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So, What’s the Craic?

The Craic is back after eating FAR too many Easter Eggs, bringing you news of the Irish at home and on foreign shores. The Craic is the gobby half-brother of Shift, our digital home of the Irish and Irish-ish online. Not got Shift yet? Get it here, friend. Want someone else to have The Craic each week? This way here, please.

News from Home

GAA Go. This weekend sees the start of the All-Ireland Football Championship, featuring 31 counties (Kilkenny don’t enter cos football’s illegal in the hurling-mad county) plus Ireland’s overseas territories of County London and County New York. Nah, we are big fans of what the GAA is doing to promote the championships (hurling gets underway next weekend) at home and abroad. Oh, and wherever you’re following your county from, the GAA has this nifty digital calendar that won’t let you miss a moment. Check it out here.

No.2. A new study has put Dublin’s Temple Bar as the world’s second-biggest tourist trap, behind the undisputed leader, San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf. Fair enough, but sure look it, we are going to do something highly unfashionable: Stick up for Temple Bar. It’s not that bad – pricey, yes – but the extra few euros per round of drinks are in return for a guaranteed atmosphere and plenty of craic with other tourists. We love authentic Dublin “old-man” pubs as much as the next person, but we know where we’d be if we were young (and a bit better-looking).

Fuel Fury. We joked last week about fuel prices in Ireland, but farmers, taxi drivers, and haulers have not seen the funny side. Fuel protests are taking place across the island, blocking major roads. The M50 – possibly the country’s busiest motorway – has been described as Ireland’s biggest car park. The army has also been called in. Serious stuff; it’s all feeling a bit French.

Middle Ale. We genuinely checked the date when we read this story because it felt April-Foolsy: Lidl – you’re familiar with the famously cheap grocery store, yes? – has announced it’s opening its first pub in Northern Ireland. All a bit strange, yet it seems to be a workaround on NI’s absolutely awful & archaic (and alliterative) alcohol licensing laws. 

The Craic Recommends. One of Irish literature’s superpowers is the ability to find light and humor in the bleakest of subjects; it’s been a trait of everyone from Joyce to Doyle to McCourt to Tóibín. Thus, when we say you should read the new book from John McKenna, The Lock-Keeper’s Wife, and tell you that it’s about a woman, bereaved of her two children, who finds herself recently released from an institution and living remotely with an unloving husband, don’t be surprised when you discover something unaccountably hopeful and, at times, joyous. Buy it directly from the publisher, The Lilliput Press, here.

The Irish Influence

We were saddened to hear the news of the death of actor Michael Patrick. The trailblazing Northern Irish thespian, who sometimes went under the name Michael Campbell, lost his battle with motor neuron disease. Most of the media tagged him as “Game of Thrones actor” in their reporting (Michael had a small role in the HBO series), yet his real legacy was on the stage, particularly his work in Belfast’s Lyric Theatre. In 2024, while wheelchair-bound and in full knowledge that he was terminally ill, Michael created and starred in an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Richard III, turning in one of the most powerful performances you’ll ever see. It won the prestigious Judges’ Award at the 2025 Stage Awards.

Cúpla Focal

Agóidí Breosla {uh-GO-dee BROSS-luh} Fuel Protests – The current agóid (protest) is absolutely on everyone’s minds this week, or at least those trying to drive on the nation’s motorways. Hopefully, there is a resolution soon. 

Blast from the Past

We don’t want to jinx it, but as we slowly tap out this newsletter with two pointy fingers on our typewriter, Rory McIlroy shares the lead in The Masters. We hope he’s still in the mix as you read this. Actually, Rory got into a bit of bother because of his comments about not serving Irish food for the pre-tournament dinner (hosted by the champion). It all got a bit weird and pearl-clutching, with internet peeps going all Genghis Khan over colcannon and cabbage. It was a joke, folks. Anyway, all the pro-Rory and anti-Rory shenanigans reminded us of this wee video, with the 8yo Holywood (not that one) lad giving us a glimpse of the man who’d one day conquer the world of golf.

And One Last Thing….

This week, socials have inexplicably been plastered with indexes showing Ireland’s place in the world and the makeup of the island, naturally causing plenty of arguments. We loved Ireland’s ranking as the most educated country in Europe, not so much how we’ve fallen down the Good Country Index, but the most interesting bit by far was the digital release of the 1926 Irish Census, which showed that we were much more diverse and cosmopolitan than some would have you believe. It’s a fascinating snapshot of Ireland a century ago, and quite the riposte to those voices claiming today that Irish history is homogeneously white. It wasn’t, and we are all the richer for it.