Lá na Cruite 🇮🇪

So, What’s the Craic?

The Craic is back and not quite ready to take the big winter coat out of the closet, bringing you news of the Irish at home and abroad. Like this email a bit? Give us a hand by asking anyone you know to get some free craic every week by signing up here.

News from Home

The Real Guinness Family. So, you like the House of Guinness on Netflix? Well, the real Guinnesses (Guinnessi?) are hosting a meet-and-greet with fans at Ashford Castle in December. The weekend (we aren’t sure about ticketing or dates yet) event will feature a potted history of the fam, as well as Q&As with the real-life great-great-great grandchildren of some of the characters you’ve seen on screen. You might even get some spoilers.

Spice Bags. For the first time in history, an Irish bar has made the NYT’s Best American Restaurant List. McGonagle’s, which is located in Boston, has gone Full Irish, selling Spice Bags (sounds like drug paraphernalia, but it’s spicy chicken & chips) and playing Daniel O’Donnell music. Not to Sherlock Holmes it, but seeing the latter as a music choice in the bar gave us an inkling as to who might own such a pub. And sure enough, our suspicions were confirmed when we read that the two proprietors were Donegal men. Daniel’s music royalty up there.

The Harpist Tool. Today is Lá na Cruite, AKA Harp Day. So there are numerous events and workshops taking place across the island to celebrate what is surely the classiest musical instrument. The Celtic harp is, of course, our national emblem (minus a point if you said shamrock), and it’s actually the only official European national symbol that represents a country and a people, not a monarchy, religious icons, or conquest. Great stuff, that.

Sports Craic. A quick little round-up of World Cup stories: The Republic of Ireland is hanging on to hope by a thread so thin it can only be seen under a microscope. An agonizing loss to Portugal and an uninspiring win over Armenia keep the dream alive, if only mathematically. Northern Ireland fans, however, have reason for cheer as a win over Slovakia keeps them in the hunt. There’s also the heart-warming tale of Cabo Verde’s qualification for the World Cup – one of the smallest ever nations to do so. Why mention this in an Irish newsletter? Well, the team’s center-back, Roberto “Pico” Lopes, was born and raised in Ireland and is the current captain of Shamrock Rovers.

The Craic Recommends. The finalists for the 2025 RTE Short Story Competition have now been shortlisted and published online. The competition gives (mostly) amateur Irish writers a chance to showcase their craft. The Craic, having read them all over a bacon and soda bread butty (lubricated by a cup of Barry’s Tea), can tell you that there’s some belters in there. Our personal favorite is “Kazakhstan” by Kevin McDermott, a poignant and funny tale of how a father’s grief is eased by meeting his son’s girlfriend for the first time. You can read Kazakhstan here or explore all this year’s short stories here.

The Irish Influence

This week’s Irish influence is You – the global Irish: the diaspora, the Mc’s, the O’s, and the Fitzsomethings who find themselves living in New York, New Zealand, New Delhi, and beyond. The millions of you out there who have found new lives and adventures, but still feel the pull of home, are the reason we do this. We are getting fiercely close to launching Shift – our network to connect the global Irish – and there’s palpable excitement in-house as we move to get things over the finish line. In the video below, our co-founder and co-captain, Paul, gives an update on all the latest with the app rollout, as well as our ethos and long-term goals.

Cúpla Focal

Ar mhuin na muice {er win na mwik-eh} – on the pig’s back. This is the kind of phrase that Irish múinteoirí (teachers) throw out at their classes to illustrate how expressive the Irish language is. It means you are very well off or doing great. The literal English translation does get used here and there, but the Irish is so much nicer.

Blast from the Past

Michael Gambon would have celebrated his 85th birthday tomorrow. The legendary actor, who passed away in September 2023, was born in a suburb of Dublin on October 18th, 1940, but like many, many Irish families, he found himself uprooted and moving to England so his father could find work after the Second World War. From there, Gambon embarked upon an extraordinary career, conquering both the stage and screen. He was a contemporary and friend of Laurence Olivier, Peter O’Toole, and the infamous hellraiser, Richard Harris, but he was never in their shadow. Film buffs, check out The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), if you want to see why this legendary Irish (and a bit British, we will give them that) thespian should be remembered for so much more than being Dumbledore in Harry Potter movies.

And One Last Thing….

Happenstance means we covered the arts a lot today, but it’s worth remembering that the Irish arts industry has had a few gut punches in recent years. First, there was the pandemic, which absolutely decimated gig culture, and now there’s the advent of AI, which is a hammer blow for digital artists. Thankfully, people in a position to help have recognized that they can, in fact, help. We are happy to report that the Basic Income for Artists scheme, which has been trialed over the past few years, is to become permanent. Successful applicants will be paid a salary simply to make art. For those pouring scorn on such an idea, consider that a study of the trials showed that the participating artists generated more money for the economy than the program costs. So, it’s a win-win.

Go on ya good thing! You made it to the end. If you enjoyed The Craic, remember to share the love. Everyone who gets The Craic will get early access to the Shift mobile app, which is coming very, very soon! And if those friends or family are doing alright for themselves, if ya know what I mean, let them know we’re still looking for investors to help us come out of the traps roaring ike a Celtic Ti- eh… Horse. 🐎 Hit us up on [email protected].