The Criminal Justice System of Ireland

Ireland is a small island of about 5.2 million people with an area of 32,000 square miles situated on the Atlantic seaboard of northwestern Europe, just to the west of the island of Great Britain. Since 1922, the Ireland has been divided into two separate jurisdictions. One was originally termed the Irish Free State, but since the introduction of the 1937 Constitution of Ireland, has become known of¡cially as Ireland (or “Eire,” in the Irish language). The other, Northern Ireland, is a constituent part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This division was, at the time, thought necessary in some quarters, especially the Westminster government, because a substantial majority of the people of Ulster, the northwestern province of Ireland, who were largely Protestants, fervently desired to remain under British rule.