2. 'Banshee' comes from Irish bean-sidhe, meaning "Woman of the fairy".

3. Brian Boru takes his title from Borinne, near Killaloe, Co. Clare.
Surnames were uncommon in Ireland at this time - effectively he was Brian from Borinne.

4. Samuel Beckett's stage play 'Krapp's Last Tape' concerns a man listening to tapes of himself as a much younger man.

5. The geographical centre of Ireland is Birr, Co. Offaly.

6. The Curlew Mountains are found in Co. Sligo.

7. The first Irish woman to take part in an Olympic swimming final was Michelle Smith (Michelle de Bruin).

8. Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla was a vampire.

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