Shifty McShift Airport? ✈️🇮🇪

So, What’s the Craic?

The Craic is back on a wet and windy Friday, bringing you news of Ireland, its people, and anything else we thought worthy of your inbox. The Craic is the weekly newsletter from Shift, the App for the Global Irish that is currently lighting up the App Store and Google Play.

News from Home

Father Ted Crilly Int. Airport, Surely. Remember Boaty McBoatface, that public poll that resulted in the craziest name for a submarine? Well, now it’s Dublin Airport. A parliamentary bill is up for debate for the renaming of our capital’s airport, with the likelihood that it will be named after the former Taoiseach Seán Lemass. While Lemass would be a worthy ‘winner,’ the bill's existence has stoked debate in the country over who else deserves the accolade. Sinéad O’Connor, Samuel Beckett and James Joyce are among the names mentioned. Some still giddy on Ireland’s World Cup exploits have even cited goal-scoring hero Troy Parrott. Bit too soon. At a push, The Craic might say Oscar Wilde, as the embodiment of Irish wit. But we’d love to know what YOU think. Let us know over on Shift socials.

Don’t Forget the Fada on the É. It’s the time of year when we are inundated with content on everything that’s happened in the last 12 months; Spotify Wrapped and all that craic. But we were interested in some of the data released for Google searches in Ireland, showing what we’ve been a-googling this year. Storm Éowyn was the top Irish-centric search term of 2025, no surprise given the fact that she was a rough one ⛈️. But it did make us chuckle to learn “How to spell Éowyn” ****was almost as prominent. Election terms like “Catherine Connolly” and, sadly, “how to spoil your vote” were also top searches. The phrase “what is 6 + 7?” was also high. Apparently, it’s some TikTok-fueled insider joke. It’s gone over our heads. Thankfully.

Shift London Guinness. The term “shit London Guinness” has been in usage for a long time, often by disappointed Englishers who search in vain for a good pint of the black stuff themselves. As you can probably gather, it refers to the poor-quality stout (sometimes) served across the Irish Sea. However, Guinness owner Diageo is attempting to help stout drinkers in Blighty by launching the Harp Guide, which maps out the best spots in the land for Guinness, naming 35 pubs with the best pour. Now, if only someone would release an app that naturally covers this kind of stuff on a global scale. Oh wait, we did ☘️😉.

The Craic Recommends. As alluded to above, we get hammered with all those “best of X 2025” lists across December. But since we have been recommending the best of Irish music, books, film, and TV all year, we thought we’d highlight something different this week – the Best Irish Whiskey of 2025. Forbes has published a guide to the best Uisce Beatha we produce. There are some crackers in there, and you’ll maybe find some inspo for a Chrimbo gift for someone in your life who takes a wee nip here and there.

The Irish Influence

Have we done Charlie Smyth in a past edition of the Irish Influence? Meh. Doesn’t matter; we are sticking him in here again because the 24-year-old from Mayobridge, Co. Down, made his NFL regular season debut for the New Orleans Saints on Sunday evening. Smyth didn’t disappoint either, kicking a 56-yard field goal. But he also gained headlines for using a rare tactic for an onside kick. The BBC has opined that Smyth’s success with the tactic comes from his Gaelic footballing heritage. Anyway, all the signs are pointing to Smyth having a fruitful NFL career, and we’re sure we will be dropping back in with news of him soon.

Cúpla Focal

An Nollaig – {Un NULL-ig} – December/Christmas. Nollaig is the Irish name for December, and in an efficient but confusing etymological twist, it’s also the name for Christmas. It’s derived, as you might guess, from the Christmassy Old French word, Noël.

Blast from the Past

Tonight is the Late Late Toy Show, an Irish institution now considered the television event of the year. While it might be a bit more polished now and less chaotic than the iconic years fronted by Gay Byrne, the Toy Show remains one of the unifying family events of Irish culture. And to be fair, new host Patrick Kielty is perfect in his role as toymaster in chief. We’ll take you back to 1992 this week, with a full running of the Late Late Toy Show. It’s a bit grainy, but stick around for the magnificent Gaybo in his snazzy Christmas jumper (before it became cool to wear them ironically) managing the kids & chaos like a master conductor. They don’t make them like that anymore.

And One Last Thing….

Shift has now been running wild and free in the app stores for eight days and counting. This is still very early days and there’s a lot more updates to come in the next few weeks and months. Till then, we’d love your thoughts, and your help by hopping onto the Shift app and adding any pubs, organisations, or musicians you think should be here. The next month is all about building up this directory of everything Irish. GRMA!

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