13 reasons why you should be proud to call Ireland home

THE IRISH Diaspora (broadly interpreted of course) contains over 100 million people. That’s roughly fifteen times the population of Ireland. It’s almost impossible to spit in the New World without hitting someone who claims to be at least a tenth Celt. What is it about this place that makes such a large percentage of the world’s population so proud to have an ancestral connection? Well here’s a few reasons I came up with. For the Irish lucky enough to call Ireland home, bain sult as!

1. Pink sky at night over Mulroy Bay, Donegal

By Trevor Cole

2. Surfing the north Atlantic

By Roger Sharp

3. Post-Sunday lunch walks along the coast

By Dominic Kummer

4. Celtic folktales — Mermaid’s Cave, Dunluce

By Bryan Hanna

5. World’s best road trips (after Scotland, of course) — Dún Chaoin Pier.

By Francesco Vaninetti

6. One of Mother Nature’s greatest feats, Giants Causeway

By Noel Casaje

7. Because there’s nowhere you’d rather be on a day like this than in the pub in Galway Bay

By Ricowhaz (Owen)

8. Views like this, looking out over The Cliff of Moher

By Daniel Kordan

9. The Northern Lights dancing over Dunluce Castle

By Stephen Emerson

10. An ancient history that makes the New World seem like play school — Ross Errilly, Headford, Galway

By Conor Ledwith

11. Because it doesn’t get more peaceful than this — Mussenden Temple, Londonderry

By Stephen Emerson

12. These little chaps in The Saltee Islands

By Marcin Kaczmarkiewicz

13. The beaches in Galway — Mulranny, County Mayo

By Paul Hull