Ed Sheeran: 'It was school and Ireland in my childhood'

RTÉ News​

7 hours ago

Ed Sheeran has spoken about his Irish heritage and his frequent visits to Ireland when he was growing up, saying it was "school and Ireland in my childhood".
Ahead of his impromptu appearance at the 2025 Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Wexford town on Tuesday night, the chart-topper sat down with 2fm host Tracy Clifford for a wide-ranging interview in which he chatted about his Irish roots, new music and love of Westlife and Jedward.
The 34-year-old singer-songwriter complimented the "vibey" energy in The Sky and The Ground pub on Wexford's South Main Street, where he performed some original songs and trad tunes with Irish bands Amble, Beoga, Aaron Rowe and BIIRD, who he said are "stars - they radiate great energy."
In a pre-recorded interview for The Tracy Clifford Show on 2fm, Sheeran spoke about spending huge amounts of time in Ireland during his formative years.
"I mean, it was summers, winters, autumns and springs," he said. "We came here every single break we got from school, we were here. It was kind of school and Ireland in my childhood which was quite nice, actually.
"Then growing up and then travelling the world and experiencing different countries and cultures, having been so rooted here in my childhood. We never really did beach holidays, I mean, look at me. I don't think my family wanted to sit on beaches and get fried to a crisp!"
The Yorkshire-born music star, who has a large Irish family, including his Belfast-born father, also addressed the backlash he received in some quarters when he said that he identified "culturally as Irish".
"I feel like people are a bit like 'gatekeepey' sometimes," Sheeran explained. "I think it comes from Americans that are 1/16th Irish... I do understand it.
"But also - no one can tell me what my childhood was, or what the culture that I grew up with, or the music I grew up with, or the humour I grew up with, or the movies I grew up... I grew up with it, therefore, it's part of me.
"Therefore, I feel like it's part of my culture and how can someone else tell me what is or isn't how I feel?"
The Shape of You singled out some tastes and smells that were synonymous with Ireland for him when he was growing up.
"Tayto [crisps] really and my grandmother had so many grandkids she bought a deep fat fryer, so she did proper chips," he said.
"And burning peat smell, because they had a fireplace, so those would be my childhood smells and tastes. Oh and a lot of stew, my uncle, that's all he cooks - big stews."
Recently, Sheeran was playing a homecoming gig in Ipswich when he brought Irish boyband Westlife out for a rendition of one of their hit tracks.
He said of the experience: "I was playing my hometown and I wanted to do something special for my hometown shows and I feel like Flying Without Wings, it's just a songbook song now, it's a classic.
"Everyone loves Westlife so it was a big honour to get to sing on stage with them. I also don't feel like enough pop stars give Westlife their flowers because pop is still this sort of dirty word from the 90s, early 2000s.
"You need to give flowers to people that have achieved great things and Westlife have achieved incredible things and we should celebrate them."
Sheeran has a lot of love for another iconic Irish act - none other than Jedward.
He said: "I love Jedward. I first met them I was in Toronto, 2012, driving through the streets and I just see these two quiffs and I was like 'Is that Jedward?' And I just put them in the car, never met them before, and I just said 'Come with me'.