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Andrea Caro with her daughters Pearl Currie (17) and Iris Currie (12) from Dublin at the visitors' centre in the Phoenix Park wearing special glasses as the solar eclipse was under way. RollingNews.ie
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From confused birds to 'useless' colanders: Tales of eclipse-watching from across Ireland
Sometimes all it takes is a once-in-a-generation celestial event to bring people together…
IT WAS A ‘Reeling in the Years’ day across Ireland.
Across the country, people gathered in hordes to view the solar eclipse.
The phenomenon peaked at 7.10pm on Wednesday night as the Moon moved in front of the Sun, almost covering it entirely.
The sense of ’eclipse-mania’ had been building since the morning, as queues wrapped around the corner of South Great George’s Street in Dublin city centre to procure a last-minute pair of certified eclipse glasses.
One woman queuing said she had made loads of “queue friends” while waiting to get her hands on a pair.
Another man queuing said he had ordered 10 pairs for a solar eclipse watch party he was hosting.
As the evening unfolded, many people opted to head to organised events and parties.
Others shared glasses on O’Connell Bridge in Dublin, or brought homemade solar eclipse viewers made from cereal boxes and tinfoil to watch projections of the eclipse.
Others headed to high ground.
Vantage points across Dublin were packed: from the Phoenix Park, to bridges and beaches. Others looked up from their gardens or doorsteps.
What was even more noticeable than the actual eclipse was the sense of community as strangers shared their glasses and homemade viewers, discussed the crescent of the sun, and crowded at bus stops to head to viewing events.
The Journal team – aside from those who were working late to keep everyone updated on the eclipse and other news – were among those who headed out to various spots around the country to witness the event.
Our reporter Lauren Boland had been planning to head to the Phoenix Park, where the Irish Astronomical Society was hosting a viewing event, but after she had left the office it became clear she would not make it in time due to the traffic.
She ended up at Fr Matthew Bridge, by Merchant’s Quay, where others were also waiting.
She was lucky enough to have a pair of glasses and shared these with others who didn’t.
“It was lovely getting to see people put on the glasses and have that ‘wow’ moment when they saw the eclipse for the first time,” she said. One family was so excited to get a chance to look directly at the eclipse that the mother gave Lauren a hug.
In Shankill in south county Dublin, the stony beach saw visitors arrive with dogs and eclipse glasses as the solar event’s peak neared. Children carried their tin foiled-cereal boxes and adults carried colanders.
Others resting on the beach pulled their special glasses from their bags and turned to look the sun in its face.
Another of our reporters, Emma Hickey, was on the beach but had no glasses. She approached a man and his son who had removed theirs after the peak had just passed to see if they would donate their eyewear for a minute to view the eclipse.
“I won’t need them again,” the father said, and passed them over.
Elsewhere among the team, Diarmuid Pepper was at Queen’s University Belfast, which had advertised that it would be handing out free solar eclipse glasses, leading hundreds to gather outside the Lanyon Building.
Last minute preparations here, a few people have been saying it feels like a second Fleadh @QUBelfast #Belfast pic.twitter.com/Ew5g7XSgRV
— Diarmuid Pepper (@Diarmuid_9) August 12, 2026
But word then spread that the glasses were actually being handed out at the Maths and Physics Teaching Centre, leading to something of a stampede.
When word filtered that the glasses had run out, one man said: “What a waste of f***ing time, we’ll just head home.”
But others were happy to soak up the atmosphere on the university lawn, with several referring to the scene as being akin to a “second Fleadh”.
As for the eclipse itself, the glasses were of little use as cloud cover mostly blocked views of the solar event.
Nevertheless, a father who was holding his young son tried to get across the importance of what was happening.
“I know this seems boring, just looking at the sky, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing for most people here.
“This is actually a really important thing, that’s why everyone is here, even if it seems a bit boring now.”
Back in Dublin, David MacRedmond was sitting outside The Swan and had a perfect line of sight down Whitefriar Place just as the eclipse happened.
“I didn’t have the glasses so I couldn’t look directly at the sun, but I stole a few glimpses.
“The darkness creeping across the city was surreal. I loved it.”
Nicky Ryan was among those who headed out to the historic Phoenix Park.
“There was a great buzz around – we watched it from the Magazine Fort, away from the huge crowds down at the Wellington Monument,” he said.
“It was surreal to see the light dim across the 15 Acres, and to hear how quiet it became when the wind died down (punctuated only by a particular enthusiastic group beside us passing their solar glasses around, shouting ‘wow!’).”
In Waterstown Park, just inside the M50 in the west of Dublin, around 200 people, including our news editor Daragh Brophy, gathered with picnic blankets, foldable chairs and snacks from around 6pm to watch the unfolding scene.
The disposable, protective glasses that had been selling for as much as €10 in the city centre earlier in the day were in short supply – but there were plenty of homemade viewing contraptions on display – with even the odd welding mask making an appearance.
An eerie darkness began to fall in the 20 minutes or so before the peak of the eclipse, and amid the near-gloom someone elsewhere in the park took the opportunity to set off a couple of fireworks.
There was plenty of talk of the eclipse and sharing of viewers – but for the most part, children seemed more interested in an unexpected extra chance to play together on another long, warm late summer evening.
Reporter Sophie Finn, who had been reporting from the queue of glasses-seekers earlier, was walking down Pearse Street at the peak of the eclipse and groups of people without glasses were trying to catch a glimpse.
“I tried to take a picture on my phone and a little girl stopped and offered me her eclipse glasses instead so I could see it. It was so sweet and also amazing to see. I think I said ‘wow’ out loud.”
Our assistant news editor Rónán Duffy managed to leave the house at about 6.55pm so the eclipse was already well underway.
“There was what can only be described as eerie stillness outside that felt and looked different to the usual twilight. I cycled to Glendown Park in Templeogue and chanced bringing a colander with me as that’s what I had to hand.”
“There were a few people set up on deckchairs enjoying the view with some glasses, but mainly it was parents with children who were playing and commenting on the light. Parents were telling the children to look at the eclipse but confusingly then telling them not to.
“Calling a spade a spade, the colander trick is useless, so I mainly just sat there enjoying how peaceful it was and the uniqueness of the light. I couldn’t help looking up a few times and was able to see to Moon partially obscuring the Sun with my naked eye.
“I’ve spent the past 12 hours paranoid that I’ve screwed my eyesight in later life but we are where we are.”
Jane Matthews, from our political team, said there was a lovely crowd down at Portrane in north Dublin.
“Lots of people (us included) were having picnics and plenty of people with colanders and cereal box contraptions in tow. People were sharing glasses with strangers and offering to take photos of each other. It was very sweet.”
From our Gaeltacht team, Conor Brummel, his mother and his grandmother had dinner in the back garden while keeping an eye on the sun.
“We shared two pairs of solar eclipse glasses between us,” he said.
“The sky was pretty clear in Offaly and it was a beautiful evening weather-wise to sit outside under the sun.
“We have lots of bird nests around and as soon as it started getting dark, they began to flock together in and out of the trees. Apparently birds thought it was nighttime once it got dark, so it was a nice feat of nature all in all!”
In the Cork Gaeltacht, Concubhar Ó Liatháin tells us that the Irish for a solar eclipse is ‘urú gréine’.
“I witnessed the urú gréine in the village of Cúil Aodha. There was no availability of solar eclipse glasses so I took a sneaky glance at the phenomenon through dark swimming goggles and from underwater as I swam in the local linn snámha.”
Cúil Aodha is a village with no pub, but it does have its own open-air swimming pool.
“It was also a help that it was a cloudy evening and this shielded us from the worst of the effects. A few miles away, and above us, at the Top of Coom, Ireland’s highest pub, the view was much better.”
- Reporting by The Journal Team, edited by Emma Hickey
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