The magazine was designed to offer "wholesome Irish Catholic fare" to challenge the appearance of British newspapers in Ireland like the News of the World. The magazine's appearance coincided with a broad stressing of Irish identity as a reaction to British imports. Among the other examples were the creation of the Gaelic Athletic Association to promote Gaelic games and to halt the growth of soccer and rugby, the appearance of the Gaelic League to promote the Irish language, and the growth in the Irish-Ireland movement reflected in the creation of the Abbey Theatre to promote Irish arts and the creation by Arthur Griffith in 1904 of Cumann na nGaedheal to protest at the visit of King George V and his queen, Mary of Teck. Ireland's Own saw its role as projecting an image of Ireland free from "alien" influence, hence a content free from anything perceived as "scandalous" or "anti-Catholic". A critic described such magazines as offering "a formula for 'healthy fireside reading' combining patriotism, pietism and national news with a minimum of foreign coverage or intellectual speculation." The concept of such a magazine is traced back to the series of pietistic family magazines launched by James Duffy in the mid-19th century.
Its current editor, Phil Murphy, on the occasion of its centenary, described it with the words:
Criticism
In terms of overall design and content, Ireland's Own is regularly described by critics as "outdated" and "old-fashioned", with its reliance on nostalgia that rarely reflects present realities. Its look and content has barely changed since the 1950s. Its demise has long been predicted, given its disproportionate appeal to the two segments presumed weakest to guarantee its future: elderly readers in rural Ireland, and those who have low disposable incomes. However, it remains a constant presence in the publishing market. One explanation for this is that the magazine taps into the younger nostalgia market who grew up with Ireland's Own and have a desire for familiarity and to rediscover a simpler Ireland in the face of monumental changes in Ireland.
Examples of content
Its Christmas 2003 edition contained a series of articles, both fact and fiction, on such topics as "Gathering the Holly", "Who is Father Christmas?", "The Christmas Fairy" and "Christmas Long Ago".
