I fear the "craic" is gone from Ireland forever

[afternooncuppa]

Just that really. However, I would love to be told I'm wrong so would love to hear your views.

My parents are Irish living in England and I spent a lot of my childhood and youth there and still visited at least 4 times a year pre-Covid. To me, my heart belongs in Ireland and I was hoping to move there at some point. When I was younger (in my late teens/early twenties) my group of friends consisted of English, French, Spanish and Italian backgrounds and EVERY holiday they always wanted to go to Ireland because the "craic" was so great and could not be matched in their countries. Ireland had everything (apart from the weather) - music, life, bands, dancing, laughing, joking, wildness, patriotism, Guinness, more Guinness and CRAIC. Living and enjoying life to the full.

Now Covid has hit and although it has changed countries everywhere, I can't help but think that Irelands draconian reaction has destroyed the country beyond repair. Not only economically (as everywhere) but the very things they are famous for, the very soul of the place has gone. They seem hell-bent on zero-Covid (which is impossible) and are running the country into the ground to achieve this. My own healthy and young cousins are too scared to step outside the door due to the "deadly" virus (which it is not). I know wet pubs have been shut for about a year with many unlikely to re-open. I've heard of the staggeringly ridiculous actions of the Garda to prevent humans being humans and I despair.

St Patricks Day last week watching old videos on my phone in crowded bars with live music, drink flowing, dancing and craic made me want to cry at the loss of everything Ireland was and the fear it will never return.

Does anyone think it will ever come back?

But the immature and sarcastic responses sums up the craic of which you speak. Irish people notoriously dont take things serious. We turn very serious events into a joke. It's a key part of having a laugh.

I don't remember craic being rude?

IsFuzzyBeagMise I'm not offended - quite the opposite really! I've had a good laugh at the responses and can still channel my inner craic even if most of the posters can't. Thank you for your response though.

Craic often involves bold words, the responses have avoided that kind of thing.
Father Ted, Derry Girls, Young Offenders have the craic, lots of sarcasm and banter and only messing.
I can't wait for normality to return, and I'm looking forward to a trip to England to see my old mates there. And have a bar meal in a proper pub, with toby jugs and tankers and a labrador. And cribbage.

I have mad wildwoman hair sigh

Mine is supposed to be short and unnaturally chestnut. It looks like a small hairy racoon is asleep on my head.

I fear the OP is from the Dara Ó Briain school of craic . Slagging is an important part of Irish culture. Unless it's a double bluff?

Just heard a radio advert saying they're celebrating the craic all month so it's definitely still a thing

Studying Irish history and coming here on holidays, let's be honest, doesn't give you the true insight to how we are and live.

From visiting and having family here, I'm sure you know how few hospitals we have. We would never cope with large numbers of people needing hospital treatment due to covid, so our reasoning behind lock downs, is to keep our hospitals at a manageable level.

Our lock downs are just like the UK, non essentials closed. What you have open, so have we. We're not actually nailed into our homes.

All the things you list is like reading a review on trip advisor!! We're not all Guinness swigging louts who roam the streets singing and dancing. OK, maybe in Temple Bar you'll get a bit of that, but to be fair, most would be tourists.

Every Country cancelled St. Patrick's day, you are aware of the crowds that gather for that, tourists etc, no one wanted their hospitals full due to a piss up.

I'm not sure of the news you're watching, tbh, we have probably 2 news programmes per day, they are on for a set amount of times and yes it's mainly about covid, like all news channels for their country, because nothing else is happening, unless you live in the USA, there's no harping on, no depressing reports.

We opened up at Christmas and we were fecked!! The hospitals were full, the numbers were very high, FOR OUR POPULATION.

We are not looking for zero covid, our specialists have said that'll never happen. We just need to get the numbers down and because of the slow delivery of vaccines, it's going to take longer to reduce the numbers. No point sending every person back out and opening everything back up when there's feck all vaccinated.

We will get back to having our pubs etc open, just like everyone else. You can be sure the first week pubs open, they'll be packed. Yes, some will close just like the UK. We'll have similar problems to you with shops closing. The thing is, we will support our Irish businesses best we can.

Your view on Ireland is mainly from holidays, every Country is the same, no one is out partying in the streets and going to see bands and drinking Guinness and having the craic.

Some Irish people also do not like having the craic and I can only assume that your cousins are like this. I have cousins who are as miserable as fuck, they are Irish and have always lived in Ireland, they would suck the joy out of anything but it is ok the rest of the family make up for the miserable bastards.

I think we all have those cousins

I haven't been able to get back since COVID hit but I never, ever worried for a moment that the craic might be lost. In fact, you can even have the craic on zoom, it's just a state of mind.

Anyway...

sorry, link fail it was meant to be

Indeed much of the spike after Christmas was caused by people returning to Ireland for the craic which made the more austere restrictions necessary.

@UnderHisAye

Just heard a radio advert saying they're celebrating the craic all month so it's definitely still a thing

I thought I was hearing things, thinking of this thread

I live here and I like it but it's like any other country. You need to show proof of every damn thing before you so much as enrol your child at school or apply for a licence or open an account. There's no ah shurr go-wann.

I have a special government ID card, remember the kerfuffle over that! It isn't accepted in the local credit union as official proof of ID.

@eggandonion

Mine is supposed to be short and unnaturally chestnut. It looks like a small hairy racoon is asleep on my head.

You're doing well so. I've a large badger like creature taken up residence where my pixie cut should be

@JaneJeffer

Indeed much of the spike after Christmas was caused by people returning to Ireland for the craic which made the more austere restrictions necessary.

The craic hunters.

There's a tv series in there somewhere. They came in search of the craic and instead they found ...

@afternooncuppa people have really not been so rude 🤣 are you sure you've really felt the full weight of a piss ripping?

The craic is inside us all - in fact am off to have a quick freebase before dinner 😁

It's a bit odd that you think everyone's sense of humour has been ended by the pandemic. Of course everyone is a little subdued. It's been a tough year. I'm not sure why you expect otherwise really? People will go back to pubs when they reopen, nothing to worry about there

3 times I'd watch that. Between that and the Daniel O' Connell heart documentary we're doing RtÉ's job for them.

The OP has appointed herself Judge of The Craic and we on this thread have failed. Or is it that OP can give the craic but not take it? Whichever it is, our craic is unacceptable, people.

I'd say Christy Moore might have something to say.

oooooooooooooooooooo Lisdoonvarna

Hahaha you sound like my Cockney friend who left Ireland for London when she was three. Whenever she gets on the phone to her Irish cousins she gets all “to be sure, to be sure” in the daftest accent I’ve ever heard. Gawd knows what the cousins think...

They may take our freedom but they will never take our craic.

The joy of life in the way you describe is on pause world wide. I do know what you mean though, in terms of getting back to how it used to be, it does feel a very long way off. Perhaps people find that thought depressing, but the masks are here to stay and the social distancing for a while longer yet, carefree abandon feels like a distant memory.

I think as a nation the Irish bear up quite well under stress, certainly everyone that I know is rallying around others and doing what they can to help and keep spirits up. If anything ever had a chance of changing the spirit of the nation it was the Celtic Tiger.

I really don't think the craic is limited to pubs and pints of Guinness, and it's strange to think that it is. During this whole thing, I've had the craic getting the car serviced, talking to delivery people, in the post office, in supermarkets, little shops and chemists, on the street, out for walks. As likely to happen with total strangers, randomers, acquaintances, as people I know well. Maybe the craic is something to do with you may as laugh as cry. One thing I've noticed on my limited travels is that other drivers are constantly stopping to let me out, more so than usual - feels like it's gone from 50:50 to 99:1. (Not an actual survey.) So I think a lot of people are making an effort to be as nice to others as possible, including having a bit of craic. The craic is about sharing a laugh, a funny story or seeing the funny side of a situation, whether or not you're swilling pints or enjoying a glass of wine or having a cup of tea or nothing at all. Conversation and story and humour.

Exactly Apile.