Bono enjoys St Patrick’s Day on Achill Island

BEAUTIFUL DAY Bono pictured with Gracie Cafferkey of Lourdie’s Pub in Achill during his stay on the island over the weekend.

Anton McNulty

THE locals in Lourdie’s Pub in Dooagh could not believe their eyes when Bono walked through the door on Saturday afternoon to sit down to watch Ireland’s Six Nations Rugby game against Wales. The U2 frontman was staying in Achill with his wife, Ali, and some friends over the St Patrick’s weekend.
St Patrick’s Day is traditionally one of the busiest days of the year on the island, with visitors and many of the Achill diaspora travelling home to see the playing of the pipebands. As St Patrick’s Day this year fell on a Sunday, the island saw more of an influx than usual over the weekend.
When Bono walked into Lourdie’s on Saturday, the pub was busy as people were settling in to watch the game. However, he was happy to squeeze in beside the locals. Unsurprisingly, news of his arrival spread very quickly on social media, and it was not long before more people started to arrive into Lourdie’s for a chance to see Bono up close.
The singer was described as a gent by locals, who said he was ‘down to earth’ and ‘happy to chat and mingle’ with people in the pub. He posed for photos with Gracie Cafferkey of Lourdie’s and stayed for a couple of hours before leaving at approximately 8.30pm.
On St Patrick’s Day, he took in more of the island and posted a video of Keem Bay on the official U2 Facebook page. He can be heard saying: ‘St Patrick’s Day, Achill Island, sea and sky, awesome’ before ending the video by describing the island as a beautiful place.
By lunchtime on Monday, the video had been viewed by more than 276,000 people, shared over 1,000 times, commented by 488 people and liked by closed to 10,000 people. Achill Tourism will be hoping that such a ringing endorsement from Bono will persuade many of his fans to visit the island, where they are sure to ‘find what they’re looking for’.