The Irish kilt

Starting with Dál Riata, the Scots and the Irish have been closely entwined peoples.

Though the origins of the Irish kilt continue to be a subject of debate, current evidence suggests that the kilt itself originated in the Scottish Highlands and Isles and was adopted by Irish nationalists at the turn of the 20th century as a symbol of Celtic identity. [5]

A garment that has often been mistaken for the kilt in early depictions is the Irish 'Lein-croich', a long tunic traditionally made from solid colour cloth, with black, saffron and green being the most widely used colours. Solid coloured Irish kilts were first adopted for use by the Irish Regiments serving in the British Army, but they could often be seen in late 19th and early 20th century photos in Ireland especially at political and musical gatherings, as the kilt was adopted as a symbol of Gaelic nationalism in Ireland during this period. [6] Tweed kilts were also not uncommon in both Scotland and Ireland and have been popular with sportsmen, fishermen, and hunters.

Many "Irish County" tartans were designed by Polly Wittering, first produced in 1996 by the House of Edgar, of Perth in Scotland. Marton Mills in West Yorkshire produced a competing "Irish County Crest Collection" based on the colours from Irish county crests, resulting in tartans that are considered aesthetically questionable by many traditionalists. There are also a number of "Irish District" tartans most of which are recent designs by Lochcarron of Scotland. The Ulster tartan is one of the oldest registered Irish tartans. It was found by a farmer, W.G. Dixon, in County Londonderry in 1956 as he uncovered pieces of clothing made from the design. The Belfast Museum and Art Gallery dated the material from between the 1590s to 1650s. Its exact origins are unknown, but it is likely that came from a Scottish pioneer during the beginning of the Ulster plantation period when the Scots first came in great numbers to Ulster. There are other generic Irish tartans including the Irish National, St. Patrick's, Tara, and Clodagh. Some Irish family tartans have been appearing over the years, although these are few at the moment more are being created. O'Brien, Sullivan, Murphy, Fitzpatrick, and Forde are fairly common examples of Irish family tartans.

In present day Ireland the kilt is still seen very much as being primarily Scottish, and the current crop of county and district tartans is largely unknown in Ireland and indeed difficult to obtain, having been designed and marketed primarily for the Irish-American market. As they have been neither designed nor manufactured in Ireland itself it is questionable whether they can be strictly described as Irish. In the book District Tartans by Gordon Teall of Teallach and Philip D Smith Jr (ISBN 0 85683 085 2) only three tartans are identified as being distinctly Irish; these are Ulster, Tara, and Clodagh. As noted above the Ulster tartan originates from around 1590–1650 and is probably Scottish in origin.[7] The Tara was first noted around 1880 and was originally called Murphy. The Clodagh has an earliest date of 1971 with uncertainty as to its original designer or first appearance.

Day-to-day kilt wearing is rarely if ever encountered. Within the world of Irish dancing the boy's kilt has been largely abandoned, especially since the worldwide popularity of Riverdance and the revival and interest in Irish dancing generally. There are exceptions to these trends in Ireland. A vibrant piping scene in Ireland means that there are many kilted bands throughout the whole of Ireland, particularly in the north of the island. The majority of these bands wear tartan kilts, the solid colour saffron kilt being almost exclusively the preserve of the pipe bands of the Republic's Defence Forces and the British Army's Irish regiments.