Which mythological figure in Irish lore is known as the 'Hag of Beare'?

The mythological figure known in Irish lore as the Hag of Beare is Cailleach Bhéara.

She is a divine hag or ancestral goddess associated especially with the Beara Peninsula in County Cork and with the arrival of winter. The name Cailleach broadly means “old woman” or “hag” in Gaelic, so it can refer to several related figures across Irish, Scottish, and Manx tradition. Cailleach Bhéara identifies the Irish Beara-associated figure more specifically.

Her best-known literary appearance is as the speaker of The Lament of the Hag of Beare, a medieval Irish poem about ageing, lost youth, and the ebbing of human strength. In the poem’s surrounding tradition, she is named Digdi and is said to have had seven successive periods of youth. She reportedly outlived the men who lived with her and had fifty foster-children in Beare.

The Hag of Beare is sometimes confused with Ériu, Fódla, or Banba, the three sovereignty figures associated with Ireland’s name. They are distinct mythological figures. The Cailleach is instead connected with age, winter, landscape, and the enduring folklore of western and southern Gaelic Ireland.