A 2019 survey found that about 35% of Irish people had tattoos, and that number has most likely increased in the past six years.

The appeal of getting inked transcends demographics like age and gender, but is there still some stigma surrounding tattoos?

Ciaran from Wildcat Ink Tattoo and Piercing in County Dublin said social media has helped to change people’s perceptions.

“It’s very mainstream now, I mean, Wildcat just got accepted into Culture Night in Dublin,” he told Lunchtime Live.

“So, it’s obviously just become a mainstream thing; everyone is getting them, they’re just part of life.”

According to Ciaran, tattoos have become particularly popular among the 18-30-year-old demographic.

However, he also said one of the shops recent clients was a 90-year-old man, who got a “beautiful, traditional pin-up tattoo on his forearm”.

Closeup of a mermaid tattoo on a man's hairy arm. Image: Tennessee Witney. 21 July 2022

Anna, who is a mother and full-time carer to her two sons, said tattoos are incredibly meaningful to her family.

“One of my son started to get tattoos on his hands and for him, it’s a way of being in this world, of showing up and saying, ‘Please don’t just see my wheelchair’,” she said.

“It’s on his terms what people see, and his tattoos are his way of showing that he is just like everybody else, just in a wheelchair.”

'We exist on our own terms'

Anna said she feels similarly about her own tattoos.

“We can be a whole circus if you want, and people can view us in different ways,” she said.

“But I think for us the main part is to be there, to be present, and not just to be that one invisible mother, carer, person with a disability.

“We exist on our own terms.”

Main image: A person gets tattooed in a parlour. Image: ADDICTIVE STOCK CREATIVES / Alamy Stock Photo