IRELAND ALSO BY THE SAME AUTHOR A Brief History of Ireland A Short History of Dublin A Short History of the 1916 Rising A Short History of the Irish Revolution A Short History of Ireland IRELAND 1,001 Things You Need to Know R K ICHARD ILLEEN First published in Great Britain in 2017 by Atlantic Books, an imprint of Atlantic Books Ltd. Copyright © Richard Killeen, 2017 The moral right of Richard Killeen to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Lines from ‘Dublin’ by Louis MacNeice, from Selected Poems, Faber & Faber, 2007, reproduced by kind permission of David Higham Associates Ltd. Map artwork by Jeff Edwards Hardback ISBN: 978-1-78649-158-9 E-book ISBN: 978-1-78649-1-596 Paperback ISBN: 978-1-78649-1-602 Printed in Great Britain Atlantic Books An Imprint of Atlantic Books Ltd Ormond House 26–27 Boswell Street London WC1N 3JZ www.atlantic-books.co.uk This book is for Richard, my son. CONTENTS Map Acknowledgements 1. Land, Landscape and Society 2. People: From pre-Celts to Polish plumbers 3. National Characteristics 4. Heroes and Villains 5. Nation, State and Parish Pump 6. Irish English / English Irish 7. One to Ten 8. Literature and Language 9. Food and Drink 10. Places to See and Things to Do 11. Not Literature 12. Sport 13. Institutions of the State(s) 14. Religion 15. Education 16. Army, Navy and Police 17. The Public Sphere 18. Ten Success Stories 19. Whimsy Index This lovely land that always sent Her writers and artists to banishment And in a spirit of Irish fun Betrayed her own leaders, one by one. ’Twas Irish humour, wet and dry, Flung quicklime into Parnell’s eye;* ’Tis Irish brains that save from doom The leaky barge of the Bishop of Rome For everyone knows the Pope can’t belch Without the consent of Billy Walsh.† James Joyce, from Gas From a Burner I live in Ireland by choice, after experience of living many other places, and I am happy here. Our neighbours are friendly, our view is beautiful, my political friends are fine upstanding people, my political enemies fascinating in their own way. I don’t mind the gossip any more than the rain. The censors are no longer eating writers in the street. We are not as bad as we are painted, especially by ourselves. In fact I love Ireland, as most Irish people do, with only an occasional fit of the shudders. Conor Cruise O’Brien, States of Ireland (1972) What ish my nation? Ish a villain and a bastard and a knave and a rascal. The Irishman Macmorris in Shakespeare, Henry V, act 3, scene 3