Irish Whiskey is a whiskey made in Ireland. There are several types of whiskey common to Ireland: Single Malt, Single Grain, Pure Pot Still and Blended Whiskey.
The word whiskey is an Anglicisation of the ancient Gaelic term "uisce beatha" which translates as "water of life". (The Craythur is a modern Irish term for whiskey, from 'the creature', as in 'created'...[1]) The Irish spell the drink "whiskey" while the Scottish drop the "e".
Although similar to scotch whisky in many ways, the main difference is that Irish whiskey is distilled three times, whereas Scotch is distilled only twice. Another way Irish Whiskey differs is that peat is almost never used in the malting process, so the smoky, earthy overtones of Scotch are not present. A notable exception to this is Connemara Peated Malt whiskey.
There are far fewer distilleries of Irish whiskey than there are of Scotch. Economic difficulties in the last couple of centuries have led to a great number of mergers and closures. Currently there are only three distilleries operating in Ireland (although each produces a number of different whiskeys): Midleton, Bushmills, and Cooley. Only Cooley's is Irish-owned.