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

[Frankendooby]

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

Enda Kenny is the alternative to Bertie. And he's a Mayo man too, which can't be bad. And he seems like a Nice Man.

sorry I meant that it is not run by the Church!

skerry, i'm 36 years old and i've lived every year of it.

i'm wise enough to know the gold for the glitter when i see it.

been here 6 years now.

this is home and always has been, even if it involves perhaps a move to another region in another couple of years, hey, why not? if that's not to our liking i'm sure some place else will be.

that never was. i was not happy there for as long as i can remember and started making plans to leave when i was 13.

i do laugh when people say, 'oh, you're in the honeymoon phase.'

i find it a bit insulting considering i'm not a kid anymore.

folks said that when DH and i married, ffs, to our faces!

because we married so soon after we met.

when you know, why wait?

we've been married over 5 years now and stronger than ever.

choccie, I pay for private obstretician because a complete numpty did my first CS and I wanted a non-numpty to perform my subsequent CS's.
And for public antental you can be waiting 3 hours.
I don't know if I would pay if I had normal deliveries though. In fact I wouldn't, I'd have homebirths!

em think you are painting a bit too bleak a picture of old eire actually. Its problems are not uniquely or typically irish .yes the health system needs improvement- particulary if you're not one of the population half that has health insurance -and bertie ahern is a twat but it was just voted the friendliest place in the world .
the GAA in our neck of the woods hold all of their training on sundays mornings so they'd be fecked if mass going was part of their selection criteria. Yes the GAA is cliquey but it is a fantastic sporting and social organisation . Surely there are alternatives though - rugby,golf, scouts,drama, music, dancing, surely water sports in waterford - not everyone is a GAA head you know.
Its a bit unfair to dismiss the irish economic boom as the result of handouts - demographics,education and facilities played a large part.
The church still runs the schools - rc and c of i- because for years it let the govt off the hook but that is changing slowly with the introduction of community schools. however imo do remember that many people still prefer a religious school cos they have a reputation of being better. The EU has been incredibly benefical to Ireland yes, but not just on econmic terms but thats too long a subject . Also having lived and traveled in other countries I do not think racism is a prevalent problem in ireland - it of course exists. The fact that non nationals have the 'menial jobs' is a pattern repeated in any immigrant society, its the 2nd and third generations who move up the ladder. As you would see among Irish immigrants in USA and UK whose grandads built the roads etc. There are strong social policies being shaped, from the classroom upwards, to encourage social integration to avoid racial polarization .

Its certainly not a perfect place(where is) and it has many sides to go with its many names but at least you can get a decent cup of tea and the best fig rolls.

um, no, kerry.

edinburgh was great for the first few years.

but it changed over time, like all places do, and DH became as unhappy as i was with those changes.

we had children and started to realise there were some things we felt were very important that we couldn't show our children there without some considerable difficulty that wouldn't be as difficult elsewhere.

so we started searching around for where elsewhere was for us and the moment we did, this opportunity came up.

that's how it usually works.

but we knew it would be scotland for us, at least for now.

i just don't see the point in being miserable in one situation.

because nine times out of ten, soon enough after you make the break in your mind, and start exuding that energy, things start changing indeed!

no one has to live in any EU country.

everyone's free in such places to look elsewhere.

sorry, watling, but seriously, if someone's hat miserable it can't hurt to look at other places to see if a shift can't be more positive.

Feck I go off to watch The Tudors and miss the angelus and kneecapping!

ok well other than the fig rolls the other good points have to be the kimberlies, mikados and the coconuts creams

expat, I know you think I'm probably wired to the moon at the best of times but jaysus what gave you the impression that I don't have to pay a tv license?

Tayto

Ha expat lmao, free state television, free state!!!!!!!!!!! Free staters!!!!!!

We did fight for freedom but I don't think it quite extended to tv licences?

Have not read it all but OP is spot on in many areas. I left Eire, the Republic, Southern Ireland or simply Ireland in 87 against a backdrop of 25% unemployment.

It is a difficult place to live and you only have to look at my parents generation to see how hard the people could be. My uncle tell a story. He lives in UK and one of his hardier relatives from back home came to do some work with him in the UK. They popped around to a clients hse and rang the door bell. The clients son answered the door with a pet rat on his shoulder. My uncle's relative said nothing just bent over and grabbed the rat and twisted it's neck. All hell broke loose.

My grandfather used to hang stray dogs and leave them hanging for days. Strange man. Funnily enough he though the English women were the best in the world.

My grandmother was a 'matched' marriage to same grandfather who loved English women. He was in his 50's she was in her 30's I think or 20's.

Ireland has had a tough recent history. My mother did not have an indoor bathroom/toilet until I was three in 1971. She already had 4 kids by then. She didn't have electricity until the mid 50's. I am sure this poverty and tough existence has an effect on the people.

The church's hold over people was frightening. Not sure how bad now but when I was a kid it was dreadful.

The education is not great. I am so tired of hearing Irish people banging on about the great system. It's not!!!

The healthcare is not great either. I am speaking about the West here though.

GAA is shite.

Gaelic is shite.

On the plus side I think the women are tougher.

There is more craic.

The scenery is great.

The food is good.

Ireland is a strange, beguiling ,frustrating ,hellish, wonderful place to live. I couldn't go back there.