The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word KILDARE
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
K
I
L
D
A
R
E
More clues leading to the result KILDARE
- Dotty liked to tour yearly, essentially a county in Eire
- Artist returning inside liked interpreting Irish territory
- Butcher shortened venture somewhere in Ireland
- County doctor from long ago
- Knock off reduced challenge in part of Ireland
- Be brave enough to have short skirt in front in Ireland
- County nearly put a stop to challenge
- Line put in joke with time set back part of Ireland
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "a county in Eire" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case a county in eire = kildare.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.