Muireann Duffy
The European Championships and Covid-19 were among the top Googled topics in Ireland in 2021.
The search engine's annual 'Year in Search' results show Euro 2020 and Danish player, Christian Eriksen, who collapsed during one of the competition's games, were the first and fifth top searched items, while the Premier League took second place.
According to the Irish Examiner, 'Coronavirus' was the third most searched topic, followed by 'seesaw'.
While Eriksen was the most searched person, Gordon Elliott was second after he was banned by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board for a picture which circulated online showing him sitting on top of a dead horse.
Actor Alec Baldwin, who continues to deal with the fallout after a gun he was holding on the set of his movie went off, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, was named the third most Googled person in Ireland, followed by former UK health secretary, Matt Hancock, after video footage of him breaching social distancing rules by kissing an aide went viral online.
Irish Olympic gold medal winner Kellie Harrington took fifth. Notable deaths during the year resulted in a high volume of searches for people including Britain's Prince Philip, Sarah Everard and Sean Lock.
Netflix shows popular with Irish viewers were also among the top searched items, including Bridgerton and Squid Game, while ITV's Love Island, the Eurovision Song Contest and American crime drama, Mare of Eastown and Irish drama Kin were also highly Googled.
In terms of 'how-tos', how to register for the Covid-19 vaccine, how to take an antigen test and how to book a Covid test all featured in the top 10.
Irish searchers also enquired about how to make iced coffees and how to do the Jerusalema dance.
On the search engine's "what is" list, Article 16, in reference to the Northern Ireland protocol, Cop26, close contacts and impeachment were the topics searchers looked to find out more about.
