A love letter to Ireland (from your favourite Hollywood celebs)

Hollywood has long been enamoured with Ireland… though people only really started taking note after Matt Damon’s Dalkey retreat years ago. In Dublin at the onset of strict level five restrictions across the country, the actor decided against jetting off back to the U.S. as most expected him to and chose to ride the quarantine wave out here instead – spending the next few months living la vida lockdown along our glorious east coast. 

Matt Damon and Ireland’s Amalfi coast

Keen to fly under the radar as much as possible, Damon lapped up every bit of privacy that the South Dublin village afforded him. When The New York Times came looking for dirt, locals told journalists to feck off and leave their movie star treasure alone. Damon was welcomed into the community with open arms and locals’ fierce protectiveness over him only further fuelled his grá for Éire. “That’s when I realised how great this place was and how protective everybody here is,” Damon later said in an interview on Spin1038.

For many, the memory of him and his SuperValu bag are one of the pervading images of summer 2020. 

After Damon, came many other A-list celebrity sightings. Killing Eve star Jodie Comer donned her togs for a dip at Killiney Beach. Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde went for a seafood supper at Sole. Bill Murray has repeatedly been spotted traipsing around the country, golf club in hand. Even Lindsay Lohan is smitten, saying she “didn’t want to leave” after filming wrapped on her new Netflix film, Irish Wish. 

Pure euphoria

Almost two summers ago, Maude Apatow and the late Angus Cloud, of Euphoria fame, were seen gallivanting around our humble shores. 

A little online sleuthing told us that Maude was here on a family holiday with her sister, Iris, and very famous parents (Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann) whilst Angus seemed to be reconnecting with his Irish roots (he’s only kinda Irish, but we were only too happy to claim him). 

Both Maude and her mum shared snaps from their trip, which show the fam at the Guinness storehouse, frolicking around sheep-filled fields and getting acquainted with some friendly horses. 

Kate Winslet takes to Ballymaloe

This week, we learned that Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet has enrolled in a two-day ‘Cooking for Family & Friends’ class at Ballymaloe Cookery School down in Cork with Rachel Allen. It’s unclear whether she’s sharpening up her kitchen skills in preparation for an upcoming role, or just for the sheer love of it, but she and a friend are holed up at Ballymaloe House while they’re completing the course. No, the proximity to the last port of call of the real-life Titanic is not lost on me. I pray she visits.

Oh Ireland, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. 

So, what’s the appeal you ask? Is it the privacy? The people? The pints? Honestly, I think it’s a combination of all three… and myriad others. Buttery spuds, Tayto sambos, saying “I will yeah” when you really mean no; those are a few of my favourite things. The essence of Ireland is in the million goodbyes at the end of a phone call, the grand stretch, our aversion to notions. It’s in the “Cans?” text on a sunny day, the Sunday game, the public zest for sea swimming and Paul Mescal. There’s an inherent Irishness to each of these things that’s hard to convey, but it’s what makes our little country so great.

So, all together now, Éire abú!

This is an updated version of an article originally published in August 2022.