The facts: Total Area: 78,783 sq km/ 48,955 sq miles. Scotland accounts for 34 per cent of Britain, and is 60 per cent the size of England. Situated between 55 and 60 degrees north, Scotland's central belt is almost on the same latitude as Moscow, while Shetland is closer to the Arctic Circle than to the South of England.

Longest river: the Tay, 193 km/120 miles.

Largest freshwater loch: Loch Lomond, 71.1 sq. km/27.5 miles.

Highest mountain: Ben Nevis 1,334 m/ 4,409 ft.

World's oldest rock: Archean Gneiss, Lewis. (almost 3,000 million years old.)

Ailsa Craig in the Firth of Clyde is popularly known as Paddy's Milestone.

Total population: 5.1 million. Males: 2.5 million; females: 2.6 million.

Glasgow, the heartland of the industrial central belt now known as Scotland's Silicon Glen, is the largest city with 654,000.

Edinburgh, with 422,000 is enjoying an influx of people attracted to the capital city by the new seat of devolved Government and Parliament.

The oil industry city of Aberdeen is above 200,000.

Dundee, which today markets itself as The City of Discovery but which previously had a reputation for jam, jute and journalism, at 166,000.

National Anthem: Flower of Scotland (composed by The Corries). It is sung so lustily at soccer matches against England that God Save the Queen is drowned out.

Parliament: 72 MSPs

Religion: Since the Reformation Parliament of 1560, the Church of Scotland has been the established religion in Scotland. The Queen is a member - but not the head - of the Church of Scotland. In the last 50 years Church of Scotland membership rolls have almost halved from 1.2 million to 600,000. The Catholic Church's membership stands at 705,000, making it the largest denomination in Scotland. However, this figure represents a fall of 40,000 from 1950, and is the lowest level of Catholic population for fifty years, forming less than 14 per cent of Scotland's population.

The Scottish Episcopal Church, which is a sister church of the Church of Ireland in the worldwide Anglican Communion, numbers 50,000 members.

With its thriving Asian community, Scotland has over 20,000 Muslims.

Forgotten links: David Livingstone, the famous explorer of Africa, was taught Latin by Father Daniel Gallagher, a priest from Derry, while working in the mills in his home village of Blantyre. John Wheatley, the Minister of Health in the first Labour Government, was born in County Waterford. Well versed in papal social teaching, he helped mute the hostility of the Catholic Church towards socialism. Oliver Goldsmith wrote She stoops to conquer while a medical student at Edinburgh University.

Gross Domestic Product: £50.7 billion.

Unemployment: 5.7 per cent.

First oil-gas discovery in the North Sea was in 1965.

Trade: Combined trade between the two countries is approaching £1 billion.

Ireland ranks as Scotland's 13th most important market. Scotland is Ireland's 12th most important export market.