How to spend a very German weekend in Ireland: Just drop the r-word

“Feckin’ hell!” cried the taxi driver when a car pulled out in front of him as we were leaving the airport car park. “Pardon my language, love, but that gobsh*te nearly ruined both our evenings.” I chuckled, rather enjoying the Father Ted moment. I’d certainly arrived in Ireland. 

I am here to speak at the Dalkey Book Festival held annually in – you guessed it – the village of Dalkey, which is south of Dublin and one of the most affluent parts of the country. It’s home to many celebrities like Bono at whose house Tom Hanks stayed last year when he promoted his new book at the festival.

On Friday night, I ended up chatting to a nice man who introduced himself to me as “Chris”. We’d talked for over an hour before he told me that the rest of his name was “de Burgh” and that we were sitting in his garden. Naturally, I was mortified! German friends and family will rightly berate me for my ignorance. He’s incredibly popular in Germany, not least in the East where he gave many concerts during the Cold War era. 

One of the things I find fascinating about Ireland is its close relationship to Germany in lots of unexpected ways. Chris de Burgh is just one example. Germany loves him and he loves Germany. He said he had probably travelled to more places there than in his home country of Ireland.

But there are plenty of other examples too. When I came to Dublin last year to speak at the History Festival, someone told me about their old German teacher who had been a fugitive Nazi escaping from justice after the Second World War. The man said the whole village in the south of Ireland knew that – even the children he taught – yet nobody seemed particularly bothered about it. But Nazis in Ireland will have to be a matter for another ZEITGEIST piece. 

When I arrived in Ireland this time, the taxi driver had barely stopped swearing at the eejits on Dublin’s roads when our conversation turned to what I do. I explained that I was a German writing about Germany and then counted the seconds to the inevitable mention of the r-word. I didn’t have to wait long. “So what do you think Ireland can learn from German reunification?”