The Post-Apocalyptic Roadmap/Ireland

Part of the Post-Apocalyptic Roadmap project

Ireland fared well initially after the NATO disaster, due to it's prevailing winds pushing nuclear fallout from the U.K. away from it and towards Scandinavian countries. Adding to this, Ireland had no direct enemies due to it's neutrality, which meant that no nuclear strikes were directly focused On Ireland. However, the nation had little in the way of food production and many Irish starved in a second Great Famine. This lasted for a full year before the Taoiseach organised a distribution of emergency supplies while farming systems were set up. This ramshackle system lasted six months before the different factions vying for control collided

In the west, a radical group of Irish-speaking rural farmers ignited a rebellion which held all of the province of Connacht and much of the Cork and Tyrconnel regions under it's sway. These "cosantoiri na Gael" originated from farmers of gaeltacht land who reasoned that, as they did the brunt of the manual labour, they should receive the most resources. They also thought that this was a prime opportunity for a cultural cleansing and that Irish Catholics should be given their pick of the land over protestants and multinational cultures. Oddly enough for a poor region, the west is well equipped compared to other factions, their hunting licence having given them permission to use basic, if outdated firearms.

The North was quickly re-assimilated into Ireland proper due to it's isolation from the rest of the U.K. It did not go quietly, however, and during the second famine militant groups fought for unity and independance separately, with neo-IRA members and orange men fighting over Belfast and Derry. Eventually, compromise was made and the Northern republic has become a pseudo-vassal of the republic of Ireland. With the insurgency in the west, however, the north has launched several guerrilla attacks on Louth and Meath as a sign of their divergence. The north tends to be ill-equipped to fight in head to head conflict, preferring separate cells working in conjunction with eachother to capture cities and towns.

Finally, in Leinster and East Munster, the government keeps a strong hold over the masses, with the dail still operating, out of Leinster house. Emergency powers have been granted to the Taoiseach though, and he/she invariably ends up acting as a monarch. Dublin remains capital, and the county has usurped much of wexford in an effort to contain the tide of refugees coming in the wake of the rebellions. The Remaining republic makes use of it's hordes of lower class citizens, addicts and mutated children in huge conflicts, which tend to work against the north but fail against any kind of resistance from the west.