The Partial Craic ☀️😎

So, What’s the Craic?

The Craic returns this Friday evening, bringing you news and views about the Irish across the globe. The Craic is the weekly newsletter from Shift, our app for connecting the Irish and culturally Irish globally. If you haven’t got Shift yet, it’s class, so find it here. And if you want other friends and frenemies to have The Craic every week, stick their email in here. Cheers!

News from Home

Eclipsed. Just after tea-time on Wednesday, everyone on the island stopped to look up at the heavens for the solar eclipse. It was the first of its kind in this part of the world since the 1990s, and we won’t see another like it until our children are grandparents. And it was spectacular, a wee bit disappointing. The skies were a bit cloudy in most spots, alas, so all the children were giving the parents the aul grumpy eyes and saying “Is that it, Da?” That, indeed, was it. Until 2081, then.

Also Out of this World. Congratulations to Irish construction worker Rachel Foley, who was crowned Miss Galaxy at a ceremony in the Bahamas this week. Rachel is the first Irish person to win a major “Miss” title since 2003. Her story is fascinating, too, as the fact that she works in construction (not your typical job for entrants, we assume) led her to discovering pageantry to get a wee confidence boost.

English for the Irish! Also, congratulations to Mark English, who has won Ireland’s first-ever athletics gold at the European Championships. Here, do yourself a favor and watch this video of RTÉ’s Greg Allen losing his mind when commentating on Mark’s run for glory. By the end, Greg was so far off the edge of his seat he was nearly past the finish line himself. Absolutely cracking stuff.

Final Tally. The Fleadh has drawn to a close, and do ye remember we said last week that the numbers hit 1 million? We were wide of the mark. Footfall cameras put the numbers at 1,653,999 for the festival. An estimated £65 million ($87m) was generated for the local economy. too. Incredible. Roll on next year.

A Shift Shoutout. It’s the 2026 Rose of Tralee Festival, and we have a bit more on the potted history of the event a bit later. However, we just wanted to give a big shoutout to this year’s Chicago Rose and friend of Shift, Fiona Gaffney. Ádh mór ort, Fiona!

The Craic Recommends….heading to Ticketmaster to get ripped off on booking fees. Nah, not specifically, but the Mary Wallopers have released their new single, Kit Kat Club. The Irish rockers will have a new album – Paddywhackery – on shelves soon. And what’s even more exciting, a load of new North American tour dates have been announced for spring 2027. They’ll be in the UK and Europe (and Ireland, of course) across the winter, too. Get a full list of dates here and ticket info here.

The Irish Influence

Alright, alright. Suppose we should be clear here that the Irish Influence spot isn’t always a positive thing, nor is an appearance an endorsement from an august publication like The Craic. In totally, completely unrelated news, this week’s influence is Daniel Kinahan. Who he? Umm, he’s a boxing promoter and businessman. Where he? Well, that’s a little more interesting. Kinahan is currently in a maximum-security prison in County Laois. Yes, this is Daniel Kinahan, the (alleged) boss of the (alleged) Kinahan Crime Cartel. He was detained in Dubai in April on an international arrest warrant and shipped home for trial a few days ago. It’s not just the Irish government, either, as the US government was offering $15 million for information leading to his arrest. Well, he’s due up in court in October, after which we’ll probably be able to drop all the “allegedly” qualifiers when talking about him.

Cúpla Focal

Urú na gréine {Uh-rooh NA gren-ye} – solar eclipse. That was the big talking point in Ireland on Wednesday. But we wanted to use this space to highlight something else: If you are interested in learning a bit of the aul Cúpla Focal, we can recommend the app (don’t worry, it’s 100% free and from good people), Madra Teanga. It’s community-driven, open and beginner-friendly, and you can get early access now. 

Blast from the Past

All eyes are on County Kerry now for the 2026 Rose of Tralee festival, which has been going on in some shape or form since 1959. Originally, the idea was to drum up business for the Kerry horse racing festival, but the Roses competition became bigger than the event it was created to promote. As you might well expect, it has been modernized (though that took a bit longer than most of us hoped) and today’s event is far removed from the idea of the “Lovely Girls” festival so brilliantly parodied in Father Ted. Anyway, we have some fascinating footage of preparations for the 1963 Rose of Tralee. Notice how little airtime women get in the ten-minute clip, oh, and do you hear yer man – the chairman of the competition, no less – about 7 mins in, “if they’re good looking, we don’t object” 🙄. Bonus points for guessing how many pints the racing man in the flat cap had before his interview. We’ll go for an honest 8. We’ve come a long, long way, folks.

And One Last Thing….

Hey! Do you live in the Parish of Milwaukee or its environs? Yeah? Well, look it, Milwaukee Irish Fest started last night, and it’s going to run all weekend. It’s the biggest Irish festival outside of Ireland, featuring 17 stages of music, dance and culture, and plenty of craic over the next few days. And you know what else it will feature? Us! Shift will be in attendance across the weekend, so if you spot any of us in the swish signature Shift apparel, or just recognize any of our big woolly heads, come and say hello. And if you see the skipper (Patrick), make sure you tell him how much you love this newsletter 😉.

Speaking of snazzy apparel, we’ve responded to overwhelming demand- well, sort-of-whelming demand- from you guys on Shift t-shirts. So you can get your very own Shift Tee and several others by following this link… Better still, get on over to Milwaukee and maybe you’ll win a free one.