The biggest myths about Ireland are mostly St Patrick’s Day ones. Ireland never had snakes for Patrick to banish, and Patrick himself was British. The Irish symbol is the three-leaf shamrock, not the four-leaf clover. Blue came before green. Corned beef is an Irish-American dinner. And it’s Paddy, never Patty. Below are 20 myths, each with the truth and a named source.
Ah sure, everyone loves a good Irish tale. But plenty of the myths about Ireland don’t survive a quick check.
This page started life with five myths. It has grown to 20, because once you start checking these things, you can’t stop.
Each one has the myth, the truth and the source, so you can repeat it at the pub with a straight face.
Jump to:
- Myths about St Patrick
- St Patrick’s Day myths
- Leprechaun and Halloween myths
- Irish stereotypes that aren’t true
- Irish history and symbol myths
- Irish myths FAQ
- More reading
Myths about St Patrick
1. St Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland
The myth: Patrick banished every snake in Ireland, sending them slithering into the sea.
The truth: there were no snakes to banish. Nigel Monaghan, keeper of natural history at the National Museum of Ireland, told National Geographic there has never been any suggestion of snakes here.
The last Ice Age kept Ireland too cold for reptiles until about 10,000 years ago. Then rising seas cut Ireland off from Britain, roughly 2,000 years before Britain was cut off from Europe.
Britain got three snake species. Ireland got none, and our only native land reptile is the common lizard.
Britannica says the legend is regarded as a metaphor for Patrick’s work converting Ireland.
Source: National Geographic, quoting the National Museum of Ireland; Britannica, Saint Patrick.
2. St Patrick was Irish
The myth: Ireland’s patron saint was born and raised here.
The truth: Britannica says he “was born in Britain of a Christian Romanized family.”
Nobody knows exactly where. Wales, Scotland, Cumberland and the south-west of England have all been suggested.
At 16 he was taken by Irish raiders from his father’s villa. He spent six years as a herdsman, escaped home, and later came back as a missionary.
So our national saint was a Romano-Briton. We’ve forgiven him.
Source: Britannica, Saint Patrick; Irish Times.
3. St Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland
The myth: before Patrick, there wasn’t a Christian on the island.
The truth: Britannica records that Pope Celestine I sent a bishop called Palladius to Ireland’s Christians in 431.
So there were Christians here already. Patrick’s own mission probably came in the second half of the 5th century. He’s the famous one, but Palladius got there first.
Source: Britannica, Saint Patrick.
St Patrick’s Day myths
4. The four-leaf clover is the Irish symbol
The myth: four-leaf clovers are super Irish and bring good luck in Ireland.
The truth: the Irish symbol is the three-leaf shamrock. Britannica explains a four-leaf clover is just a clover that has mistakenly grown a fourth leaflet. It’s lucky the world over, not specifically Irish.
The shamrock isn’t even one plant. The Irish Times reports surveys in the 1890s and 1988 that found several species worn. The commonest was lesser trefoil, Trifolium dubium.
And the Trinity lesson? Britannica files it under legend. The custom of wearing shamrock on the day was mentioned as early as 1726, says the Irish Times. That was the Rev Caleb Threlkeld, who noted it “worn by the people in their hats on the 17th of March”.
Source: Britannica, shamrock; Irish Times.
5. Green was always Ireland’s colour
The myth: Ireland has always been green, so St Patrick must have been too.
The truth: Britannica says blue was the colour traditionally associated with St Patrick.
Marion McGarry, writing for RTÉ Brainstorm, says green became tied to Irish nationalism from the late 19th century. Blue hasn’t vanished, either. The President’s flag is a gold harp on a blue field, says the Department of the Taoiseach.
Source: Britannica, St Patrick’s Day; RTÉ Brainstorm; gov.ie, The Harp.
6. It’s “St Patty’s Day”
The myth: people call 17 March “St Patty’s Day” for short.
The truth: no, no, no. Paddy is a pet form of Patrick, or Pádraig in Irish. Patty is usually a Patricia. Or it’s a burger, not a saint.
St Patrick’s Day, Paddy’s Day and St Paddy’s Day are all grand. Every “Happy St Patty’s Day” online makes an Irish person die a little inside. RTÉ Brainstorm calls “St. Patty’s Day” one of the worst faux pas Irish Americans make.
Source: Irish Examiner; RTÉ Brainstorm.
7. Corned beef and cabbage is the Irish St Patrick’s Day dinner
The myth: the whole of Ireland sits down to corned beef on 17 March.
The truth: at home the dinner was boiled bacon, cabbage and potatoes. For many it was a welcome break from the Lenten fast.
Here’s the twist. The Irish Times, citing a 2011 academic paper, says Cork was a key centre for corned beef in the 18th and 19th centuries. Most was exported, and it was too dear for most Irish people.
In New York, Irish emigrants found cheaper corned brisket at Jewish butchers. It replaced bacon as the St Patrick’s Day dish. As a Cork man, I like that my county is in the story, even if most people back then couldn’t afford it.
Source: Irish Times, Aoife McElwain; RTÉ Brainstorm, Marion McGarry.
8. St Patrick’s Day parades began in Ireland
The myth: the parade is an old Irish custom that emigrants took abroad.
The truth: the first recorded parades were abroad, though influence flowed both ways. The Irish Times dates the very first to 17 March 1601, in the Spanish colony at what is now St Augustine, Florida.
Britannica notes Boston paraded in 1737 and New York in 1762. Emigrants turned the day into a largely secular party. Some of those customs were later adopted in Ireland, largely for tourists. Chicago has dyed its river green since 1962.
Mind you, Marion McGarry notes in RTÉ Brainstorm that Irish temperance parades from the mid-1800s spread to emigrant communities too.
Source: Irish Times; Britannica, St Patrick’s Day; RTÉ Brainstorm. More in my St Patrick’s Day facts.
9. Paddy’s Day was always a big drinking day in Ireland
The myth: the Irish have always spent 17 March in the pub.
The truth: for decades they couldn’t. RTÉ explains the Intoxicating Liquor Act 1927 closed pubs on Good Friday, St Patrick’s Day and Christmas Day.
RTÉ News says the Paddy’s Day ban ended in the 1960s. Marion McGarry, writing for RTÉ Brainstorm, says 1973. Either way, the day was long about Mass, a parade and dinner.
Source: RTÉ News; RTÉ Brainstorm, Marion McGarry.
Leprechaun and Halloween myths
10. Leprechauns are friendly little lads in green
The myth: leprechauns are cheerful fellas in green coats, happy to share their pot of gold if you catch one.
The truth: the older lore says otherwise on both counts. Yeats’s Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888) puts it neatly: “The trooping fairies wear green jackets, the solitary ones red.”
The leprechaun is a solitary one. Yeats passes on McAnally’s note that his red jacket has seven rows of seven buttons.
Britannica describes a tiny old man in a cocked hat and leather apron, who lives alone making shoes. Catch him and he’ll trick you into looking away from his gold.
Moral of the story? Don’t expect free gold or a friendly chat. Expect trouble. More in my guide to leprechauns in Irish folklore.
Source: Yeats, 1888 (Project Gutenberg); Britannica, leprechaun.
11. Halloween is an American holiday
The myth: Halloween was invented in the USA, pumpkins and all.
The truth: Dr Karen Ward of DCU, writing for RTÉ Brainstorm, traces it to Samhain, “end of summer”. It was the ancient Irish new year.
Fancy dress, rings in the barmbrack, apple games, bonfires and turnip lanterns all came with it. Irish and Scottish emigrants brought these customs to the US and Canada in the 19th century.
In America, says the Irish Examiner, pumpkins replaced turnips because they were easier to carve. The full story is in how the Irish invented Halloween.
Source: RTÉ Brainstorm; Irish Examiner.
Irish stereotypes that aren’t true
12. “Top of the morning” is how the Irish say hello
The myth: greet an Irish person with “top of the morning to you” and you’ll fit right in.
The truth: you won’t. A Britannica video on Irish English cuts that greeting off before it’s finished. It suggests “what’s the story?” instead, and that’s far more likely what you’ll hear. For the real thing, try my Irish slang words.
Source: Britannica video.
13. All Irish people have red hair
The myth: walk down any Irish street and it’s a sea of ginger.
The truth: Dr Muiris Houston, in the Irish Times, says redheads are about 2% of the world. In Ireland and Scotland the figure rises above 10%.
So the vast majority of Irish people aren’t redheads. More carry the genes, though. 2013 research by the genetics company IrelandsDNA, reported by the Irish Examiner, found almost 35% carry a red-hair variant.
Source: Irish Times; Irish Examiner.
14. The Irish drink more than anyone
The myth: Ireland tops the world for drinking.
The truth: we drink a fair bit, but we’re not top. The Health Research Board put 2023 consumption at 9.9 litres of pure alcohol per person aged 15 and over. The HRB still links it to a lot of harm, from hospital stays to treatment.
But almost one in three people that age don’t drink at all. And RTÉ reported 2024 consumption more than a third below 2001 levels.
Those figures come from a drinks industry group, so add a pinch of salt. Its 2025 update, reported by the Irish Times, showed another fall and put Ireland mid-table in the EU.
Source: Health Research Board; RTÉ; Irish Times.
15. Irish people only drink Guinness
The myth: every Irish person drinks Guinness daily, and if you don’t love it, you’re not truly Irish.
The truth: Guinness is iconic, but many Irish people don’t drink it at all. Plenty prefer whiskey, lager, cider or craft beer. Many prefer tea.
That same industry report, as the Irish Times tells it, split 2025 sales by alcohol content. Beer of every kind was about 42%. Wine was about 29%, spirits 22% and cider 6%. Wine was the only one growing.
So if you’re in an Irish pub this Paddy’s Day, sip a Guinness by all means. But don’t feel pressured. A good cup of Barry’s Tea is just as Irish!
Source: Irish Times, John Wilson, on the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland report.
16. Guinness tastes better in Ireland (half true)
The myth: it’s all in your head.
The truth: one study backs the drinkers. In 2011 the Journal of Food Science published “Does Guinness travel well?” by Kotz, Glynn, Mallen and Cals.
Four researchers made 103 tastings in 71 pubs across 14 countries. Pints in Ireland scored higher than pints abroad.
But the authors said the results need further checking, given limits in the study design. You’ll often see it dated 2017, but it came out in 2011.
Source: University of Limerick research listing.
Irish history and symbol myths
17. The orange on the Irish flag is gold
The myth: it’s green, white and gold.
The truth: Article 7 of the Constitution says: “The national flag is the tricolour of green, white and orange.”
The Government’s 2025 flag guidelines are blunt. They say swapping in yellow or gold “destroys the symbolism of the National Flag”.
Thomas Francis Meagher flew a tricolour in Waterford in March 1848. In Dublin that April, he said the white stood for “a lasting truce between Orange and Green”. Gold leaves the Orange tradition out. More on my Irish flag page.
Source: Department of the Taoiseach, The National Flag.
18. The Celtic cross and Celtic knots are ancient pagan symbols
The myth: the ringed cross and the knotwork are secret druid symbols.
The truth: the OPW’s heritageireland.ie calls high crosses symbols of Christianity. They appeared from around the 9th century and were carved into the 12th. About 250 survive.
Muiredach’s Cross at Monasterboice is 5.5 metres tall. Abbot Muiredach died in 924.
The knotwork peaked in Christian gospel books like the Book of Kells. Britannica traces it to a 7th-century blend of old Celtic spirals and Anglo-Saxon interlace. So the roots are partly pre-Christian, but it’s no druid code.
To be fair, some spirals really are ancient. The carvings at Brú na Bóinne date from about 5,000 years ago, in the Neolithic. That’s far older than the Celts. See my guides to Celtic symbols and the triskelion.
Source: heritageireland.ie, High Crosses; heritageireland.ie, Monasterboice; Britannica, Hiberno-Saxon style; worldheritageireland.ie.
19. The Great Famine was caused by potato blight alone
The myth: a plant disease struck and nothing could be done.
The truth: blight was the trigger. Britannica says the water mould Phytophthora infestans arrived in 1845. The crop failed that year and in 1846, and again in 1848 and 1849. The full story is in our guide to the Great Famine.
About a million people died and about two million emigrated. Policy shaped how bad it got.
The UK Parliament’s own history pages say large quantities of food kept being exported, mainly to Great Britain. Sir Charles Trevelyan, in charge of relief, limited aid on laissez-faire principles. The cost of relief fell on Irish landowners, who evicted tenants.
So blight alone doesn’t explain the catastrophe.
Source: Britannica, Great Famine; UK Parliament, The Great Famine.
20. Ireland is part of the United Kingdom
The myth: Ireland is a bit of Britain, like Wales.
The truth: the island is split in two. The Republic of Ireland is a sovereign country. Northern Ireland, six counties, is part of the UK.
Britannica notes the state left the Commonwealth as the Republic of Ireland in 1949. So please don’t post a letter to “Dublin, UK”.
Source: Britannica, Ireland. More in my facts about Ireland.
Irish myths FAQ
Did St Patrick really drive the snakes out of Ireland?
No. Nigel Monaghan of the National Museum of Ireland says there’s no sign Ireland ever had snakes. The Ice Age, then rising seas, kept them out.
Was St Patrick Irish?
No. Britannica says he was born in Britain to a Romanised Christian family. Irish raiders brought him here as a captive at 16.
Is it St Paddy’s Day or St Patty’s Day?
St Paddy’s Day. Paddy is a pet form of Patrick, or Pádraig in Irish. Patty is usually a Patricia.
Do Irish people eat corned beef on St Patrick’s Day?
Not traditionally. The Irish dinner was bacon and cabbage. Corned beef became the dish among Irish emigrants in New York.
What colour was originally associated with St Patrick?
Blue. Green took over in the late 19th century as it became linked with Irish nationalism.
What percentage of Irish people have red hair?
A little over 10%, says the Irish Times, against about 2% worldwide. Most Irish people aren’t redheads.
More reading
- The real story behind St Patrick’s Day
- The shamrock: Ireland’s real St Patrick’s Day symbol
- Leprechauns in Irish folklore
- How the Irish invented Halloween
- The Irish flag and what it means
- Celtic symbols and their meanings
- The St Patrick Snakes Legend: Ireland Never Had Any. So Where Did the Story Come From?
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