Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [644]
United Irishmen – organisation founded in 1791 aiming to reduce British power in Ireland; it led a series of unsuccessful risings and invasions
UUP – Ulster Unionist Party; the largest Unionist party in Northern Ireland and the majority party in the Assembly; founded in 1905 and led by Unionist hero Edward Carson from 1910 to 1921; from 1921 to 1972 the sole Unionist organisation but is now under threat from the DUP
UVF – Ulster Volunteer Force; an illegal Loyalist Northern Irish paramilitary organisation
Volunteers – offshoot of the IRB that came to be known as the IRA
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The Authors
FIONN DAVENPORT Coordinating Author; Dublin, Counties Wicklow & Kildare
Born and partly bred in Dublin, it took Fionn years before he understood that though part of the same nation, Ireland beyond the pale was often a different country. Which made for some great exploring, but in the end he settled for the bits he knew best – and discovered a whole bunch of stuff on his doorstep he didn’t know about. Which makes writing about his country year after year never get boring. Over the years he’s also expanded his travel bag to include TV and radio – catch him on Newstalk 106-108FM (www.newstalk.ie).
CATHERINE LE NEVEZ Counties Wexford, Waterford, Carlow, Kilkenny, Mayo, Sligo, Donegal
Catherine’s wanderlust kicked in when she roadtripped across Europe aged four, and she’s been hitting the road at every opportunity since, completing a Doctorate of Creative Arts in Writing, Masters in Professional Writing, and postgrad qualifications in Editing and Publishing along the way. Her Celtic connections include Irish and Breton heritage, as well as Irish mates who warned her that Ireland would be a grand country if it had a roof (and that the Guinness tastes better there than anywhere else on earth). She’s since crisscrossed Ireland for several Lonely Planet gigs (including this book’s previous edition), discovering that the Guinness tastes so much better it more than makes up for the rain.
ETAIN O’CARROLL The Midlands, Counties Meath, Louth, Cavan & Monaghan
Born and bred in the boggy hinterlands of rural Ireland, it was almost inevitable that Etain’s youthful quests for more exotic pastures would translate into a career as a travel writer and photographer. Although work often takes her far from home, Etain has written about Ireland’s landscape and culture for a wide variety of publications, and the lure of untouched pubs, meandering rivers and genuine craic never quite goes away. Work on this guide provided a cherished opportunity to traipse around her own backyard searching for hidden treats, revisit some of her favourite places and quiz friends and family on the best spots in the country to eat, drink and be merry.
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LONELY PLANET AUTHORS
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RYAN VER BERKMOES Counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Clare & Galway
From Galway to Cork, with plenty of diversions in between, Ryan Ver Berkmoes has delighted in this great swath of Ireland. He first visited the latter in 1985, from when he remembers a grey place where the locals wandered the muddy tidal flats for fun and frolic. Times have changed! From lost rural pubs to lost memory, he’s revelled in a place where his first