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Original poster

Question About Southern Ireland..........

444 replies

Frankendooby · 23/10/2007 21:21

Haloo.Just wanted some opinions fro people who have moved to Ireland to live and of course fom people who are Irish and have lived,do still live here.Opinions on the Politics,Laws,Education,Work etc.
I moved here from the UK and although i used to visit lots to see family I find living here extremely difficult in many ways.Just wondered how others have found it.Thanks in advance

OP posts:
Georgeous · 27/10/2007 08:39

Limerick is NOT beautiful, although parts of Co. Limerick definitely are. As a teenager I used to swim in a lake with a ruined castle overlooking it and lilly pads floating on the water! Only when I had grown up and left did I realise how lucky I had been...

Georgeous · 27/10/2007 08:39

I'm good, just nostalgic!

watling · 27/10/2007 08:40

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TnOgu · 27/10/2007 08:40

Nomad is good

I think I would be more of a traveller if I didn't have ds.

Co.Clare is lovely, you can still find the real Ireland there.

I love Mayo too.

Do you think you will return home?

watling · 27/10/2007 08:42

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TnOgu · 27/10/2007 08:46

When I lived in England the pull to come home was unbearable.

I liked the experience of being in England, but I always knew I wouldn't settle there.

I was a fish out of water

< I'm glad you're feeling brighter Watling.

I said a prayer for you and your dad >

Georgeous · 27/10/2007 08:48

It was beautiful Watling. I went back there for a visit recently and it was still beautiful, but someone had dumped some plastic sheeting into it

I think periodically it is cleaned up though, as locals still swim there, and it's off the road so you have to tramp across some fields to get there!

Tnogu, I think i would like to return home, but it's not straightforward. My dp is open to the idea, but he has a business here in the UK, so we would have to wait until he sells that, maybe in 4 to 5 years time. And of course by then my dd will be at school.. it gets so much more complicatd when you have kids!

I would love to be near my mum though - there is nothing better in the world than an Irish Granny!

watling · 27/10/2007 08:49

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Georgeous · 27/10/2007 08:50

Watling, I don't know the history but I hope your Dad is ok....

Sending you good thoughts

Georgeous · 27/10/2007 08:52

Tnogu, I know what you mean about the pull to come home. It's more complicated for me as I am half English myself and lived here till I was 6, the rest of the time in Ireland. I have never been quite sure where I belong to tell the truth.

watling · 27/10/2007 08:52

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TnOgu · 27/10/2007 08:55

Bye Watling, good luck.

George - I totally understand.

Once children start school that can tie you to a place.

You're heart is here and that's difficult.

An Irish granny is a very special thing

Georgeous · 27/10/2007 08:57

So sorry to hear that Watling...

And really glad you are feeling better now, must have been a very tough time for you

TnOgu · 27/10/2007 08:58

Very complex, George.

You belong wherever you feel you belong.

Where your heart is.

Georgeous · 27/10/2007 09:00

Tnogu - my Irish Granny was the best! We lived with her for a few years and she used to warm my school uniform in front of the fire in the mornings.

Georgeous · 27/10/2007 09:01

See that's the problem, I'm not sure. When I'm here I feel I belong in Ireland, but what if I go back and then feel I should be in the UK? I don't know if it's a grass is always greener type situation. I think I will definitely have to move back one day though, if only to find out.

TnOgu · 27/10/2007 09:03

It's the warmth you feel from peoples heart and the kindness they show that really binds you to a place.

TnOgu · 27/10/2007 09:05

Are both your parents Irish?

Georgeous · 27/10/2007 09:09

No, my mum is Irish and my Dad's half Spanish and half Northern Irish, but he was born and brought up in England,so is really an English man. I was born in England and lived there till I was 6 when my parents split and we returned to Ireland to be with my mum's family. I lived there till I was 18 and I left home for college.

I definitely think Irish people are warmer, but the English are very loyal once they get to know you. I was shocked when I first moved here how people didn't speak to you initially.

TnOgu · 27/10/2007 09:14

Interesting mix of cultures, George

It's something you need to explore, the whole Irish side of you.

You have Irish blood flowing through your veins as do your children and in part that makes you what you are.

< I'm aware I'm talking twaddle, as usual >

Georgeous · 27/10/2007 09:24

You're not talking twaddle! I mostly grew up in Ireland and am very close to my mother and all her family who are still in Ireland. I even have an Irish accent (of sorts!)

I remember when I first moved here people laughed at me for calling the Yellow Pages the Golden Pages. They thought it was hilarious, like a sacred book or something!

TnOgu · 27/10/2007 09:31

Culturally England and Ireland are vastly different..vastly.

I have a friend who was born to Irish parents in England.

She was Irish - she felt very mixed up because although she spoke with an English accent and lived in the south of england everything she felt akin to was Irish.

I knew her in college and caught up with her a couple of years ago in co.Tipp [where her parents were from originally]

She had gone there to live, and although it was a little tricky to start with she son settled in and is as happy as Larry.

Maybe you should 'Suck it and see', as my granny used to say

TnOgu · 27/10/2007 09:49

There is a book called, The Falling Angels, by John Walsh which explores the whole thing of being caught between two cultures, and is written through his experiences as the English born son of Irish parents.

I found it interesting, and sometimes reading someones else's feelings and emotions on these kind of subjects really helps you to identify and understand your own.

Bye George.

It was lovely chatting and I hope things work out the way you want them to, in everything you decide to do

Georgeous · 27/10/2007 10:27

Thanks Tnogu, sorry I disappeared there, I was putting the baba down for her nap! I agree, the cultural differences are vast, that is something people don't realise at first sight. I will order that book, I'm sure it'll be a fascinating read. It was lovely chatting to you and I hope we catch up again soon

elliephant · 27/10/2007 15:42

found the last few posts very interesting - often think having an irish identity is nothing to do with actually being born or living here. my own dh was born and lived in england and lived there (irish parents, holidays home etc) until his mid teens. however always very firmly regards himself as irish.ironically he now actually probably spends more time in uk because of his work than in ireland but it a foreign culture to him. His best friend ,on the other hand , has the same backround, but lives in england full time and is english. so being irish is not so much a state of place but a state of mind. i think irish people, myself included, are often suprised that not every one wants to be irish.

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