To think that life seems better in rep of ireland?

[PunnyOliveTurtle]

ok...hear me out...My DM is Irish and she has not been home in a good few years, I haven't been over since I was 15, I'm early 40's now. So i decided to bring her over to visit her sisters as they are all getting older...late 60s/early 70's.

I had a wonderful time. I caught up with all of my cousins...and here is where I noticed the divide...they all have gorgeous homes and I mean stunning! Some in the country, some in the town, all fab new builds or gutted and updated old houses. A couple in new housing estates which were FAB!!
One of my cousins has just bought a new home...her DH is driving a 2025 car, they are off on hols next week. I asked her if she won the lotto and she laughed saying she wished, savings are now depleted and she was "broke". I know she has no credit cards because she metioned that she didn't have one when we wer talking about booking dinner somewhere and they wanted to take a deposit.

They all have great jobs...a lot of them are teachers...like i was. But they are no where near as stressed as I was. They are on holidays already and have been with a few weeks.Some are nurses but work part time in private hospitals, others work in big pharma companies, banking etc.Their dh's also have great jobs, engineers, managers in tech/pharma, one owns a construction company, one is a farmer.
All and I mean ALL of their DC who are of uni age are in university...no student loans. They have a grant scheme apparently. None of my cousins themselves have student loans...they are in 30's to mid 50's. (Can you tell we had an in depth discussion on uni and fees etc!)
Their DC aged 15+ all have summer jobs...in a local chippy, local cafe, one on a farm etc. My 18 yr old cant get a job at all!!

Everything just seemed so positive there...and im sure its not but I cant put my finger on it...it really got me.
I'm struggling most months...this trip was part on credit card. DD looking to start uni and i dont know how I'm going to help her... I know they say dont compare and I know there must be those struggling in Ireland too but there seemed to be A LOT more money being thrown around.

Not true. Hills and mountains are not barren. They do not "need" to be somehow covered in trees. They're often not a good habitat for planting them. Hills and mountains are used by people, they're farmed, they're not some useless things that have to be covered up.
I'm simply baffled by your frankly bizarre posts on this issue.
Ireland lost most of its forests, including its native forests bring completely obliterated through colonisation, which only ended in the 1920s.
We're now only a few percentages behind the UK in forestation due to work over many years.
These are facts.
Your statements are opinions.

I'm paying for my daughter in college (including her accommodation costs) and this cost wasn't accepted. I was turned down.

That’s such a shame 😞

That you can't see why a vibrant, multi-cultural city would have more to offer than a mono-cultural (and immigration-resistant) destination. Think of the art, the restaurants, the cultural events!

I don't know why you are disagreeing with actual environmental experts - the Government, the EPA...the mountains and hills of Ireland did in fact used to be covered in forest, and should return to this. What a weird thing to be defensive about! Those barren landscapes aren't supposed to look like that!

@WallTree What century are you referencing here? 1000 years ago? Places move on! Poor soil equals fewer trees. Get over it!

You clearly don't know the slightest thing about Dublin if that's how you're describing it.

Actual environmental experts say many things, I'm sure. I have no reason to argue with them on the environmental front.

You on the other hand were trying to suggest they because Ireland is slightly behind the UK on forestation, it did not offer an outdoor environment that people want to spend time in. Which is clearly nonsense.

I dont miss a lot of things about ireland.

But i am glad i lived there
i appreciate the unique experience of living in ireland. Not everyone gets to live there.

A lot of people dont even get to visit it.

So many people that i have met in the uk, spain, italy and around europe have said that they have never visited ireland.

The odds are low , to experience life in a small island country, so i am glad that i got to do that.

A quick google suggests there are 47,625 villages in Ireland.
Say you visited 10 in a day (which IMO is nowhere near enough time to see everything), that would take 13 years.
Did you spend that much time travelling?
Your early posts were really reasonable and I just disagreed with some of your points, but your more recent claims are getting harder to believe.

Well i am quite old!

And yes i spent loads of time travelling in ireland.

When i lived there, i was in several different walking/hiking groups.

The group's aim was to go somwhere new every weekend.

So i did that with them.

Then i had a lot of friends that were very into travel and discovering new places, so we often went away together to see somehwhere new, all the time.

I also worked in lots of different counties in ireland. As i liked moving around to see new places.

If you think i travel a lot, you should see my cousin. He goes absolutely everywhere and he is much younger than me. Im very proud of him

I am sure no one will believe me about this either, :) but He has actually just been on Irish tv this week. He was on tv talking about a unique hiking challenge that he is doing in Ireland, to raise money for a charity.

We are an adventurous, hiking family.

Immigration is relatively recent to Ireland, and the anti-immigrant sentiment in Ireland has been widely acknowledged in this thread.

Can you give specific examples of art, restaurants and the cultural events that are available in UK cities and not in Irish cities please.

Facebook comments have been mentioned, which could be true of anywhere. There is nothing to suggest that Dublin is more 'anti immigrant' than anywhere else in UL/Europe.

I am looking at the map of ireland here, and I genuinely cant see somewhere that i havent been.

Its possible that i may have missed a couple of villages along the way, but im looking at the map, and i can't see anywhere that i havent been.

I was a person that always wanted to see somewhere new., if I hadn't seen it.

Im the same in Rngland. I go and visit anywhere near me within a two hour distance, that I haven't seen yet, at the weekends

What about the "Culchie" immigrants, they took over Dublin, used to be found in the bedsits of Rathmines and Drumcondra, civil servants the lot of 'em, going home to mammy with the bag o washin at the weekend. Now with decentralisation they've moved back to mammy and others are filling their place. Those that stayed would never move back.

I met a fella at the bus stop on Saturday. He was going to the Tipp/Cork hurling final and was on the lash on Saturday in the city before donning the wristband for the match IYKYK. He had been dropped off at the bus stop by someone he knew. This man didn't know how to get from Bachelor's Walk to some place in town to meet his gang but he knew where Croker was. I had to give him a look at me google map. We had a good laugh, and I slagged the life out of him. Bogger.

There are fewer true blue Dubs around (like me) than blow ins now.

I got this online and have to say this is my experience too:

"Today, Ireland is a multicultural society in transition—especially visible in cities, younger generations, and schools.
Some rural areas or institutions may still reflect a more traditional or monocultural mindset, but this is changing."

A local rural school is about 90% white irish catholic...a school in the nearby town (town, not city) has 47 different nationalities attending it.

1 in 5 people living in Ireland wasn't born in Ireland.

Na Gaelscoilleanna are often oversubscribed for a reason. Guess why?

I asked ChatGPT what the UK has that Ireland doesn't...one of the things was Gregg's 😁I think we'll manage without Gregg's.

I do love London and the shows etc there are amazing (if pricy). And restaurants etc.

If there are more things outside of London that are equally as amazing - I would love to hear about them.

I agree....i dont like greggs.

Concerts are great here in the uk though. There are a bit more options. Im going to oasis next weekend.

Any time i tried to get tickets for any concert in dublin, it was always sold out quickly.

Greggs 😂

And if you are super desperate, you can actually get Greggs products in the freezer aisle in Dunnes. You'll have to cook them yourself though.

Are you kidding me? Have you ever left Ireland? This is exhausting!

Oh for the love of God, really?

Yes really. You'll find anti immigrant sentiment all over the uk if you go looking for it.