I'll take these questions. I don't have any sources so you'll just have to trust me bro, I live here.

What is the general ideology of the political elite? Do they tend to be protectionist nationalists, or are they more free trade globalists? Are they compradors put there by foreign powers? Are they socialists with wide support by the population?

Since independence, the Republic of Ireland has been ruled by two nearly identical rival parties, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. They are both neoliberal parties and are currently in government together, although the two of them are historically rivals. They are both big fans of selling out the country to foreign imperialists, in the form of appeasing and being fine with the British occupation in the north, and allowing imperialistic American and British companies such as Pfizer, Dell, Microsoft and other tech firms to establish here. These companies operate here because we have the lowest corporation taxes in the EU, and essentially serve as a tax haven island for non-EU companies to get into the EU.

What are the most important domestic political issues that make the country different from other places in the region or world? Are there any peculiar problems that have continued existing despite years or decades with different parties?

Housing. The housing crisis is fucking awful. Dublin is one of the most expensive cities in the world, despite hosting far less and being far less populated than cities like Dubai and New York. The reason for this is landlords having basically all the power they could want, and half of the government being landlords. Immigration (read: racism) is becoming a bigger problem. Ireland has accepted a lot of asylum seekers and immigrants in the past few years and not built any fucking houses. There are a lot of empty and derelict houses, but its not profitable to let people live in them so we don't. Landlords and capitalists are the problem, not immigrants.

Is the country generally stable? Are there large daily protests or are things calm on average? Is the ruling party/coalition generally harmonious or are there frequent arguments or even threats?

There are very few popular protests, but there have been a rising amount of hate crimes and riots by fascists. Ireland basically didn't have a native fascist movement at all for the past few decades, but the past few years of capitalist failure has lead to a rapidly growing fascist wing. Fascists have burned refugee tent camps and assaulted minorities, and gathered to protest immigration. On the other side of the spectrum, there are occasional liberal and left-wing marches, on issues like housing and climate change, but these have failed to achieve anything whatsoever. The most significant rallies have been pro-Palestine, which are overwhelmingly popular and have massive turnout, but the government has refused to take significant action against Israel.

Is there a particular country to which this country has a very impactful relationship over the years, for good or bad reasons? Which one, and why?

The Good Friday Agreement in the 90s ended the Troubles and since then Ireland and the UK became a lot friendlier, with the UK being Ireland's main trade partner. This was basically up until Brexit, which made trade way more expensive and generally fucked over the Irish economy. The neoliberal governments have not cared at all about ending the occupation in Ireland, instead focusing on letting British and American companies set up here.

What are the political factions in the country? What are the major parties, and what segments of the country do they attract?

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, as already mentioned, have historically been the only significant parties, despite not being very different. Fine Gael is slighlty more conservative. The other major faction, which have been fluctuating in popularity recently, are Sinn Féin. Don't get your hopes up, Sinn Féin suck. They have completely abandoned any form of socialism and have very little internal consistency. They used to have the aesthetic of left-wing opposition, but now are basically just opportunists. The only thing they have going for them is their republicanism.

Are there any smaller parties that nonetheless have had significant influence? Are there notable separatist movements?

The National Party are the growing fascist party. They don't have any government representation but are a significant threat to minorities when they gather. On the left, groups like the Community Action Tenant Union (CATU), the Connolly Youth Movement (CYM), Anti-Imperialist-Action Ireland (AIAI) and several others have seen growth in the past ten years, but are not very popular nationally.

How socially progressive or conservative is the country generally? To what degree is there equality between men and women, as well as different races and ethnic groups? Are LGBTQIA+ rights protected?

Ireland is known for doing a complete turnaround on women's and LGBT rights since the 90s, basically thanks to the collapse of the Catholic Church as a politcal entity following the emergence of the Magdalene Laundries scandal. Contraception and abortion were legalised, in the 2010s gay marriage was legalised, and trans people have legal recognition. Despite this, homophobia and especially transphobia persists among old people and the medical industry. Women face sexism to a similar degree as in the UK, although transphobia is more fringe.

I don't wanna write up the history of the island rn. Ask me if there's anything you want to know and I'll write it up.

I've been mulling over this comment by @queermunist@lemmy.ml from an askchapo post about what the current revolutionary class is inside the US:

I've been reading Walter Rodney and Frantz Fanon and thinking about how colonialism became neocolonialism and have been thinking that neocolonialism may be transitioning to a new phase of colonization.

Under colonialism, colonized nations were underdeveloped and so there was only a very small proletariat while most people were lumpen proles and landless peasants.

Then colonialism died and was reborn as neocolonialism, colonized nations were still underdeveloped but the proletariat grew as secondary production was offshored from the colonizing nations.

Now I think we're entering a new phase of colonialism and I think Israel and Ukraine are showing us the future. Underdevelopment isn't enough to sustain the colonizers anymore, now begins undevelopment. Underdeveloped nations have advanced too far to be easily controlled, hence dedollatization, and so they need to be put back in their place.

Still thinking about what this means within the US itself. Maybe undevelopment will be deployed at home onto internally colonized people, so wages become gigs while infrastructure crumbles and artificially cheap commodities become unaffordable while superprofit is concentrated in the coastal metropols.

idk I need to read more theory

Particularly in relation to the World Wars and how countries were destroyed, looted, and then the US imperial strategy was to rebuild them with their own industries in order to try and become the hegemon to replace the British Empire. And in relation to the ongoing situation in Ukraine. I was also weirdly reminded of a description in a David Graeber book of a pre-capitalist society which destroyed its own surpluses year-on-year to (knowingly or unknowingly) prevent an unequal society from being constructed.

It's not a sustainable strategy for many reasons, but I do wonder if development-undevelopment cycles are being consciously considered by the American bourgeoisie as a strategy of maintaining power. It also figures into @shipwreck@hexbear.net's anxiety about China merely providing the infrastructure for greater American exploitation - it could even reach a point where what China creates in other countries, the Americans destroy, almost ritualistically; a cycle that could continue for a long time in the absence of climate change and decaying Western institutions.

I love to recommend books, and so here is a smattering of books about Ireland from a variety of subjects and perspectives (largely focused on feminism as per my area of study).

Celtic Heritage: Ancient Tradition in Ireland and Wales, Alwyn and Brinley Rees

Gender and Sexuality in Modern Ireland, Anthony Bradley, Maryann Gialanella Valiulis

LGBTQ Visibility, Media and Sexuality in Ireland, Páraic Kerrigan

Outsiders Inside: Whiteness, Place and Irish Women, Bronwen Walter

Ireland and the Magdalene Laundries: A Campaign for Justice, Claire McGettrick, Katherine O'Donnell, Maeve O'Rourke, James M. Smith, Mari Steed

The Poor Bugger's Tool: Irish Modernism, Queer Labor, and Postcolonial History, Patrick R. Mullen

Philosophical Perspectives on Contemporary Ireland, Clara Fischer, Áine Mahon

Women and the Irish Nation: Gender, Culture, and Irish Identity 1890--1914, D. A. J. MacPherson

Positioning Gender and Race in (Post)colonial Plantation Space: Connecting Ireland and the Caribbean, Eve Walsh Stoddard

Queer Performance and Contemporary Ireland: Dissent and Disorientation, Fintan Walsh

Gender and Colonialism: A Psychological Analysis of Oppression and Liberation, Geraldine Moane

Dedication and Leadership: Learning from the Communists, Hyde Douglas

The Irish Novel at the End of the Twentieth Century: Gender, Bodies, and Power, Jennifer M. Jeffers

Contemporary Irish and Welsh Women's Fiction: Gender, Desire and Power, Linden Peach

Literature, Partition, and Nation-State: Culture and Conflict in Ireland, Israel and Palestine, Joe Cleary

Weaving Transnational Solidarity, Katherine O'Donnell

Palgrave Advances in Irish History, Katherine O'Donnell, Mary McAuliffe, Leeann Lane

Sapphists and Sexologists: Histories of Sexualities, Mary McAuliffe (not specifically Irish, but by an Irish author and it does explore lesbian desire in colonial Ireland)

Trad Nation: Gender, Sexuality, and Race in Irish Traditional Music, Tes Slominski

The James Connolly Reader, Shaun Harkin, James Connolly, Mike Davis (a great collection of Connolly's works including a few that are out of print or hard to find elsewhere, like Labour in Irish History though I think that's not so hard to get anymore with eBooks)

Revolutionary Works, Seamus Costello

A Literary History of Ireland, Hyde Douglas

Myths and Folklore of Ireland, Jeremiah Curtin

Early Irish Literature, Myles Dillon (also The Cycles of Kings and Irish Sagas)

Celtic Women: Women in Celtic Society and Literature, Peter Beresford Ellis

A Brief History of the Celts, Peter Beresford Ellis (also The Druids and Celtic Myths and Legends and A Dictionary of Irish Mythology)

Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland, Thomas Crofton Croker

If you're looking for someone who is doing some really interesting scholarship on Irish indigeneity, coalition building with colonized Indigenous people globally, and preserving/resurrecting obscure and regional Irish-language terms and idioms, I recommend Manchán Magan.