128 Fun Facts About Irish

What is the longest river in Ireland?

The River Shannon is the longest river in Ireland, flowing for 360.5 kilometers (224.0 miles) and forming a significant geographical feature across the island.

In what year did Ireland join the European Economic Community (EEC)?

Ireland became a member of the European Economic Community (EEC) on January 1, 1973, following a referendum held in May 1972.

What is the traditional Irish potato pancake, associated with the northern midlands and Ulster, called?

Boxty is a traditional Irish potato pancake made with a mixture of raw grated potatoes and mashed potatoes, commonly found in regions like the northern midlands and Ulster.

Which Dublin-born theatre manager wrote the 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula in his spare time?

Bram Stoker managed London's Lyceum Theatre for the actor Henry Irving while writing Dracula, published in 1897.

What is the official name for the Irish language in the Republic of Ireland?

The Irish language is officially known as Gaeilge and holds constitutional status as the national and first official language of the Republic of Ireland.

Which armed insurrection against British rule seized central Dublin for a week in April 1916?

The Easter Rising began on Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, and held central Dublin for about a week before surrendering.

Ireland's national anthem, 'Amhrán na bhFiann', is commonly known by what English title?

"The Soldier's Song" is the anthem; 'Ireland's Call' is the song the rugby team sings.

How many traditional counties make up the entire island of Ireland, north and south together?

32 traditional counties: 26 form the Republic of Ireland and 6 are in Northern Ireland.

Which traditional Irish stick-and-ball game is considered one of the fastest field sports in the world?

Hurling, one of Ireland's two national games, is played with a stick called a hurley and a ball called a sliotar, and is often cited as the fastest field sport on earth.

Which Treasury official directed the British government's relief effort during the Great Famine?

Charles Trevelyan, Assistant Secretary to the Treasury, ran famine relief from 1845 and is remembered in 'The Fields of Athenry' for 'Trevelyan's corn'.

From which country was the 16-year-old Saint Patrick carried off by pirates as a slave?

Patrick was seized from Roman Britain at sixteen by Irish raiders and spent six years herding sheep before escaping, as he recounts in his Confessio.

On which date is Ulysses set, now marked each year as Bloomsday?

Ulysses unfolds on 16 June 1904, the day Joyce first walked out with Nora Barnacle; Bloomsday celebrations in Dublin retrace Leopold Bloom's route.

County Antrim's Giant's Causeway is 40,000 interlocking columns of which rock?

The Giant's Causeway columns are basalt, formed when a Paleogene lava flow cooled and contracted into mostly hexagonal pillars around 50 to 60 million years ago.

How long was the lease Arthur Guinness signed in 1759 on the St James's Gate brewery?

The rent was 45 pounds a year, and the site went on to become one of the largest breweries in the British Empire.

Carrauntoohil, the highest peak on the island of Ireland, stands in which county?

Carrauntoohil, at 1,039 m, is the summit of the MacGillycuddy's Reeks in County Kerry, west of Killarney.

How many Irish writers won the Nobel Prize for Literature in the 20th century?

Four: Shaw, Yeats, Beckett and Heaney. James Joyce, arguably the most influential of all, never won.

The Republic of Ireland's rapid economic boom from 1995 onwards was nicknamed what?

The Celtic Tiger saw real GDP grow an average of 9.6% a year from 1995 to 1999, the year Ireland joined the euro.

What is the title of the Republic of Ireland's head of government?

The Taoiseach is appointed by the president on the Dáil's nomination; the Tánaiste is the deputy, and the Ceann Comhairle chairs the Dáil.

Which Irish monk founded a mission on the island of Iona in 563?

Saint Columba's Iona mission spread Celtic Christianity to Scotland, England and the Frankish Empire.

Which seafaring people founded most of Ireland's major coastal settlements, including Dublin, Limerick and Waterford?

Vikings founded Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Wexford and Waterford; the Normans came centuries later.

How many native reptile species does Ireland have?

The common lizard is the sole native reptile, and there are no snakes at all.

Roughly what share of the island of Ireland was covered by woodland in the early 2020s?

About 10%, against a European average above 33%, and most of that is non-native conifer plantation.

In which year did the Irish state officially become the Republic of Ireland?

The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 took effect on 18 April 1949, ending the king's last role in the state and taking Ireland out of the Commonwealth.

Bannow Strand, where the Norman invasion of Ireland began in 1169, is in which county?

Bannow Bay lies on the south coast of County Wexford; Robert FitzStephen's force of roughly 600 landed there in May 1169 and took Wexford town.

Which Anglo-Irish chivalric body, founded in 1783, adopted blue rather than green as its colour?

The Order of St Patrick, created by George III in 1783, used sky blue for its robes and ribbon, the origin of the colour known as St Patrick's blue.

The first Saint Patrick's Day parade held in Ireland took place in 1903 in which city?

Waterford held Ireland's first St Patrick's Day parade in 1903, the year the day became an official public holiday; North American parades date to the 1700s.

Which United Irishmen co-founder first called Ireland 'the Emerald Isle' in a 1795 poem?

William Drennan, a Belfast physician and United Irishmen founder, wrote of 'the Emerald Isle' in his 1795 poem 'When Erin First Rose'.

Which British Overseas Territory keeps Saint Patrick's Day as a public holiday?

Montserrat's Irish heritage dates to 17th-century settlers, and its holiday also recalls a 1768 slave uprising.

What is the Irish custom of dropping a sprig into the last drink of the night, then swallowing it or tossing it, called?

'Drowning the shamrock' ends St Patrick's Day: the sprig worn all day goes into the final glass of whiskey and is then swallowed or thrown over the shoulder for luck.

The Guinness logo is modelled on which famous instrument?

Guinness based its harp on the medieval Trinity College harp (the 'Brian Boru' harp), adopting it in 1862 and trademarking it in 1876; the state harp faces the other way.

Which statistician, hired by the Guinness brewery in 1899, published under the pseudonym 'Student'?

William Sealy Gosset joined Guinness in 1899 and, because the brewery barred staff from publishing, issued his 1908 paper on the t-distribution as 'Student'.

The 'widget' inside a can of Guinness is a small plastic ball containing which gas?

Nitrogen's low solubility lets the beer sit under high pressure without turning fizzy, producing the creamy surge.

Guinness merged with Grand Metropolitan in 1997 to form which drinks giant?

Diageo was formed in December 1997 when Guinness plc merged with Grand Metropolitan; the name joins Latin 'dies' (day) to Greek 'geo' (world).

Which fish-derived fining agent did Guinness drop so its draught stout could be called vegan-friendly?

Isinglass, from fish bladders, had been used to filter out yeast particles.

The Táin Bó Cúailnge, the great epic of the Ulster Cycle, is usually translated into English as what?

Táin Bó Cúailnge means 'The Cattle Raid of Cooley': Queen Medb of Connacht invades Ulster for the brown bull of Cooley and the teenage Cú Chulainn holds off her army.

In Irish mythology, the god-like Tuatha Dé Danann's monstrous enemies were which supernatural race?

The Fomorians were the Tuatha Dé Danann's foes; at the Second Battle of Mag Tuired, Lugh killed their champion Balor of the Evil Eye, his own grandfather.

The Morrígan, Macha and Badb form a triad of Irish goddesses associated with what?

War goddesses all three; the Morrígan appears to Cú Chulainn in the guise of a crow.

In Irish myth's Fenian Cycle, what is the hero Finn's warrior band called?

Finn mac Cumhaill led the Fianna, the roving warrior band of the Fenian Cycle; its longest tale, the Acallam na Senórach, dates from about 1200.

What is the small leather-covered, cork-centred ball used in Ireland's national stick game?

The sliotar, a cork-cored leather ball about 7 cm across, may be carried in the hand for only four steps before being soloed on the hurley.

'Hurling' first appears, as 'horlinge', in which 1366 law banning Gaelic customs?

The Statute of Kilkenny (1366) forbade the Anglo-Irish from playing 'horlinge', the earliest written mention of hurling, alongside bans on Irish speech and dress.

Which stage show, first seen in 1994, popularized Irish stepdance worldwide?

Riverdance began as a seven-minute interval act at the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin, led by Michael Flatley and Jean Butler, and became a full show in 1995.

Sean-nós, the 'old style' of Irish dancing, is traditionally performed on what surface?

A door laid flat, lifted off its hinges, gave sean-nós dancers a small resonant stage; the style keeps the feet low and close to the boards.

Roughly what share of Ireland's population lived in the Gaeltacht regions in 2022?

About 2%: the 2022 census counted roughly 106,000 Gaeltacht residents in a population of 5.15 million, and only about 72,000 people nationwide spoke Irish daily outside school.

Which ancient script, dating to at least the 4th century AD, was Irish first written in?

Ogham, an alphabet of notches cut along the edge of standing stones, records Primitive Irish from about the 4th century; Latin letters took over from the 5th.

Irish has three major dialects. Which province does NOT lend its name to one?

Leinster's native Irish died out; a Newfoundland dialect also once existed before vanishing in the early 1900s.

What is the name of the language spoken by Ireland's nomadic Travellers?

Shelta, also called Cant or Gammon, is the Travellers' language, mixing Irish-derived vocabulary with English grammar; Yola and Fingallian were extinct Leinster dialects of English.

Dublin sits at the mouth of which river?

The Liffey rises in the Wicklow Mountains and enters Dublin Bay through the city centre, crossed by the Ha'penny Bridge and O'Connell Bridge.

The name Cork comes from the Irish word corcach, meaning what?

Corcach Mór Mumhan, 'the great marsh of Munster', described the boggy Lee estuary where Cork grew; the city centre sits on an island between two channels of the river.

Belfast stands on the banks of which river?

Belfast grew where the River Lagan meets Belfast Lough; its Irish name Béal Feirste means 'mouth of the sandbank ford', and the Harland & Wolff yards lined the Lagan.

In later folklore, leprechauns are depicted as practising which trade?

Their hidden pot of gold at the rainbow's end is also a later addition.

The word banshee means what in Irish?

Banshee comes from bean sí, 'woman of the sídhe' or fairy mound; her keening wail was said to foretell a death in the old Irish families.

The Irish word seamróg, source of "shamrock", literally means what?

Seamróg is a diminutive of seamair, clover, so it means 'young clover' or 'little clover'; the plant usually meant is Trifolium dubium or Trifolium repens.

Along with Patrick and Columba, who is Ireland's third national saint?

Brigid of Kildare, who died around 524, founded a double monastery at Kildare; her feast day, 1 February, became an Irish public holiday in 2023.

The Cliffs of Moher reach their maximum height of how many metres?

The Cliffs of Moher reach 214 m just north of O'Brien's Tower, which Sir Cornelius O'Brien built in 1835 as a viewing point for visitors.

The Blarney Stone was set into its castle tower in which year?

The stone was set into the battlements when Cormac Láidir MacCarthy built the present Blarney Castle in 1446; kissing it supposedly grants the gift of the gab.

The Book of Kells is a lavishly illuminated Latin copy of which texts?

The Book of Kells holds the four Gospels in Latin, created around 800 AD in a Columban monastery and kept at Trinity College Dublin since 1661.

Newgrange was built around which year BC?

Newgrange in County Meath was built around 3200-3100 BC, older than Stonehenge and the Giza pyramids; its roof box lets the winter solstice sunrise light the chamber.

Which two other passage tombs share the Brú na Bóinne World Heritage Site with Newgrange?

Knowth and Dowth, both within a few kilometres of Newgrange on the bend of the Boyne, complete the Brú na Bóinne World Heritage Site inscribed in 1993.

Skellig Michael lies off which Kerry peninsula?

Skellig Michael lies about 12 km off the Iveragh Peninsula beyond Portmagee; its name pairs the archangel Michael with sceilig, 'a splinter of stone'.

Which is the largest of the three Aran Islands?

Inishmore (Inis Mór), about 31 km², is the largest and most populous of the Aran Islands and holds the Iron Age cliff fort Dún Aonghasa.

Trinity College Dublin was founded in 1592 by which monarch?

Elizabeth I granted Trinity College its charter in 1592 on the site of a dissolved Augustinian priory; it is Ireland's oldest university.

What capacity did Croke Park reach after its 1991-2005 redevelopment?

Croke Park holds 82,300 after the 1991-2005 rebuild, the largest stadium in Ireland; the GAA has used the ground since 1891 and bought it outright in 1913.

In Gaelic football, how many points is a goal worth?

A goal, the ball in the net under the crossbar, is worth three points; kicking it over the bar between the posts scores one.

In which year did Jameson, Powers and the Cork Distilleries Company merge to form Irish Distillers?

Irish Distillers was formed in 1966 when John Jameson & Son, John Power & Son and the Cork Distilleries Company merged; Bushmills joined in 1972 and Pernod Ricard bought the group in 1988.

John Jameson, who founded his Dublin distillery in 1780, was originally a lawyer from where?

John Jameson was a lawyer from Alloa in Clackmannanshire, Scotland, who married Margaret Haig of the whisky family before taking over the Bow Street distillery in Dublin.

Jameson's annual sales passed how many cases in 2019?

Jameson passed 8 million cases in the year to June 2019, up from 7 million the year before, by far the biggest seller among Irish whiskeys.

Traditional Irish stew is made with root vegetables and which meat?

Lamb or mutton, because mutton was cheaper and more common in leaner times; beef is common today.

Colcannon's Irish name cál ceannann means what?

Cál ceannann means 'white-headed cabbage'; the dish mashes potato with cabbage or kale, butter and scallions, and is popular on Saint Patrick's Day.

Barmbrack, the fruit bread with a hidden ring, is associated with which holiday?

Barmbrack is the Halloween loaf: a ring baked inside foretells marriage within the year, a pea spinsterhood; the name bairín breac means 'speckled loaf'.

On a Claddagh ring, what does the crown represent?

The crown stands for loyalty, the heart for love and the clasped hands for friendship; the design originated in the fishing village of Claddagh, County Galway, around 1700.

Aran jumpers were originally knitted with unscoured wool retaining what natural oil?

Lanolin, the grease left in unwashed sheep's wool, made early Aran jumpers water-resistant; the cable and diamond stitches are said to echo fishermen's ropes and fields.

The name uilleann pipes translates as "pipes of the" what?

Uilleann is the genitive of uillinn, 'elbow': the bellows strapped under the arm are pumped with the elbow; the name was promoted by the historian W. H. Grattan Flood in the early 1900s.

A bodhrán is traditionally covered with the hide of which animal?

A bodhrán is traditionally headed with goatskin stretched over a wooden frame 35 to 45 cm across, left open on one side so the hand can change the pitch.

How many Grammy Awards did The Chieftains win?

Paddy Moloney formed the uilleann-pipe-driven band in Dublin in 1962.

The Dubliners were originally named after which founding member?

They began in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group.

In what year was U2 formed in Dublin?

U2 formed in autumn 1976 after 14-year-old Larry Mullen Jr. posted a notice at Mount Temple school in Dublin, bringing together Bono, the Edge and Adam Clayton.

The Cranberries were originally known by what name?

Formed in Limerick in 1989 as The Cranberry Saw Us (a pun on 'sauce'), the band shortened the name after Dolores O'Riordan replaced singer Niall Quinn in 1990.

Enya was raised in which Irish-speaking region of Donegal?

Enya (Eithne Ní Bhraonáin) grew up in Gweedore, County Donegal, in the musical Brennan family whose older siblings formed Clannad, which she joined briefly in 1980.

What was the title of Sinéad O'Connor's 1987 debut album?

The Lion and the Cobra, released in November 1987 and named from a line in Psalm 91, was her debut and carried the single 'Mandinka'.

Who was Thin Lizzy's bassist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter?

Phil Lynott fronted Thin Lizzy on bass and vocals and wrote most of its songs, including 'The Boys Are Back in Town' (1976); he died in January 1986.

Westlife formed in 1998 in which Irish town?

Westlife began in Sligo, where Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily had performed as IOYOU before Louis Walsh added Nicky Byrne and Bryan McFadden in 1998.

The Pogues' original name Pogue Mahone anglicises an Irish phrase meaning what?

Pogue Mahone anglicises póg mo thóin, 'kiss my arse'; the London-formed band, built around Shane MacGowan from 1982, shortened the name to The Pogues in 1984.

Which Homeric epic does Ulysses parallel episode by episode?

Ulysses mirrors the Odyssey: each of its 18 episodes maps onto a Homeric one, with Leopold Bloom as Odysseus, Stephen Dedalus as Telemachus and Molly as Penelope.

Oscar Wilde was a key figure in which late-19th-century movement?

Wilde championed Aestheticism, 'art for art's sake', lecturing on it across America in 1882 and embodying it in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890).

Samuel Beckett wrote his works in English and which other language?

Beckett wrote much of his mature work in French, including En attendant Godot, staged in Paris in 1953, which he then translated himself as Waiting for Godot.

In what year was George Bernard Shaw awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature?

Shaw received the Nobel Prize in Literature for 1925, announced in 1926; he accepted the honour but refused the money, and wrote more than sixty plays, including Pygmalion.

Which 1966 volume was Seamus Heaney's first major collection?

Death of a Naturalist (1966), opening with 'Digging', was Heaney's first full collection and won the Somerset Maugham Award; he won the Nobel in 1995.

Which island of tiny people did Jonathan Swift dream up?

Lilliput, whose people stand six inches tall, is the first land Gulliver visits in Swift's 1726 Gulliver's Travels; Brobdingnag is the land of giants.

Which Sally Rooney novel was published in 2024?

Intermezzo, published in September 2024, was Rooney's fourth novel, following two Dublin brothers, a barrister and a chess prodigy, grieving their father.

Between which years did the Great Famine take place?

The Famine ran from the first blight of 1845 to about 1852; Irish speakers called it an Drochshaol, 'the bad life', and about a million died while a million more emigrated.

The Irish War of Independence was fought between which years?

The War of Independence ran from the Soloheadbeg ambush of 21 January 1919 to the truce of 11 July 1921, the IRA fighting the British Army, RIC, Auxiliaries and Black and Tans.

Which role did Michael Collins hold in the IRA during the War of Independence?

Collins was the IRA's Director of Intelligence, running the 'Squad' that shot British agents on Bloody Sunday, 21 November 1920; he later commanded the National Army until his death in August 1922.

Daniel O'Connell secured Catholic emancipation in which year?

The Roman Catholic Relief Act passed in April 1829 after O'Connell won the 1828 Clare by-election while barred, as a Catholic, from taking his seat; he became 'the Liberator'.

On what date was the Good Friday Agreement signed?

The Good Friday Agreement was reached on 10 April 1998 after talks chaired by George Mitchell, and approved by referendums on both sides of the border on 22 May 1998.

Where is the official residence of the president of Ireland?

Áras an Uachtaráin, the former Viceregal Lodge in Phoenix Park, has housed the president since Douglas Hyde took office in 1938; the presidency was created by the 1937 constitution.

Who was Ireland's first female president?

Mary Robinson, a barrister and senator backed by Labour, won the 1990 election and served from December 1990 until September 1997, leaving to become UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Michael D. Higgins served as mayor of which city before becoming president?

Michael D. Higgins was twice Mayor of Galway (1981-82 and 1990-91) and a Galway West TD for Labour before serving as president from 2011 to 2025.

What are the proportions of the Irish tricolour?

The Irish tricolour's official proportions are 1:2, twice as long as it is high; green stands for the Gaelic tradition, orange for the followers of William of Orange, white for peace between them.

Aer Lingus's name means what in Irish?

Aer Lingus anglicises aerloingeas, 'air fleet'; founded by the state in 1936, its first flight went from Baldonnel to Bristol, and IAG bought the airline in 2015.

Ryanair is headquartered in which County Dublin town?

Ryanair's head office is at Airside Business Park in Swords, near Dublin Airport; the airline was founded in 1985 with a single route from Waterford to London Gatwick.

Brian Boru was High King of Ireland from 1002 until his death in which year?

Brian Boru was killed in his tent at the Battle of Clontarf on Good Friday, 23 April 1014, even as his forces defeated the Leinster-Norse alliance.

Glendalough's monastic settlement was founded in the 6th century by which saint?

Saint Kevin (Caoimhín) settled as a hermit at Glendalough, 'valley of two lakes', in the 6th century and died around 618; the monastery's round tower stands about 30 m tall.

Connemara's mountains are known as what?

The Twelve Pins (Twelve Bens, Na Beanna Beola) are Connemara's quartzite peaks, topped by Benbaun at 729 m; the region also holds Ireland's largest Gaeltacht.

Dublin's Ha'penny Bridge was originally named after whom?

Opened in 1816 as the Wellington Bridge after the Dublin-born Duke of Wellington, it was cast at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire; a halfpenny toll gave the nickname, and it is officially the Liffey Bridge.

Which animals have roamed Dublin's Phoenix Park since the 17th century?

Fallow deer were introduced when the Duke of Ormond enclosed the park as a royal deer park in 1662; a herd of several hundred grazes the 707 hectares inside its 11-km wall.

The Spire of Dublin stands on the site of which former monument?

Nelson's Pillar, an 1809 column topped by Horatio Nelson, was blown up by former IRA members in March 1966; the 120-metre Spire, also called the Monument of Light, rose on the site in 2003.

"Danny Boy" is set to which traditional Irish melody?

The Londonderry Air was collected by Jane Ross of Limavady and published in 1855; English lawyer Frederic Weatherly wrote 'Danny Boy' in 1910 and fitted it to the tune in 1913.

Who wrote "Ireland's Call", commissioned for the 1995 Rugby World Cup?

Phil Coulter, the Derry songwriter behind 'The Town I Loved So Well', wrote 'Ireland's Call' for the 1995 World Cup so players from both jurisdictions had a shared anthem.

Puck Fair, held each August in Killorglin, crowns which animal as king?

A feral goat is caught in the MacGillycuddy's Reeks and displayed in a cage for three days.

Which organisation runs the Fleadh Cheoil music festival?

Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, founded in 1951 to promote traditional music, runs the Fleadh Cheoil; the first was held in Mullingar in 1951 and the finals move between host towns.

Cobh was known by what name from 1849 until 1920?

Cobh became Queenstown after Queen Victoria landed there in 1849 and reverted in 1920; it was the Titanic's last port of call in April 1912.

How long is the Wild Atlantic Way driving route?

The Wild Atlantic Way, launched in 2014, runs about 2,500 km through nine counties from Donegal's Inishowen Peninsula to Kinsale, County Cork.

Which co-operative owns the Kerrygold butter brand?

Ornua, whose name comes from the Irish ór nua, 'new gold', owns Kerrygold; it was the Irish Dairy Board until it rebranded in 2015.

Who created Derry Girls?

Lisa McGee, who grew up in Derry in the 1990s, created and wrote Derry Girls, which ran on Channel 4 for three series from 2018 to 2022.

The Banshees of Inisherin is set in which year?

The Banshees of Inisherin takes place in 1923, with the Civil War's gunfire audible from the mainland; it reunited Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson with Martin McDonagh after In Bruges.

Which Irish author's 1933 short story inspired John Ford's film The Quiet Man?

Maurice Walsh's 1933 Saturday Evening Post story became the 1952 film with John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara and its famous long fist fight.

Saoirse Ronan's breakthrough Oscar-nominated role came in which 2007 film?

Atonement (2007) brought Ronan, aged 13, a Best Supporting Actress nomination for playing Briony Tallis; born in New York, she debuted on the Irish drama The Clinic.

Liam Neeson made his film debut in which 1978 film?

Neeson's first film was Pilgrim's Progress (1978), a low-budget adaptation of Bunyan's allegory made in Northern Ireland; Excalibur (1981) gave him his first major role, as Gawain.

Conor McGregor was the first UFC fighter to do what?

He held the featherweight and lightweight belts at once.

Katie Taylor was undisputed world champion in which weight class from 2019 to 2024?

Taylor unified all four lightweight belts by beating Delfine Persoon in June 2019 and held them until moving up to super-lightweight; earlier she won five straight amateur world titles.

With his 2025 Masters win, Rory McIlroy became which number man to complete golf's modern career grand slam?

Sixth, after Sarazen, Hogan, Player, Nicklaus and Woods, and the first European to do it.

How many test matches did Brian O'Driscoll play for Ireland?

O'Driscoll won 133 Ireland caps between 1999 and 2014, plus eight for the Lions, and captained Ireland 83 times; he led the Lions' 2005 tour of New Zealand.

The antlers of the extinct Irish elk spanned up to roughly what width?

Irish elk antlers reached about 12 feet (3.65 m) from tip to tip and weighed up to 40 kg, the largest of any deer; many complete skeletons were dug from Irish bogs.

The Latin name Hibernia for Ireland was respelt under the influence of the Latin word for what?

Ireland and Éire both come from Old Irish Ériu, ultimately from a Proto-Celtic word meaning 'fertile soil'.

In his Almagest, what did the geographer Ptolemy call Ireland, in contrast to the larger neighbouring island?

In the Almagest Ptolemy called Ireland Mikra Brettania, 'Little Britain', against Megale Brettania; in his later Geography he switched to Iouernia and Albion, probably the local names.

Which ousted King of Leinster recruited Strongbow and his Cambro-Norman knights to invade Ireland?

Dermot Mac Murrough, driven from Leinster in 1166, recruited Richard de Clare, 'Strongbow', promising him his daughter Aoife and the succession; Strongbow himself landed near Waterford in 1170.

In which year did the Flight of the Earls take place?

The Flight of the Earls took place on 14 September 1607, when Hugh O'Neill and Rory O'Donnell sailed from Rathmullan, County Donegal, for the Continent, opening the way for the Plantation of Ulster.

Roughly how many volunteers from neutral Ireland joined the British forces during World War II?

Estimates put the number at 50,000 to 70,000 citizens of the 26 counties, about 5,000 of them deserters from the Irish army; de Valera's government quietly passed weather reports and intelligence to the Allies.