By Katy Thornton

Bit of a random mix there.

Google has provided the stats on what Ireland was googling in 2022, and it's a bit of a mixed bag. While some topics are expected, for example the war in Ukraine, Queen Elizabeth, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, others are a little bit more random. The most popular search was Wordle, a game so simple yet had us all in a chokehold for a few months there (and still has one of many of us today). Wordle's spin-off games like Heardle, Quordle, and more also mad it onto the most searched, as people tried to figure out simply what this new game was. As for world events, the war in Ukraine was a majorly googled topic in Ireland. According to the stats, questions like, ‘What is NATO?’, ‘What is an Oligarch?’ and ‘What is the population of Ukraine? were frequent as people tried to understand the Russian invasion. Liz Truss and Matt Hancock both got plenty of searches and naturally the World Cup has also been a topic of interest in 2022. In the world of celebrities, the trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard was googled incessantly as it played out before our eyes on television. Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars was also a search trend for the Irish people. Ireland's most googled films were all new releases, including Top Gun: Maverick, The Batman, and of course the ever trending Don't Worry Darling. Coronavirus may have taken a backseat to other news stories this year, particularly as we entered our first year with no major restrictions (at least past the first few weeks of January) but it was a part of Ireland's most Google searched items. ‘How to get a covid cert’ was the most searched question this year followed by ‘How to book a PCR'. Recipes were also a top Googled item for the Irish people, with the majority looking into how to create the perfect Pornstar Martini. Randomly enough, mushroom soup was also a heavily searched recipe, alongside spaghetti bolognese and tomato soup. Unsurprisingly overnight oats and baked oats were on Ireland's mind also, making it onto the top 10 most googled recipes of 2022. We can only imagine what kinds of things we'll be googling in 2023.