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*Brief facts about  Ireland/ Eire
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*Location: Western Europe, occupying five-sixths of the island of Ireland in the North Atlantic Ocean, west of Great Britain

*Climate: temperate maritime; mild winters, cool summers

*Time Zone: GMT

*Currency: Euro (1 Euro =  approx 5.7 Shekels) (www.bankisrael.gov.il)

*Language: English (official) is the language generally used, Irish/Gaelic
(official) spoken mainly in areas located along the western seaboard

*Work Week: Monday - Friday

*Dialling code: +353 + area code + local number

*Population: 4 Million +

*VAT rate: 21% Goods, 13.5% Services

*GDP  $126.4 billion (2004 est.)

*Government: Ireland is a parliamentary democracy.

*Economy: The Irish economy is an open, mostly export based economy that has experienced an unprecedented level of growth during the latter half of the 1990's.
The Irish economy is heavily dependant on trade, with export of goods and services amounting to over 96.8% of GDP (1999 figure)

*International Agreements/aspects:   Ireland is a member of the EU (1973)
     Ireland is a member of the UN
(1955)
     Ireland is a member of the OECD
(1961)
     Ireland has an Agreement of the
avoidance of Double Taxation with Israel.
     An Agreement on Scientific R&D
cooperation exists between Israel and Ireland.

*International Trade: Major trading partners UK, USA, Germany, France, Japan, the Netherlands,