People never make Ireland their nation.I find it a lil bit strange they dont.Like whats the problem with Ireland?Oh and also the people who do have Ireland as their nation dont have much.They just make an account and leave.Im the number 1 player in Ireland atm.and I only have 100k fame and 248k influence.oh btw I just made this because I was sittin around watching youtube then I asked myself:why does nobody pick ireland as their nation?

People generally like to join nations with some degree of power and influence

It's the same reason no one picks Guatemala
Or Venezuela
Or Uruguay
Or Sri Lanka
Or Scotland

There's too many nations and too small a player base for all of them to be filled with active players

Ireland has no benefits. Just like many other nations have no benefits. Typically, people will choose to join a nation that has some sort of benefit. Low taxes. Stipends. Insurance. Treasury payouts. Folks they like. etc.

Lots of nations are empty, with no real beneficial laws, and no real power. The only reason to join a nation like that, is either because it's your homeland and you want to be patriotic, or you wish to build a new nation. If you want people to join Ireland, you need to make it to where folks have a reason to go there.

Edit- also there are 238 nations in this game. Of that number, Ireland is ranked 20 of 238 in influence. So it's doing better then the majority of the nations out there. Only the top 10 is what I'd say are active though.

If you can form a group of players that share a similar interest to placing Ireland on the map it is possible for any nation to gain power. It requires a lot of money and reasources to be sucessful, especially if the end goal is to hold a port.

A port can be stolen from an existing nation. This is usually unsucessful, but it is possible.

Sometimes an existing nation is willing to sell a port.
This is a much better option.

On rare occasions large nations have gifted ports.
To new nations.

yeah, most nations will never see any real success or power, unless at least one person tries to make it into one. Just needs to start with one. Make it to king, set your first set of laws, and start thinking about what you want to build, then look for folks to join you. Invite folks, ask around, etc.

Ireland is never going to just magically get players all on it's own. Most players won't join a nation for no reason. Some will be willing to join to help build a new nation, some may join to help a friend build a nation, and some may go along for the ride, but most players won't join a nation for no reason. If you want folks in Ireland you gotta make a reason. Owning a port tends to be the biggest sign of prestige for a nation. You can still build a nation without any ports, but they are very nice to have. Til you can get a port and hold it, best to set good laws to attract players.