ood; food shortages include bread
grain, fruits, vegetables

Illicit drugs: transshipment point for hashish from North Africa to
the UK and Netherlands

Economic aid:
donor: ODA commitments (1980-89), $90 million

Currency: 1 Irish pound (#Ir) = 100 pence

Exchange rates: Irish pounds (#Ir) per US$1 - 0.6420 (January 1995),
0.6676 (1994), 0.6816 (1993), 0.5864 (1992), 0.6190 (1991), 0.6030
(1990)

Fiscal year: calendar year

@Ireland:Transportation

Railroads:
total: 1,947 km
broad gauge: 1,947 km 1.600-m gauge (36 km electrified; 485 km double
track)

Highways:
total: 92,327 km
paved: 86,787 km (32 km of expressways)
unpaved: gravel, crushed stone 5,540 km (1992)

Inland waterways: limited for commercial traffic

Pipelines: natural gas 225 km

Ports: Arklow, Cork, Drogheda, Dublin, Foynes, Galway, Limerick, New
Ross, Waterford

Merchant marine:
total: 47 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 129,996 GRT/160,419 DWT
ships by type: bulk 4, cargo 33, chemical tanker 2, container 2, oil
tanker 1, short-sea passenger 3, specialized tanker 2

Airports:
total: 44
with paved runways over 3,047 m: 1
with paved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
with paved runways 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4
with paved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 2
with paved runways under 914 m: 32
with unpaved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 4

@Ireland:Communications

Telephone system: 900,000 telephones; modern digital system using
cable and microwave radio relay
local: NA
intercity: microwave radio relay
international: 1 INTELSAT (Atlantic Ocean) earth station

Radio:
broadcast stations: AM 9, FM 45, shortwave 0
radios: NA

Television:
broadcast stations: 86
televisions: NA

@Ireland:Defense Forces

Branches: Army (includes Naval Service and Air Corps), National Police
(Garda Siochana)

Manpower availability: males age 15-49 926,831; males fit for military
service 749,646; males reach military age (17) annually 34,215 (1995
est.)

Defense expenditures: exchange rate conversion - $500 million, 1.3% of
GDP (1994)

________________________________________________________________________

ISRAEL

(also see separate Gaza Strip and West Bank entries) Note: The
territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 war are not included in
the data below. In keeping with the framework established at the
Madrid Conference in October 1991, bilateral negotiations are being
conducted between Israel an