Where the eclipse goes deepest in Ireland

This is the whole dataset, sorted honestly: 54 Irish towns and cities ranked by how much of the Sun the Moon will actually cover on Wednesday, 12 August 2026. The winner is Tralee in Co. Kerry with 97.1%; the tail of the list still manages 93.7%. And the single most important line on the page: none of them — not one — is inside the path of totality.

How this ranking is built

One criterion, applied to everything: percentage of the solar disc covered at maximum, computed for each locality’s own coordinates (JPL DE440s ephemerides). Ties are broken by the Sun’s altitude, then alphabetically.
No hidden rows: the top 10 get a full entry, the other 44 are in the complete table further down. Every one links to its own page.
No invented cloud statistics. Irish August weather cannot be forecast this far out, and this site does not pretend to: check Met Éireann, the national meteorological service, in the final days and have a second viewing spot in mind.
No fake totality. Ireland is outside the path. Where the real 100% is, with real distances, is at the bottom of this page.

How to read the “what you’ll get” column

A percentage on its own is misleading, because the Sun is so overwhelmingly bright that losing 90% of it barely changes the light. The honest bands, applied to the real numbers:

94% and above — the light itself changes. A flat, cold, metallic dusk; shadows go razor-sharp; the temperature drops noticeably. 45 of the 54 localities we track are in this band.
85–94% — an enormous bite, near-normal daylight. Spectacular through the glasses, but a passer-by who never looks up may not notice a thing. 9 Irish localities fall here.
100% — a different phenomenon entirely. The corona, stars in the afternoon, and the only moment it is safe to look with the naked eye. Available in Ireland: nowhere.

One thing Ireland does not get, and some other countries do: the Sun setting mid-eclipse. In all 54 Irish localities the Moon clears the Sun before sunset — the last contact happens by 20:08.

The top 10

Tralee

Co. Kerry · Town · 26,079 people

97.1%

Sun covered

97.1%

Maximum (Irish time)

19:12

Sun’s altitude

16.4°

Verdict

Light visibly changes

At 97.1% the daylight itself changes: an eerie, flat, metallic dusk, shadows with razor edges and a real drop in temperature — the strangest evening most people in Ireland will ever stand in, though still not darkness.

Full timeline and viewing notes for Tralee →
Killarney

Co. Kerry · Town · 14,412 people

97.1%

Sun covered

97.1%

Maximum (Irish time)

19:13

Sun’s altitude

16.2°

Verdict

Light visibly changes

At 97.1% the daylight itself changes: an eerie, flat, metallic dusk, shadows with razor edges and a real drop in temperature — the strangest evening most people in Ireland will ever stand in, though still not darkness.

Full timeline and viewing notes for Killarney →
Cork

Co. Cork · City · 222,526 people

96.5%

Sun covered

96.5%

Maximum (Irish time)

19:13

Sun’s altitude

15.5°

Verdict

Light visibly changes

At 96.5% the daylight itself changes: an eerie, flat, metallic dusk, shadows with razor edges and a real drop in temperature — the strangest evening most people in Ireland will ever stand in, though still not darkness.

Full timeline and viewing notes for Cork →
Carrigaline

Co. Cork · Town · 18,239 people

96.5%

Sun covered

96.5%

Maximum (Irish time)

19:13

Sun’s altitude

15.4°

Verdict

Light visibly changes

At 96.5% the daylight itself changes: an eerie, flat, metallic dusk, shadows with razor edges and a real drop in temperature — the strangest evening most people in Ireland will ever stand in, though still not darkness.

Full timeline and viewing notes for Carrigaline →
Mallow

Co. Cork · Town · 13,456 people

96.4%

Sun covered

96.4%

Maximum (Irish time)

19:12

Sun’s altitude

15.7°

Verdict

Light visibly changes

At 96.4% the daylight itself changes: an eerie, flat, metallic dusk, shadows with razor edges and a real drop in temperature — the strangest evening most people in Ireland will ever stand in, though still not darkness.

Full timeline and viewing notes for Mallow →
Cobh

Co. Cork · Town · 14,148 people

96.4%

Sun covered

96.4%

Maximum (Irish time)

19:13

Sun’s altitude

15.4°

Verdict

Light visibly changes

At 96.4% the daylight itself changes: an eerie, flat, metallic dusk, shadows with razor edges and a real drop in temperature — the strangest evening most people in Ireland will ever stand in, though still not darkness.

Full timeline and viewing notes for Cobh →
Midleton

Co. Cork · Town · 13,906 people

96.3%

Sun covered

96.3%

Maximum (Irish time)

19:13

Sun’s altitude

15.3°

Verdict

Light visibly changes

At 96.3% the daylight itself changes: an eerie, flat, metallic dusk, shadows with razor edges and a real drop in temperature — the strangest evening most people in Ireland will ever stand in, though still not darkness.

Full timeline and viewing notes for Midleton →
Ennis

Co. Clare · Town · 27,923 people

96.2%

Sun covered

96.2%

Maximum (Irish time)

19:11

Sun’s altitude

16.1°

Verdict

Light visibly changes

At 96.2% the daylight itself changes: an eerie, flat, metallic dusk, shadows with razor edges and a real drop in temperature — the strangest evening most people in Ireland will ever stand in, though still not darkness.

Full timeline and viewing notes for Ennis →
Shannon

Co. Clare · Town · 10,256 people

96.2%

Sun covered

96.2%

Maximum (Irish time)

19:11

Sun’s altitude

16.0°

Verdict

Light visibly changes

At 96.2% the daylight itself changes: an eerie, flat, metallic dusk, shadows with razor edges and a real drop in temperature — the strangest evening most people in Ireland will ever stand in, though still not darkness.

Full timeline and viewing notes for Shannon →
Limerick

Cos. Limerick & Clare · City · 102,287 people

96.1%

Sun covered

96.1%

Maximum (Irish time)

19:12

Sun’s altitude

15.9°

Verdict

Light visibly changes

At 96.1% the daylight itself changes: an eerie, flat, metallic dusk, shadows with razor edges and a real drop in temperature — the strangest evening most people in Ireland will ever stand in, though still not darkness.

Full timeline and viewing notes for Limerick →

The complete list (54 localities)

Positions 11–54, same criterion, same data. Times are Irish Standard Time (IST, UTC+1). A few settlements straddle two counties and appear as the dataset labels them.

Irish towns ranked 11 to 54 by percentage of the Sun covered
#	Town	County	Sun covered	Maximum	Sun altitude	What you’ll get
11	Galway	Galway	96.0%	19:10	16.3°	Light visibly changes
12	Castlebar	Mayo	95.8%	19:09	16.6°	Light visibly changes
13	Dungarvan	Waterford	95.7%	19:13	15.0°	Light visibly changes
14	Ballina	Mayo	95.6%	19:09	16.6°	Light visibly changes
15	Clonmel	Tipperary & Waterford	95.6%	19:12	15.2°	Light visibly changes
16	Tramore	Waterford	95.4%	19:12	14.8°	Light visibly changes
17	Waterford	Waterford & Kilkenny	95.3%	19:12	14.8°	Light visibly changes
18	Athlone	Westmeath & Roscommon	95.1%	19:10	15.7°	Light visibly changes
19	Kilkenny	Kilkenny	95.1%	19:11	15.0°	Light visibly changes
20	Sligo	Sligo	95.0%	19:09	16.3°	Light visibly changes
21	Tullamore	Offaly	94.9%	19:10	15.4°	Light visibly changes
22	Portlaoise	Laois	94.9%	19:11	15.2°	Light visibly changes
23	Longford	Longford	94.8%	19:10	15.7°	Light visibly changes
24	Carlow	Carlow & Laois	94.8%	19:11	14.9°	Light visibly changes
25	Wexford	Wexford	94.8%	19:12	14.4°	Light visibly changes
26	Athy	Kildare	94.7%	19:11	15.0°	Light visibly changes
27	Enniscorthy	Wexford	94.7%	19:12	14.6°	Light visibly changes
28	Mullingar	Westmeath	94.6%	19:10	15.4°	Light visibly changes
29	Kildare	Kildare	94.6%	19:11	15.0°	Light visibly changes
30	Newbridge	Kildare	94.5%	19:11	14.9°	Light visibly changes
31	Gorey	Wexford	94.5%	19:11	14.5°	Light visibly changes
32	Cavan	Cavan	94.4%	19:09	15.6°	Light visibly changes
33	Naas	Kildare	94.4%	19:10	14.9°	Light visibly changes
34	Arklow	Wicklow	94.3%	19:11	14.4°	Light visibly changes
35	Maynooth	Kildare	94.2%	19:10	14.9°	Light visibly changes
36	Celbridge	Kildare	94.2%	19:10	14.8°	Light visibly changes
37	Leixlip	Kildare	94.2%	19:10	14.8°	Light visibly changes
38	Letterkenny	Donegal	94.1%	19:07	16.1°	Light visibly changes
39	Navan	Meath	94.1%	19:10	15.0°	Light visibly changes
40	Ratoath	Meath	94.1%	19:10	14.9°	Light visibly changes
41	Wicklow	Wicklow	94.1%	19:11	14.4°	Light visibly changes
42	Ashbourne	Meath	94.0%	19:10	14.8°	Light visibly changes
43	Dublin	Dublin & Meath	94.0%	19:10	14.7°	Light visibly changes
44	Bray	Wicklow & Dublin	94.0%	19:10	14.5°	Light visibly changes
45	Greystones-Delgany	Wicklow	94.0%	19:11	14.5°	Light visibly changes
46	Drogheda	Louth & Meath	93.9%	19:10	14.9°	Huge bite, near-normal light
47	Malahide	Dublin	93.9%	19:10	14.7°	Huge bite, near-normal light
48	Swords	Dublin	93.9%	19:10	14.7°	Huge bite, near-normal light
49	Portmarnock	Dublin	93.9%	19:10	14.6°	Huge bite, near-normal light
50	Laytown-Bettystown-Mornington-Donacarney	Meath	93.8%	19:10	14.8°	Huge bite, near-normal light
51	Balbriggan	Dublin	93.8%	19:10	14.7°	Huge bite, near-normal light
52	Rush	Dublin	93.8%	19:10	14.7°	Huge bite, near-normal light
53	Skerries	Dublin	93.8%	19:10	14.7°	Huge bite, near-normal light
54	Dundalk	Louth	93.7%	19:09	15.0°	Huge bite, near-normal light

The ranking that actually matters: your horizon

Between the best and the worst place in this list there are 3.4 percentage points. Between a clear western horizon and a row of trees there is everything. At maximum the Sun stands only 14.4–16.6° above the horizon nationwide — roughly a hand’s width at arm’s length — low in the west-north-west.

So do not drive to Kerry for 3.1 extra points if you live in Dublin. Drive fifteen minutes to a west-facing beach, a pier, an exposed headland or a hilltop, get there well before 18:09, and check the sightline in daylight. The west coast has the double advantage of the deeper eclipse and an open Atlantic horizon; on the east coast, look for high ground or a wide field rather than the shoreline, which faces the wrong way.

Irish August weather cannot be forecast this far out, and this site does not pretend to: check Met Éireann, the national meteorological service, in the final days and have a second viewing spot in mind.

And if you want the real thing

Number one on this list is 97.1%. Number one on the list that counts is 100%, and it is not in Ireland. Two real options the same evening, with figures from our own datasets:

Reykjavík — 1m 02s of totality with the Sun 24.5° up, about 1,494 km from Dublin in a straight line. Every Icelandic locality →
Cariño (A Coruña) — 1m 46s where the path reaches the Spanish coast, roughly 1,075 km away; deeper in the band, El Franco (Asturias) gets 1m 50s. The 50 best places in Spain →

Straight-line distances computed from Dublin’s coordinates — not flight distances.

Before you pick your spot

Glasses on the whole time. Ireland never reaches totality, so there is no safe naked-eye moment at any point. Check your EN ISO 12312-2 pair → (and the AAS list of vetted filters).
Arrive before 18:09. First contact happens within six minutes of that time everywhere in the country, and the interesting part builds slowly for the next hour.
Check the forecast on Met Éireann. Have a plan B twenty minutes away.
The same night is the Perseid peak. If the sky clears after dark, stay out.

Circumstances computed for the coordinates of each Irish locality with JPL DE440s ephemerides — the same pipeline behind every other country on this site. All times are Irish Standard Time (IST, UTC+1), exactly as they appear on an Irish clock. No point in the Republic lies inside the path of totality: every figure on these pages is for a partial eclipse.