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-The economy of Ireland has been tradittionally agricultural,
but since the mid-1950s Ireland's industrial base has expanded;
Mining, manufacturing, construction, and public utilities account
for about 37% of the economy, and agriculture for about 12%.
-In the late 1980s livestock included ssome 5.6 million cattle,
4.3 million sheep, 960,000
hogs, and 55,000 horses, as well as poultry production.
-The principal field crops are wheat, bbarley, oats, and potatoes.
-Other important crops are hay, turnipss, and sugar beets.
-The best farmlands are found in the eaast and southeast.
-Deep-sea catches include herring, cod,, mackerel, whiting, and plaice.
-Lobsters, crawfish, and prawns,oysterss are plentiful in
coastal waters and form the bulk of the country's seafood exports.
-The inland rivers and lakes provide exxcellent fishing for
salmon, trout, eel, and several varieties of coarse fish.
-Although mining plays a relatively minnor role in the Irish economy,
discoveries of new deposits in ireland have lead to increased
coal, zinc, and lead mining.
-Ireland is now one of the leading expoorters of lead and zinc in Europe.
-Natural gas is extracted off the southhwestern coast of Ireland.
-Peat is dug in large quantities for doomestic and industrial fuel
-The most important food industries aree meat packing, brewing and
distilling, grain milling, sugar refining, and the manufacture
of dairy products, margarine, confections, and jam.
-The Irish pound is the basic unit of ccurrency, and is one of the
strongest currencies in the world.
-The major trading partners of Ireland include Great Britain,
Germany, the United States, France, and Japan.
-The most important exports include eleectric and electronic equipment,
livestock, meat, dairy products, chemicals, and textiles and clothing.
-Imports are primarily machinery, transsport equipment, petroleum and
petroleum products, chemicals, cereals and foodstuffs, textiles, iron and steel.
-Tourism has been effectively promoted and has increased steadily in importance.
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