To seriously recommend Ireland

[Ionablue]

Before I start I completely get that it can be expensive, the weather is bad and many Irish residents are emigrating for accommodation & opportunities. But....
A very very large proportion of the Irish people seem put on earth specifically to restore visitors faith in human nature. Genuine and warm, great sense of humour
Many women in particular supposedly find Ireland blissfully relaxing, not just because it is a laidback culture but because the general male culture seems to revolve less around making women feel uncomfortable than in other countries.

Some of the countryside and heritage is literally heavenly. Co. Waterford, especially its western extremities eg Dungarvan. Ardmore, Lismore, is an undiscovered gem.

Yes its not cheap but the food can be exceptional.

Most ordinary people seem exceptionally well disposed to foreign visitors and many have relatives abroad.

In rural Ireland you can drive for miles without seeing a car.

The music is brilliant and the people seem enormously invested in live music.

Well, that's my tuppence.

I"ve been to Ireland seversl times as DH Is 'London Irish' - his parents emigrated here, met and settled in north London and raised a family there.
They always went back to Ireland for the summer and we continued the tradtion at least when DC were small.
Yes, the people we met were absolutely lovely , even family (!) and the countryside is gorgeous. It's great for a holiday when DCs are small, DH's family were/are farmers so staying on a farm was magical for thr kids.
The downsides are of course the weather, although iti was never too bad when we went, and of course the expense.

For many, this is a huge relief!

I don't have much nice to say about Ireland.

Things are never as they seem when visiting as a tourist. Ireland is having horrendous issues with the government, there is a lot of stress, hate, and fear of turning into the UK.
Tourist areas are nice and attract nice people.
There has been 3 tourists killed in Ireland from the UK in the last 12 months, one last month, one punch attacks, an American tourist was kicked so hard he was left in a coma and another young man murdered at tram station, I’m not sure where he was from.
Drug use is rampant, as is everyday crime, pickpockets, bags from tourist buses.
It was much safer.
Ireland has gone to shit the last decade.

No crazy house prices, hospital over crowding, drug wars or poverty in your lovely trip was there?

Ireland is a real place, with real issues and not a Disney like tourist destination. Lots of it is very beautiful, just like lots of the UK.

And we are nosey, which many misunderstand as friendly.

I'm so sorry to hear that, DH's cousin, now retired, comes fora holiday to us every autumn. We don't often discuss serious issues, it must be said, but I will definitely ask him how things really are.
I do know his daughters are doing very well in their professional lives, one medic, one university lecturer.

Moved to semi rural ireland after many years in London. Love it and have a new friendship group of incredibly clever, cultured women. Cost of living is generally cheaper - no rates/council tax and stamp duty was only 1%. Food is average and a not same unless you go high end but we're in London very regularly so get the chance to eat every style and ethnicity then. Super cheap flights from Shannon to UK to see friends and family. Best decision ever

I’m Irish and really hoping the laws don’t change (allergies in my case). From threads on MN it seems a lot of people are annoying at how dog-friendly the UK has become. For some of us, dog-friendly unfortunately means human-unfriendly. (I do like dogs btw, they just make me ill sadly.)

I can confirm the friendliness isn’t fake. The nice people are lovely. I probably say hello to 200 people daily, if your standing in a queue we have a chat, if you need directions you can ask anyone they’ll try to help even if they use a crazy landmark to direct you, It’s normal to be close to neighbours in the community.

Er, Irish people are the same as any other 'people.' Because people are people. There is beautiful countryside in most countries.

I m not irish but married an irish man who I have met in the UK. We lived for 15yrs together in the UK and move back to Dublin nesrly 9yrs ago. When we oeft the UK he had lived there longer than he ever loved in Ireland.

as much as I love London, i dont miss living there. I love that it is now a holiday destination as we still have many friends there.

ireland, and especially Dublin, is so relaxing and it s in Europe which is very important for me as I am a hard Remain.

iriah people are lovely, life is easier and the education is better. And no 11+. Mountains are easy reach and so is the sea. And crossing dublin takes 20mins with no traffic. Unlike london there are olenty of times with no traffic.

caveat - public transport is mainly buses and hardly no public transport to the airport.

i highly recommend an irish life

I agree with pps that you cant generalise about any country, we all have the good the bad and the ugly, but one thing i will say is that Irish friendliness is not fake, Irish people are generally friendly and genuinely interested in other people. They might not necessarily want to 'become friends' with you, that's a whole other thing. And I think the 'notions' thing is misunderstood, there is nothing wrong with bettering yourself, its forgetting where you came from and looking down on others that's frowned on.

Some of the responses are gas.

Irish living in Ireland for about 90% of my life cos I did actually escape and live in other countries but always came back to the sanctuary of home. Would not raise my kids anywhere else to be honest.

Sounds wonderful but I am so tired of rain. I feel like it’s been raining non stop for a year. I want to find a corner of UK/Britain with the lowest average rainfall. I want to see tumbleweed in the garden instead of puddles 😁

Ah my experience was different. Saw a man having the shit beaten out of him in the street. I was kneeling beside him and was covered in blood. I live somewhere rough in UK and it was the worst violence I've witnessed.

Sounds lovely.

Eek 🫨

With a population of circa 7 million on the island it is unfortunate that you witnessed this but the rest of us are not violent thugs who go around battering each other.

Not sure where you were but Dublin has gotten worse. I think the trouble with being a tourist somewhere is that you sometimes go places at times local people wouldn’t. I’m Irish and would avoid parts of Dublin city centre especially. What you witnessed sounds absolutely horrific! I’ve lived in Ireland all my life and have never witnessed anything like that thankfully.

Rural Ireland is kind of similar to rural England, but without the overcrowding. English people love rural Ireland because it reminds them of what rural England used to be like. I remember saying “isn’t it quiet” to my partner, but then thinking “hang on… this is normality. This is what the countryside is supposed to be like. It’s rural Essex, with its endless housing estates and country lanes clogged with traffic, that’s abnormal.”

Ireland and the UK nations all have incredibly scenic spots, countryside villages and mostly nice enough people. It’s about the area you choose to live in. I think we are all lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world.

OP I’ll your beautiful Ireland and I raise you New Zealand….

I am Irish, born and bred, and left Ireland for a reason. I never miss it. I go home regularly enough to see family, but treat it like a holiday and visit the nice bits. Ultimately I feel very suffocated when I go home. I don't like saying this because it sounds like i have a 'looking down my nose' on my home country complex, but I can't help it. If I stay for longer than 3 weeks I feel a dark cloud looming over me and feel my personality changing, in a way I do not like.

Making judgments about the whole population of Ireland based on the relatively tiny number of scum bags who were responsible for those riots would be like judging the whole of England in the eighties based on the behaviour of football hooligans.