10 Things You Didn't Know About Ireland




This has to be one of the least enforced laws in the history of any legal system. If the letter of the law were to be enforced in this area, half the county would have to be incarcerated every weekend -- but it is indeed true. Regulations introduced last year allow the police to issue on-the-spot fines for anyone caught being drunk in a public place in Ireland.

In reality, however, the police are generally pretty happy for you to get as hammered as you want, as long as you aren't bothering anyone else, and aren't in any immediate danger of hurting yourself. So drink up! (But do it safely.)

An Irishman Founded the Argentinean Navy

William Brown, who was born in County Mayo, is acknowledged as the founder of the Argentine navy, and was also an important leader in the Argentine struggle for independence from Spain.

His family left for Philadelphia around 1786, when he was 9. He started off seafaring as a cabin boy, and ended up fighting in the Napoleonic wars, where he was captured as a prisoner of war. Then he escaped the Germans, before eventually ending up Montevideo, Uruguay, where he became a sea trader, and later ended up founding the Argentine navy, which was involved in a war against Spain.

Today there is a statue of Brown in his hometown of Foxford, Co. Mayo, which was unveiled in 2007, the 150th anniversary of his death; in Argentina, where he is regarded as a hero, there are two towns, around 1,000 streets and 500 statues, a city and a few football clubs, named after him.

Only 2 Members of U2 Were Born in Ireland

David Howell Evans, more commonly known as The Edge, was born in London, to Welsh parents, Garvin and Gwenda Evans, who moved to Malahide in Dublin when The Edge was one year old. Adam Clayton, U2's bassist, was born in Oxfordshire, England. His family moved to Malahide in Dublin when he was five, and he became childhood friends with The Edge. Only Bono and Larry Mullen Jr. were actually born in Dublin.

The Street on Which You Will Find the British Embassy in Tehran Is Named After an Irishman

The street on which you will find the British Embassy in Tehran is named after an Irishman.






A Hospital in Belfast Is a World Leader in Kneecap Reconstruction


Ireland Has the Fourth Largest Stadium in Europe


In the Summer of 2007, It Rained in Ireland for 40 Days Straight

Even by Irish standards, this was a very, very wet summer. By August 24, it had rained in Ireland for 40 days -- fulfilling an Irish proverb that says if it should rain on St. Swithin's day (July 15), it will continue to rain every day for the next 40. Usually, an Irish summer will give at least a few weeks of sunshine and a break from the rain -- at which time the feel good factor in the country goes sky high, for the sheer novelty value of sunshine. But not so, the summer of '07.

Playboy Was Banned in Ireland Until 1995

That's right -- in 1995 although you could get Playboy TV, you couldn't get the magazine, which was banned under the country's censorship laws.

More Guinness Is Sold in Nigeria Than in Ireland

That's right: Ireland is the third largest market for Guinness. Nigeria is at second, and the U.K. is the first.