Dublin, Ireland, if you please

UK subjects, American citizens, and many others speak of Dublin as part of the UK -- some vague place that's in the vicinity of England and therefore under the dominion of the UK parliament. Well it isn’t. After centuries of struggle against Britain, Ireland finally broke free in 1920 under the Government of Ireland Act. This made Dublin the capital of a more-or-less independent country, which became a republic in the full sense in 1948. As part of the settlement by which Ireland came into being, the island was partitioned with a significant portion in the north remaining under British rule; this is known as Northern Island (see map). So ‘Ireland’ as a political term refers to the Republic of Ireland, the capital of which is Dublin. Geographically Ireland is part of the British Isles. The first evidence that the UK and Ireland are not the ‘same’ dawns on the alert tourist when he or she makes his or her first cash transaction: Ireland has joined the Euro, so it has the same coins and notes as France, Germany, Italy, and others. The UK, concerned that the loss of currency might entail loss of national identity (!), has hung onto its own currency, which is now vastly overpriced on international exchanges and a source of great inconvenience to the many thousands of Irish who do business with, or have family in, the UK. Dublin is NOT in the UK; its ties to London are similar to other European nations such as France and Germany. On the other hand, unlike them it is supposedly a neutral country, like Switzerland, though Ireland’s participation in the war against Iraq has brought this into question. map from http://mike.eire.ca/graphics/ireland.gif