The Holiday Forum:                     Terms

Question: Can someone tell me in simple terms the relationship between england, n. ireland, ireland, wales and scotland?

(Posted by: RAZR on 2010-02-28 12:07:16)

I'm a little confused. Especially about N.Ireland and Ireland and England and what happened there.

Posted by: younosygit on 2010-02-28, 15:22:48

England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are all constituent countries of the United Kingdom, a bit (but not much) like states in the US; 80% of the population of the UK lives in England, but England is the only one of the four nations which doesn't have a local government of its own - the UK Parliament and government looks after it. "Ireland " is the official name of the country usually described as the "Republic of Ireland ", which is the part of Ireland which broke away from the UK in 1922, but in British law people born in the Republic are not considered to be foreigners, and British and Irish citizens can freely travel between the two countries without any passports or other requirements, and have always been able to live in the other country - as of the 2001 census, just under half a million people living in the UK were born in the Republic of Ireland (compared with Ireland's population of 4.5 million). Currently around 5 million people in the UK (around 9%) were born in another country, and a similar number of British-born people live in other countries, mainly France, Spain, Australia, Canada, and the US. Thanks to the rather tangled relationship between Britain and Ireland, people born in Northern Ireland are entitled to consider themselves to be either British or Irish, or both, and to possess the appropriate passports. Sportswise, things get very complicated. For some sports, e.g. Olympic sports, there is a "Great Britain " national team which represents England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland (though Northern Irish people can choose to be selected for the Irish olympic team instead). In other sports, such as football (soccer) the four nations compete independently and each field a national team; this is a bone of contention regarding the 2012 Olympics - there will be a "Great Britain " football team in competition, but the Scottish and Welsh Football Associations refuse to have anything to do with it for fear that FIFA will use it as a precedent to abolish the four independent teams, so in practice the "Great Britain " team will comprise solely of English players. In rugby union England, Scotland, and Wales each field a separate national team, but there is a single team representing all of Ireland (because the Irish Rugby Football Union was established long before 1922 and never recognised such a little thing as Irish independence!). In cricket, the team commonly referred to as "England " is the team of the England and Wales Cricket Board (but will use Scottish and Northern Irish players if any are good enough). Confused? You should be!

Posted by: Laura G on 2010-02-28, 12:09:35

U.K. On the same continent The European Union

Posted by: Andrew H on 2010-02-28, 12:40:57

Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland are all parts of the country called the United Kingdom. The relationship between them is pretty much the same as the relationship between states in the USA. Ireland and Great Britain (the big island containing England, Scotland and Wales) have been colonising each other for at least 2000 years but starting from the 17th century huge numbers of people were moved from Scotland and England (mainly Scotland) to the northern part of Ireland. Later, in 1800, Ireland became part of the United Kingdom but there was constant resistant leading to several uprisings and finally independence in 1922. However, Northern Ireland remained part of the UK because of its large British-derived (mostly Scottish) population.

Posted by: M to the R still in your face on 2010-02-28, 12:44:54

They together are known as the British Isles (even though Ireland is a republic and not part of Great Britain or the UK) Great Britain= England, Wales and Scotland UK= Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Posted by: RR on 2010-02-28, 14:40:53

England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland are all separate countries England + Scotland + Wales = Great Britain Great Britain + Northern Ireland = UK Republic of Ireland (Southern Ireland) is not part of UK and is totally independent. However, like UK it is part of European Union.

Posted by: gizmo21 on 2010-03-04, 07:16:32

"Can someone tell me in simple terms the relationship " Very basically they are members of a "club ". The south of Ireland however left the "club ". The north wanted to stay, thus creating Northern Ireland in the process. -- - "Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland are all parts of the country called the United Kingdom. " The United Kingdom is NOT a country. It is a State made up of different "things ".