The folklorist preserving Ireland’s hidden history and traditions – ‘You can go anywhere in the country and easily fall into conversation with a stranger’

When Michael Fortune enquired about buying the folklore.ie domain name he faced little in the way of competition. This was before folklore was “sexy”, before young people began taking an interest. It was the 1990s, and the nation was too busy spending money, too busy living, to think of the old days, the dark days, and their corny pastimes.