By Sean Murphy

Copyright irishmirror

When Colin Farrell dropped the f-bomb amid his love of Tayto crisps, he confirmed what the world says about us and swearing – they f**king knew it.

Irish people have a reputation across the globe for being champion swearers, from Bob Geldof during Band Aid in 1985 to Fr Jack Hackett in Fr Ted in the 1990s. Former Ballykissangel star Colin, 49, from Dublin, is the latest to do us proud.

He was on American TV show Today to promote his new film A Big Bold Beautiful Journey with Aussie co-star Margot Robbie, 35. Farrell had told producers that he made Robbie a crisp sandwich on the movie set, so they made him one – and he enthusiastically bit into in on live TV.

He said on Tuesday: “That’s not bad. Is that Tayto? That is Tayto. Is that Tayto? It is. I f**king knew it.”

His funny telly misstep follows hot on the heels of the contestants on RTE’s series The Traitors cursing like troupers. Popular contestant Paudie said before he was voted off the reality show: “I’m not a f**king hugger”.

Even the programme’s co-presenter Kevin McGahern, 38, who hosts the aftershow Uncloaked, was struck by the level of cursing. He told the Irish Mirror: “I’ve noticed a few differences straight off the bat. First of all, the cursing. I couldn’t get over the sheer amount of cursing that we do.

“I don’t think it’s nerves. I think it’s just the way we talk, we do tend to curse a lot and it’s something like this show that makes you realise that swearing is very much part of our vocabulary.”

And who can forget the red face of former Late Late Show presenter Ryan Tubridy, 52, when he dropped one on the show’s Christmas Toy Show edition. Tubs opened a bottle of orange which fizzed all over him as tens of thousands of viewers tuned in during the first Covid-19 pandemic Christmas.

The fizz solicited a swear word and a clip of the incident went viral, with many viewers debating whether he had said the “F-word”. Ryan said later: “People thought it was an F-bomb and it wasn’t. Strangely, it was a B-bomb.”

Funnily, Tubs did it again two years later when he accidentally swore in front of some Toy Show kids during rehearsals for the biggest night in Irish television. He said after a nerf gun pellet accidentally struck someone: “Oh sh*** sorry. I think we’re having a little Fanta moment.”

Geldof swearing live on the BBC 40 years ago when TV demeanour, especially on the Beeb, was much more formal caused uproar. He has been famously misquoted and accused of saying “give us your f**king money” in 1985 as he appealed for donations to aid the famine in Ethiopia.

He actually said “fuck the address” when providing details of how to donate. Bob, 73, did it again in 2014 when he promoted a new version of the fundraising single Do They Know It’s Christmas? He was asked on Sky News a question about the taxes of the singers and was taken off the air when he used the word “bollocks” twice in his response.

Bob’s cursing was even celebrated in an episode of hit TV comedy Fr Ted when punters at The Lovely Girls’ Competition mistakenly enquired if fictional character Fr Jack was Geldof. When Fr Jack, played by the late Frank Kelly, who died in 2016, told them to “feck off”, one of the punters said: “That’s him [Geldof] all right”.

Fr Ted actor Ardal O’Hanlon, 59, who played Fr Dougal McGuire in the show, presented a documentary about swearing in 2021. It was called ‘Holy F**k’ and explored why it is that some people claim the Irish swear more than almost any other nation. Ardal said: “Part of it is that we’re just a little histrionic by nature. We magnify our grievances, we’re well versed in the art of begrudgery. I’m surprised we don’t swear more.”

Cursing is so poetically engrained in the national lexicon that even our politicians do it in the country’s parliament. It was on December 11, 2009, during a Dail debate on the Social Welfare bill of the 2010 Budget that Paul Gogarty TD told Emmet Stagg TD “f**k you”. Gogarty said: “With all due respect, in the most unparliamentary language, f**k you deputy Stagg. F**k you. I apologise.”

In 2023, a survey in Britain found that many believe our cursing has to be taken in context. One respondent said: “F**k off can be anything from humorous dissension to mild disbelief to a threat of violence.”

At the time, actress Claudia Carroll, 56, who played Nicola Prendergast in Fair City, said: “We have a habit of taking a word and hyphenating to insert a swear word. For example, the classic abso-effing-lutely. You see a lot of nations that come here are more conservative and express shock at how much we swear.”

Ryan Tubridy was on the end of a proper F-bomb in 2018 when Boyzone’s Shane Lynch, 49, delivered a sweary rant. Shane and his bandmates appeared on the Late Late Show in 1993 with former host Gay Byrne, who died in 2019, and performed a dance routine as they were launching their career.

Tubs showed a clip and Shane said: “I busted my b****x to get here, right? So here’s what you can do with that clip. You can shove it up your f**king hole. That’s what you can do with that clip. Honest to god.” He added: “I don’t give a f**k how you see it.”

Shane’s bandmate Ronan Keating, 48, has a son Jack, 26, who also cursed on air. Former Love Island star Jack has been working on Irish radio station Spin 1038 since last summer – but first appeared on his dad Ronan’s radio show on Magic FM.

In June past, Jack told Virgin’s Six O’Clock Show: “I remember I went on my dad’s radio show in London a couple of years ago and dropped an F-bomb. It was literally headphones off and mic pulled straight away.”

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