Visiting
Visiting: Not confirmedas of 7 March 2012
A plaque at the Strand Hotel and a sea-wall image were reported in 2012; whether they remain in place is not confirmed.
Source: Eric Ellis, Che in Kilkee, ericellis.com, 7 Mar 2012, 7 March 2012(opens in a new tab)Kilkee, on the Clare coast, celebrates a reported stay by Ernesto "Che" Guevara. According to the journalist Eric Ellis, Guevara's party signed the Strand Hotel register on 11 September 1961 after a flight diversion to Shannon. A plaque marks the stay, and a nine-square-metre image of Che hangs on the sea wall. The Che do Bheatha Latin American Cultural Festival began in 2011 to mark the 50th anniversary; a festival listing gives the overnight stay as 12 September 1961, and a 2013 edition ran at the end of September. In 2012 the town's mayor, Elaine Haugh Hayes, defended the festival as a cultural and tourism weekend, not a political one.
The stay is contested. A letter in History Ireland, seen only in search results, argues that Guevara's only Kilkee visit was on 13 March 1965 and calls the famous meeting with the artist Jim Fitzpatrick fictional. Fitzpatrick himself says he served Guevara as a 16-year-old barman at the Royal Marine Hotel in 1961; Patrick Comerford's blog places that meeting in 1963. Guevara's other diversions to Ireland are better documented: a televised interview at Dublin Airport after a fog diversion in 1964, and a night at Hanratty's Hotel in Limerick after his flight was diverted to Shannon on 13 March 1965.
Guevara's Irish ancestry runs through the Lynches of Galway, though sources disagree on the generation. Kilkee marks a reported 1961 stay; the date is disputed. The plaque's wording and installation date are not recorded in the research.
Published sources give different versions. Here is each one with its source, and the wording we use.
When Che Guevara stayed in Kilkee
The party signed the Strand Hotel register on 11 September 1961
Source: Eric Ellis, Che in Kilkee, ericellis.com, 7 Mar 2012, 7 March 2012(opens in a new tab)The overnight stay was on 12 September 1961
Source: The Wild Geese, Che do Bheatha Latin American Cultural Festival (2013 festival listing), 2013(opens in a new tab)His only Kilkee visit was on Saturday 13 March 1965
Source: History Ireland, Che in Kilkee? (letter; seen in search results only), 11 October 2026(opens in a new tab)We say: Kilkee marks a reported 1961 stay; the date is disputed
When Jim Fitzpatrick met Guevara in Kilkee
1961, as a 16-year-old barman at the Royal Marine Hotel
Source: Clare Echo, Ernesto, Kilkee and Shannon: Che Guevara came to Clare, 8 Oct 2017, 8 October 2017(opens in a new tab)1963, at the Marine Hotel pub
Source: Patrick Comerford, New Che stamp recalls school days, 10 Oct 2017, 10 October 2017(opens in a new tab)The meeting is fictional
Source: History Ireland, Che in Kilkee? (letter; seen in search results only), 11 October 2026(opens in a new tab)We say: Fitzpatrick says he met Guevara in Kilkee as a teenage barman; the year, and the meeting itself, are disputed
1928–1967
Rosario-born revolutionary with documented but remote descent from Patrick Lynch of Co. Galway; Ireland's claims on him, from a Kilkee plaque to a 2017 stamp, are contested.
Sources