Ireland, one of the happiest places in Europe

azezil

From an article in the Metro this morning, "A survey found that 82per cent of Irish people claim to be happy all or most of the time. Only the Dutch - at 83 per cent - were cheerier. "

Then farther down the article "...one in every seven Irish people sought professional help for psychological problems in the past 12 months."

Of course we're happier, 1 in 7 are off their faces on pills!

scojones

Nah, we're not happier cause we're off our faces on pills. We're happier because there is a huge influx of hot women coming into our country, all the crap jobs are taken so we don't have to do them, and we're all drunk 24/7/365!

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

sjones wrote:

Nah, we're not happier cause we're off our faces on pills. We're happier because there is a huge influx of hot women coming into our country, all the crap jobs are taken so we don't have to do them, and we're all drunk 24/7/365!

This is true. And the Dutch are up there because of the weed and the face that all the hot women are already there and staying.

Half an ounce of soma....

Plug

Ikky Poo2 wrote:

Half an ounce of soma....

...in tea please.

Ah sure why not throw a girl in it while your at it;)

User45701

the dutch are very happy i love holland 8 times is not enough and if anyone is thinking of going somewhere for new years?

Go to dam square

I hear allot of people saying that hate Ireland and cant wit to leave but i think its great here, there may be allot of people i hate, i might hate my government , i hate the failed law enforcement we have..... there is allot i hate but there is a good side to living here.

No natruel disasters no tsunamis no volcanoes earthquakes ect.
I would live in Ireland my whole life even tho every single person my age have said they wouldn't like to live here and want to live abrawd but im betting most of them will stay living here maybe a year in Australia but not much more than that

Terry

what's not to love?
one of the wealthiest countries in the world. one of the best economies. low unemployment. half decent healthcare, eastern european chicks. best country in the world right now.

Erin Go Brath

sjones wrote:

Nah, we're not happier cause we're off our faces on pills. We're happier because there is a huge influx of hot women coming into our country, all the crap jobs are taken so we don't have to do them, and we're all drunk 24/7/365!

There should be visas handed out to hot chicks wanting to live here, if nothing else they improve the mood of the nation. There should be a survey done to see if mens psycological welfare has improved. I know I'm happier:D

kevmy

Yeah for all the bitching we do about things when it comes down to it there aren't many places that are much better for the ordinary person right now. Not to say there isn't plenty of things to improve.
Only Austrailia, NZ, Japan, some of the Scandinavian countries, Canada and a few of the smaller Western European countries can compare really

Ponster

julep wrote:

what's not to love?

Ahhh, that one's easy to deal with :

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054980390

coffee_cake

Erin Go Brath wrote:

There should be visas handed out to hot chicks wanting to live here, if nothing else they improve the mood of the nation. There should be a survey done to see if mens psycological welfare has improved. I know I'm happier:D

Yeah, and we could do with some goodlooking men

shane86

Bollix imo. Why do you think countries like ourselves, the Scots and the East Europeans have higher rates of alcoholism and drug use than, say, Spain and Italy? Its the poxy weather (and maybe the fact that Ireland, Scotland and E Europe share woeful football achievements in the last few years ). Dont know where they did this survey, most of my mates hate where they are stuck in life at the minute.

Personally, I wouldnt want to be from anywhere else, as the Irish are one of a kind and we are proud of it. But this country is far from perfect.

Red Hand

"There are lies, damn lies and statistic"-D'Israili (sp?)

For that rather high figure of 80+%, how did they define happiness?

Or more importantly, how do YOU define happiness? Perhaps that;s for a different thread.:)

brianthebard

kevmy wrote:

Yeah for all the bitching we do about things when it comes down to it there aren't many places that are much better for the ordinary person right now. Not to say there isn't plenty of things to improve.
Only Austrailia, NZ, Japan, some of the Scandinavian countries, Canada and a few of the smaller Western European countries can compare really

It's because of all the bitching that we are the happiest! People get it out of their system on a daily basis so they can fill in surveys and say they are happy!

SouperComputer

what's not to love?

A fair bit IMO, the cost of living, motoring and energy for a start. Excessive insurance costs, pathetic infrastructure, unviable public transport. Gutless government.

one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

Most of our wealth lies either from (Trancient) US investment or property.

one of the best economies.

Nah, that ended 5 years ago. It just looks good because there is a lot of money floating around, mostly from cheap credit. IMO we are just avoiding the inevitable, which is why I left for the US.

low unemployment. half decent healthcare, eastern european chicks. best country in the world right now.

Not sure on healthcare, but low unemployment is true.


Dont get me wrong, I love Ireland, but the cost of living and general quality of life is what propted me to move to the US be honest. So much so that I sold my business in Ireland and moved.

I also think that there are very tough economic times ahead for Ireland espcially. I feel the ecomomy's real state is currenty smokescreened by cheap credit amongst other things. When things start to slow in the US, I fear that they will be twice as bad back home.

The US is a long way from perfect, but on a day to day basis my wallet is thicker, and I am less frustrated with the way things are done here. One thing I dont like is the health insurance "racket". I went to get new glasses yesterday, frames 189USD, lenses 260! But oh, health insurance covers most of it. 260 for lenses though, incredible!


/edit, just to give some background on me: I was born and lived in ireland for 26 years, im now 26

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

julep wrote:

what's not to love?
one of the wealthiest countries in the world. one of the best economies. low unemployment. half decent healthcare, eastern european chicks. best country in the world right now.

What country you talking about?

Drax

I wonder are all the people here who are saying they are happy the ones with the house, the new car and the good job? :rolleyes:

In saying that, I think Ireland is a great place (in terms of my friends/job etc) but more and more general things about this country p*ss me off. Lack of general courtesy, lack of community, an utterly sh*te government (who made a pigs mickey of the budget), lack of transportation systems, an underfunded, increasingly corrupt police force... etc etc....

Terry

Drax wrote:

I wonder are all the people here who are saying they are happy the ones with the house, the new car and the good job? :rolleyes:

Have the house, but i don't have a car or a job.
i don't need a car because i find that the transport system is good enough to get me from Leixlip to Ballyfermot every morning, while passing all the cars stuck in traffic. i don't have to wait more than 20 minutes for a bus.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

julep wrote:

Have the house, but i don't have a car or a job.
i don't need a car because i find that the transport system is good enough to get me from Leixlip to Ballyfermot every morning, while passing all the cars stuck in traffic. i don't have to wait more than 20 minutes for a bus.

What do you do in Ballyfermot every morning...?

Seriously, though, the public trnasport system in Dublin is the one thing that pushed me over the edge. I was in Sandyford, which, if you're going into town, is fine, but if you're goign to somewhere like Tallaght or Blackrock was a nightmare.

Terry

Ikky Poo2 wrote:

What do you do in Ballyfermot every morning...?

I'm doing a course.
I eat a bowl of special k with purple berries before leaving the house. i then walk to the village, get some smokes and then walk to the bus stop. while on the bus i do sudoku puzzles. i get off the bus in palmerstown and then get the 18 from there. I arrive in ballyfermot at about 8.20, have a cigarette and then go in for a cup of tea. my classes start at 9.
i'll continue this later. my friend in australia has just logged into MSN messenger.

emeraldstar

^^^ lol

Tha Gopher

julep wrote:

what's not to love?
one of the wealthiest countries in the world. one of the best economies. low unemployment. half decent healthcare, eastern european chicks. best country in the world right now.

I hafta agree on the healthcare tbh, its not perfect but Im sure there is worse. My mate, no insurance, was in the waiting room on a Sat morning and was seen in 10 minutes. I got seen relatively fast too when I went. I think in this country people would feel hard done by at this, it gives them less to moan about in the pub that night. Nothing an Irish person secretly craves more than a 4 hour wait and doctors with bad English, its complainin fuel i tell thee.

Women migrants? Meh, the E Europeans are on our level (though 95% come with the boyfriend so tbh like) and the Spanish/Italian birds are, on the whole, quite a rough looking badly dressed bunch. Shows that stereotypes arent always correct. Irish women do seem to be better looking than 20 years ago though

Am I happy?.......meh

faceman

azezil wrote:

From an article in the Metro this morning, "A survey found that 82per cent of Irish people claim to be happy all or most of the time. Only the Dutch - at 83 per cent - were cheerier. "

Then farther down the article "...one in every seven Irish people sought professional help for psychological problems in the past 12 months."

Of course we're happier, 1 in 7 are off their faces on pills!

Those stats dont add up, that article is tosh!

Sad Professor

Ireland? Happy?

Looks like I'd better change my nick to the Happy Professor then

Black Swan

Cheers!
*Raises pint of Guinness, takes a sip, licks foam off upper lip, then hickups*

jezza

sjones wrote:

Nah, we're not happier cause we're off our faces on pills. We're happier because there is a huge influx of hot women coming into our country, all the crap jobs are taken so we don't have to do them, and we're all drunk 24/7/365!

Word.

the_syco

We ain't happy unless we moan about something. And there's lots for us to moan about

SimpleSam06

Well according to the economist, Ireland has the best quality of life and is one of the happiest places on earth to live, and the dutch don't even come into it... I don't know why, but when I hear the word "metro" I feel the need to tack "sexual" on the end of it, along with words like "latte sipping passive aggressive middle class white guilt turtle neck wearing bollock mongers writing on their blog about how they were the first to coin the latest hairdressers blogosphere buzzword".

Maybe its just me.

Sad Professor

lol.

The Metro is garbage. Anytime someone tries to hand me one (or several as is frequently the case) I get into my karate pose and make weird noises to scare them off. And I'm sick of all these stupid surveys and polls, its all the newspapers ever write about anymore. I think they make them up half the time. Or at least the Sindo certainly does. Can we have some real news please.

kevmy

SouperComputer wrote:

Dont get me wrong, I love Ireland, but the cost of living and general quality of life is what propted me to move to the US be honest. So much so that I sold my business in Ireland and moved.

I also think that there are very tough economic times ahead for Ireland espcially. I feel the ecomomy's real state is currenty smokescreened by cheap credit amongst other things. When things start to slow in the US, I fear that they will be twice as bad back home.

The US is a long way from perfect, but on a day to day basis my wallet is thicker, and I am less frustrated with the way things are done here. One thing I dont like is the health insurance "racket". I went to get new glasses yesterday, frames 189USD, lenses 260! But oh, health insurance covers most of it. 260 for lenses though, incredible!


/edit, just to give some background on me: I was born and lived in ireland for 26 years, im now 26

While all this above may be true I'd still prefer to be born in Ireland. Here you have a pretty even chance in life. Free healthcare(even if it isn't the best), free education, welfare payments etc. In America if your in the sh1tter its pretty hard to get out and an awful lot of people over there are struggling. It's a country where the middle class and rich are probably a lot happier but not the lower classes. On overall percentage of the population that are happier Ireland would probably come out on top.

drunkenfool

I dont know where they're getting this. i've read many times before that Ireland has one of the highest suicide rates in western europe for young males.
For supercomputer, ive read that Ireland has one of the best qualities of life at the moment as well (cant reference this) Also dont know how with our transport system!
Also the US economy has been slow for quite some time now. (Another argument for the war on Iraq) The EU, mostly German economy is beginning to grow with the lower interest rates..

kevmy

drunkenfool wrote:

I dont know where they're getting this. i've read many times before that Ireland has one of the highest suicide rates in western europe for young males.

There is possibly the same number of depressed people in other countries just that the support services for them are better and our alcoholism as a country also contributes to this as a large number of suicides involve alcohol

drunkenfool wrote:

The EU, mostly German economy is beginning to grow with the lower interest rates..

Interest rates are rising not falling:rolleyes: Only ~1.5 percent below US now