History & Symbols
Who is considered the patron saint of Ireland?
St. Patrick
What mythical creature from Irish folklore hides gold at the end of a rainbow?
A leprechaun
What's the capital city of Ireland?
Dublin
What does "What’s the craic?" mean?
What’s up?
Which Irish band is known for With or Without You?
U2
What’s Ireland’s official national symbol?
The harp
Which Irish writer wrote Gulliver’s Travels?
Jonathan Swift
What's the nickname for Ireland?
The Emerald Isle
If something is deadly, what does it mean?
Awesome
What highly popular fantasy show was filmed in Northern Ireland?
Game of Thrones
When did Ireland gain independence from Britain?
1922
What do people celebrate on June 16 in honor of the Irish author James Joyce?
Bloomsday
(named after Leopold Bloom, the main character in James Joyce’s famous novel Ulysses, published in 1922)
What famous cliffs on the west coast appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?
The Cliffs of Moher
What does I’m after eating me dinner mean?
I just ate dinner. (recent past)
What Dublin-born actor plays in Peaky Blinders?
Cillian Murphy
What do the three colors of the Irish flag represent?
Green = Catholics, Orange = Protestants, White = Peace
What novel by the Irish writer James Joyce takes place all in one day in Dublin?
Ulysses
What are Ireland’s four provinces called?
Leinster, Munster, Connacht, Ulster
In Irish, what does the word “Sláinte” mean, and when is it used?
It means “health” and is used to say “cheers” when people raise a glass for a toast.
Which Irish pop singer, also a member of the boy band Boyzone, performed the romantic ballad “When You Say Nothing at All”?
Ronan Keating
What were The Troubles in Northern Ireland?
A violent conflict between unionists (who wanted to stay in the UK) and nationalists (who wanted to join the Republic of Ireland), lasting about 30 years from the late 1960s to the 1990s. It ended with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, which brought peace and established a power-sharing government in Northern Ireland.
Which Irish writer said, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”?
Oscar Wilde
(from his play Lady Windermere's Fan, 1892)
What’s Ireland’s highest mountain?
Carrauntoohil
(with 1,038.6 metres)
In Irish slang, what does the word “gaff” mean?
It means a house or home.
E.g. “I’m having a party at my gaff.”
Ireland holds the record for the most Eurovision Song Contest wins; now shared with Sweden since 2023. How many wins do they have?
Ireland and Sweden both hold the record with 7 wins.
(Ireland’s last victory was in 1996 with “The Voice” by Eimear Quinn, while Sweden equaled the record in 2023.)