These trivia questions about Ireland come in five rounds: coasts and wildlife, high kings and Vikings, Normans to the republic, language and books, and science, old stones and the table.
Read the full guide
Irish history trivia questions in two rounds
Stone fields, high kings and Vikings runs from the Céide Fields to the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. Normans to the republic starts with the landing of 1169 and ends with the Celtic Tiger.
Irish trivia questions and answers printable
After a round of ten, Print question sheet prints the next 20 questions with lettered choices, and Print answer key is under More options. Read aloud, these Irish trivia quiz questions come ten at a time; Scored round asks 20 and marks them at the end.
Questions and answers
What are some easy Irish trivia questions and answers?
Where was the ceremonial capital of the High King? Which nickname did Richard de Clare carry? Which Irish satirist wrote Gulliver's Travels? The answers are the Hill of Tara, Strongbow and Jonathan Swift.
Which are the hard Irish trivia questions?
The hardest ask for the county where the Shannon rises (Cavan), the treaty of 1175 that confirmed Henry II as overlord (Windsor) and the word George Johnstone Stoney introduced in 1891 (electron).
Are the Irish history trivia questions and answers checked?
Yes. Each answer was read on October 3, 2026 in the Wikipedia article Ireland, linked under the question. The count of World Heritage Sites was dropped because a second article disagrees, and the conflict in Northern Ireland is not quizzed.
The Burren, a district on the west coast, is known for which kind of landscape?Answer: Karst. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
How much of the island does the Republic of Ireland cover?Answer: Five-sixths. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
In which county does Carrauntoohil rise to 1,039 meters above sea level?Answer: County Kerry. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
In which county does the River Shannon rise?Answer: County Cavan. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Ireland has fewer kinds of land animals and plants than Great Britain. What reason is given?Answer: Only an ice bridge ever joined it to its neighbor. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
The Kinsale Head gas field was the first major find of gas or oil in Irish waters. Off which county does it lie?Answer: Cork. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Roughly what share of the island of Ireland is covered by trees now?Answer: About 10 percent. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Three stretches of water separate Ireland from Great Britain on the east. Two are the North Channel and the Irish Sea. What is the third?Answer: St George's Channel. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Which giant deer is listed among the extinct animals of Ireland?Answer: The Irish elk. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Which of the provinces of Ireland records the least snow?Answer: Munster. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Which rock lies like a blanket over the center of Ireland and gives a fertile, lush landscape?Answer: Limestone. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Which sea lies to the south of Ireland, between the island and Brittany?Answer: The Celtic Sea. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Stone fields, high kings and Vikings 12
Besides Hibernia, which other name did the Romans later use for Ireland?Answer: Scotia. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
By about which date was Ireland completely separated from Great Britain?Answer: 12,000 BC. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
The Céide Fields in County Mayo, small fields divided by dry-stone walls, were farmed more than 5,000 years ago. Beneath what were they preserved?Answer: A blanket of peat. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
The Chronicle of Ireland says a bishop arrived in 431, a year before Saint Patrick. Who was he?Answer: Palladius. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
In his Almagest the geographer Ptolemy called Ireland Mikra Brettania. What does that mean?Answer: Little Britain. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Irish missions carried writing and learning across Europe after the fall of Rome. Which nickname did that earn Ireland?Answer: The island of saints and scholars. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
The names Ireland and Éire go back to a Proto-Celtic word. What did it mean?Answer: Fertile soil. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
On which island did the Irish monk Columba found a mission in 563?Answer: Iona. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Where was the ceremonial capital of the High King of Ireland?Answer: The Hill of Tara. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Which battle of April 23, 1014 brought the end of Viking power in Ireland?Answer: The Battle of Clontarf. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Which two crops were the main ones grown in the Céide Fields?Answer: Wheat and barley. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Who were the brehons of early Ireland?Answer: Professional jurists. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Normans to the republic 12
The Acts of Union made Ireland part of a United Kingdom. On which day did they take effect?Answer: January 1, 1801. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
The Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921 led to the creation of which state?Answer: The Irish Free State. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
In late medieval Ireland, what was the Pale?Answer: The area around Dublin under English Crown control. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
The invasion of 1169 came at the invitation of Dermot Mac Murrough. Of which kingdom was he king?Answer: Leinster. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Later in the 19th century, who campaigned for "Home Rule", meaning autonomy within the Union?Answer: Charles Stewart Parnell. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Richard de Clare was a leader of the Norman invasion of Ireland. By which nickname is he known?Answer: Strongbow. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
What did the Statutes of Kilkenny, passed in the 1360s, require of English subjects in Ireland?Answer: To speak English and keep English customs. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
What name is given to the bitter spell that struck Ireland between December 1739 and September 1741?Answer: The Great Frost. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
What nickname was given to the years of fast economic growth in the Republic of Ireland from 1995?Answer: The Celtic Tiger. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Where did the Cambro-Norman expedition land on May 1, 1169?Answer: Bannow Strand. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Which English king re-created the title King of Ireland in 1542?Answer: Henry VIII. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Which treaty of 1175 confirmed Henry II as overlord of many of the Irish kings?Answer: The Treaty of Windsor. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Language, books and the stage 12
Bloomsday is kept in Dublin every year in honor of James Joyce. When?Answer: June 16. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Early Gaelic Ireland sorted its music into three kinds: weeping music, laughing music and which other?Answer: Sleeping music. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Ireland produced four winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature in the 20th century. Which of these is one of them?Answer: Samuel Beckett. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
The Irish language spread to the Isle of Man. Into which language did it grow there?Answer: Manx. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Poetry in Irish is among the oldest vernacular poetry in Europe. From which century do its earliest examples date?Answer: The 6th century. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
What are the two official languages of the Republic of Ireland?Answer: Irish and English. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
What is the Gaeltacht?Answer: The traditional Irish-speaking areas. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
What is the parliament of the Republic of Ireland, with its two houses, called?Answer: The Oireachtas. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
What is the title of the prime minister of the Republic of Ireland?Answer: Taoiseach. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
What name is given to the intricate woven designs seen on medieval Irish works and still used in jewelry?Answer: Celtic knotwork. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Which Irish satirist won fame with Gulliver's Travels?Answer: Jonathan Swift. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Which theater, founded in 1904, is the national theater of the Republic of Ireland?Answer: The Abbey Theatre. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Science, old stones and the table 12
The Aran Islands and Connemara are in which county?Answer: County Galway. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
The earliest known Irish art is Neolithic carving. At which site is it found?Answer: Newgrange. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Ernest Walton won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1951. With John Cockcroft, what had he been the first to do?Answer: Split the nucleus of an atom by artificial means. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
The expedition of the Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton made the first ascent of which Antarctic mountain?Answer: Mount Erebus. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
From the Middle Ages until the potato arrived, what was the main business of the Irish economy?Answer: Herding cattle. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Glendalough and Clonmacnoise are kept as national monuments. What kind of places were they?Answer: Monastic sites. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
In Waterford, what is a blaa?Answer: A doughy white bread. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
In which century did the potato arrive in Ireland?Answer: The 16th century. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
The mathematician William Rowan Hamilton is famous for inventing what?Answer: Quaternions. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Robert Boyle, a 17th-century natural philosopher, is regarded as a founder of which modern science?Answer: Chemistry. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
Which word did George Johnstone Stoney introduce in 1891?Answer: Electron. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
William Thomson is listed among the scientists of Ireland. Which unit of temperature is named after his title?Answer: The kelvin. Source: Wikipedia: Ireland
How this list was compiled
Written for this site; nothing was copied from another list. Every answer was read on October 3, 2026 in the English Wikipedia article Ireland (text under CC BY-SA 4.0), which is linked beside each question; the questions, wrong choices and explanations are in our own words. Left out on purpose: population figures and ranks, current office-holders and living people, sports teams, bands, companies and brands, drink, the conflict in Northern Ireland, and the facts the site's Saint Patrick's Day pack already asks (the four provinces, the Shannon, the highest mountain, the harp). Four claims on the page were not used because a second article disagrees with them: the count of World Heritage Sites, the width of the North Channel, who led the landing of 1169 and how he came by his nickname, and the exact year of the Statutes of Kilkenny. Levels are our estimate. Licence: own work