X-Nico

18 unusual facts about Ireland


Adolf Mahr

Adolf Mahr (7 May 1887 - 27 May 1951) was the best-known Nazi in Ireland in the 1930s and one of the most controversial figures in twentieth-century Irish history.

Alexandrina Maria da Costa

In Ireland there is an Alexandrina Society that spreads knowledge of her life and teachings.The aims of the Society are

Anne Crofton, 1st Baroness Crofton

Anne Crofton, 1st Baroness Crofton (11 January 1751 – 12 August 1817) was an Irish suo jure peeress.

The honour was instead bestowed on his widow Anne, Lady Crofton, who on 1 December 1797 was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Baroness Crofton.

Baron Dunleath

The Mulholland family were involved in the cotton and linen industry in Ulster in the north of Ireland.

Baron Plunket

It was created in 1827 for the prominent Irish lawyer and Whig politician William Plunket.

Bishop of Lismore

The Bishop of Lismore, Ireland, a separate episcopal title which took its name after the town of Lismore in County Waterford, Ireland

Chocolate pudding

There are two main types: a boiled then chilled, texturally a custard set with starch, version commonly eaten in the U.S., Canada, Sweden, and East and South East Asia; and a steamed/baked, texturally similar to cake, version that is popular in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand.

Edward Rutherfurd

Ireland: Awakening (2006) titled The Rebels of Ireland: The Dublin Saga in North America

Ireland's Vanishing Triangle

Laois, Imelda disappeared on the 3rd of January 1994 with the last confirmed sighting of her being in Lomarard Street, Waterford.

John Harrison O'Donnell

He was born in Simcoe, Upper Canada, the son of John O'Donnell, a native of Ireland, and was educated at Victoria University and Trinity Medical College.

Maura Murphy

Maura Murphy, née McNamee (September 6, 1928 – October 5, 2005) was an Irish writer.

Ross Farm Museum

During their return to Britain, they survived their ship being wrecked on the Tuskar Rock off the coast of Wexford, Ireland.

Savoy Cinema

The cinema has hosted the Irish premières of many films, most of them having an Irish connection.

Simple Kid

Forming when he was 17, the band was composed of a group of friends from Cork, Ireland.

Tony Was an Ex-Con

Tony Was An Ex-Con is the second studio album released by the Irish indie act The Coronas, released 25 September 2009 by 3ú Records.

Vegelate

In some nations, including Denmark, Ireland, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, and the United Kingdom, some popular chocolate products contain a proportion of vegetable fat (normally up to 5%).

Zip cube

A Zip firelighter (or "zip cube") is a packaged small block of solid fuel containing kerosene, sold as a firelighter in Ireland, Canada and the United States, also in the UK, France & Belgium where they are the leading brand.


1887 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final

The 1887 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the first All-Ireland Final and the culmination of the 1887 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland.

1984 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final

Pat Stakelum, Seán Kenny and Jimmy Finn, Tipperary’s three-in-a-row All-Ireland winning captains of 1949, 1950 and 1951 were the next players to be introduced to the Thurles crowd.

1984–85 All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship

The 1984–85 All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship was the 15th staging of the All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship, an inter-county knockout competition for Ireland's top championship clubs representing each county.

1997 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final

The 1997 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the 110th All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1997 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland.

Ahascragh

RTÉ's award winning show Don't Feed the Gondolas presented by Sean Moncrieff, satirised small village Ireland at the end of each show, choosing Ahascragh and the fictional "Head of the Parish Co-mit-tea" Monica Loolly as its instrument.

Aisling

She laments the current state of the Irish people and predicts an imminent revival of their fortunes, usually linked to the return of the Roman Catholic House of Stuart to the thrones of Britain and Ireland.

Anthony Blake

Anthony Richard Blake (died 1849), Irish lawyer, administrator and 'backstairs Viceroy of Ireland'

Barna

Notably, Cormac Folan of Freeport in Bearna represented Ireland in Rowing at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Biggar family

Alexander was born in Kinsale, Ireland in 1781, to parents (Major) Harold Robert Biggar and Ann, née Harvey.

Bus Éireann

Additional services within Ireland include city services in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford and town services in Athlone, Balbriggan, Drogheda, Dundalk, Navan and Sligo.

Channel 50

TV50, a series of events in 2012 celebrating the 50th anniversary of RTÉ Television, Ireland

Charles Howard-Bury

A member of the Howard family, he was born at Charleville Castle, King's County, Ireland, the only son of Captain Kenneth Howard-Bury (1846–1885), son of the Honourable James Howard.

Charlie Landsborough

However, in 1994 his song "What Colour is the Wind", which tells the story of a young blind child’s attempts to envision the world, began to be played in Ireland, eventually reaching No. 1 in the Irish charts after a TV appearance on RTE's Kenny Live Show.

Cian Ward

In the 2009 All-Ireland, he was the third highest top scorer after Donegal's Michael Murphy and Kerry's Colm Cooper.

Dublin Pride

Performers at the Part in the Park at the Civic Offices included DJ Jules in a Lady Gaga tribute act and Niamh Kavanagh, winner of Eurovision Song Contest 1993 who represented Ireland in the Contest again this year.

Earl of Cork

Edward of Norwich, Earl of Rutland, the first son of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, fifth son of Edward III of England, favorite of his cousin Richard II, had been created Earl of Cork in the Peerage of Ireland during his nephew's personal reign.

Emergency Powers Act

Emergency Powers Act 1964 Emergency Powers (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland) 1964

Emmet Dalton

His company helped produce films such as The Blue Max, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and The Lion in Winter, all of which were filmed in Ireland.

Gray squirrel

The Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), from the eastern United States and southeastern Canada; introduced into Britain, Ireland, western North America, Italy, and South Africa

Irish Guard

Garda Síochána, police force in Ireland whose members are colloquially called "guards"

Irish Steam Preservation Society

The Irish Steam Preservation Society was formed in 1965 in Stradbally, in Ireland.

James Dowdall

The Dowdalls of Louth originated at Dovedale in Derbyshire and became prominent in Ireland in the late Middle Ages.

John Birchensha

The son of Ralph Birchensha, an English official in Ireland, and his wife Elizabeth, he lost both his parents while still quite young, and was in the household of George FitzGerald, 16th Earl of Kildare, up to the Irish rebellion of 1641.

Maire Lynch

The Martyn Tribe of Galway - An Outline of Our Clans and Septs, Adrian James Martyn, in Journal of the Genealogical Society of Ireland, vol.1, part 6, spring 2005, pp.

Mark Byrne

In 2005 Byrne won a bronze medal playing for Republic of Ireland U18 in the European Youth Olympic Festival.

Merlin Park Regional Hospital

Merlin Park Regional Hospital now called Merlin Park University Hospital is a HSE public hospital in Galway in Ireland.

Mick Lawler

With Kilkenny Lawler won an All-Ireland title and two Leinster titles.

Mossy Murphy

With Kilkenny, Murphy won All-Ireland and Leinster titles in 1972.

Periclase

In addition to its type locality, it is reported from Predazzo, Tyrol, Austria; Carlingford, County Louth, Ireland; Broadford, Skye and the island of Muck, Scotland; León, Spain; the Bellerberg volcano, Eifel district, Germany; Nordmark and Långban, Varmland, Sweden; and Kopeysk, southern Ural Mountains, Russia.

Portadown College

Portadown College (often shortened to the College) is an academic selective grammar school in Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, founded in 1924.

Portora

Portora Castle in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland

Radio Éireann Players

After the depredations of the war-time years and a devastating fire in the Abbey Theatre in 1951, the Radio Éireann Players' powerful weekly performances inspired interest in drama throughout the country.

Rafael Merry del Val

The del Vals were an Aragonese family originally from Zaragoza, claiming descent from a twelfth-century Breton crusader; the surname Merry came from a line of Irish merchants from County Waterford, Ireland, who settled in the late eighteenth century in Seville, Spain.

Retail in the Republic of Ireland

Notably, many major British 'high street' names now operate in the Republic of Ireland, such as Dixons, Next, Debenhams, Topshop, Boots, Superdrug, Argos, Dorothy Perkins, Maplin, Currys, T.K. Maxx, PC World, Game Stop and others.

Rothechtaid

Rothechtaid Rotha, son of Róán, son of Failbe, son of Cas Cétchaingnech, son of Faildergdóit, apparently king of the eastern midland kingdom of the Gailenga and High King of Ireland

Scotch-Irish American

In reaction to the proposal by Charles I and Thomas Wentworth to raise an army manned by Irish Catholics to put down the Covenanter movement in Scotland, the Parliament of Scotland had threatened to invade Ireland in order to achieve "the extirpation of Popery out of Ireland" (according to the interpretation of Richard Bellings, a leading Irish politician of the time).

Seek the Fair Land

Dominick Macmahon’s wife is killed during the Siege of Drogheda, in County Louth and after the ensuing massacre of the town's inhabitants he flees to the west of Ireland with his young son and daughter and a wounded priest, Father Sebastian.

Short title catalogue

STC: A. W. Pollard and G. R. Redgrave, editors: A short-title catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland and Ireland, and of English books printed abroad 1475-1640. Second edition, revised and enlarged, begun by W. A. Jackson and F. S. Ferguson, completed by K. F. Pantzer.

Simon Fleming, 1st Baron Slane

Archembald's grandson, Archembald fitz Stephen le Fleming, came to Ireland with King Henry II of England in 1171 and participated in Hugh de Lacy's plantation of the kingdom of Kingdom of Mide.

Sir John Newport, 1st Baronet

He took part in the convention of volunteer delegates which met in Dublin under the presidency of James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of Charlemont in November 1783, and was appointed a member of the committee of inquiry into the state of the borough representation in Ireland.

Sir John Parnell, 1st Baronet

Sir John Parnell, 1st Baronet (c. 1720–1782), was an Irish politician and a baronet.

Sir William Edward Hercules Verner, 3rd Baronet

He died at 30 years of age on 8 June 1886 of cirrhosis of the liver and was buried at Loughgall in Ireland.

Swastika Laundry

The Swastika Laundry was a laundry founded in 1912, located on Shelbourne Road, Ballsbridge, a district of Dublin, Ireland.

Sydney Cricket Club

They hold claim to finding Tasmanian Tigers sensation Brendan Drew and were once the home of Graham Thorpe, Nathan Bracken and Ireland 2007 World Cup hero Jeremy Bray.

Third English Civil War

At the end of May 1650 Cromwell turned over his command in Ireland to Henry Ireton and returned to England.

Treaty of Nice

The Irish government, having obtained the Seville Declaration on Ireland's policy of military neutrality from the European Council, decided to have another referendum on the Treaty of Nice on Saturday, 19 October 2002.

TV Now

The event is generally regarded as a prestigious occasion both nationally in Ireland and internationally, with cast members of popular British soaps such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale, EastEnders and Hollyoaks flying to Ireland to be present and to collect their awards.

UNRIC

Coolplanet2009 has joined forces with numerous so-called Cool Friends and Partners, such as Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Good Planet, the Icelandic rock band Sigur Rós, Björk’s NGO Náttúra and the three chairwomen of the Road to Copenhagen: Margot Wallström, Vice President of the European Commission, Gro Harlem Brundtland, UN Special Envoy on Climate Change and Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland.

Vergilius of Salzburg

Around 745 he left Ireland, intending to visit the Holy land, but, like many of his countrymen, who seemed to have adopted this practice as a work of piety, he settled down in France, where he was received with great favour by Pippin the Younger then Mayor of the Palace under Childeric III of Franconia.

Willow Warbler

The Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus) is a very common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe and Asia, from Ireland east to the Anadyr River basin in eastern Siberia.