Ireland has produced four writers who have been awarded a Nobel Prize for Literature – George Bernard Shaw, W. B. Yeats, Samuel Becket and Seamus Heaney.
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The citizens of Ireland are outnumbered by the tourists. The country has a population of 3.8 million while over 5 million tourists visit every year.
In medieval times the Irish believed there were two entrances to Hell. One was on Lough Derg, Co Donegal while the other was on Mount Etna, Sicily.
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Ireland’s St Patrick is also the patron saint of engineers, Nigeria, Montserrat, Archdiocese of New York, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, Boston, Rolla, Missouri, Loíza, Puerto Rico, Murcia (Spain), and engineers and paralegals.
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In old Ireland, when all clothes were hand-made, people would never wash an item of clothing before giving it as a Christmas present as it washes out the luck.
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Clonfert Cathedral is part of the Millennium World Monuments Watch, making it one of the 100 Most Endangered Monuments in the world.
Other monuments previously included are the Inca city of Machu Picchu in Peru and the Aztec site of Teotihuacan in Mexico City.
Clonfert Cathedral dates back to the 12th century, and is built of soft sandstone, and it has weathered severely.
The congregation was unable to give the financial support the cathedral needed.
There is a place in Co Donegal called Bloody Foreland. While the name may seem violent or scary, it is actually because of the striking sunsets in the area.
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The Bog of Allen in the middle of Ireland is the world’s largest peat bog. It covers 400 square miles and is between River Liffey and River Shannon. There are parts of it in Co Offaly, Co Meath, Co Kildare, Co Laois, and Co Westmeath.
Photo shows Croghan Hill in the background – it is the remains of an extinct volcano.
Many historians believe that St Patrick’s real name was Maewyn Succat.
