Galway

The Aran sweater is younger than its legends. Here’s how knitters on the Aran Islands and along Ireland’s west coast created the cabled geansaí Árann in the early 20th century, where the drowned fisherman myth and the ‘ancient’ stitch meanings really came from, how the Clancy Brothers helped make it famous on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1961, and how to spot a hand-knit, wash it and buy from authentic Irish makers.

There are two Galway Girl songs: Steve Earle’s, made famous by Mundy and Sharon Shannon, and Ed Sheeran’s with Saoirse Ronan. Watch both and find out which is the real one.

Watch the Gardiner Brothers, two Galway world champions and Riverdance stars, Irish dance in cowboy hats to Beyoncé’s Texas Hold ’Em. The video seen over 40 million times.

My 2026 guide to Irish Christmas gifts that are actually Irish: Claddagh rings, Aran and Donegal knitwear, Belleek, Irish tea and chocolate, books and blessings, plus how to check a gift is really made in Ireland.

The Irish Christmas traditions everyone recognises are the candle in the window on Christmas Eve, Midnight Mass, the Christmas Day sea swim, the 12 Pubs of Christmas, Stephen’s Day and …

Seamus Heaney’s best-known poems are Digging, Mid-Term Break, Blackberry-Picking and Death of a Naturalist, all from his 1966 debut, along with Clearances, Punishment and Casualty. He won the Nobel Prize …

From grand and craic to eejit, yoke and the jacks, here’s my guide to Irish slang words and phrases, sorted by region, with what Irish people really mean.

I have lost count of how many times I have rewatched Father Ted, it is an iconic show, and when I came across this collection of all the quotes from …

This week we are going all the back to September 1913. This lovely Irish poem ranks number 17 in the top 100 Irish poems written halfway through W.B Yeat’s life. He …

There is a lot of amazing things one can do in Galway. Galway, along with Cork, Dublin, Belfast and Killarney, is one of the most popular places to visit in Ireland. …

Who doesn’t love Irish castles? They all have a timeless footprint from history that just cannot be replicated.  If you are doing an upcoming road trip around Ireland, sprinkle in …

The best Irish dancing videos online, from Riverdance at Eurovision 1994 to flash mobs, TikTok crews and a groom who stole his own wedding.

Celtic jewellery gift ideas with real meanings: the Claddagh, trinity knot, Celtic cross, Connemara marble and St Brigid’s cross, with Irish-made picks.

Saoirse Ronan and Jimmy Fallon sang Fairytale of New York in a Tonight Show pub lock-in in December 2018. Here’s the clip, who Saoirse is, and the story of The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl’s Irish Christmas classic.

Irish gifts sorted by occasion, from Claddagh rings and christening silver to St Brigid’s crosses and Mass cards, with the old customs told apart from the shop stories.