Book excerpt: This is indeed, the perfect resource and handy reference book to Ireland today, as well as providing important information about Ireland past, all within the covers of one inexpensively priced paperback book. For anyone interested in Irish culture, history, politics, the arts, industry and sports, this is the one book you must have. It contains detailed statistics and tables on current population trends, political parties, industrial development, mining, fishing, religion, tourism, the media, and much more. The authors have put modern Ireland in context by providing considerable detail about key personalities, past and present, who have shaped the political, social, and economic landscape of the country.