A Nation of over achievers?

racso1975

Is it fair to say for to say that for the size of our population we have acheived and continue to acheive a lot more then we should i.e.

3rd best in the world in rugby

1st in european golf rankings

1st european indoor hurdles

Ranked in triathlon (european)

Lead the way in the horse breeding

Bit of a dip in soccer ranks but we are reorganizing :rolleyes:

European boxing champion as well

And i'm sure there are many more like the 3rd best country in the world for chocolate consumption and i take full tahanks for this given my recent 8 months of the cigs

I'm sure we aint to bad in the buisness world either

So id just like to say fair feckin play to us and lets keep up the good work

anybody think of more keep them coming

markk06

Yeah but relative to other developed countries.....

Poor health service

Inadequate infrastructure ie roads, public transport

Fastest widening gap between rich and poor in the EU

Drug Problems & Organised crime

Over reliance on material goods without attempting to "save for a rainy day"

Not to wreck your theory....

racso1975

Fastest widening gap between rich and poor in the EU

over acheiving rich people

Over reliance on material goods without attempting to "save for a rainy day"

Or were OVERLY optomistic

Drug Problems

Again over achievement in this department given per capita size and i assume alcohol is include as a drug above

Theory still going strong...........

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

racso1975

http://www.failteireland.ie/upload/documents/2%20Gold%20Medals%20for%20Ireland%20at%20Culinary%20Olympics.doc

The other medals all came in boxing with silver for Fred Tiedt, and bronze for Tony Byrne, Freddie Gilroy and John Caldwell.

Boxer Jim McCourth took an Olympic bronze medal at Tokyo in 1964, Hugh Russell added another in boxing at Moscow in 1980 and David Wilkins and Jamie Wilkinson won silver medals at the 1980 Olympic Yachting events, which were staged in Tailinn.

John Treacy won a silver medal at Los Angeles in 1984 and Wayne McCullough was to add another silver medal in boxing at the Games of 1992 in Barcelona.

But the memorable moment of the Barcelona Olympics was the victory of Michael Carruth of Dublin who became the first Irishman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing.

The 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta were a personal triumph for Michelle Smith de Bruin who became the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal and also the first Irish competitor to do so in Swimming. In all she won three gold medals and a bronze, also a record by an Irish competitor at a single celebration of the Games.

Sonia O’Sullivan added a silver medal to Ireland’s tally with a fine performance in Sydney in the 5000m on the track.

Ireland's Lord Killanin (1914-1999) became President of the International Olympic Committee in 1972 and served until 1980 and he was then to become the Honorary Life President of the IOC.

Dr. Kevin O'Flanagan became a member of the International Olympic Committee in 1977 and since his retirement the Irish Member on the IOC is Patrick Hickey, elected in 1996, who became President of the Olympic Council of Ireland in 1989 following the resignation of Desmond O'Sullivan who had served as President since 1976.

Now in relation to world cup HELLO i did say we are re organizing at the moment


COM ON IRELAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Ruu_Old

Ah for once, not a moany thread about Ireland. Keeping up with the theme of it anyway.

from Wikeh

Ireland has, for a long time, been one of the biggest per-capita consumers of tea in the world. The national average is four cups per person per day, with many people drinking six cups or more.

As with Britain, tea in Ireland is usually taken with milk and/or sugar and is slightly spicier and stronger than the traditional English Blend. The two main brands of tea sold in Ireland are Lyons and Barry's. There is a considerable amount of light-hearted debate over which brand is superior. The Irish love of tea is perhaps best illustrated by the stereotypical housekeeper, Mrs Doyle in the popular sit-com Father Ted.

Karoma

(In best Limerick accent) "We're competitive for our size, like."

markk06

Quote:
Fastest widening gap between rich and poor in the EU

"over acheiving rich people"

Or maybe inefficient policies to support the lower income families


Quote:
Over reliance on material goods without attempting to "save for a rainy day"

"Or were OVERLY optomistic"

Overly optimistic? Have you not heard of USA in the 20's, UK in the 80's and Japan in the 90's?? Basically saving is necessary to avoid deepening slumps in the cyclical flows of typical economic movement. Therefore ending up with a situation where the economy ends up bottoming out with a crash

dvega

I think we are a country full of sports fanatics but 99% of the country follow english teams,(including myself).

If you want to compare us to other economical rich countries we would come out on bottom,health service,road infrastruture,materials everything.

I think the 'celtic tiger' will fall as fast as it came in,our economic structure is dependent on one thing..Building.

racso1975

Have you not heard of USA in the 20's, UK in the 80's and Japan in the 90's??

I refer you to every decade that 1900's that ireland has had and it is only in the last 20 odd years that we have even had money as a nation to spend i would also believe thatthe million odd people who took out SSIA are evidence of people saving.......now dont go all hypothetical on my ass and asking me if the will continue to save once they are cashed only time will tell

Or maybe inefficient policies to support the lower income families

Lets see.....near full employment....public sector pay agreements to make public private a level playing field....the introduction of minimum wage aggreements

The establishment of the RAPID/CLAR/LEADER programs throughout the whole country to deal with socially excluded/impoverished or whatever tag you want to give.

the creation of 190 community development projects in the country and 100 family resource centres

The distribution of millions from the dormant accounts funds and also the national lottery

The creation of local and regional drug task forces along with funding

The list goes on and on but unfortunately mark there will always be poor people in the world but i bet if any country will eradicate poverty it will be ireland;)

oRlyYaRly

I couldn't care less if a few Irish people did a bunch of stuff. Just because I live in the same country as them it doesn't give me some claim to their glory. :rolleyes:

Fratton Fred

I could give you an immigrants view of Ireland, but I won't spoil the party:D

I will say this though, there are only 4 million people in this country, but you have to remember there are 40 odd million Irish world wide.

netwhizkid

Lets not forget we also have the highest Alcohol consumption in the World and EU. We also consume the most Tea in the World. And we are also home to highest prevalence of Heart Disease in the World and 86% of Irish people claim to lead a healthy lifestyle.

Also we have the 2nd highest Rich V Poor Gap after the U.S.A, We are a global leader in Software production and 25% of European Computers are built in Ireland.

We have amongst the worst health care in the World and despite the Celtic Tiger Mk II we are actually in a worsening position half a million jobs are linked to Construction and we are building 16 times too many houses for our Demographic Requirements, with such a supply you would think to look at Ireland on paper House Prices should be cheap when they are actually amongst the highest in the World and Europe's most Expensive. We are the most Expensive Nation to live in Europe.

Most of our Public Finances are based around Construction with an average of between €80,000 and €125,000 going to the Exchequer from the construction of each new house. The Government continues to press down income Tax so at the end of the week when you get your payslip it looks like you are paying little tax but the truth is you are being completely screwed.

We have Stealth Taxation also known as indirect taxation. Anything you buy has 21% VAT added. Ireland, Belgium and Portugal all have rates of 21% and we are only surpassed by the Nordic States of Sweden and Denmark at 25% and Finland at 22%. I am comparing us to the old 15 EU as the new members are not on an even playing field. The Progressive Democrats/Fianna Fail have cut taxes at the expense of Social Services and been responsible for numerous Privatisations where perfectly profitable and well managed state companies were sold off to private investors to the Public Detriment.

The Government now plans to do a give away budget to try and win votes in the next Election. However all they will do is squander money on non-essential projects while cutting taxes even further. The thing is if this government were any good they would have some of Ireland's big money spinners under State-ownership, E.g. Eircom makes about €1Billion a year this was sold off for about €2Billion, the private investors have crippled the company and nobody outside a town of 1,500+ can get broadband.

We are a nation of over achievers yes however I can see parody with the Current Irish Race and the Ancient Jews, we are enslaved to Fianna Fail as the Jews were to Pharoh. The average married couple works 40hrs a week each for to spend the next 40yrs paying off a mortgage and will bring about 1.9 children into the World. These children will grow up spending alot of their time away from their parents due to child care/creches etc.

Overachievers yes but boy are we killing ourselves for nothing.

Piste

No such thing as over achievement

wow sierra

Doesn't anyone in this country travel/watch BBC/CNN etc? I am sick of every problem related to modern developed societies being discussed as if they are exclusive to Ireland. You will see as many documentaries about under age drinking/binge drinking, drugs crime, poor building/planning standards, appalling state of health service, gap between rich and poor etc in relation to UK as Ireland. There are traffic jams in every country also - believe it or not. WE DO NOT HAVE A THIRD WORLD HEALTH SERVICE - try living in an actual third world country for a while. Most of the problems in relation to traffic are a result of the speed of our economic improvement- if ye want to go back to mass unemployment and emigration I'm sure that will solve the traffic problems. Rant over ...........sorry!

Re OP I think we have achieved a lot for our size, and not just in sport - I love hearing Colin Farrell being discussed in Sex and the City, Boomtown Rats and U.2 featuring in The West Wing etc. Bob Geldof being God basically. And ST Patricks Day is a huge festival all over the world - cool.

I wouldn't get too excited about the Rugby yet - the games aren't competitive - I hope they can do it in the real thing next year.

MrJoeSoap

wow sierra wrote:

I love hearing Colin Farrell being discussed in Sex and the City

Nothing would pain me more than seeing that goon's head expand even further.

wow sierra wrote:

Boomtown Rats and U.2 featuring in The West Wing etc.

Ah yes, the pride of Ireland, U2 and their frontman/god Bono. Another ego my life could do without hearing.

wow sierra wrote:

Bob Geldof being God basically.

Bob Geldof, the man who betrayed the poor.

We could do a lot worse than focus on the real heroes of our country, Adi Roche for one. But for every person like her there are two soulless scavengers like Tony Quinn waiting to pounce.

How many genuinely decent famous Irish people can we name?

Fratton Fred

wow sierra wrote:

Re OP I think we have achieved a lot for our size, and not just in sport - I love hearing Colin Farrell being discussed in Sex and the City, Boomtown Rats and U.2 featuring in The West Wing etc. Bob Geldof being God basically. And ST Patricks Day is a huge festival all over the world - cool.
QUOTE]

you missed Paris Hilton off your list:D

I just moved my family over here, if it was as bad as some people seem to think it is, I wouldn't have done that.

BlitzKrieg

Dracula was an irish creation

MrJoeSoap

BlitzKrieg wrote:

Dracula was an irish creation

Literature is possibly the one field in which Ireland has had more than its fair share of genius and recognition.

Kavanagh, Yeats, Heaney, Joyce, Beckett, Swift, Behan, Shaw, Wilde etc...

BlitzKrieg

i was thinking of naming off the list, but decided against it cause i might have caused offense with misspellings.


besides nothing brings it home then pointing out one of the worlds most instantly recognisable horror icons was created by an 'Irish drunk'

wow sierra

Ah yes, the pride of Ireland, U2 and their frontman/god Bono. Another ego my life could do without hearing.

Bonos ego is of no interest to me - like Van Morrisons alleged rudeness - Its the music that matters. I could probably live without their music too but I am very very very glad I didn't have too.
But its the first part of my post I care about (the Rant) - the rest was just a casual comment!!. Various Irish people, famous and unknown, impress me every day - as do people from all over the globe. I don't see the necessity to always focus on the negative.

connundrum

OK so we have achieved quite a bit considering our size... but fewer and fewer people appear to be claiming that they are 'Proud to be Irish'. Back in the pre-Celtic Tiger times everyone seemed to be proud to be Irish.. now we all seem a bit apathetic towards the issue. So the question is -


Are you actually proud to be Irish?

Archeron

connundrum wrote:

Are you actually proud to be Irish?

Without a doubt yes, but more proud of the heritage and history of the country rather than the materialistic nation we have become in recent years.

markk06

wow sierra wrote:

Doesn't anyone in this country travel/watch BBC/CNN etc? I am sick of every problem related to modern developed societies being discussed as if they are exclusive to Ireland. You will see as many documentaries about under age drinking/binge drinking, drugs crime, poor building/planning standards, appalling state of health service, gap between rich and poor etc in relation to UK as Ireland. There are traffic jams in every country also - believe it or not. WE DO NOT HAVE A THIRD WORLD HEALTH SERVICE - try living in an actual third world country for a while. Most of the problems in relation to traffic are a result of the speed of our economic improvement-

They may not be exclusive to Ireland but that does not make them acceptable... Yes most of our traffic problems are to do with the speed of our economic improvement. You will find i pointed this out when I talked about the lack of infrastructure. The problem now arises where by we have been in constant growth for nearly a decade but the adequate infrastructural planning has not met the growth.

The lack of town planning etc has caused urban sprawl where areas of longford are nearly considered Dublin Suburbs. People are moving on mass to the variour commuter towns around leinster but at no stage has development met the needs of the growing communities.

if ye want to go back to mass unemployment and emigration I'm sure that will solve the traffic problems.

In order to sustain investment from multinational firms it is necessary to accomodatew them. It is these firms which paved the way for the so called Celtic Tiger and Full Employment, however the nations greed and lack of foresight is what will drive them away. What MD of a multinational company wants to relocate to Ireland when it takes 2 hours to get 5 miles from the airport to an overpriced piece of land with no local amenities.

So yes of course we are "over Achievers" but this success may be the beggining of our own demise.

Black Swan

Add to this growing list:
:cool: One of the fasting growing economies (GDP) in EU, and projected to continue 2007.
:cool: Home of the best brew (Guinness).

BossArky

connundrum wrote:

Are you actually proud to be Irish?

Are you proud of a random number when playing Bingo or the likes?

That is what our nationality is - random. Anyone of us in this world could have been born into different circumstances / culture, etc ... so I would not get too worked up about the nationality.

Of course, be proud of your heritiage, but some people take these things too seriously.

kevmy

I'm not a nationalistic person but I'm proud to be Irish. Why? Not because of some fluke of birth but because of what Ireland has given me with (so far at least) very little return. I've got a good education (all paid for by the state), a health service that so far hasn't done me wrong, a good standard of living, lots of sporting and cultural outlets, an essentially pretty liberal nation (these days, I'm quite young and can't really remember tha bad old days), a laid back environment, a clean environment and loads of other stuff.
This has nothing to do with history or mythisicism or any of that Oirish sh1te. It maybe because I happened to be born here but I can still be pretty proud of it. If I was born in Tanzania I mightn't be proud but I wasn't. I was born in a place where my parents and there parents helped to build and create. They chose Ireland for me to be born in perhaps because they thought it was a place where I could be proud of.
I hate the constant Irish bashing from alot of people in these forums. If you don't like it leave. Due to the freedoms we have in this country you can do that. And don't give me any of this 'I don't have any money crap' alot of our ancestors left with nothing in their pockets when they had to.

MrJoeSoap

BossArky wrote:

Are you proud of a random number when playing Bingo or the likes?

That is what our nationality is - random. Anyone of us in this world could have been born into different circumstances / culture, etc ... so I would not get too worked up about the nationality.

Of course, be proud of your heritiage, but some people take these things too seriously.

Well said.

As Green Day once sang (before they got crap)...

"Well sects of disconnection and tradition of lost faith,
no culture's worth a stream of piss or a bullet in my face."

kevmy

BossArky wrote:

Are you proud of a random number when playing Bingo or the likes?

That is what our nationality is - random. Anyone of us in this world could have been born into different circumstances / culture, etc ... so I would not get too worked up about the nationality.

By that way of thinking you can't be proud of anything. If your smart you can't be proud of it because it was in your genes, same if you have any talent. A fluke of birth.

MrJoeSoap

kevmy wrote:

By that way of thinking you can't be proud of anything. If your smart you can't be proud of it because it was in your genes, same if you have any talent. A fluke of birth.

You can be proud of channelling your strengths and using them in a positive manner, of being a nice person and of the decisions you make.

Being Irish (or any nationality) is not something to be proud of.

Savman

Ah Ireland's great. Tea for everyone :D:D

Tabnabs

MrJoeSoap wrote:

Being Irish (or any nationality) is not something to be proud of.

I'd say you're a laugh to be around on paddy's day... :rolleyes:

Ruu_Old

Savman wrote:

Ah Ireland's great. Tea for everyone :D:D

Will ya have a cup of tea, Father?

MrJoeSoap

Dyflin wrote:

I'd say you're a laugh to be around on paddy's day... :rolleyes:

Yeah I'm usually locked in a field. Nothing to do with pride for the country, just a little drinking problem I have.

MrJoeSoap

Ruu wrote:

Will ya have a cup of tea, Father?

"Ah no thanks Mrs Doyle. I have a kind of allergic reaction to tea. If I drink a cup of tea , there's a 70% chance I might die."

ScumLord

The problem with Irish infrastructure is they don't even bother to think ahead. They should have and probably did see this coming years ago and should have learned from the mistakes of other countries. We had a chance to set up an excellent transport investiture but instead we got the uncontrolled sprawl. One town near me has had a bypass put off year after year because they keep doing daft stuff like wanting to put 6 roundabouts and traffic lights all over the thing, they don't seem to understand the concept of a bypass atall.

There doesn't seem to be anyone planning ahead in Ireland. It's not just down to the speed of economic growth.

We have had money for a realitively shirt amount of time I suppose, this may be just a wild period to celibrate the fact we're not living in houses made from muck and hay anymore.

Hobbes

ScumLord wrote:

The problem with Irish infrastructure is they don't even bother to think ahead.

Actually Ireland ranks number 1 in how not to design urban sprawls. The EU are even using actual examples from Ireland of how not to do it.

Seriously, how hard is it to build more schools/hospitals when your increasing your population.

TBH I think we win on poets/writers. I can't see anything else. The only way you could think that we are the best country in the world is if you have never actually left the country.

layke

Not too proud of being Irish, I just don't care about that stuff but one thing that can be found no where else in the world is the humour. Other countries think were all mad.

kevmy

MrJoeSoap wrote:

You can be proud of channelling your strengths and using them in a positive manner, of being a nice person and of the decisions you make.

Being Irish (or any nationality) is not something to be proud of.

I'm not saying it's ahuge part of my makeup or that it would spur me on to invade other countries or anything. But in my opinion it's nice to live in Ireland (on the whole) and i'm proud of the fact that we have channelled our strenghts as a nation in a positive manner to make the right decisions to improve our country.
This essentially comes down to a nature vs. nuture debate. Did Ireland make you what you are today or was it already there and you just happened to be born in Ireland.

MrJoeSoap

kevmy wrote:

Did Ireland make you what you are today or was it already there and you just happened to be born in Ireland.

I don't know, but I don't feel like I owe anything to the country I happened to be born in. I don't necessarily have anything more in common with someone from Donegal or Kerry as I do with someone from Glasgow or Sydney.

You should be proud over things you have had control over, not things you were born into.

Savman

Jaysis this is depressing, it's your nationality ffs :mad:
We've come a long way as a small nation to get where we are now only to be greeted by apathy? You don't have to "act oirish" but it's a part of your identity whether you like it or not, it amazes me how/why people are quick to put down their own countries (show me a country in the world without social problems...:rolleyes:)

We're not doing that badly.