Ireland

Ireland has three major international airports: Dublin (), Shannon () in County Clare, and Cork (). Dublin is by far the largest and best connected, with flights from many cities in Canada, continental Europe, the Middle East, the UK and the US. Shannon, close to the city of Limerick, also has flights from the US, Canada, Middle East, the UK and Europe. Cork has flights from most UK destinations and a wide variety of European cities. In summer they all have additional flights to holiday destinations around Europe.

Ireland uses the euro, the plural of which is also "euro", thus for €2, say "two euro". Stand-alone cash machines (ATMs) are widely available in every city and town in the country and credit cards are accepted most outlets. Fees are not generally charged by Irish ATMs (but beware that your bank may charge a fee).

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The official languages of Ireland are English and Irish. Almost everyone speaks English as their first language, though often in a way that reflects the influence of the Irish language. Irish (Gaeilge) is the first official language according to the constitution. It belongs to the Goidelic branch of the Celtic family of languages and is strikingly different to English.

The police force is known as An Garda Síochána, (literally, 'Guards of the Peace'), or just "Garda", and police officers as Garda (singular) and Gardaí (plural, pronounced Gar-dee), though informally the English term Guard(s) is usual. The term police is rarely used, but is of course understood. Regardless of what you call them, they are courteous and approachable. Uniformed members of the Garda Síochána do not carry firearms, but the police in Northern Ireland do. Firearms are, however, carried by detectives and officers assigned to special police units. Police security checks at Shannon Airp…

Water

Tap water is generally drinkable. In some buildings you should avoid drinking water from bathroom sinks, which may be recycled or drawn from cisterns.

Smoking

Almost all enclosed places of work in Ireland, including bars, restaurants, cafés, are designated as smoke-free. Ireland was the first European country to implement the smoking ban in pubs. Rooms in hotels and bed-and-breakfast establishments are not required by law to be smoke-free. Even though they are not obliged to enforce the ban, owners of these establishments can do so if they wish. Most hotels have some bedrooms…

Phone numbers in this guide are given in the form that you would dial them from outside Ireland. When using a landline within Ireland, the international dial prefix and country code of +353 should be substituted by a single 0. However, most landlines and mobile phones will accept the prefix 00353 or +353 to call Ireland numbers.

In general, the Irish are incredibly welcoming, friendly, upbeat, and approachable. Telling stories, jokes or being witty is very common. You can freely approach the locals for advice and you can ask them specific directions on where to go somewhere.