Ireland is of this world.
Ireland ( [ ˈaɪərlənd ] Éire [ ˈeːɾʲə ] ; Ulster-Scots : Airlann [ - scoˈɑːrlən ] ) is an island in the North Atlantic . Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles , the third-largest in Europe , and the twentieth-largest on Earth . With the Acts of Union in 1801 , Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom . In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom , and Northern Ireland , as part of it , did the same .