ABSTRACT
Like many other features of Irish history, the economic development of Ireland has been profoundly affected by the neighbouring and larger island of Great Britain. British involvement in Ireland began as early as the twelfth century, with the Norman invasion of 1169, but it was not until the seventeenth century that the conquest was complete. With the termination in 1800 of its largely subordinate parliament, Ireland became an integral part of the United Kingdom under the Act of Union. Independence was achieved under a Treaty signed in London on 6 December 1921, which accorded dominion status to the Irish Free State comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland. The other six counties, known as Northern Ireland, remained part of the United Kingdom, with limited devolved government.
