Giant Killing 🪙 ⛔️

So, What’s the Craic?

The Craic is back on this fine-feeling Friday, bringing you news from the Irish at home and those who’ve left for foreign parts. If you want others to keep up with the craic weekly, kindly ask them to sign up here.

News from Home

Giant Problem. Tourists have their little ways: The love locks on the Pont des Arts in Paris; kissing the Blarney Stone for luck (and cold sores💋); and, for some reason, rubbing Molly Malone’s breasts. The Giant’s Causeway – the legendary home of Fionn Mac Cumhaill – has its own little tradition, with visitors slipping coins into the cracks of the iconic rock formations. Now, the National Trust has stepped in, begging tourists to refrain from the practice as the coins rust, expand, and ultimately break the surrounding rock. To be honest, with the cost of parking around the area, we’re surprised the tourists have any money left.

Stop the Stink. A Tyrone GAA club is tackling a unique opponent – stench. A mushroom factory (who knew such a thing existed) has been operating next door to the playing fields of Killeeshil GFC, and the stench of fungi is so bad that training sessions have been canceled. Now, the factory owners wish to expand the site, but they are facing “Stop the Stink” protests from local residents.

House of Pain. There is NOTHING Irish people enjoy more than complaining about house prices, so there was viral attention when a tiny one-bedroom home in Kinsale, Co. Cork, was offered for 1.35 million euros (circa $1.45 million). Some analysts believe it could be the most expensive home by square footage in the world.

Expensive Flight. A hotel in County Antrim plans to entice whiskey lovers through the doors with its rare whiskey flights. To build a sense of exclusivity, the tastings are by appointment only. There’s an exclusive price, too, coming in at about $2K per person. The Giant’s Causeway is only up the road from the hotel, so if you need to raise some funds for your tasting, there’s literally money coming out of the ground.

The Irish Influence

Most people will never have heard of Colm Williamson, but if you’ve paddled in the murky waters of Irish social media, you’ll have come across his alter-ego, Bill Badbody. How to explain the phenomenon of Bill Badbody? Let’s start by explaining the Bruce Wayne side of the character first. Williamson is the founder of Waterford Whispers News, Ireland’s best-known satirical publication (it’s like The Onion, but still funny). Williamson created the character of Badbody as a piece of satire, providing social commentary in his guise as a ruthless landlord, budding politician, and political correspondent. The genius of the character – as with all great satire – is that, while Badbody is vile and caricatures the worst parts of Irish corporate greed, Williamson plays the character straight enough that it holds a mirror up to our own flaws and prejudices, making the unsuspecting believe the audacious Badbody is real.

Cúpla Focal

Meitheamh {Meh-Huv} – June. Sunday is June 1st, which, in the old Irish calendar, meant time to get to work. Meitheamh comes from meitheal, which means a collective group of workers – cutting turf, haymaking, etc. While today collective working means busting your ass delivering parcels for Amazon and programming for Meta, in certain parts of the country there’s still something pleasant about the scent of cow manure in the air, reminding you that summer’s here.

Blast from the Past

We have said before that Ireland’s neutrality during the Second World War is often mistaken for a lack of involvement or consequences. Many Irish signed up and died abroad when fighting the Nazis, and the Luftwaffe bombed cities on both sides of the Irish border. Dublin’s most serious bombing from the German airforce came on May 31st, 1941, killing 28 people. The old British Pathé video we unearthed describing the incident is interesting for a few reasons, not least the narrator’s scolding tone – English accents like his simply don’t exist anymore, do they? – while berating Ireland’s insistence on neutrality.

And One Last Thing….

Like all governments around the world, Ireland wrestles with how to get kids off mobile phone screens and into hands-on creative worlds. Often, they are met with the response from parents that, “shit’s expensive,” with many working-class families locked out from experience the creative arts. The solution? A free day for kids - Cruinniú na nÓg (Gathering of Youth) – where everything from painting classes to theater workshops to learning how to be an acrobat costs nothing for the day. The project has been a huge success, with the government boldly claiming it’s the only event of its kind in the world. Cruinniú na nÓg 2025 takes place on Saturday, June 7th.

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