Hey everyone! We've reached the land of 1/8 of my own heritage, Ireland, which means I'm probably a far-off distant cousin of our favorite Irishman: PEADAR!!! For those who don't know, PEADAR has helped us out with many of the animations in the past and PEADAR been such a great guy so we decided to fly PEADAR out here to literally be in PEADAR'S own country's video. PEADAR, you rock man! Peadar: It's pronounced ''Padder''! (Uhhh... what?) [intro] Barby: Ehh too late, I've been calling you Potter for like two years now. I'm not changing my mind. Anyway, we've reached Ireland! Peadar: And I'm here to correct him if he gets on anything wrong. So don't worry lads. Barby: Yeah, that is so true Potter. [Peadar punches Barby] Peadar: Ah so that's how that feels like. POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY Ahh the Emerald Isle, Europe's rain shield, the McNugget. Ireland is loaded with so many notable spots and regions Barby: Hehe, and there's a town called ''Dingle''. First of all, Ireland is the third largest island in Europe located in the North Atlantic Ocean separated from Great Britain by the North Channel, the Irish Sea and St. George's Channel Barby: Ehehehaha, did you notice how I deliberately avoided British Isles? Peadar: Yeah. Good call. Barby: Now here is where things get a little confusing... Ireland's subdivisions... Let's just get it over with quick and fast. Peader: So when discussing the independent sovereign state, most people are referring to the Republic of Ireland which makes up these 5/6 of the island and, unless mentioned otherwise, this is the Ireland will be mostly discussing in this episode. Barby: To this day, the last fifth Northern part of Ireland here is actually part of the UK and it doesn't even quite know exactly what to label itself. Some call it a province, some say it's a region, some say it's a constituent country, but the point is, UK holds on to it. Peadar: Which as you can imagine has created some interesting feelings in the past with the Irish. Barby: It's weird though because the people here can choose their own citizenship: be a British, Irish or both. On the west side, the North Ireland border just juts into the farmlands ending at a small village called Manger and provides a 7 kilometer wide quarter to the town of Bundoran for the rest of the Republic to enter into Donegal County. Peader: And then you have the strange pene-enclave, right across the Fin River with only a tenth of a kilometer wide entrance, the Ireland Grahdens is still part of Monaghan County. This in return gave a small exclave to the UK, an unnamed patch of land with only three small farming homes. Barby: The only way to get in besides swimming across the river would be by taking the most name switched International Road on the island, the Irish N54 which turns into the A3 highway once you cross into Northern Ireland, then it switches back into the N54 once you cross into the exclave and it reverted back to the A3 again for about two kilometers and then back to the N54 once you cross back into the Republic of Ireland. So literally it's like Irish, British, Irish, British, Irish! Peadar: Or as I like to call it...my dating life! Also, the UK was like: ''Argh, instead of following the Foyle river all the way up to the Foyle lock, why don't we just swerve left through the Farmland to take the entire city of Derry because hey... LOGIC! Basically to an Irish person, the entire island of Ireland, including Northern Ireland is just... IRELAND! Barby: So if you consider the administrative divisions, the Republic of Ireland is divided into 26 counties, however, many also include the extra 6 from Northern Ireland and call it 32, but then there's the two city and county councils, Limerick and Waterford, and the three city councils: Dublin, Galway and Cork, making 31 local authorities in the Republic of Ireland and technically 37 again if you include Northern Ireland's counties and the capital of Dublin. Peader: Says, is that right? Barby: OK, yeah, you know. I got that right, whoo! Peadar: Historically though, Ireland was also kind of split into four provinces that many people still refer to today. They are Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster. Northern Ireland is often referred to as Ulster as it encompasses most of the counties that make up the historical province. Otherwise, the largest cities after Dublin are Cork and Limerick with the largest airports being Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports. Keep in mind, if Northern Ireland was included in this, Belfast would take the number two spots on each of those lists. Peadar: In addition to being an island itself, Ireland also hosts hundreds of smaller little islands and islets. The most populated one being Great island by Cork, Achill Island in Mayo and Gorumna and the Aran islands in Galway. Barby: Finally some places of interest across Ireland might include places like: Trinity College, the Guinness storehouse, the Neolithic tomb of Newgrange which is older than the pyramids of Giza Rock of Cashel, Glendalough in Wicklow, Blarney Stone of Cork, Peadar: That island that was filmed up the end of Star Wars. It's called Skellig Michael, Tory Island which kinda has like its own king, Scotia's grave, where an Egyptian princess is buried supposedly I didn't know about that one. Barby: You didn't even know that. Wow! I just found it off of Atlas Obscura. The Mound of Hostages, the Ceide Fields, the Sky Garden, the Hook Head lighthouse, the oldest continuously used lighthouse still operating in Europe. Barby: You live right next to it? Peadar: Yeah! Barby: Sean's bar, the oldest surviving pub and possibly in the entire world. Peadar: And of course way too many churches, abbeys, castles, dolmens, tombs, everything else to list. Barby: Way too many of them. Peadar: Way too many. Barby: Oh, and avoid Temple Bar, right, in Dublin? That's like a tourist trap and you can't actually meet any real Irish people there, it's... just don't go there, don't go to Temple Bar. Peadar: Yeah, give it a miss. Go to Coppers Barby: Coppers. Ahhh beer! You guys know your way around the pint. Don't you? Peadar: Oh, well Irish people do, but I don't actually drink... Barby: No? Ok. Peadar: ...after that man I killed. Barby: Oh, yeah... wait, wha...? PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY Ireland is very green. THE END! Peader: Alright, so there's a little bit more to it than that. Ireland is a post-glacial carved mineral and sandstone island with about 12 small mountain ranges, the majority of which are located in the north, west and south. Peadar: You'll notice looking at the map that the east coast Ireland seems to be relatively smooth and straight whereas the west coast of Ireland seems to be all choppy and surrounded with inlets and peninsulas. Almost like if you took a ball of clay and just spread it across a flat surface in one direction. Barby: Hehe, One Direction... Anyway the tallest peak is Mount Carrauntoohil, at about a thousand meters Barby: and the longest and most important river being the river Shannon Peader: and the largest large lake on the entire island being Loch Neagh in Northern Ireland, However, if we're talking about the Republic of Ireland, the largest would be Loch Corrib in West Galway. Barby: The west side is also home to the most notable natural landmark, the cliffs of Moher that rise about 120 meters straight up from the ocean Peadar: Otherwise, you have the Slieve league cliffs, a bit further up north and in the UK's Northern Ireland, used to- You have the Giant's Causeway, a series of hexagonal volcanic plug steps that just jot into the ocean side. Barby: I love how you say that, Hexagonal. Peader: Hexagonal. Barby: Hexagonal, hexagonal. Now despite being located fairly north in latitude, Ireland actually experiences a strange weather phenomenon in which it actually kind of acts like a rain shield for the UK. It takes all the warm air released by the North Atlantic Gulf stream that starts all the way from the Caribbean. This means that although Ireland is on the same relative latitude as Newfoundland, Canada, they remain about 9 degree Celsius or about 17 degrees Fahrenheit warmer rarely reaching the freezing point, which in return means they hardly ever get snow. However that again in return, means Ireland gets a ton of rain. Like seriously, over half the year is drenched, you only get like two months of sunshine, and then it's back to the downpour. I mean wouldn't that make you guys like kind of depressed? Peadar: What do you think? Drinking is a thing in Ireland. Speaking of which, the abundance of rain allows Ireland to actually flourish in flora and agriculture giving it its trademark green colour. Common crops being spuds (potatoes), sugar beets and grains like Barley oats and wheat which as you can imagine has a large portion that goes for the most famous product beer, BEER!!! Barby: Ireland without beer is like Mexico without Tacos, Koreas without Kimchi Argentinians without -salsa- (correction: tango), Bob Saget without his telekinetic laser vision. Peader: Yeah, beer culture is such an integral part of being Irish that even priests and nuns get in on the action and share with a guest. Barby: Which by the way, the Bible never condemns alcohol, just drunkenness. So, know your limits. Peader: Yeah, we go to confessional a lot. Peader: Otherwise some top notable Irish dishes might include things like: Boxty, potato bread, brown soda bread, bacon and cabbage too many soups to list like coddle and Irish stew, black pudding Oysters and Guinness and overall you can find potatoes cooked in various ways would like everything. Barby: In addition, Ireland is also the perfect habitat for about twenty six species of mammals like the red fox, European hedgehog, the stoat, Pygmy shrew and badger and the one land reptile that is native to the country: the viviparous lizard. Peader: Speaking of which, no. The set story of St. Patrick driving all the snakes out of Ireland was probably not true. Ireland most likely never had snakes due to its geographic isolation from the rest of Europe and also St. Patrick probably wasn't Irish, he was Welsh. Barby: Yeah, lots of misconceptions when it comes to Irish people, Which brings us to: DEMOGRAPHICS Barby: Hey, so Potter, I- [Peadar punches Barby] Sorry, Peadar! So what does it mean to be Irish? Peader: Oh, we're all about the craic in Ireland, so we are. Barby: Yeah... cra- "craic?" Peader: Craic every day and night of the week. We love the craic so and... Police officer: DEA! FREEZE! Hands where I can see 'em! Peader: Common misconception - see, we're not actually talking about drugs. We're talking... Police officer: RESISTING ARREST! Peader: DOOGH!! Barby: First of all, Ireland has about 4.8 million people, over 6 million if you include Northern Ireland and has the highest birth rate in the EU. About 83% of the country identifies as ethnically Irish, whereas about 9.5% are white of other nationalities, whereas the remainder of the country is other groups like Asians, Blacks and who knows, probably some magical wizards or something. Peadar: So the country uses the Euro as their current currency, they also use the type G plug outlet and they drive on the left side of the road. Barby: Now thanks to modern media, everyone probably has at least a little bit of exposure to the stereotypical Irish culture, one way or another. You know like Riverdance or leprechauns or river dancing leprechauns... But there's an entire world to the deep-rooted Irish identity First of all, the language. Peadar: Technically Ireland or at least the "Republic of Ireland" is a bilingual country that uses both Irish and English although English is used far more often than Irish ever is. The Irish language is related to other Celtic-based languages spoken in Scotland, Wales and to so extent, Brittany in France. Barby: Just when you thought you were safe after the Iceland episode, Irish comes along and suddenly, 'M' and 'H' make a 'V' sound. ' D' and 'H' make a 'G' or 'Y' sound, 'B', 'H' and 'F' sometimes make like a ''woo'' sound. Peadar: Alright Paul, let's say you take a shot at saying these words. Barby: All right! [Barby is trying to pronounce the Irish words] Peader: Nope, Ar Aghaidh Leat, it means ''Go on'' [Barby tries again] Peader: Nice try. It's Tabhachtach, it means ''important'' [Third try] Peader: No! Leithris. It means ''toilet''. [Fourth try] Peader: Actually that was just one I made up. But I strike! Barby: For a long time, the language was suppressed and discouraged by the English-speaking rulers to the point where a couple of generations were greatly affected and grew up barely knowing their own native tongue. Peadar: Today the language has seen a huge resurgence and is one of the core subjects in most primary and secondary schools. Although less than half the population claims to be fluent in Irish, there are only a few communities that actually speak it regularly in daily life. The Irish language is still survives into the 21st century. Barby: All the public signs are posted in both languages They even have an Irish-speaking TV channel, radio station and even an online newspaper. In order to get a real feel of Ireland though, you kind of have to know a little bit of history, which will take way too long to explain, but in the quickest way we can put it: Stone Age, Celtic culture comes in, Chiefdoms, High Kings, Christianity Vikings, Normans, castles got built, Black Death, Henry the 8th split from the Catholic Church and attacked, Ulster plantation and quasi English rule, Oliver Cromwell, wars, Theobald Wolf who led a failed rebellion, potato famine, tons move to the US and Scotland, Gaelic Revival, North doesn't agree, conflict in persecution against Catholics, Home Rule, Home Rule suspended, World War I, -Eastern- Rising (correction: Easter Rising), Ira fights, Irish civil war, free-staters won, World War II, they remain mostly neutral, 1969 Civil rights marches, Northern Ireland gets more drama, they join the EU, Good Friday agreement, Celtic tiger, financial crisis, but they still grow and move forward. Barby: And here we are today. Peadar: As mentioned, the largest ethnic group people in Ireland, the Irish!, come from a long line of people known as the Celts or the Celtic. Barby It's Celtic [/Keltic/] Boston, Ceeeeltic. Peader: Not /Seltic/. Barby: Thousands of years ago, the Celts roamed all across continental Europe, however, the rise of Empires and warring people groups kind of pushed them all the way west into the isles Peadar: and the Celts had an incredibly complex system of tribes or clans of families that dominated certain regions with their own chiefs and kings. This is partially why so many people in Ireland have 'Mc' or the almost exclusively Irish used 'O' prefix, prefixes in their last names which translates to son or descendant. Prior to Christianity, Celts were primarily farmers and cattle herders with pagan and druid roots Barby: ...with some controversial practices recorded by the Romans. Peader: Christianity came in and then Catholicism played a huge role even to this day. Barby: However certain ancient traditions still have done like the festival of Samhain... Peader: Sounds. Barby: Really?! But I thought M and H make a V sound! Peader: No, it depends, sometimes it does, sometimes not. Barby: Ah your language! Peader: Samhain later became known as Halloween which became popularized and is celebrated all across the world today. Barby: However, originally they used to use turnip lanterns, not pumpkins. Peader: Folklore and tradition is strong. We've all heard of leprechauns, but there's also Fionn mac Culhaill and Fiena of the fenian cycle, Gu Chulaind the hound, Diarmuid and Grainne is similar to the princess Iseult and Tristan in Arthurian legend and so much more. Barby: And the two most popular sports which are almost never played anywhere else in the world: Oh, yeah, that's like uh... Irish Quidditch or something, right? [Peadar hits Barby again] Don't call it Quidditch. Oh yeah. This is a hurl. Barby: Oh wow that's pretty cool. How do you play with that? Peader: Why don't we ask Jason Statham? Barby: Speaking of which, there is no universal Irish accent. You get different dialects from different regions. For example: [Peadar speaks Cork dialect] [Peadar speaks Dublin dialect] [Peadar speaks like Liam Neeson] Barby: Thank God you came here because I would have offended if the entire country and gotten stabbed within hours of upload if I attempted that. Otherwise, some famous people of Irish descent might include people like: chemist Robert Boyle, the Irish Pewdiepie guy, who might incorrectly refer to as "Philly Nott" in the Guyana episode. Sorry about that! (Sorry!) the dude from One Direction Barby: I got that! Peader: Nailed it! from Northern Ireland Liam Neeson and Michael Fassbender is half Irish, so I guess he kind of counts. Peader: Yeah, some guy called Conor McGregor, Barby: Yeah Conor McGregor Oh, according to that one Malaysian guy from Flag Friday: Westlife and Boyzone Otherwise, we could go on and on about the rich complex layers of music, dance, literature, symbolism, artifacts, traditions, festivals, clothing, customs and legends, but that would take way too long. And if you want to know more, just watch any episode of Fair City or Father Ted. Peadar: Or you could just like talk to an Irish person as well. Barby: Nah, TV is better, TV never gets anything wrong. Barby: In the meantime, Ireland's friendzone in 3, 2, 1...! FRIENDZONE No matter where you find them in this world, you know you're gonna be lucky when you find an Irishman. Peader: First of all, as an EU member state, Ireland has strong ties to many of their continental neighbors, specifically to Catholic countries like France and Spain. The French and the Irish have a long history of joining up in the squabbles against the British Barby: and about 60% of students in secondary school learn French. Spain is not only close, it does good business, but it's also the No. 1 tourist destination for the Irish as about a quarter of their entire population visits at least once a year. Peader: Surprisingly, the Lithuanians have been flocking to Ireland since the 90s after the collapse of the Soviet Union and make up the third largest immigrant group after the British and the Polish. Barby: But keep in mind the Polish, they like go everywhere so it's just no shocker. I mean remember how they made up like 8% of Iceland's population? Now despite the past drama, Ireland gets along pretty well with the UK. A lot of their imports come from them and the Irish are an almost integral part of the common British atmosphere as so many of them live there. Peader: And nonetheless the best friends of our own would actually probably be Scotland in the UK and the USA. Scots and the Irish are Celtic brothers that have shared cultures since the beginning as well as some of the same strifes and struggles. Barby: Tons of Irish moved to -Liverpool- (correction: Liverpool is in England, it's Glasgow) after the potato famine and were generally welcomed by their cousins. I mean, horrible accents aside, have you seen that one scene in Braveheart where the Irish mercenaries backstab the British and joined their Scottish cousins? Yeah like that, right? Yeah. Peader: The USA though is like their favorite younger cousin who's a lot bigger and stronger. Not only do about 30% of their exports go to the US, but after the potato famine, hundreds of thousands of Irish came flocking into Ellis Island and to this day about 35 million Americans claim to have partial or full Irish heritage, the large concentrations on the East coast in New England. That's about seven times the population of Ireland itself. Barby: It even got to me somehow! Thank you, grandpa I never met! In conclusion: I'm actually gonna give this to you man. Take it away. Peadar: Thank you Paul! In conclusion: Ireland has had to 'Conor McGregor' its way through war, famine, economic recession, terrible leprechaun, wrapping, and Gerald Butler's horrible accent in P.S. I Love You. Seriously man! You're Scottish. It shouldn't be that hard! But through all that, we've managed to be the coolest kid on the block despite a few emotional issues here and there. We're pretty rad if I say so myself. Go on Ireland! You beautiful, drunken mess of a nation, you! And you know what? In honor of your 1/8 Irish heritage, I've decided to bestow on you the title of 'kind-of-Irish-I-guess.' Here's 1/8 of an Irish Shamrock, tied on with a piece on sellotape. Barby: Thanks Potter, even though I always get your name wrong, so yeah. Peadar: You do. Title revoked Barby: NO NO NO! OK, come on! Peadar: We've been through this. Barby: OK, so it's it's like "ladder", but "padder" right, Peadar, Peadar right? Better? Peadar: Better. Barby: Score! Stay tuned... ...Israel is coming up next! Peadar: This is going to be good.
