In August 2016, John Francis Flynn was booked for a lucrative residency on a Disney cruise ship, performing with a band at an imitation Irish pub themed on the leprechaun-heavy 1959 film Darby O’Gill and the Little People. “You’d be down getting breakfast next to some fella dressed as Goofy. It was really quite torturous,” he laughs.
Later, when the promoters suggested the band dress as the film’s characters and play songs like Ed Sheeran’s much-mocked version of Galway Girl, the band turned down the offer to return. “People’s idea of Irishness is so warped,” Flynn says. “We’re proud of our culture and we like to share that with people, but you’re fighting a losing battle when people don’t care unless you’re wearing green or drinking a pint.” It’s something he sees in his native Dublin too. “Temple Bar is like Disneyland,” he says, referring to the riverside neighbourhood in the city centre beloved by tourists.
