Ireland is a hard place to live

[Mooshamoo]

Just watching the video of the black child being not given a medal by Irish gymnastics.

I was wondering if there is anyone else on here on craicnet, who is not Irish, living in Ireland. What your experiences are.

I think that Ireland can be a very hard place to live if you are not fully white and fully irish.

I'm half Irish. I was bullied all the way through school for not having an Irish surname. Then when I grew up and lived in the same small town, all of the same girls from my school were living in that town. And as adults they refused to talk to me.

I see the women who are fully Irish, being popular , having great lives.

To be totally acceptable and popular in ireland, you have to have a rich family, brothers/father who play gaa etc.

All the rich girls in my school hung around together. And again as adults all the rich Irish women hung around together in small town Ireland.

If you were foreign, from a single parent family, seen as poor, you were not accepted at all.

And it's who you know

I think this makes Ireland a very difficult place to live

I'm not sure what the laughing emoji is for. Did you just come here to laugh. I remember you being sneery on the other thread.

I am Irish. I'm am Irish citizen. I have an Irish passport. I've lived here since I was 5.

I am also English.

Have you eh you know heard about dual nationality. I remember you saying that you have only one nationality.

Many people have dual nationality, including the taoiseach of Ireland, Leo Varadkar. He is half Irish, half Indian

Try to learn that people have more than one nationality.

I was just talking to a football player near me. He is half African half Irish. He feels that he is African and he feels that he is Irish.

Of course I have heard of dual nationality, but you specifically said you were IRISH on the last thread, remember? You didnt say you were " more English than Irish" did you? You accused me of saying you couldnt be Irish and youve now admitted yourself youre more English than Irish!

@Liv999

When I said I'm probably more English than Irish on this thread, that's not how I feel about myself.
I feel equally half and half.

It's how others treat me, that I have come to identify myself as more English than Irish.

They don't really let me be irish. Even though I'm half irish.

What usually happens is : They see I was born in England so they see me as English.

For example I've lived in ireland for thirty years, I have an Irish mother, and people still always see me as English and call me English .

The same when my cousin moved from England to Ireland. He has two full Irish parents. He was called the English lad

Because I was born there. So that's how I have come to see myself as more English.

I'm told all the time I'm English. I'm never really given a chance to explore my Irish side.

I was chatting to a fella in cork last week. He moved to Ireland from London aged 6. He went through all Irish schools. His dad is Irish, mum is English

He has a full cork accent. He went through all the cork schools. He told me that people still call him now in his thirties 'the English fella". You're identified as English and that's how it is.

I feel like there is a bit of a disconnect in some Irish people about how many Irish people go to England to work, have children over in England, then come back to Ireland. They see those children as "english". And don't see their Irish roots at all.

Do you remember Derry girls. The wee English fella. His mother went to England to be a nurse , had him , then came back to live in Derry.

When he came back, he was called the "wee English fella " all the time. And they told him they were ashamed of him all the time. Even though his mother was Irish Catholic.

That writing is very true to life.

I'm told all the time I'm English. I'm never really given a chance to explore my Irish side.
What do you mean by this? Why do you need permission to explore your Irish side? Do it if you want?

Tbh I think you've got a little bit of internalised xenophobia in you. Like who cares if you are English or described as English? It's not an insult. I feel more Irish than English, I did most of my schooling here etc but my accent marks me out everytime. I smile and say oh I was born in x part of England but grew up in Y part of Ireland, both gorgeous areas so people naturally go oh I love either x or y and that's that. Sometimes I'm asked why we moved and I explain relatives were from y and my parents thought we would have a better life here than in x. Same with my kids, oh you have an accent, where are you from 'oh my mums English' and that's that.
You were born in England so to lots of people that makes you English but you don't need permission to identify how ever you like. You don't need permission to 'explore' anything. Just do what ever the fuck you want. I don't know I feel like you are treating English as a bit of a dirty word when maybe you should just try owning your roots instead of being defensive and treating it like a bad thing.

Oh my god.

I can't win on this thread.

I said I'm more English than Irish.

Livv99 came in and said "but you said you were Irish on another thread, now you've said yourself that you are more English haha"

I shouldn't even have bothered replying to her or justifying myself to her. But she made me feel bad so I did.

She made me feel like I can't say I'm more English than Irish, as she was being nasty to me about it

Now in replying to her remark - I am apparantly saying that being English is a dirt word.

You just can't win.

I am half Irish and half English and I am proud of both sides

Win what? This isn't some kind of competition or battle. It's meant to be a conversation, they don't usually have winners or losers.

How did she make you feel bad? Why are you letting someone else dictate whether you lie about what nationality you feel? It's the same as the question I asked in my post that you ignored. Why do you keep looking for permission? People can't 'make you feel' anything. People can't stop you from exploring your Irish identity. Someone who is 'proud of both sides' wouldn't give a shit what anyone thinks. They wouldn't be trying to 'win' they'd just say how they feel and people can like it or not.

I am listening to you. I just think that years of bullying in real life, has made me really anxious to even say to people that I'm english.

See when I said here "I'm more English than Irish".

Livv99 instantly came on and said "aha you have admitted yourself that you are more English than Irish".

I've had so much bullying in real life for being English, that now I'm nearly afraid to say anything about being English. I'm not ashamed of being English, I'm just nervous of people's reactions.

Did you say you were English is that right .? Did you never get any bad comments? I was told to fuck off back to England a few times

But you did say both of those things, did you not? I wasn't being nasty at all, I couldn't give a damn whether you're Irish or English, I know plenty of English people happily living here, as far as I know they're not being bullied for having an accent or being English in any way, you say you're proud of both sides but that doesn't come across in your threads at all, in fact you sound bitter and resentful, resentful that you were made learn Irish while your brother wasnt, resentful that you have to stay here because of your ill mum, resentful because you don't fit in here unless you're rich or big into GAA etc etc

@Liv999 I'm not sure what your point is.

I can say both things at the same time: I'm proud of having an Irish mother and an Irish father,

And also : I do find it extremely hard to live In Ireland. I don't like living in Ireland . I've said that. For many reasons, I find Ireland extremely difficult to live in.

It's nice that you have English friends that aren't bullied. Some are and some aren't.

I was just chatting to a man who came over to work in Dublin. From England. He said that his colleagues used to leave notes on his desk saying "fuck off back to England, English scum".

Jesus op, English or Irish you are an awful moany hole.

"Moany hole".

Now there's an eloquent phrase.

Yes I think we've all come to the conclusion that you don't like living in Ireland, I hope some day you can leave and will never have to set foot in this God forsaken land again, maybe you might get some therapy while you're at it, as you said yourself some people are bullied, some aren't, happens in every single country in the world, people deal with it

Ita not just about me. I also put in my opening post about the racist treatment of the girl in Irish gymnastics.

Ireland is currently in the news for racism. Several reports have shown that racism has increased in Ireland.

Leo Varadkar has said that racism has increased a lot in Ireland.

What are your thoughts on dealing with racism in Ireland? I don't think that people should just have to deal with it.

I think we can improve

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/ireland-seeing-a-rise-in-racism-taoiseach-warns-1508616.html

Of course people shouldn't have to deal with racism but racism is not just an Irish problem, racism is rife in England, a lot more so than Ireland, it's a worldwide problem

There are just too many odd stories (across various threads) to ring true to be honest.

Also a lot of "I was just speaking to this person and they said thing that supports OP's negative view of Ireland"

The same as Liv999 says " thing that supports Liv999s positive view of Ireland. ""

She said "I know plenty of English people happily living here,"

She is not going to say I know an English person that was bullied badly is she, as she is promoting a positive view of Ireland.

The same as you are unlikely to ever said you have seen racism/ bullying in Ireland, as you are solely focused on the positive bits of Ireland, and what fits into your narrative.

Exactly, then she wonders why she's not believed and she can't win

Why do you want to win? What will you win?

Why should I take Leo Varadkars opinions as fact?

Why do you care what some lad in Cork says?

Most people are trying to live their lives as best they can. They don’t spend vast swathes of time thinking of how they can love or hate you.

The amount of time you’ve spent on this thread you could have been doing something positive, like going for a walk.

Woman up.

The same as you are unlikely to ever said you have seen racism/ bullying in Ireland, as you are solely focused on the positive bits of Ireland, and what fits into your narrative.

Honestly, where are you getting this from? I've never denied that racism exists in Ireland and I've never pretended that Ireland is some unique magical place where everyone lives in perfect harmony. But neither is it the nasty hellhole you try to paint it as. Like anywhere it's got good people, bad people, and everything in between. Most people are just muddling along living their lives.

You obviously have an odd agenda where you want to blame all your problems on 'bullies', be they Irish, English, or just women in general. You've accused many people on MN of bullying you when they've done no such thing, all they've done is challenge your very rigid thinking and in some cases try to encourage you to get the help you need.

You see bullies everywhere you look, because you think anyone who disagrees with you or offers advice you don't like is a bully.

She is. ot believed. Lol. You are so arrogant .

You act like you talk for the whole thread.

You're posts are so arrogant.

When in fact about thirty people on this thread have said they agree with me, have had bad experiences with me and have talked kindly to me.

You certainly don't talk for everyone. You only speak for yourself . Learn that.

Bizarre.

We all know the phrase "I can't win " doesn't mean that anyone actually wants to win something.

It means a person feels that no matter what she says, it won't please people

Look it up. Google is your friend. It's a simple phrase
One I would have thought everyone was familiar with. I guess not.

I'm nearly laughing t you thinking it means people actually want to win something. Have you really not heard that phrase before?

Right Sakura7.

You've never denied racism exists.

Yet you haven't said anything when I've asked you what you think can be done to tackle racism in Ireland. Or what your opinion is of Leo varadkar saying there is a rise in racism in Ireland.

Neither of those points are about me. Or people bullying me or anything to do with me.

I asked for your thoughts on those two points.