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The Country Girls (1960) is O’Brien’s (b.1930) most well-known novel to date.

Although born in Dublin, Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) spent much of her childhood in Cork. Her years in London are evoked in her novels, including The Heat of the Day (1949).

An isolated tree in a field is generally not cut down because it could be sacred.

The first person to taste the Salmon of Knowledge would gain prophetic powers. When the young Finn MacCoul – hero of countless legends – visited Finnegas, the old druid caught the fish. While it cooked, Finn’s thumb touched the salmon. Putting the thumb to his lips, he tasted the fish before Finnegas.

By the 1350s the Normans had settled in Ireland and introduced the feudal system of government, led by a justiciar who was head of the army, the chief judge and top administrator. He was helped in his work by a council of officials, and would occasionally summon a parliament consisting of his council, bishops, abbots and feudal lords. By the end of the 14th century, representatives of counties and towns were part of the process known as the Lower House, or Commons.

McCourt’s (b.1930) evocative account of a poverty-stricken upbringing in Limerick in Angela’s Ashes (1996) won him the Pulitzer Prize

Originally known as The Assembly Rooms when completed in 1786, the building, designed by the German architect Richard Cassels, was converted into the Gate Theatre by the actors Hilton Edwards and Mícheál MacLiammóir in 1928. It soon established a reputation for high-class European productions, rivalling the Abbey, which concentrated on Irish plays. The Gate has maintained its standing as a venue for new plays but also puts on excellent productions of international and Irish classics.

Designed in 1814 in Neo-Classical style by Francis Johnston, the GPO is one of the city’s most imposing buildings. It was the centre of the aborted Easter Rising in 1916 and the scars of gunfire can still be seen on the Ionic portico. The history of this event can be seen in a sequence of paintings in the foyer by Irish artist Norman Teeling.

Born in Dublin, Shaw (1856–1950) moved to England in 1876. Starting as a book reviewer for the Pall Mall Gazette , he was to become a prolific playwright; The Devil’s Disciple (1897) and Pygmalion (1914) are just two of his works. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925.