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Hello Brian! I’m more than happy to help you out there, though I will clarify that I’m not an expert in Irishness. I am also not too well versed in the areas around Ireland. Believe it or not, I have not experienced a lot of it in my life so far. My most frequent destination in terms of sightseeing was probably Dublin. But I will try to answer your questions as best as I can. There are different slangs and traditions in different parts of Ireland so I will tell what I know and some of the things that I have experienced personally.
So I live in a rather rural area, about thirty minutes away from the nearest big city. Generally country people, the farmer crowd or the general population in the west of Ireland, are referred to as culchies and the city people, so Dublin people, are townies.
Generally you find bogs all over Ireland, and there’s different types of them, like blanket bogs. But I think a place that definitely would interest you is the Burren in County Clare. It’s a very rocky, vast area with unusual plants. When you’re there, there’s a sort of sense that you’re in a place apart from the earth, because the rocky landscape is so vast and endless. There’s monastery ruins and tombs dating back to the Neolithic era. There’s a saying – in the burren there’s not enough water to drown a man, not enough trees to hang a man and not enough earth to bury a man.
A fishing port with bogs nearby hmm. That’s a good question. I’d say a lot of the rural fishing ports in Ireland would be somewhere near bogsides. I think Cobh has bogs near it and Dún Laoghaire has a bog called Ballybetagh bog. That’s all I know at the moment I’m afraid, but I can do more research if you like.
The Wild Atlantic Way would be a major area for bogs. A lot of the these areas would be part of conservations centers because they are protected now. Depending on when your character would have lived, or if you want to keep away from historical accuracy altogether, that’s okay too 🙂 a lot of bogs wouldn’t be harvested nowadays. In my opinion, it’s an absolute waste of resources and is going to severely impact the rural communities in Ireland.

I think there are so many hidden spots in Ireland that aren’t given enough appreciation. Pilgrimage sites for one. The holy wells would be some fairly unknown spots, they’re usually tucked away in fields, but its usually possible to visit them. Mass rocks are also important and underrated spots. When Catholicism was outlawed in Ireland, locals would go to remote spots in the mountains or woodlands where the priest would use a large rock as the altar to celebrate mass. It was also usually in a location where they would be able to see if soldiers were coming. Here’s a link if you’re interested https://www.acnireland.org/mass-rocks?ss_source=sscampaigns&ss_campaign_id=60d45e5bd5ef966a5337bcb5&ss_email_id=60dae11d0beb582b02b59e81&ss_campaign_name=Mass+Rock+Video&ss_campaign_sent_date=2021-06-29T09%3A00%3A30Z

There are also castles and church ruins everywhere. I actually live near the remains of a church dating from about 800 AD, and it was also the graveyard where unbaptized children were buried. You see a lot of them in Ireland too. Some of it is on private land and others you can visit easily. But I suppose it would depend on where your character is from really. Once you know the location, the geography is easier to figure out, though its still limited if you have never been there of course. I spent a lot of time in Sligo for example, so I’m very familiar with the rugged mountainous landscape and huge beaches. Its a pretty amazing place, there’s a reason WB Yeats lived there 🙂

Mannerisms of Irish men that aren’t cliche hmm. That’s a hard one. I mean generally Irish men are pretty loud, particularly the culchie ones. The townie men would be more soft spoken, but I could be wrong. My dad is actually a foreigner living in Ireland, so I don’t have any Irish dad experience haha. A lot of men in my area would greet each other like ‘How ya now? Good now and yourself? etc etc. They would take the Lord’s name in vain a lot too, like think of the most Irish way to say Jesus Christ and you have it :/ Irish men are also very proud, farmers especially are very passionate about their farms and the land they own. Hurling and Gaelic football is also a huge deal in Ireland, and they’re far more popular than Irish women’s sports. Irish men as a whole are generally very passionate about sports. I think they’re also pretty suspicious of foreigners, especially older ones, but probably not all of them.
So your character seeing as he’s from a fishing village, could perhaps come from a background where fishing is slowly declining and the economic impact that would have. Again this would also depend on the era your book is set in. Nowadays most of our fishing waters have been handed over the British and the EU by our idiotic government, so Irish fishermen have much smaller quotas, meaning that the industry is going downhill. If you want to go for a fairly normal Irish person, you could make him come from a Catholic family, but you could always go for something newish and make him a part of a different Christian denomination. Again that’s kind of up to yourself.
Again, don’t take anything I say to be expert advice. I’m just telling you what I know and what I have grown up with. Feel free to ask any questions at all 🙂

Neasa, this is perfect!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Just what I was looking for.
Since my “Surface World” characters are pulled out of Earth time, the period in which “Begglar” lived can be any”when”. (I just made that word up. 😉 )
I have a particular fondness for rural communities, so I am of your mind on the government intrusions and over reaching politicians who don’t know when to stop meddling.
In my mind, Begglar would be a fisherman who has a small to medium-sized fishing trawler vessel, with a cabin and a hold and large booms and transoms to hold and lift and swing weighted nets from. He would have to supplement his income, but working part-time in a local shop in the village. (not sure what he will sell there, but I am still sorting that out. Any ideas on what might be a popular, gathering spot that might make a go for trade? I don’t think, I want him operating a pub, but perhaps a small bakery or something might be an idea. The problem with a bakery is a baker’s hours would not leave a lot of time for fishing, so the shop would have to be a kind of seasonal shop.)
What you describe about the dwindling fishing industry would fit right in with this background.
So, in the bogs and fens, do they still dig up peat moss for kindling and building smoking fires? I know peat moss can burn for many days, and some might even smolder for years.
The very thought of that gives me mental visuals that bring a smile to my face. I would think it somehow reticent of the dead marshes in Tolkien’s LOTR.
I do want this character to be well versed in knowledge of the scriptures, but have a sort of fondness for local Irish lore and legends. I want him to have a bit of blarney in him, and that Irish mirth that enjoys slightly teasing his fellows, when an opportunity for levity arises. I want him to be a man who laughs well, in spite of difficulty, and one who does search for the humor in a situation, even when others might become mopey and a little despondent. I want him to be the kind of man that others like to keep company with, for they know he will entertain them and feed them well from both his larders and his love of tall tales.
I want him to be a man who has more about him, than can be understood just from looking at him. I want him to be self-deprecating in some ways, and boisterous in others. The kind of man that others feel anxiety about if he ever seems to be not himself and becomes sad and grumpy. The kind who usually loves the company and camaraderie of tough men, who are proud of their masculine attitudes as protectors, hard workers, and sometimes shows of physical strength, clever wit, with whom duty and honor are things to be cherished. A man who believes that hard work should be rewarded and that a man has a right to dispense with the fruit of his labor however he sees fit.
I also love the you have included colloquial phrases and greetings. These I will most certainly use.
Begglar is most definitely a culchie and proudly so. He loves the wide open spaces almost as much as he love the smell of the salty sea air and the broad horizon of thousands of rolling waves as far as the eye can see.
On the seas, he does enjoy the virtues of solitude and takes the time for deeper reflection and times spend talking to and reading about The Great Fisher of Men, Jesus Christ.