If You’re Writing An Irish Character From Dublin City

if you’re writing an Irish character from Dublin city

- they’re not a farmer. Farmers tend to live in more rural counties, especially in the west of Ireland.

- a Dublin accent isn’t the Irish brogue that always appears in American movies. Listen to an interview with Brendan Gleeson or Colin Farrel. They’re Dublin accents.

- Dublin is not just one city. There are 24 areas, all just called Dublin One, Dublin Two, and so on. One and Two are the North and South of the city center. From then on, it’s mainly residential. Dublin Four has its own socio-economic identity, seen as very ‘posh’. The accent from here is also distinguishable from other accents in Dublin. 

- public transportation has various forms; buses, the Dart, the Luas, and commuters. Buses go all over. The Dart is the localized train that runs from North to South. The Luas is more specialized regarding destination. Commuters go out of Dublin to other cities, mainly Galway, Newry, Rosslare Europort, and Sligo. 

- there are three main train stations with Dublin city; Connolly (biggest one), Pearse (nicest one), and Heuston. 

- there’s one airport with two terminals, just called Dublin airport. there’s no train line out there. everyone is mad about this.

- taxis are incredibly expensive, so no one really gets them. Leap cards are our version of metro cards.

- there is no subway! unlike America, Ireland doesn’t have a subway system anywhere (yet)

- unlike a lot of American cities, Dublin does not have a grid layout. It was not planned, it grew. Therefore if you were not raised there, good luck finding your way around. There’s hundreds of shortcuts but only natives would really know them well (like cutting through Trinity College to get to Pearse Station instead of walking all the way around).

- there’s three main colleges; Trinity College, University College Dublin (UCD) and Dublin City University (DCU). Trinity is the most central. UCD is a pain in the ass to get to. 

- the nicest park to go to is Stephen’s Green. the biggest park is Phoenix Park. it’s the largest enclosed park in Europe, is twice the size of Central Park, and is bigger than all of London’s parks put together. this is where Dublin Zoo is, and concerts are usually held in the park over summer. 

- no Dublin natives go to Temple Bar. It’s ridiculously overpriced and always overflowing with tourists. Must Avoid on Saint Patrick’s Day (which is shortened to Paddy’s Day, not Patty’s Day).

- the legal drinking age is 18. most people start around 16. buying cigarettes is only allowed at 18, but smoking them isn’t really illegal below this. it’s just really, really bad. And as an Irish person, I have to admit we do drink a lot. We drink for anything; weddings, funerals, anniversaries of any kind, drinking will be involved. 

- we do not call every bar a pub. only certain bars are pubs. they must have friendly, chatty, old bartenders, a slightly run-down air, a darker-than-necessary interior, and old framed photos of Guinness ads or ads for cigarettes from donkey’s years ago to be considered a pub. “let’s go to the pub” = casual drinks. “let’s go out!” = let’s get absolutely hammered.

- if an Irish person asks you “how are you?”, you reply. If an Irish person says “how’s it going?” you do not have to reply. this is just a very casual way of saying ‘hello’. no one says top o’ the morning to ya. NO ONE.

- complaining about the weather is Irish culture. doesn’t matter what weather. it’s rainy. it’s too hot. it’s too cold. it’s too windy. doesn’t matter. but in the end, we’ll always miss the rain. 

idek if people write irish characters a lot, but jesus, seeing American directors and/or actors absolutely butcher Irish accents/backgrounds is unbearable (see: Helena Bonham Carter in Ocean’s 8, or Gerard Butler in P.S. I Love You. Unforgivable.) if you’re just having fun writing, then go ahead, but if you want to have a realisitic irish person in your story, hopefully this’ll help! :)