Bathtime you seem insistent on construing posts in the most negative way possible. I don't think Ireland is 'backward' and I just don't see a need to categorise anything or anyone undergoing massive change as 'backward' or to need to say that the opposite of 'backward' is some sort of progressive enlightenment. I think like all societies there are areas where progress is accepted and areas it is resisted that reflect our unique collective history.
And.,, there is defensiveness here in many sectors. I think it's highly possible that it may not exist in all settings and there may be a public private sector divide and also an urban rural divide, but I do think that if you underestimate just how triggering it is for many Irish people to be told from outside (to include people who have lived abroad and come back) that everything we do is wrong, you are being a little bit deluded. I think even my post triggered this in you, as yours did in me.
We are a nation of huge contrasts undergoing rapid, huge social change AND I believe our progress has been lightening fast, but that it is wholly unreasonable to expect a country of our size to not be impacted at all by centuries of colonial rule after a very short time frame.
I see it as mindful, uncritical, accepting awareness of the fact that we are developing rapidly, that things are changing constantly and that many of us have a learning history of feeling inferior relative to England. Might be gone in another generation or maybe two, might take longer but I think pretending our context has no influence or impact on our current laws or people's attitudes to them seems to be denying a lot of who we are.