Irish-Bahrain relations go back at least 5,000 years to the pre Dilmun era. Consider the following evidence. Ancient maps found in Dublin refer to Bahrain as ‘Tir an Bhad Trean’, literally ‘the land of the strong boat’. This name was shortened through Dublin accents to ‘An Bhadhthrean’ and eventually to ‘Bahrain’. The same maps refer to Sitra as ‘An Sli Tra’ meaning ‘the road to the strand’. At that time, Sitra was on the coast and the name was thought to refer to natural causeways joining Sitra Island to the larger Islands close by. The ancient name for Manama was ‘Mna-na mna’ (literally ‘the mother of all mothers’), which is interpreted as a poetic reference to the largest settlement in the region at the time and a tribute to the dominant position of women in ancient Bahraini society. Muharraq was originally called ‘Maith Charraig’, a reference to the quality of rocks found there. This was the basis of a pre-pearling jewellery industry, using precious coloured rocks. On a good day some of these coloured rocks can still be found to the east of the runway at Bahrain International Airport. The hill (Jebel Dhurkhan) is called after Clan Durkan, a well known Wexford man, who led an expedition to Bahrain in 2,100 BC. The Arabic translation of Durkhan as ‘smoky’ refers to the introduction of tobacco smoking which the Irish explorers brought with them.