Title: Why is Irish Culture So Popular? Explaining Ireland’s ‘Green Wave’

Irish culture has been in the spotlight these last few years.

On an island with a population of 7 million people, Irish stars in recent years have dominated cinema, music and literature. Actors like Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan, musical artists like Hozier and Niall Horan, and authors like Sally Rooney have stepped into the spotlight.

The New York Times labeled the phenomenon as a “thirst for the Irish.” Meanwhile, Vulture called it the “pluck of the Irish.” But perhaps what best explains the surge in Irish culture is the L.A. Times’ description of the “Green Wave.”

Darragh Gannon, an Irish-born assistant teaching professor of Irish history in the College of Arts & Sciences, has a few theories on why the Irish rule American pop culture. 

The Green Wave can be attributed to the significant Irish diaspora — in the U.S., there are 35 million people of Irish descent, according to Gannon. But while Irish luminaries like James Joyce have long been an American staple, something different is happening right now as younger stars take center stage.

“I think that’s what’s so relatable about this Green Wave is that it’s storytelling, which is in some respects distinctly Irish in its provenance, but it’s speaking to new and diverse audiences,” said Gannon, who is the associate director of Global Irish Studies. “I think the reception of [Irish] film, music, TV and literature has spoken volumes about how compelling Irish voices can be in telling stories.”

Gannon unpacks why the Green Wave is happening right now, the impact of Irish immigration and the secret ingredient behind Irish storytelling.

Ask a Professor: Darragh Gannon on Irish Culture and the Irish Diaspora

What is the Green Wave and why is it happening right now?

The Green Wave is a term coined by the L.A. Times in February 2023 in anticipation of the 95th Academy Awards. It was referring specifically to the incredible success of the film The Banshees of Inisherin, which was nominated for nine different awards at the 2023 Oscars. 

But the critical acclaim and cultural interest overshadowed the film itself. The Green Wave has been used to explain the resurgence of Irish culture across the Atlantic. So we’re not only talking about films like The Banshees of Inisherin, but also the literature of Paul Lynch, for instance. In music, the rise of the Irish language group Kneecap, but also the Dublin-based group Fontaines D.C. And, of course, the incredibly translatable adaptations of Sally Rooney’s novels — Normal People amongst others —  and Derry Girls as well. So this is a cultural moment for the ages.

How has Irish culture historically been viewed, and how has it evolved?

Ireland has traditionally been known as the Land of Saints and Scholars. It’s the latter that has defined Ireland’s presentation of itself to the world. The likes of James Joyce, W.B. Yeats and Oscar Wilde have been exported to the world as the literary ambassadors of Ireland over the last century.

What’s really interesting about the contemporary presentation of Ireland through this Green Wave is how young these artists, writers and actors are. They appeal to a younger demographic, but also in terms of telling this immigrant story. They are at once Irish and American. If you look at Cillian Murphy, he has spent approximately half of his adult life in the U.S. in various acting roles. Similarly, Colin Farrell, who has resided in Dublin and Los Angeles, is considered in some respects an Irish American actor. So the contemporary Green Wave speaks in a compelling way to stories of Irish immigration for the contemporary moment.

How has immigration from Ireland shaped the popularity of Irish culture?

One of the reasons why these [celebrities] have been so successful in the U.S. is because of the Irish diaspora. 

There have been centuries of migration to the U.S. from Ireland. In the 18th century, the predominant wave of migration was that of Protestants. Looking for upward social mobility, they typically migrated to the Deep South in search of land and commercial opportunities.

However, the Great Irish Famine between 1845 and 1852 saw a sea change quite literally in that migration story from one of a positive, voluntary choice to one of exile, banishment, forced displacement and crisis. Between 1845 and 1855, approximately 2 million predominantly Irish Catholics migrated to the U.S. They were met with resistance from a predominantly white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant society.

Their subsequent rise in the political world, most notably by the Kennedy family, spearheaded by John F. Kennedy as president of the U.S., bookends the famine story from exile to immigrant success story. Political participation was the platform from which Ireland became recognized as an acceptable ethnic identity in U.S. culture and society.

Today, approximately 35 million people in the United States claim Irish heritage. So there is an inbuilt audience for representations of Ireland, Irishness or Irish experiences on the silver screen and on the stage. 

Why are Irish stories compelling for global audiences?

[Irish stories have] transnational themes. If you look at Normal People by Sally Rooney, these are experiences to which young people around the world can connect. Derry Girls, which is set in the 1990s Northern Ireland and the Troubles, is incredibly resonant in terms of people’s experiences of conflict around the world. 

I recall meeting Lisa McGee, the creator of Derry Girls, in Belfast and discussing her work. She said that she realized how international her work was when she premiered Derry Girls in Colombia and widows of the Colombian Civil War came up to her afterward and told her how much Derry Girls, a story that is so localized and so Irish in some respects, resonated with them. 

Our collective experiences as Irish people, with histories of colonialism and famine, make us more receptive and empathetic to the plight of other countries and other peoples. So it’s the empathy of the Irish people around the world and their willingness to listen to other people’s stories, which makes our stories more compelling and captivating in the 21st century.

What parts of Irish culture have helped promote Ireland’s popularity?

I think the overarching explanation is that we are a nation of storytellers. Traditionally, this was a ritual or folklore-ish way of explaining the world. We are an island culture. We are an island people, and storytelling was a huge part of rural society in Ireland. And when migrants came to the U.S., they brought those storytelling techniques and ways of life with them, and that has been transformed in a contemporary, cutting-edge cultural way today into film, literature and music.

There is an Irish accent that defines this Green Wave quite literally in some senses. The lead vocalist of Fontaines D.C., Grian Chatten, sings with a distinctly Dublin accent. We have actors like Barry Keoghan who speak with a localized accent. I think people find that compelling. It sparks curiosity in Irish culture. I would also suggest that in an Anglophone world, it offers a different presentation of an English-speaking society.

For many decades, people with British accents have defined the silver screen. For people who have not been immersed in Irish culture, they’re intrigued by these English-speaking actors who are ostensibly not from London or not part of that kind of cultural Britannica.

Do politics play a role in the resurgence of Irish culture?

In some respects, this Green Wave is seen as the cultural antidote to the political chaos of Brexit across the Irish Sea in our neighboring island. There has been a presentation of British political figures as being bad Europeans and Ireland politically is seen as the counterpoint to that as good Europeans, the quintessential internationalists. The fact that we are now defined by our culture and not politics I think has been welcomed around the world.

This is in keeping with the Irish government’s Global Ireland program, in which anyone with an interest in Irish history, culture, politics and society can self-identify as the affinity diaspora. They no longer have to be of Irish birth or descent. They can connect culturally to the Irish zeitgeist and be considered part of a global Irish family.

What is also interesting is that this Green Wave is going in the reverse direction back across the Atlantic toward Ireland. In 2025, we are now for the first time seeing positive net migration in Ireland. Now, not only are people staying in Ireland as young people, but earlier generations of migrants are returning to Ireland. We see inward migration in a multicultural sense from diverse ethnic groups from across Europe, the U.S. and Britain as well. This affinity diaspora captures a variety of Irishness that we have come to embrace in the 21st century.

Do you have a favorite piece of Irish media?

What a political question! If this is on the record, I’m going to be caught up. I will say Derry Girls is perhaps the most compelling and celebrated of this Green Wave. Most of my students in my classes, especially the Global Irish Diaspora class, have come to understand modern Ireland through productions like Derry Girls because it speaks to a younger generation.