The Giant Craic 🗿☘️

So, What’s the Craic?

The Craic is back with a little bit of the month of May in its pocket, bringing you news and views from the Irish from near and afar. The Craic is the weekly newsletter from Shift, the global digital hub for the Irish and Irish-ish and Irish-ish-ish everywhere. Want Shift? Everyone’s welcome, so get it here. And if you want other folks to have The Craic each week, well, just ask them to add their email in the wee box you’ll find here.

News from Home

Giant Questions.  Size matters this week at home. First, construction is beginning on the tallest building on the island of Ireland, with the ground broken on the Parkgate Street building this week. It will be 30 stories tall once completed. Hardly, the Burj Khalifa, we know, but we are not really skyscraper folk over here. It will replace the Obel Tower, Belfast, as the tallest building on the island.

Secondly….Talking of big things, there’s a serious proposal to put a Giant – or at least, the projection of one – as a kind of tourist attraction in George’s Dock, Dublin. The idea has been proposed by businessman Paddy Dunning, suggesting it could “do stuff” with lights, maybe a bit like Sphere, Las Vegas. The cost? Approximately 29 million euros ($30m or thereabouts), coming from private investors. Paddy (reportedly) does have a plan to get that money back, though, charging tourists 25 euros a pop to see it. It had better do more than just stand there for that type of dough.

Homecoming. A new study suggests that up to one-third of the Irish living abroad want to come home, but many are put off by how expensive it is here. Once again, the issue boils down to the dreaded “H’ word, housing. There are calls for a task force to be set up to help those thinking of moving back, but, you know, they need somewhere to live when they get here. Housing has bamboozled a generation of governments, so it might take more than a task force to sort this out.

Civil Service. More evidence of a changing Ireland this week, when it was announced that civil ceremonies have now overtaken Catholic church services for the first time. It feels normal now, right? But for generations past, weddings were synonymous with church. Still, as long as the I-dos get over the line and the best man behaves himself during the speech, we say it’s each to their own when tying the knot. 💍

The Craic Recommends. Not everyone loves Kneecap, we get it. But the rappers-as-Gaeilge and provokers-in-chief of the British media are nevertheless capable of delivering some of the most powerful messaging on issues that rarely get aired in pop culture. That’s why this week we are recommending you watch this short 12-minute film. The film is based on the death of Aoife Ní Riain, mother of Kneecap member, Móglaí Bap (real name Naoise Ó Cairealláin). The short video is personal to Ó Cairealláin, obviously, but tells harrowing universal truths about dealing with suicide, loss and grief, but ultimately, how to start healing, too.

The Irish Influence

Just over seven years ago, LeBron James broke Michael Jordan’s record of being the all-time NBA top scorer. Why are we telling you this? Well, it’s probably the best way to provide an American context to frame what we are going to tell you about the next pair of fellas: TJ Reid is now the all-time top scorer in All-Ireland hurling history, amassing 41 goals and 657 points in a storied career. He’s had plenty of other success, too. Reid is a 7-time All-Star (not NBA-speak; the GAA has those too ⭐️) and 7 All-Ireland titles with Kilkenny. But a shout out, too, to the man he supplanted as King of the Points, Corkman Shane Horgan. Reid and Horgan went tit-for-tat down the years for the record before the latter retired from inter-county duty last September. So, we’ll have two Irish Influences to celebrate this week; two of the modern greats with hurl and sliotar.

Cúpla Focal

Cúige {Koo-i-geh} – Province. A little bit of trivia for ya today, as the word cúige means “fifth part” and is clearly related to the Irish word for five, cúig. Ah, but Ireland only has four provinces, right? It does – Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connacht – but Meath, the Royal County, was once considered a fifth province 👑. So, to paraphrase the great Bob Ross, cúige is a “happy little linguistic accident”.

Blast from the Past

Two Important anniversaries will be taking place this week. On May 5th, 1981, Bobby Sands died in the Maze Prison on the 66th day of his hunger strike. In one of the great ironies of history, Sands was actually elected as a British MP while imprisoned in the early days of his hunger strike. Sands is obviously a polarizing figure in the island’s history, and the hunger strikes had the dual effect of galvanizing support for the IRA and heightening the violence of the Troubles while (arguably) raising empathy for the Republican cause abroad, especially in the US. 19 years and a day later, though, the IRA started the process of decommissioning its weapons. Decommissioning was really just a symbolic act, with the hard work done in the secret meetings that led to the Good Friday Agreement, but as with the symbolism associated with Sands’ death, it’s one of the key milestones in Northern Ireland’s history. 

And One Last Thing….

Patrick, our high-chieftain, currently resides in West Virginia, but, as you are well aware, he’s immensely proud of where he comes from. Ireland, yes, but specifically, Tallaght, a suburb of Dublin. So, he was all biz this week, telling us about fellow Tallwegian, Anna Haugh, getting one of the biggest gigs on cookery television, as presenter of the BBC’s MasterChef. But you know, while it was fun to hear Patrick reminisce about his misspent youth, it did occur to us that this was part of Shift’s raison d'être, connecting the dots, so to speak, as information about both of Anna’s restaurants is already available on the app. It's just a small thing, one of the many thousands and thousands of listings, but it reminded us of our mission to build the ultimate digital directory of Irish culture globally.