas of the city, particularly the high-income northern suburbs, there are many turn-of-the-century villas, most of which were restored after 2000.

A major part of Bucharest's architecture is made up of buildings constructed during the Communist era replacing the historical architecture with "more efficient" high density apartment blocks - one-fifth of the city was demolished only for constructing the third largest building in the world: Casa Poporului - Palace of the Parliament. In Nicolae Ceau?escu's project of systematization many new buildings were built in previously-historical areas, which were razed and then built upon from scratch. One of the best examples of this type of architecture is Centrul Civic, a development that replaced a major part of Bucharest's historic city centre with giant utilitarian buildings, mainly with marble or travertine façades, inspired by North Korean architecture. Communist-era architecture can also be found in Bucharest's residential districts, mainly in blocuri, which are high-density apartment blocks that house the majority of the city's population.

Since the fall of Communism in 1989, several Communist-era buildings have been refurbished, modernised and used for other purposes. Perhaps the best example of this is the conversion of several agro-alimentary complexes into shopping malls and commercial centres. These giant circular halls, which were most often known as hunger circuses due to the food shortages experienced in the 1980s, were constructed during the Ceau?escu era to act as produce markets and refectories, although most were left unfinished at the time of the Revolution. Modern shopping malls like Bucharest Mall, Plaza Romania and City Mall emerged on pre-existent structures of former hunger circuses. Another example is the modernisation and conversion of a large utilitarian construction in Centrul Civic into a Marriott Hotel. This process was accelerated after 2000, when the city underwent a property boom, and many Communist-era buildings in the city centre became prime real estate due to their location. In recent years, many Communist-era apartment blocks have also been refurbished to improve the city's urban appearance.

The newest contribution to Bucharest's architecture took place after the fall of Communism, and particularly after 2000, when the city went through a period of urban renewal - and architectural revitalization - on the back of Romania's economic boom. Buildings from this time are mostly made out of glass and steel, and often have more than fifteen storeys. Examples include shopping malls (particularly the Bucharest Mall, a conversion and extension of an abandoned building), office buildings, bank headquarters, the Bucharest World Trade Center and the Chamber of Commerce, which lies on the banks of the Dâmbovi?a. As of 2005, there is a significant number of office buildings in construction, particularly in the northern and eastern parts of the city. Additionally, there has been a trend in recent years to add modern wings and façades to historic buildings, the most prominent example of which is the Bucharest Architects' Association Building, which is a modern glass-and-steel construction built inside a historic stone façade. Aside from buildings used for business and institutions, various new residential developments are currently underway, many of which consist of modern high-rise buildings with a glass exterior, surrounded by American-style residential communities. These developments are increasingly prominent in the northern suburbs of the city, which are less densely-populated and are home to middle- and upper-class Bucharesters due to the process of gentrification.

Media

Bucharest is the most important centre for Romanian mass media, since it is the headquarters of all the national television networks as well as national newspapers and radio stations. The largest daily newspapers in Bucharest include Evenimentul Zilei, Jurnalul Na?ional, Cotidianul, România Liber?, Adev?rul, Gardianul and Gândul. During the rush hours, tabloid newspapers Libertatea and Ziarul are very popular for commuters.

A significant number of newspapers and media publications are based in Casa Presei Libere (The House of the Free Press) a landmark of northern Bucharest, originally named Casa Scânteii after the Communist-era official newspaper Scînteia. Casa Presei Libere is not the only Bucharest landmark that grew out of the media and communications industry. Palatul Telefoanelor ("the telephone palace") was the first major modernist building on Calea Victoriei in the city's center, and the massive, unfinished communist-era Casa Radio looms over a park a block away from the Opera.

English-language media became available in Bucharest in the 1990s, and has become increasingly prominent since 2000. There are two daily English-language newspapers, Bucharest Daily News and Nine O' Clock, as well as numerous other magazines. A number of publications in other languages are also available, such as the Hungarian-language daily Új Magyar Szó.

Observator Cultural covers the city's arts, and the free weekly ?apte Seri ("Seven Evenings") and B24FUN lists entertainments of all sorts. The city is also home to the intellectual journal Dilema and the satire magazine Academia Ca?avencu, as well as the usual array of commercial magazines one would find in any European capital.

Bucharest is the host city of the fourth edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2006.

Sports

Football (soccer) is the most widely-followed sport in Bucharest, with the city having various club teams that are known throughout Europe. Four football teams of Bucharest participate in Liga 1 (League 1), formerly Divizia A, the top division in the Romanian football league:

The Lia Manoliu Stadium is the largest stadium in Romania (capacity: 60,120). Also there are sport centers, like Dinamo Sports Park and the National Sports Center.

There are also a number of sport clubs for ice hockey, rugby union, basketball, handball, water polo and volleyball. The majority of Romanian track and field athletes, boxers, and a great number of gymnasts are affiliated with clubs in Bucharest. The Athletics and many Gymnastics National Championships are held in Bucharest, one main reason being the city's extensive sporting infrastructure.

Every autumn, Bucharest hosts BCR Open Romania international tennis tournament, which is included in the ATP Tour. Also, the Romanian Davis Cup Team usually plays its matches in Bucharest, either outdoors at the BNR Arena or indoor at the Sala Polivalent?. Ice hockey games are held at the Mihai Flamaropol hall, which holds 8,000 spectators.

For the 2007 season, Bucharest will host a round of the FIA GT Championship at the new Bucharest Ring, on May 20. It is now known as the Bucharest City Challenge

Romania

Culture

After the world wars, communism brough heavy censorship on almost all elements of life and they used the cultural world as a mean to better control the population.[citation needed] The freedom of expression was constantly restricted in various ways, but the likes of Gellu Naum, Nichita St?nescu, Marin Sorescu or Marin Preda managed to escape censorship, broke with "socialist realism" and were the leaders of a small "Renaissance" in Romanian literature.[159] While not many of them managed to obtain international acclaim due to the censorship, some like Constantin Noica, Tristan Tzara and Mircea C?rt?rescu had their works published abroad even though they got jailed for various political reasons.

Some artists chose to leave the country entirely, and continued to make contributions in exile. Among them Eugen Ionescu, Mircea Eliade and Emil Cioran became renown worldwide for their works. Other literary figures who enjoy acclaim outside of the country include the poet Paul Celan and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, both survivors of the Holocaust. Some famous Romanian artists musicians are the folk artist Tudor Gheorghe, and the virtuoso of the pan flute Gheorghe Zamfir - who is reported to have sold over 120 million albums worldwide.[160][161]

Romanian cinema has recently achieved worldwide acclaim with the appearance of such films as The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, directed by Cristi Puiu, (Cannes 2005 Prix un certain regard winner), and 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, directed by Cristian Mungiu (Cannes 2007 Palme d'Or winner).[162] The latter, according to Variety, is "further proof of Romania's new prominence in the film world."[163]

The UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites[164] includes Romanian sites such as the Saxon villages with fortified churches in Transylvania, the Painted churches of northern Moldavia with their fine exterior and interior frescoes, the Wooden Churches of Maramures unique examples that combine Gothic style with traditional timber construction, the Monastery of Horezu, the citadel of Sighi?oara, and the Dacian Fortresses of the Ortie Mountains.[165] Romania's contribution to the World Heritage List stands out because it consists of some groups of monuments scattered around the country, rather than one or two special landmarks.[166] Also, in 2007, the city of Sibiu famous for its Brukenthal National Museum is the European Capital of Culture alongside the city of Luxembourg.

Government

The Constitution of Romania is based on the Constitution of France's Fifth Republic[142] and was approved in a national referendum on 8 December 1991.[142] A plebiscite held in October 2003 approved 79 amendments to the Constitution, bringing it into conformity with the European Union legislation.[142] Romania is governed on the basis of multi-party democratic system and of the segregation of the legal, executive and judicial powers.[142] The Constitution states that Romania is a semi-presidential democratic republic where executive functions are shared between the president and the prime minister. The President is elected by popular vote for maximum two terms, and since the amendments in 2003, the terms are five years.[142] The President appoints the Prime Minister, who in turn appoints the Council of Ministers.[142] While the president resides at Cotroceni Palace, the Prime Minister with the Romanian Government is based at Victoria Palace.

The legislative branch of the government, collectively known as the Parliament (Parlamentul României), consists of two chambers - the Senate (Senat), which has 140 members, and the Chamber of Deputies (Camera Deputa?ilor), which has 346 members.[142] The members of both chambers are elected every four years under a system of party-list proportional representation.[142]

The justice system is independent of the other branches of government, and is made up of a hierarchical system of courts culminating in the High Court of Cassation and Justice, which is the supreme court of Romania.[169] There are also courts of appeal, county courts and local courts. The Romanian judicial system is strongly influenced by the French model,[142][170] considering that it is based on civil law and is inquisitorial in nature. The Constitutional Court (Curtea Constitu?ional?) is responsible for judging the compliance of laws and other state regulations to the Romanian Constitution, which is the fundamental law of the country. The constitution, which was introduced in 1991, can only be amended by a public referendum, the last one being in 2003. Since this amendment, the court's decisions cannot be overruled by any majority of the parliament.

The country's entry into the European Union in 2007 has been a significant influence on its domestic policy. As part of the process, Romania has instituted reforms including judicial reform, increased judicial cooperation with other member states, and measures to combat corruption. Nevertheless, in 2006 Brussels report, Romania and Bulgaria were described as the two most corrupt countries in the EU.[171]

Romania is divided into forty-one counties (jude?e), as well as the municipality of Bucharest (Bucure?ti) - which is its own administrative unit. Each county is administered by a county council (consiliu jude?ean), responsible for local affairs, as well as a prefect, who is appointed by the central government but cannot be a member of any political party.

The country is further subdivided into 319 cities and 2686 communes (rural localities).[172] Each of these have their own local councils and are headed by a mayor (primar). 103 of the larger and more urbanised cities have the status of municipality, which gives them greater administrative power over local affairs.

Alongside the county structure, Romania is also divided into four NUTS-1 level divisions (Romanian:Macroregiunea) and eight development regions corresponding to NUTS-2 divisions in the European Union.[173] These divisions have no administrative capacity and are instead used for co-ordinating regional development projects and statistical purposes. The NUTS-3 level divisions reflect Romania's administrative-territorial structure, and correspond to the 41 counties and the Bucharest municipality.[173]

Since December 1989, Romania has pursued a policy of strengthening relations with the West in general, more specifically with the United States and the European Union. It joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) on March 29, 2004, the European Union (EU) on January 1, 2007, and the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in 1972, and is a member of the World Trade Organization.

The current government has stated its goal of strengthening ties with and helping other Eastern European countries (in particular Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia) with the process of integration with the West.[citation needed] Romania has also made clear over the past 10 years that it supports NATO and EU membership for the democratic former Soviet republics in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.[citation needed] Romania also declared its public support for Turkey, Croatia and Moldova joining the European Union.[citation needed] With Turkey, Romania shares a privileged economic relation.[174] Because it has a large Hungarian minority, Romania has also developed strong relations with Hungary - the latter supported Romania's bid to join the EU.[citation needed]

In December 2005, President Traian B?sescu and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed an agreement that would allow a U.S. military presence at several Romanian facilities primarily in the eastern part of the country.[175]

Relations with Moldova are rather special, considering that the two countries practically share the same language, and a fairly common historical background. Signs in the early 1990s that Romania and Moldova might unite after both countries achieved emancipation from communist rule,[citation needed] quickly faded away when a pro-Russian government was formed in Moldova.[citation needed] Romania remains interested in Moldovan affairs,[citation needed] but the two countries have been unable even to reach agreement on a basic bilateral treaty; Romania is insistent (against determined Moldovan resistance) that such a treaty would have to refer to Romania and Moldova's 'special relationship'.[citation needed] For more information see Movement for unification of Romania and Moldova.

Sports

Football (soccer) is by far the most popular sport in Romania.[176] The governing body is the Romanian Football Federation, which belongs to UEFA. The top division of the Romanian Professional Football League attracted an average of 5417 spectators per game in the 2006-07 season.[177] At international level, the Romanian National Football Team has taken part 7 times in the Football World Cup, and it had the most successful period throughout the 1990s, when during the 1994 World Cup in USA, Romania reached the quarter-finals and was ranked by FIFA on the 6th place. The core player of this "Golden Generation"[178] and perhaps the best known Romanian player internationally is Gheorghe Hagi (nicknamed the Maradona of the Carpathians[179]). Famous currently active players are Adrian Mutu and Cristian Chivu. The most famous football club is Steaua Bucure?ti, who in 1986 became the first Eastern European club ever to win the prestigious European Champions Cup title, and who played the final again in 1989. Another successful Romanian team Dinamo Bucure?ti played a semifinal in the European Champions Cup in 1984 and a Cup Winners Cup semifinal in the 1990. Other important Romanian football clubs are Rapid Bucure?ti, FC Universitatea Craiova and CFR 1907 Cluj-Napoca.

Tennis is the second most popular sport in terms of registered sportsmen.[176] Romania reached the Davis Cup finals three times (1969, 1971, 1972). The tennisman Ilie N?stase won several Grand Slam titles and dozens of other tournaments, and was the first player to be ranked as number 1 by ATP from 1973 to 1974. The Romanian Open is held every fall in Bucharest since 1993.

Popular team sports are rugby union (national rugby team has so far competed at every Rugby World Cup), basketball and handball.[176] Some popular individual sports are: athletism, chess, sport dance, and martial arts and other fighting sports.[176]

Although gymnastics is not very popular within Romania, Romanian gymnasts have had a large number of successes - for which the country became known worldwide.[180] In the 1976 Summer Olympics, the gymnast Nadia Com?neci became the first gymnast ever to score a perfect "ten". She also won three gold medals, one silver and one bronze, all at the age of fifteen.[181] Her success continued in the 1980 Summer Olympics, where she was awarded two gold medals and two silver medals.

Romania participated in for the first time in the Olympic Games in 1900 and has taken part in 18 of the 24 summer games. Romania has been one of the more successful countries Summer Olympic Games (15th overall) with a total of 283 medals won throughout the years, 82 of which are gold medals.[182] Winter sports have received little investments and thus only a single bronze medal was won by Romanian sportsmen in the Winter Olympic Games.

Belfast

Infrastructure

The Belfast Trust is one of five new NHS trusts which were created on 1 April 2007 by the Department of Health. Belfast contains most of Northern Ireland's regional specialist centres. The Royal Victoria Hospital, serving mainly West Belfast, is an internationally renowned centre of excellence in trauma care and provides specialist trauma care for all of Northern Ireland. It also provides the city's specialist neurosurgical, ophthalmology, ENT, and Dentistry services. The City Hospital, serving South Belfast, is the regional specialist centre for Haematology and is home to the most modern equipped regional Cancer Centre in the UK.[not in citation given] The Mary G McGeown Regional Nephrology Unit at the Belfast City Hospital is the Kidney Transplant Centre and provides regional renal services for N.Ireland.[100] Musgrave Park Hospital in South Belfast specialises in orthopaedics, rheumatology, sports medicine and rehabilitation. It is home to Northern Ireland's first Acquired Brain Injury Unit, costing GB£9 million and opened by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall in May, 2006.[101] Other hospitals in Belfast include the Mater Hospital in North Belfast, the Children's Hospital, and the Ulster Hospital, Dundonald.

Belfast is a relatively car-dependent city, by European standards, with an extensive road network including the ten lane M2 motorway. A recent survey of how people travel in Northern Ireland showed that people in Belfast made 77% of all journeys by car, 11% by public transport and 6% on foot.[102] It also showed that Belfast has 0.70 cars per household compared to figures of 1.18 in the East and 1.14 in the West of Northern Ireland.[102] A significant road improvement scheme in Belfast began early in 2006, with the upgrading of two junctions along the Westlink dual carriageway to grade separated standard. The Westlink, a dual carriageway skirting the western edge of the City Centre, connects all three Belfast motorways and often suffers from chronic congestion. The work will cost UK£103.9 million and is scheduled for completion in 2009.[103] Commentators have argued that this may simply create a new bottleneck at York Street, the next at-grade intersection, until that too is upgraded (planned for 2011).[104] Image:Zoom 767 in Belfast.jpg Black taxis are common in the city, operating on a share basis in some areas. However, these are outnumbered by private hire minicabs. Bus and rail public transport in Northern Ireland is operated by subsidiaries of Translink. Bus services in the city proper and the nearer suburbs are operated by Translink Metro, with services focusing on linking residential districts with the City Centre on twelve quality bus corridors running along main radial roads, resulting in poor connections between different suburban areas. More distant suburbs are served by Ulsterbus. Northern Ireland Railways provides suburban services along three lines running through Belfast's northern suburbs to Carrickfergus and Larne, eastwards towards Bangor and south-westwards towards Lisburn and Portadown. This service is known as the Belfast Suburban Rail system. Belfast also has a direct rail connection with Dublin called Enterprise which is operated jointly by NIR and Iarnród Éireann, the state railway company of the Republic of Ireland. In April 2008 the DRD reported on a plan for a light rail system, similar to Dublin's system, suggesting that investment in more modern buses would be prefereable.[105]

The city has two airports: the Belfast International Airport offers domestic, European and transatlantic flights and is located north of the city, near Lough Neagh, while the George Best Belfast City Airport is closer to the city centre, adjacent to Belfast Lough. In 2005, Belfast International Airport was the 11th busiest commercial airport in the UK, accounting for just over 2% of all UK terminal passengers while the George Best Belfast City Airport was the 16th busiest and had 1% of UK terminal passengers.[106]

Belfast has a large port which is used for exporting and importing goods, and for passenger ferry services. Stena Line run regular routes to Stranraer in Scotland using their HSS (High Speed Service) vessel »”with a crossing time of around 90 minutes »”and/or their conventional vessel »”with a crossing time of around 3hrs 45 minutes. Norfolkline »”formally Norse Merchant Ferries »”run a passenger/cargo ferry to and from Liverpool, with a crossing time of 8 hours and a seasonal sailing to Douglas, Isle of Man is operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet company »”formally SeaCat.

Culture

Belfast's population is evenly split between its Protestant and Catholic residents (politically Nationalist and Unionist). These two distinct vibrant cultural communities have both contributed significantly to the city's culture. Throughout the Troubles, Belfast artists continued to express themselves through poetry, art and music. In the period since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, Belfast has begun a social, economic and cultural transformation giving it a growing international cultural reputation.[107] In 2003, Belfast had a unsuccessful bid for the 2008 European Capital of Culture. The bid was run by an independent company, Imagine Belfast, who boasted that it would "make Belfast the meeting place of Europe's legends, where the meaning of history and belief find a home and a sanctuary from caricature, parody and oblivion."[108] According to The Guardian the bid may have been wrecked by the city's history and volatile politics.[109]

In 2004-05, art and cultural events in Belfast were attended by 1.8 million people (400,000 more than the previous year). The same year, 80,000 people participated in culture and arts activities, twice as many as in 2003-04.[110] A combination of relative peace, international investment and an active promotion of arts and culture is attracting more tourists to Belfast than ever before. In 2004-05, 5.9 million people visited Belfast, a 10% increase from the previous year, and spent UK£262.5 million.[110]

The Ulster Orchestra, based in Belfast, is Northern Ireland's only full-time symphony orchestra and is well renowned in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1966, it has existed in its present form since 1981, when the BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra was disbanded.[111]

Belfast is the home of The News Letter, the oldest English language newspaper in the world still in publication.[112][113] Other newspapers include the Irish News and Belfast Telegraph and an Irish language daily newspaper called Lá Nua (from the Irish: Lá Nua meaning "New Day"). The current affairs magazine Fortnight, published (ironically) on a monthly basis, is Northern Ireland's longest running independent publication.[114]

The city is the headquarters of BBC Northern Ireland, the ITV station UTV and the commercial radio stations Belfast CityBeat & U105. Two community radio stations, Feile FM and Irish language station Raidió Fáilte broadcast to the city from west Belfast, as well as Queen's Radio - a student-run radio station which broadcasts from Queen's University Students' Union. One of Northern Ireland's two community TV stations NvTv is based in the Cathedral Quarter of the city. There are two independent cinemas in Belfast, the Queen's Film Theatre and the Strand Cinema, which host screenings during the Belfast Film Festival and the Belfast Festival at Queen's.

Watching and playing sports is an important part of Belfast culture. Almost six out of ten (59%) of the adult population in Northern Ireland regularly participate in one or more sports.[115] Belfast has several notable sports teams playing a diverse variety of sports including association football, rugby, Gaelic games, and North American sports like American football and ice hockey. The Belfast Marathon is run annually on May Day, and attracted 14,300 participants in 2007.[116] The Northern Ireland national football team, ranked 27th in September 2007 in the FIFA World Rankings,[117] and 1st in the FIFA rankings per capita in April 2007[118] play their home matches in Windsor Park. The 2005-06 Irish League champions Linfield are also based at Windsor Park, in the south of the city. Other Premier League teams include Glentoran based in east Belfast, Cliftonville and Crusaders in north Belfast and Donegal Celtic in west Belfast. Belfast was the hometown of the renowned player George Best who died in November 2005. On the day he was buried in the city, 100,000 people lined the route from his home on the Cregagh Road to Roselawn cemetery.[119] Since his death the City Airport was named after him and a trust has been set up to fund a memorial to him in the city centre.[120]

Gaelic football is the most popular spectator sport in Ireland,[121] and Belfast is home to over 20 football and hurling clubs.[122] Casement Park in West Belfast, home to the Antrim county teams, has a capacity of 32,000 which makes it the second largest Gaelic Athletic Association ground in Ulster.[123] The 2006 Celtic League champions and 1999 European Rugby Union champions Ulster play at Ravenhill in South Belfast. Belfast has four teams in rugby's All-Ireland League: Belfast Harlequins (who play at Deramore Park in south Belfast) and Malone (who play at Gibson Park in south-east Belfast) are in the Second Division; and Instonians (Shaw's Bridge, south Belfast) and Queen's University RFC (south Belfast) are in the Third Division.

Belfast boasts Ireland's premier cricket venue at Stormont. The Ireland cricket team plays many of its home games at this venue, which in 2006 hosted the first ever One Day International between Ireland and England. In 2007, Ireland, India and South Africa will play a triangular series of one-day internationals at Stormont. At club level, Belfast has seven senior teams: Instonians (Shaw's Bridge, south Belfast) and Civil Service North (Stormont, east Belfast) are in Section 1 of the Northern Cricket Union League; CIYMS (Circular Road, east Belfast), Cooke Collegians (Shaw's Bridge) and Woodvale (Ballygomartin Road, west Belfast) are in Section 2; and Cregagh (Gibson Park, south-east Belfast) and Police Service of Northern Ireland (Newforge Lane, south Belfast) are in Section 4.

Ireland's first professional ice hockey team, the Belfast Giants play their home matches at the Odyssey Arena, watched by up to 7,000 fans.[124] The Belfast Bulls and Belfast Trojans American football teams represent Belfast in the IAFL, competing for the Shamrock Bowl. Other significant sportspeople from Belfast include double world snooker champion Alex "Hurricane" Higgins[125] and world champion boxers Wayne McCullough and Rinty Monaghan.[126]

Education

Belfast has two universities. The Queens University of Belfast was founded in 1845 and is a member of the Russell Group, an association of 20 leading research-intensive universities in the UK.[127] It is one of the largest universities in the UK with 25,231 undergraduate and postgraduate students spread over 250 buildings, 120 of which are listed as being of architectural merit.[128] The University of Ulster, created in its current form in 1984, is a multi-centre university with a campus in the Cathedral Quarter of Belfast. The Belfast campus has a specific focus on Art and Design and Architecture, and is currently undergoing major redevelopment. The Jordanstown campus, just seven miles (11 km) from Belfast city centre concentrates on engineering, health and social science. The Conflict Archive on the INternet (CAIN) Web Service receives funding from both universities and is a rich source of information and source material on the Troubles as well as society and politics in Northern Ireland.[129]

Belfast Metropolitan College is a large further education college with several campuses around the city. Formerly known as Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education, it specialises in vocational education. The college has over 53,000 students enrolled on full-time and part-time courses, making it one of the largest further education colleges in the UK.[130]

The Belfast Education and Library Board was established in 1973 as the local authority responsible for education, youth and library services within the city.[131] There are 184 primary, secondary and grammar schools in the city.[132]

Ireland

Demographics

Ireland's largest religious group is the Roman Catholic Church (over 73% for the entire island, and about 86.8% for the Republic), and most of the rest of the population adhere to one of the various Protestant denominations. The largest is the Anglican Church of Ireland. The Irish Muslim community is growing, mostly through increased immigration (see Islam in Ireland). The island also has a small Jewish community (see History of the Jews in Ireland), although this has declined somewhat in recent years. Over 4% of the Republic's population describe themselves as of no religion.

Ireland has for centuries been a place of emigration, particularly to England, Scotland, the United States, Canada, and Australia, see Irish diaspora. With growing prosperity, Ireland has become a place of immigration instead. Since joining the EU in 2004, Polish people have been the largest source of immigrants (over 150,000[citation needed]) from Central Europe, followed by other immigrants from Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Latvia.

Ireland's high standard of living, high wage economy and EU membership attract many migrants from the newest of the European Union countries: Ireland has had a significant number of Romanian immigrants since the 1990s. In recent years, mainland Chinese have been migrating to Ireland in significant numbers. Nigerians, along with people from other African countries have accounted for a large proportion of the non-European Union migrants to Ireland.

Ireland is multilingual but predominantly English-speaking, with Irish, the first official language of the Republic, the second most commonly spoken language. In the North, English is the de facto offical language, but official recognition is afforded to both Irish and Ulster-Scots language. All three languages are spoken on both sides of the border. In recent decades, with the with the increase of inmigration on an all-Ireland basis, many more languages have been introdced, particularly deriving from Asia and Eastern Europe, such as Chinese, Polish, Rusian, Turkish and Latvian.

Cities

After Dublin (1.7m in Greater Dublin), Ireland's largest cities are Belfast (700,000) in Greater Belfast), Cork (380,000 in Greater Cork), Derry (94,329 in Derry Urban Area), Limerick (93,321 incl. suburbs Limerick urban area), Galway (71,983), Lisburn (71,465), Waterford (49,240 including suburbs), Newry (27,433), Kilkenny (23,967 incl. suburbs) and Armagh (14,590).

Transport

There are five main international airports in Ireland: Dublin Airport, Belfast International Airport (Aldergrove), Cork Airport, Shannon Airport and Ireland West Airport (Knock) . Dublin Airport is the busiest airport in Ireland, carrying over 22 million passengers per year; it is now under construction to build a new terminal and runway, costing over ?2 billion. All provide services to Great Britain and continental Europe, while Belfast International, Dublin, Shannon and Ireland West (Knock) also offer a range of transatlantic services. Shannon was once an important stopover on the trans-Atlantic route for refuelling operations and, with Dublin, is still one of the Ireland's two designated transatlantic gateway airports.

There are several smaller regional airports: George Best Belfast City Airport, City of Derry Airport (Eglinton), Galway Airport, Kerry Airport (Farranfore), (Knock), Sligo Airport (Strandhill), Waterford Airport, and Donegal Airport (Carrickfinn). Scheduled services from these regional points are mostly limited to the rest of Ireland and Great Britain.

Airlines in Ireland include: Aer Lingus (the national airline of Ireland), Ryanair (Europe's largest low cost airline), Aer Arann and CityJet.

The rail network in Ireland was developed by various private companies, some of which received (British) Government funding in the late 19th century. The network reached its greatest extent by 1920. The broad gauge of 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) was eventually settled upon throughout the island, although there were also hundreds of kilometres of 914 mm (3 ft) narrow gauge railways.

Long distance passenger trains in the Republic are managed by Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) and connect most major towns and cities across the country.

In Dublin, two local rail networks provide transportation in the city and its immediate vicinity. The Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) links the city centre with coastal suburbs, while a new light rail system named Luas, opened in 2004, transports passengers to the central and western suburbs. Several more Luas lines are planned as well as an eventual upgrade to metro. The DART is run by Iarnród Éireann while the Luas is being run by Veolia under franchise from the Railway Procurement Agency (R.P.A.).

Under the Irish government's Transport 21 plan, reopening the Navan-Clonsilla rail link, the Cork-Midleton rail link and the Western Rail Corridor are amongst plans for Ireland's railways.

In Northern Ireland, all rail services are provided by Northern Ireland Railways (N.I.R.), part of Translink. Services in Northern Ireland are sparse in comparison to the rest of Ireland or Britain. A large railway network was severely curtailed in the 1950s and 1960s (in particular by the Ulster Transport Authority). The current situation includes suburban services to Larne, Newry and Bangor, as well as services to Derry. There is also a branch from Coleraine to Portrush. Waterside Station in Derry is the main railway station for County Londonderry as well as County Donegal in Ireland.

Ireland also has one of the largest dedicated freight railways in Europe, operated by Bord na Móna. This company has narrow gauge railways totalling 1,930 kilometres (1,200 miles).

Motorists must drive on the left in Ireland, as in Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, India, Hong Kong, Japan, and a number of other countries. Tourists driving on the wrong side of the road cause serious accidents every year. The island of Ireland has an extensive road network, with a (developing) motorway network fanning out from Belfast, Cork and Dublin. Historically, land owners developed most roads and later Turnpike Trusts collected tolls so that as early as 1800 Ireland had a 16,100 km (10,000 mi) road network.

The year 1815 marked the inauguration of the first horsecar service from Clonmel to Thurles and Limerick run by Charles Bianconi. Now, the main bus companies are Bus Éireann in the Republic and Ulsterbus, a division of Translink, in Northern Ireland, both of which offer extensive passenger service in all parts of the island. Dublin Bus specifically serves the greater Dublin area, and a further division of Translink called Metro, operates services within the greater Belfast area. Translink also operate Ulsterbus Foyle in the Derry Urban Area.

All speed limit signs in the Republic changed to the metric system in 2005. Some direction signs still show distance in miles. Use of imperial measurements are usually limited to pints of beer in pubs, and informal measurement of human height (feet and inches) and weight (usually stones, but pounds and ounces for infants). However, younger generations tend to use metric units more so than the older generations.

Energy network

For much of their existence electricity networks in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland were entirely separate. Both networks were designed and constructed independently, but are now connected with three interlinks and also connected through Britain to mainland Europe. The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) in the Republic drove a rural electrification programme in the 1940s until the 1970s.

Ireland, north and south has faced difficulties in providing continuous power at peak load. The situation in the North is complicated by the issue of private companies not supplying NIE with enough power, while in the South, the ESB has failed to modernise its power stations. In the latter case, availability of power plants has averaged 66% recently, one of the worst such figures in Western Europe.

The natural gas network is also now all-Ireland, with an interconnector from Antrim to Scotland, and a further two interconnectors from Dublin to Britain. Most of Ireland's gas now comes through the interconnectors with a decreasing supply from the Kinsale field. The Corrib Gas Field off the coast of County Mayo has yet to come online, and is facing some localised opposition over the controversial decision to refine the gas onshore.

There have been recent efforts in Ireland to use renewable energy such as wind energy with large wind farms being constructed in coastal counties such as Donegal, Mayo and Antrim. What will be the world's largest offshore wind farm is currently being developed at Arklow Bank off the coast of Wicklow. It is predicted to generate 10% of Ireland's energy needs when it is complete. These constructions have in some cases been delayed by opposition from locals, most recently on Achill Island, some of whom consider the wind turbines to be unsightly. Another issue in the Republic of Ireland is the failure of the aging network to cope with the varying availability of power from such installations. The ESB's Turlough Hill is the only energy storage mechanism in Ireland.

Economy

In the 1920s and early 1930s, the Republic of Ireland pursued a low-tax, low-spending, non-interventionist approach under the government of W. T. Cosgrave and Cumann na nGaedhael, focused mainly on agriculture, with livestock farming of primary importance. The only notable expense the government went to during this time was for the rural electrification scheme, which saw £5,000,000 spent in constructing the Ardnacrusha hydroelectric power station on the river Shannon (also known as the Shannon Scheme). During this period, 97% of trade was done with Britain. This government favoured free-trade.[citation needed] However many[attribution needed] saw this as inadequate after the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

In 1932, Eamonn De Valera's Fianna Fáil party defeated Cosgrave's party with a solid majority. De Valera's policy was of economic nationalism, a belief in self-sufficiency, and attempted industrialization. Fianna Fáil abandoned free trade and put up protective tariffs on almost all manufactured products. In June, 1932 De Valera withheld land annuities, which dated back to the land acts of the 18th and early 19th century, which were until then paid to the British Government. Britain responded by placing tariffs on Irish exports of livestock and by-products. In turn De Valera imposed duties on British coal. This developed into an 'economic war' known as the Anglo-Irish Trade War. The economic war resulted in widespread hardship for Irish farming, which was the backbone of the economy, and which relied on exports to English cities for a market. The tariffs resulted in price increases for many essential manufactured goods, and an increase in the cost of living. High unemployment in richer English speaking countries made emigration from Ireland less of an option, decreasing wages. At this time many Irish industries were established, based of low wages, and protectionist barriers. With the British anticipating war, and the Irish in a dire financial situation, the trade war ended in 1938, with the British agreeing to discontinue land annuity payments from Irish farmers. Fianna Fáil established many semi-state organizations for the purposes of utilizing national resources, and marshalling larger scale industries. At this time the Irish economy enjoyed a stable period.

Fianna Fáil remained in power until 1948, when the first coalition government ousted them. To the present day, the two largest parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, have dominated the scene, Fine Gael traditionally being seen as less interventionist in economic matters. Fianna Fáil have become less interventionist and more market driven in the early 1990s, especially when in alliance with the small pro-business party, the Progressive Democrats.

Northern Ireland experienced a boom during World War II, as a result of demand for its principal industries, shipbuilding and linen making, and got a lot of support from the British government thereafter. In comparison, Ireland did not experience a WWII boom and its situation declined relative to Northern Ireland. In the 1950s there was a dramatic decrease in the population of working age, as workers picked up better paid jobs in Britain and North America. This was a period of great concern, with considerable social heamorrhaging taking place in rural Ireland in particular. In the early 1960s, the new Fianna Fáil leader Seán Lemass abandoned its previous protectionist policies, and embarked on a programme of economic reform. Serious efforts were made to attract inward investment from the United States in particular, and to a lesser extent West Germany, and Japan. Purpose built industrial estates were developed in most large towns. Rural Electrification, the division of large estates, and agricultural scientific education resulted in dramatic increases in agricultural output in the 1960s. In 1972, second level education was made free and compulsory. Ireland applied to join the European Economic Community, gaining entry in 1973 along with Britain.

From 1973 to 1983, the island of Ireland was hit by two oil crises, a series of bank strikes that paralysed business activity for 18 months, poor industrial relations, public pay rises, and runaway inflation. However, poor management of the state finances was being addressed with repeated increases in taxation of all beneficial activity, until employment became less attractive than welfare. At the same time it was found that Irish industry was completely unprepared for competition that arose as a result of free trade with continental Europe. Ireland's heavy industries, located primarily in Cork, almost disappeared between 1982 and 1984. Agriculture, the only sector of the economy which was competitive at this stage, was constrained by production quotas, and prevented from taking up the slack in the economy. At the same time Ireland was producing its first generation where university education was widely attained. There was mass unemployment, with many people with tertiary education working minimum wage jobs or being out of work. Emigration returned to 50,000 per year. From 1982 to 1986 the national debt had doubled, mostly due to stabilisation policies like welfare, gigantic subsidies to semistate organisations and public utilities, and an effort to reduce inflation and stabilise the currency.

This situation changed dramatically in the mid 1990s as the result of a prodigious economic boom, known as the "Celtic Tiger" (as in "tiger economy"). This was led by a surge in inward investment in high end industries in services, and lower taxation levels. From 2002, this was augmented by low interest rates set by the European Central Bank which encourage private sector consumption. In July 2006, a survey undertaken by Bank of Ireland Private Banking showed that, of the top 8 leading OECD nations, the Republic of Ireland was ranked the second wealthiest per capita country in the world, showing an average wealth per head of nearly ?150,000 (~ $190,000). This is behind Japan, and ahead of other countries such as the United States, United Kingdom and Germany.

In 2005, Ireland was ranked the best place to live in the world, according to a "quality of life" assessment by Economist magazine. The country's combination of increasing wealth and traditional values gives it the conditions most likely to make its people happy, the survey found. These conditions include health, freedom, unemployment, family life, climate, political stability and security, gender equality and family and community life. The Economist said: "Ireland wins because it successfully combines the most desirable elements of the new, such as low unemployment and political liberties, with the preservation of certain cosy elements of the old, such as stable family and community life."

The rosy reports and GDP figures mask several underlying imbalances. The construction sector, which is inherently cyclical in nature, now accounts for a significant component of Ireland's GDP. This was being driven by low interest-rates and the fact that Ireland is one of the few countries in the OECD not to have residential housing or water rates.[citation needed] A recent downturn in residential property market sentiment has highlighted the over-exposure of the Irish economy to construction, which now presents a threat to economic growth. Several successive years of unbalanced economic growth have also led to huge inequality between the strata of Irish society (see Economy of the Republic of Ireland - Recent developments), as well as significant environmental degradation, including rapid loss of biodiversity and erosion of natural and cultural heritage , and the highest per-capita rise in greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union since the Kyoto Protocol came into effect .