Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ancestral home village of Moneygall in County Offaly and have a pint with Henry, his
cousin eight times removed, whom he nicknamed “Henry VIII.” Later that day, he de-
livered a speech to a huge crowd packed into Dublin's College Green, drawing cheers
when he dusted off his Irish Gaelic and proclaimed, “Is féidir linn.” (“Yes we can.”)
Don't worry if your Irish Gaelic is rustier than the president's—the vast majority of
Irish people speak English, though you'll still encounter Irish Gaelic if you venture to the
western fringe of the country. The Irish love of conversation shines through wherever you
go. All that conversation is helped along by the nebulous concept of Irish time, which nev-
er seems to be in short supply. Small shops post their hours as “9:00ish until 5:00ish.”
The local bus usually makes a stop at “10:30ish.” A healthy disdain for being a slave to
the clock seems to be part of being Ir-“ish.” And the warm welcome you'll receive has its
roots in ancient Celtic laws of hospitality toward stranded strangers.
Republic of Ireland Almanac
Official Name:
The Republic of Ireland (a.k.a. just “Ireland” or, in Irish, Éire).
Population:
Ireland's 4.5 million people (same as Kentucky) are of Celtic stock.
They speak English, though Irish (Gaelic) is spoken in pockets along the country's
west coast. Nearly nine in 10 are nominally Catholic, though only one in three at-
tends church.
