Ireland Overview Nations // Non-aligned Europe

OVERVIEW The Republic of Ireland (Eire) is a neutral member of the European Union. The country consists of those counties of Ireland that gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1949. The republic shares a land border with the six counties in the northeast that constitute Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. Ireland released its second-ever defense white paper in August 2015. The document pointed to non-conventional threats -- including non-state threats, migration,...