- Republic of Ireland (Wikipedia)
Ireland (Irish: Éire [ˈeːɾʲə]), also known as the Republic of Ireland (Poblacht na hÉireann), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. Around 2.1 million of the country’s population of 5.13 million people resides in the Greater Dublin Area. The sovereign state shares its only land border with Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, St George’s Channel to the south-east, and the Irish Sea to the east. It is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The legislature, the Oireachtas, consists of a lower house, Dáil Éireann; an upper house, Seanad Éireann; and an elected President (Uachtarán) who serves as the largely ceremonial head of state, but with some important powers and duties. The head of government is the Taoiseach (Prime Minister, literally ‘Chief’, a title not used in English), who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President; the Taoiseach in turn appoints other government ministers.
- Strait of Bonifacio (Wikipedia)
The Strait of Bonifacio (French: Bouches de Bonifacio; Italian: Bocche di Bonifacio; Corsican: Bucchi di Bunifaziu; Gallurese: Bocchi di Bunifaciu; Sardinian: Buccas de Bonifatziu; Ligurian: Bocche de Bunifazziu; Latin: Fretum Gallicum, Fretum Taphros) is the strait which connects the islands of Corsica and Sardinia. It is named after the Corsican town Bonifacio, the most southerly on the island, which was in turn named after Boniface I, Margrave of Tuscany, who founded a citadel in its location circa 828AD.