Irish Interest

Scrambling is a hands-on sport and without the stop-start of rock climbing, the joy of it can be appreciated more freely. Here, Alan Tees guides mountaineers to exhilarating scrambles in...

There's more to Irish bird folklore than the 'wran' boys and the Children of Lir. Birds have been part of our culture from very early times and there are countless...

Carrowkeel Passage Tomb in Sligo is an extensive Neolithic passage tomb undisturbed since its excavation in 1911. Robert Praeger, one of the excavators, described being one of the first to...

Birds have been important symbols in our art and culture for thousands of years. They have inspired poets and painters, and feature in many place names and legends. In this...

Before Aer Lingus made its first transatlantic flight, in a time when few Irish people could dream of taking to the air, intrepid aviator Alexander 'Monkey' Campbell Morgan (1919-1958) roamed...

From medieval Carlingford in Louth to Blarney Castle in Cork, discover the top 100 places to visit in Ireland's Ancient East. Wander through time at sites such as Clonmacnoise, Newgrange...

Niall Mac Coitir provides a comprehensive look at the folklore, legends and history of animals in Ireland, and describes their relations with people, being hunted for food, fur, sport, or...

Ireland's wild plants have been part of our culture and folklore from the earliest times, featuring in the Brehon Laws, early Irish poetry and herbal medicine. Plants are described in...

River and canal walks can have special appeal, the scenery always changing due to flowing water, weirs, locks and the changing countryside. Ireland's rivers and canals are rich in wildlife,...

How do you take your tea? Tea leaves or teabag? Milk or sugar, weak or strong? Mug or fine bone china? Tea fanatic Juanita Browne investigates our tea habits and...

Studying geology in the field will draw anyone curious about how our planet works into the field time and time again. Ireland is endowed with a spectacular variety of geology....

The Oratory of the Sacred Heart was built by the Dominican nuns of St Mary's Convent, Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire), to celebrate peace at the end of the First World War....

In his travelogue of the abandoned 50-mile route along the Ulster Canal, Darach MacDonald presents a close-up narrative history of Ireland. On his journey through five of Ulster's nine counties,...

A book that met with stern opposition from both the publishing industry and the Gaelgeoiri they were afraid of offending when the manuscript was first circulated in 1999, this collection...

It's exhausting, being Irish. The constant self-flagellation is enough to put anybody off their breakfast.Why are we so hard on ourselves? Is it the post-colonial overhang following centuries of oppression...

It has been seven years since the sudden death of John O Donohue, bestselling author of Anam Cara and Benedictus. Now, in print for the first time, comes Walking on...

England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Inside, Outside, Donkeys' TailsWere you the local Elastics champion growing up? Did you spend every waking moment obsessively playing Kerbs with your best mates? Have you...

What makes an Irish home? Is it the neatly folded wrapping paper saved for another Christmas? Or the pressure cooker that you can't throw out but you haven't used since...

The Irish are world masters at talking. The magic behind our silky, colourful (and non-stop) stories is a little thing called 'blarney', or 'the gift of the gab'. But what...

The Irish mix wit and wisdom the way they do whiskey and water, and to the same intoxicating effect.Irish wit is an art form that can be sage, silly, insulting,...

In Ireland you are never far away from the border between land and sea and the coast is an integral part of the country. It is a place of natural...

It is a small area of land and yet the nine counties of Ireland's north hold within them a bewildering variety of riches and rewards. It is a complex region...

Inishmore, Inishmaan, Inisheer: wild, isolated, starkly beautiful and of great historical importance.Lying in the Atlantic Ocean off Galway Bay, the Aran Islands are a place apart. Here island life has...

Eric Luke has captured the essence of Irish life over the past forty years, with stunning and thought-provoking images of the people of Ireland for the Irish Press and Irish...

Do you love the taste of Red Lemonade, change into your swimming togs under a towel on the beach or find yourself admiring 'the grand stretch in the evenings'? Then...

The Irish mix wit and wisdom the way they do whiskey and water, and to the same intoxicating effect.Irish wit is an art form that can be sage, silly, insulting,...

Set on the Atlantic shore in County Mayo, Croagh Patrick is known as Ireland's Holy Mountain and attracts almost one hundred thousand pilgrims and visitors every year. In particular on...

A deadly compendium of all your favourite feckin' booksDo you know the difference between a bowsie and a cute hoor? Can you sing all the words to 'Raggle Taggle Gypsy'...

In this sequel to the best-selling "The Anglo-Irish War", Peter Cottrell explores the Irish Civil War, a devastating conflict that tore Ireland apart. This book examines the many factions that...

The Anglo-Irish War has often been referred to as the war 'the English have struggled to forget and the Irish cannot help but remember'. Before 1919, the issue of Irish...

The Little Book of Waterford is a compendium of fascinating, obscure, strange and entertaining facts about County Waterford. Here you will find out about Waterford's industrial past, its proud sporting...

Do ghosts exist, do supernatural beings walk the land and do creatures linger in the shadows. Are legends of blood-sucking creatures based on some truth found on the edges of...

Sandymount is a comparative newcomer in terms of Dublin suburbs, since it only started to develop in the mid-nineteenth century, after the arrival of the railway from Westland Row to...

The Little Book of Wicklow is a compendium of fascinating, obscure, strange and entertaining facts about County Wicklow, the last Irish county to be created and one of the most...

The Little Book of County Wexford is a compendium of fascinating, obscure, strange, entertaining and often-overlooked facts about one of Ireland's most historic counties.This selection, compiled over many years of...

The Little Book of Tyrone is a compendium of fascinating, obscure, strange and entertaining facts about this much-loved county. Here you will find out about Tyrone's myth and legend, its...

Since 1603, when Sir Arthur Chichester was given the Castle of Belfast, the harbour and its trade has contributed to the growth of that part of the city on the...