Land of Hope and Rory ⛳️☘️

So, What’s the Craic?

The Craic is back, all sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows, bringing you news and views of the Irish at home and abroad. The Craic is the weekly newsletter from Shift, our app that provides a digital home for the Irish and Irish-lite worldwide. Want Shift? Get it here, comrade. And if you want friends to get The Craic every week, they can sign up here.

First, a Special Thanks.

This week, Shift Founder Patrick Blood made a shout out on TikTok and Instagram to download the app and add any Irish Pub we’ve not yet listed. As it stood, we already had 6,200 pubs from California to Canberra (via Castlebar of course) but sure who wouldn’t love a few more? We wanted to take a minute to highlight our top contributors for the week, so far...

Shout outs to all the others who submitted Irish pubs in the past two days: Abbie B, Chris K, Clair M, Clay W, Conor L, Dominic M, Fern B, Finbar C, Gerry H, James M, Josh R, Kieran G, Lightingman1 B, Marie K, Meredith C, Mike F, Niamh R, Orla O, Paul H, Philip M, Rob W, Robert M, Ronan G, Stephen Q, Terry M. 🙏 Thank you! You are what makes Shift what it is - the global Irish community.

News from Home

He Did It. You’ll all know by now that Rory McIlroy did, indeed, retain the Masters Green Jacket, so we won’t go over old ground. Yet, we did note that it set off a huge round of “we want to claim him” between Ireland and Britain. It’s getting political, too, with politicians calling for him to be knighted by King Charles. The thing is, Rory has always been staunchly apolitical, well aware that any statement could cause unintended offense. And you know what, fair play to him. Irish, Northern Irish, British, American (he lives in Florida) – whatever – we should just enjoy him while we have him.

We Want It. Remember when we said a few weeks ago that Croke Park should be reserved for special events? Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn is apparently in talks to secure the venue for Katie Taylor’s final fight in the summer. As a boxing promoter, Hearn is a professional bullshitter (not a criticism; it’s his job to hype), so we will reserve judgment until we see it in writing, but the prospect excites us even more than the Toblerone that’s currently eyeing us from across the room.

RIP, Legend. We were saddened to hear of the death of Moya Brennan, also known as Máire Philomena Ní Bhraonáin, member of Clannad and sister of Enya. She had a wonderful, storied career, and a voice every bit as beautiful as – but distinct from – her sister’s. She even secured EDM immortality when partnering with Chicane on the global smash hit, Saltwater. Ireland lost a legend this week.

The Craic Recommends. We were looking at the line-up for Electric Picnic (Ireland’s biggest pop music festival), and we saw a quare few excellent up-and-coming Irish acts on the roster. But one, in particular, caught our eye, the brilliant Florence Road. They were nominated for the BBC Sound of 2026 (a big deal for new artists), and we can’t get enough of their mixtape, Fall Back. Keep an eye on this quartet from Wicklow; we smell big things coming. Oh aye, did you know that you can also keep up with this sort of craic on Shift?

The Irish Influence

We’ve spent a lot of time over the last year or two talking about this golden age of Irish acting, but you know what, we’ve probably forgotten to mention the big ride that is Holywood’s (the Northern Irish one, like Rory) Jamie Dornan. He has just been cast in one of Hollywood’s (yep, that one) most sought-after roles, as Aragorn in the upcoming Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. You know, there are maybe arguments that this movie should not be made at all, but we delved into the aul movie internet forums to get a gauge on the reaction about Jamie’s casting, and it has been overwhelmingly positive. He’s a class act, and we think if anyone can out-dreamboat Viggo Mortensen in the role, it’s Jamie. 50 shades of Gandalf the Grey, eh? 🧙🏻‍♂️ 

Cúpla Focal

I will, yeah – No. We’ve been inspired by a brilliant Irish Times article to switch up from Gaeilge to the aul Béarla (English) this week. The article on visitors and immigrants experiencing confusion about how we talk centered on the brilliant Irish slang phrase, “I will, yeah,” which basically means “there is not a chance I will do this thing.”

Blast from the Past

It’s Ireland’s birthday! Well, sort of. At the stroke of midnight on April 17th, 1949, Ireland officially became a republic. Of course, you’ll note that the 26 counties had already gained independence from Britain before that date, but Ireland remained part of the Commonwealth, which technically – very technically – meant that the King at the time (George VI) still had a formal role in Irish foreign policy. Though largely symbolic – life certainly didn’t change overnight – it did have other repercussions, not least the (perceived) hardening of positions on partition, meaning Northern Ireland’s position as part of the UK would be framed in British law. As an aside, we love these old Pathé videos. People just don’t talk like that anymore.

And One Last Thing….

Migration Reversal. It’s incredible to think of this term today, given our history of heading across the Atlantic. Yet the stats say it: More Americans are moving to Ireland than are going the other way. It’s a fascinating exchange, one that further strengthens ties between the two nations, even in an era when relationships between ‘friendly’ governments are frayed. It also put us in mind of another intriguing stat we heard this week: that nearly a quarter of a million people in Ireland work remotely for American firms, which presents challenges due to the time difference. So, if you are reading this, dear American CEOs with Irish employees, go easy on us on a Friday afternoon, as it is suppertime here; time for tea and bread and butter, not emails. And, yes, we include Shift boss, Patrick Blood, in that plea. He’s a tyrant. Just kidding. He’s mostly grand 😉.