10 things to notice about Ireland

[theskull1]

Wouldn't go anywhere else

[AZOffaly]

When is a favour never asked, but simply given?

Seriously? My experience is that this is still as strong today as it was 20 years ago.

I agree. I think people are generally very good in fairness.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

And he didn't go north because....?

Those pesky six counties in the north east obviously weren't one of the things he 'noticed' existed in Ireland.

ffs you lads spend your lives trying to be offended. Sure wasn't Ulster mentioned several times, he hardly mentioned Connacht the true heart of Ireland at all at all.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

There is rare beauty in Ireland. I don't think any other country has as much in such a small concentrated area. I think the people have lost something though as one poster mentioned. Exiles all look out for each other here in America. The first summer i came out here I landed on a Friday went to a bar on Saturday and bumped into a few lads and started work on Tuesday morning. There were phone calls being made across a broad network of exiles who had no connection to me but did their utmost to help.
I feel in Ireland only foreigners with money to spend and who will leave again soon, are welcome.
Thankfully America has closed its doors to Irish immigrants for the most part. And the long term exiles keep the new lads in check. Australia is a whole other thread about how our people are representing the country. I think the Ireland I am proud of is a long ago childhood memory.

I think that's exaggerated to be honest. Whatever romanticised notion you have about Ireland apart, the cliquishness of the Irish abroad is a natural phenomenon and we are good at that. No other nationality that I know clings to each other and the notion of home so much. That's all good.

However, while the Celtic Tiger skewed people's sense of priorities at home, I still think the Irish are friendly, and a good chat. I can guarantee that I could walk into any bar in Ireland and within 15 minutes be chatting about GAA, and probably know someone who knows someone. I also think it absolutely wrong to say that ex-pats are not welcome home, unless of course they are a certain, ahem, type of ex-pat who feels the need to explain why things are so much better in Amerikay, and why people who stay at home are crazy, and why Ireland is such a bad place to live.

Ireland, despite the balls our politicians have made of it, and despite our numerous flaws, is still one of the best places in the world to live, and I am  ;)proud to live here, and call Ireland home.

Perhaps not on the Shankill Road in Belfast.

"Those Taig f**kers in the GAA"               

[Eamonnca1]

When I and many others go home you are let know you are a stranger in your own village. The tiger represented a seismic change for me in Irish people and I am not sure it will ever get back to what it was.

Can't say I've ever experienced this. I'm as welcome as ever when I get back, there's no begrudgery or resentment for the fact that I live in California now.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

When I and many others go home you are let know you are a stranger in your own village. The tiger represented a seismic change for me in Irish people and I am not sure it will ever get back to what it was.

Can't say I've ever experienced this. I'm as welcome as ever when I get back, there's no begrudgery or resentment for the fact that I live in California now.

The ones who left pre-tiger often say they got this reaction from the Celtic Tiger generations who stayed at home. I think a similar attitude towards the Celt Tiger generation who left to find work after the recession when they visit home from those that stayed at home.