ireland

Ireland signed on as a Junior Achievement International Member Nation in 1995. Ireland has a population of 3.7 million where the main language is English, with 32% of people also speaking Irish.

This school year, 1999/2000, JA Ireland will reach over 12,000 students in 480 classes, and next year they plan to expand to include 14,750 participants.

Junior Achievement was introduced in Ireland to make a positive contribution to the establishment of an enterprise culture. The forty-five members of the Board of Directors that serves Junior Achievement Ireland wholly and enthusiastically supports this view.

The national flag of Ireland is a tricolor of green, white and orange. The green represents the older Gaelic and AngloNorman element in the population, while the orange represents the Protestant planter stock, supporters of William of Orange. The meaning of the white was well expressed by Meagher when he introduced the flag. ‘The white in the center,’ he said, ‘signifies a lasting truce between the ‘Orange’ and the ‘Green’ and I trust that beneath its folds the hands of the Irish Protestant and the Irish Catholic may be clasped in heroic brotherhood.’