If you could change one thing about Ireland....

MrReynholm wrote: »

Everyone that goes through the schooling system is forced to learn and be examined on their knowledge of the language for 12 consecutive years. I can't see what more people expect them to do to "promote" the language when it's clear that only a tiny minority of people have even a vague interest in it.

Actually try to teach it in a manner that is not forcing you to memorise and retain a load of information over the 12 years would help. More time "living" the language and less time learning off stupid fcuking poems and short stories just so you can answer some questions after you have done this.

Oh realistic changes?

More puppies!

Make it traveller free

Or else make the feckers work like the rest of us

I would do more to prevent class erosion.

Jobs for everybody or maybe some good weather so we could all holiday at home .

Money tree plantations

PseudoFamous wrote: »

Don't be silly, that would just cause massive inflation and fuck the economy even worse

Only if someone tells the Germans. We would be smart about it!
Invest heavily in land, livestock and red diesel. Agriculture in Ireland looks good so that's our cover. Now we wash the red diesel and sell it to the English as white diesel. They see the benefit of increased cross-border trade and think we're generating out own success. They trust us with the other 6 counties and we all leave the dole queue and form a new line to shake hands with the queen.
Then we buy some nice weather from Spain and Greece and take their tourists.

We ****ed it the last time and learned our lesson!

I'd like if it became an affordable and competitive place to live instead of having our insides ripped through our arses at every opportunity. Anywhere else in the world if you want to buy a consumer good for example you shop around and there are genuine incentives/real value whereas in Ireland we're shafted at every hand's turn for every single thing we've to pay for :mad:.

Better public transport so that I don't have to fceking drive for hours just to get to and from work

faceman wrote: »

So lets say you are granted a wish by genie, and the wish is that you can change one thing about Ireland for the better. What would it be?

Planning policy. Planning permission is granted to so many ugly buildings totally out of sync with the traditional and natural environment that it continues to destroy the countryside and by extension the tourist industry. It breaks my heart to see eyesores built in the most beautiful parts of Ireland - completely inappropriate for the area.

The fact that the body which grants planning permission, the local authority, is also the same body which will receive the development fees would be considered a clash of interest in more environmentally enlightened societies. There's so little vision in local authorities' planning departments.

I would like to see the Irish population instilled with a greater sense of civic responsibility. I think it's appalling how many people are brought up thinking that it's okay to throw litter, deface public property, vandalise and cover anything that doesn't move in grafitti. It drives me insane that in this country we can't have more street assets like flowerpots and art and benches even, because in Ireland anything isn't nailed down is immediately knicked/broken/peed on or in some other way wrecked. In Spain they have tables and chairs with parasols placed in public places, like along the sea front, just so people can sit and relax in the shade. In Ireland they would be gone in the morning. And Irish people can be terrible at even maintaining their own property - there are so many houses with gardens filled with rusting cars or knee high weeds that just ruin everyone else's enjoyment of their own neighbourhood.

We place too much weight on our 'individualism' in this country I think, as if not following the country's laws is something to be proud of. They should teach respect for the community and public property in schools, people don't actually seem to realise/care here that when they deface a bus shelter they are wasting public money, or that when they dump bags of rubbish someone else is going to have to come along and pick them up. It comes down to a total lack of pride and it drives me bonkers.