Ireland had a huge role in allowing the UK to rise to its global naval power. Ireland had large amounts of old-growth forests, the trees of which were necessary for ship masts. In the end, the entire island was deforested. Today, the Irish government has reforested much of the previously barren landscapes, but it will take a long time for the forests to reach their former glory. Additionally, during the Irish potato famine, the eastern half of Ireland was actually pretty well-off, as they were able to use the more fertile soil to farm different crops, and capitalize on animal husbandry. The western side, however was tied to the potato, as the soil in the western side was of far lesser quality than the eastern side. Instead of the eastern side selling their much-needed food to the western side of Ireland, they instead kept selling their goods to Britain. While this initially seems extremely counter-intuitive, the western Irish were ultimately subsistence farmers, and didn't have much money to buy any goods in the first place. So the eastern Irish were forced to sell their goods at decent prices to the British or risk falling into debt by selling to the poor west Irish.
Ireland was a huge strategic point for both Britain and France, as the two constantly wanted to use Ireland as a point to invade the other. Even Norway wanted a piece of the Island, and indeed there are many distinct Viking influences in the island and its people, and Gaelic is related to the Nordic languages. In fact, because my family has primarily Scandinavian roots, we chose to go to the places most related to Vikings and Viking influence in Irish heritage.
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