What's so appalling about Ireland

_blank_

Terry wrote:

One of these days there will be a "What's so appalling about Ireland" thread.
I live in hope.

Here you go.

Kintarō Hattori

Nothing as far as I can see. Sure it's not perfect, but it is overall a pretty decent place to be.

Slow Motion

All these bloody forriners crowding the roundabouts and taking our wimmin ! Oh and YORE MA !!!!

kmick

Its pretty damn good compared to a lot of places. Now if we could get the chinese over to disperse the clouds with their olympic rockets we would be suckin diesel.

Our healthcare system
The way we vote back in corrupt politicians (they are all corrupt but the stupid fcuker got caught)

just to name a couple off the top of my head

Tar.Aldarion

The people.

CiaranC

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

The people.

:rolleyes:

Duggy747

I don't find this country appalling, myself. Considering how well we are on our lifestyle compared to many other developed countries. Granted, there's people that would turn you off but that's a given everywhere you go!! And our broadband infrastructure is cack, healthcare is cack, public transport is cack. At least RTÉ 2 shows decent wildlife programmes (I never knew ants were cunning lil' fúckers and that Steve Irwin was a loon!! )

Our crappy attitudes regarding nearly everything.
Dodgy politicians being re-elected even when we know they are dodgy and voting for them anyway.
The price of housing.
Our 3rd world health system.
This list could go on and on indefinately so I'll stop now.

cance

coolsmileygirl wrote:

(they are all corrupt but the stupid fcuker got caught)

:rolleyes:

i suggest you spend more time researching your political facts before making an arse of yourself again.

Karl Hungus

I'll never understand how so many Irish people are so utterly self-hating. There's a lot of people on boards who are just not happy unless they're tearing down Ireland and the Irish verbally at every juncture possible. It's starting to get depressing that I can't read a thread on After Hours (Which is a forum that usually causes me to despair for humanity already) without seeing some bull**** about how much we suck, and how we're the worst country in the world, and the worst people out there...

I've been a hell of a lot of places, Japan, Norway, England, Spain, Czech Republic, Romania, France, and a lot more... Trust me guys, we really aren't that bad a country at all. Infact, we're pretty god damn awesome. Sure, we're not as awesome as Japan, but then again, who is?

The fact is, I've been to places that have been far, far worse off than Ireland, and the people still manage to drum up a magnificent amount of pride.

In Ireland, we don't know how good we have it.

Fratton Fred

Other than the standard of driving, I think it is definately Irelands lack of a Woolworths.

Tar.Aldarion

CiaranC.







;-)

judas101

Karl Hungus wrote:

The fact is, I've been to places that have been far, far worse off than Ireland, and the people still manage to drum up a magnificent amount of pride.

In Ireland, we don't know how good we have it.

amen to that.


there's far too many nay-sayers out there

bugler

It's not appalling, but the previous posters have pointed out the drawbacks.

For me, things that make Ireland less attractive then many other countries in terms of lifestyle:

- The Weather.

- The transport. Ok, if you live on the Luas line and it gets you to work in 10 minutes you might think Irish public transport is great. But for the most part Dublin's transport is poor by the standards of European capitals. I was in Madrid recently enough. As far as I can tell their Metro is based on the same template as the Tube in London.

Its coverage of the city is far superior to what we have here, it runs far more regularly at all times than what we have here (every few minutes, missing a train is a non-event, one will be along again in a minute), oh and it's much cheaper too. Our national rail links are also poor. Large swathes of the country are not accessible by rail. It can be a better option to fly. Travelling between Dublin and Limerick a couple of years ago I was on a train that I wouldn't have expected to see in the former Soviet bloc circa 1980. And smoke kept coming into the carriage.

- Healthcare. This has been done to death. Suffice to say, why is the Health Service of a supposedly dynamic and wealthy country sub-par? I'm lucky I haven't been seriously ill, nor has anyone close to me (well since my grandparents died some time ago). My sister was in hospital for appendicitis recently enough though - I didn't like what I saw.

- Yobbishness / skangerism. Of all the urban places in Ireland I've lived, the only place in which skangerism didn't seem to be a daily feature was Galway. There are rough parts of Galway, but it doesn't really seem to translate to the core experience of the town. At least it didn't for my years there.

Dublin is a different story of course. On my daily central Dublin walk (Top of O'Connell St down to Grafton, on to Harcourt St) I regularly see the vomit being washed off the street as I get to work. I always see junkies waddling around the place, panhandling, vagrants...the only thing I don't see is prostitution.

All capital cities have these problems. But not all cities have them on their main thoroughfares like we do here.

If I could add one more thing, probably related to the above, it is the overly dependent manner of our culture on alcohol and drinking.

How can the above be factored into surveys, or lists of how much we're all earning and all worth? They can't really, and they're not.

Slow Motion

Karl Hungus wrote:

In Ireland, we don't know how good we have it.

Some of us do ! I could list all the things that piss me off as others have above but I think those things could be found in almost any society ! I love living here, I've been abroad and there are some places I wouldn't mind living in for a while but I will always end up back here. Why ? The people for the most part are decent, goodnatured and humourous. The last couple of months excluded the wether isn't too bad ! There are lots of interesting places to see and things to do ! We know how to have a bit of craic even when things are tough. Despite all the negativity we hear (a lot on AH) we generally do care about others and want to help, so to sum up I would rather be Irish and living in Ireland than be someone else somewhere else ! FACT ! END OF...!

nice1franko

"good ole ireland :rolleyes: we can't do anything right can we ha ha ha ha"

The fukcing self deprecation is what does my head in.

If we'd the floods that england just had half the country'd be tutting "they couldn't organise anything, bit of rain and the place is in bits" or if joe o reill had got off... there'd be people moaning that the justice system in ireland is a joke etc

EVERY SINGLE COUNTRY has its good and bad points. Strange and stupid things are done in other countries too.

If rte balls something up then give out to rte and don't quip "good ole ireland" and think you're the clever cnut.

Overall, it's a great country and it's improving all the time so if you don't like it then do something about it, pi$$ off or shut up.

edit - rant over... I love the place and have travelled a lot and lived in 3 other countries. First day back from america and was having brekkie at a pub. too many of us were cramped onto a little circle table and i went to cut a saussie and the plate flipped onto the ground. a man comes over with his son (about 4 i'd say) taps me on the shoulder and says he wants to say something to ye... little fukcer pipes up "do ye want a hammer?" where else would you get that?

edit edit - and I, for one, like that we drink too much.

lightening

Karl Hungus wrote:

I'll never understand how so many Irish people are so utterly self-hating. There's a lot of people on boards who are just not happy unless they're tearing down Ireland and the Irish verbally at every juncture possible. It's starting to get depressing that I can't read a thread on After Hours (Which is a forum that usually causes me to despair for humanity already) without seeing some bull**** about how much we suck, and how we're the worst country in the world, and the worst people out there...

At last, a voice of reason. We have never had it better, brilliant cities, amazing countryside, stunning activities, cash, amenities... Get off the couch, get out there and see it. You should see other parts of the world, I have been to parts of India, America, Vietnam amongst others. You havent a clue what a sh*thole is. Dublin, Cork, Belfast, Sligo... Amazing places, you just need to get up off your arse and do things.

Karl Hungus

Slow Motion wrote:

Some of us do !

Ah yeah, I'm just making some sweeping statements here, I know there's a good few who don't buy into this "National Masoccism" for want of a better term.

Karl Hungus

lightening wrote:

At last, a voice of reason. We have never had it better, brilliant cities, amazing countryside, stunning activities, cash, amenities... Get off the couch, get out there and see it. You should see other parts of the world, I have been to parts of India, America, Vietnam amongst others. You havent a clue what a sh*thole is. Dublin, Cork, Belfast, Sligo... Amazing places, you just need to get up off your arse and do things.

I may have underestimated the posters on AH.

Seems there's hope yet.

Slow Motion

Karl Hungus wrote:

"National Masoccism"

I like it ! I may use this against my mates the next time they are bitching over their pints ! With your permission of course

Karl Hungus

Slow Motion wrote:

I like it ! I may use this against my mates the next time they are bitching over their pints ! With your permission of course

Yeah, feel free.

Just don't be a dope like me, and spell it wrong.

Masochism tbh.

Aye, it's a good one though. I can just imagine leaning over the table in the pub and saying "You're a bunch of nationally masochistic goobers is what you are!"

Dragan

I love this country, i truly do.

I honestly cannot understand people who bang on about how crap everything is. I just don't see it myself.

Your life is what you make it, so make it enjoyable folks.

thelordofcheese

lightening wrote:

At last, a voice of reason. We have never had it better, brilliant cities, amazing countryside, stunning activities, cash, amenities... Get off the couch, get out there and see it. You should see other parts of the world, I have been to parts of India, America, Vietnam amongst others. You havent a clue what a sh*thole is. Dublin, Cork, Belfast, Sligo... Amazing places, you just need to get up off your arse and do things.

hey now, i'm all for being positive, but lets not get crazy here

but seriously, having thought about it, i reckon it's got to be the public transport (mostly in dublin) thats the worst thing about home. When it's quicker to walk an hour to work than take the bus, you know something is really broken.

The worst part being that i've no idea how you'd fix it, dublin seems to have been designed so that everything grinds to a halt if there is more than 10 cars on the roads.

Red Hand

Tsk! Call yerselves Irish??

As America has "God bless America!" as their national phrase, I propose "Goddamn Ireland!" for the National malcontents.:)

Blitzkrieger

cance wrote:

i suggest you spend more time researching your political facts before making an arse of yourself again.

We're sure you're an angel.

And Bertie did nothing wrong.

Pigs fly.

Hell is frozen over.

Real have won the Champions League.

Karl Hungus

thelordofcheese wrote:

The worst part being that i've no idea how you'd fix it, dublin seems to have been designed so that everything grinds to a halt if there is more than 10 cars on the roads.

If I was in charge, I'd hire a load of Japanese engineers, and build a NEW capital. Those guys know how to build a city like no others.

lightening

thelordofcheese wrote:

dublin seems to have been designed so that everything grinds to a halt if there is more than 10 cars on the roads.

Dublin was designed in medieval times, as was London, Milan and Athlone. We have beautiful ancient buildings, narrow streets and amazing sights and sounds. If this doesn't suit the odd SUV driver, I don't really mind. Traffic is part and parcel of city life, even in new cities like Sydney.

zuutroy

Yeah, I think all the Ireland haters haven't spent significant amounts of time anywhere else. I've spent almost 10% of my life living in other countries, and seriously....Ireland's not that bad, in fact its very good.
If I could have the job I have here for the same money in Dublin I'd be back tomorrow.

Terry

Dragan wrote:

I love this country, i truly do.

I honestly cannot understand people who bang on about how crap everything is. I just don't see it myself.

Your life is what you make it, so make it enjoyable folks.

Damn right.

People need to take responsibility for their own shortcomings.

Karl, well said.

lightening

zuutroy wrote:

If I could have the job I have here for the same money in Dublin I'd be back tomorrow.

An honest, brave thing to say. Very hard to say you would rather be somewhere other than where you choose to be. Chances are you will probably get the same money sometime.

Karl Hungus

Terry wrote:

Damn right.

People need to take responsibility for their own shortcomings.

Agreed 100%.

Terry wrote:

Karl, well said.

Wow. Thanks.

Honestly, I'm taken aback by the amount of sense displayed on this thread. I was expecting to be told to **** off by a load of self-loathers.

Raekwon

I'm also with Mr. Hingus on this one.

Where has all our national pride gone? IMO Ireland is a great country that we should be proud of. We have a rich culture and breathtaking scenery that most other countries could only dream about.

So begrudgers, quit moaning and look on the bright-side for a change.

bugler

You should see other parts of the world, I have been to parts of India, America, Vietnam amongst others. You havent a clue what a sh*thole is. Dublin, Cork, Belfast, Sligo... Amazing places, you just need to get up off your arse and do things.

I don't think the bar for Ireland is set by India, or any other developing country. We don't have a caste system or outbreaks of plague either, hardly cause to break out the balloons

Ireland should be aiming for two things at least:

Very good healthcare.

Very good transport, in terms of both infrastructure and obviously to aide the general populations movement.

We're in a funny sort of situation at the moment whereby people in their 20s or even 30s have always known Ireland as a place on the way up. No real doom and gloom about the place. When the economy eventually turns for the worse and we start seeing unemployment as a feature of life again and the consequences of that, people won't know what hit them.

connundrum

It appears that everyone is out for themselves. It may not be the actual case, but it just appears that way. Its all about me me me.

I would genuinely like if someone came up with a defined, workable plan to fix things like the healthcare system, public transport, schooling etc. I would pay an extra 2 or 3% in income tax to cover the cost of it, as I'd hope many other people would.

There's no point in giving me great tax cuts budget after budget when I still have to wait 12 hours in A&E with a broken leg, or spend 3 hours a day travelling to work. What use is a tax cut to me then?

Terry

Karl Hungus wrote:

Honestly, I'm taken aback by the amount of sense displayed on this thread. I was expecting to be told to **** off by a load of self-loathers.

Give it time.

bugler wrote:

We're in a funny sort of situation at the moment whereby people in their 20s or even 30s have always known Ireland as a place on the way up. No real doom and gloom about the place. When the economy eventually turns for the worse and we start seeing unemployment as a feature of life again and the consequences of that, people won't know what hit them.

I'll be sitting back and laughing, because then all these begrudgers and nay-sayers will really have something to moan about.

Someone mentioned it a few posts back and they were right. we have never had it so good.
This is a golden age for Ireland and long may it continue.

dSTAR

Karl Hungus wrote:

Sure, we're not as awesome as Japan, but then again, who is?

This is one of these rare occasions where I find myself agreeing with you Karl.

Seriously though I'd take a pint of plain and some Irish banter any day over a pot of frothy piss with your typical Aussie bloke who thinks that Australia is the best country in the world and AFL was invented by Aussies.

jester77

Apart from the poor infrastructure, poor healthcare, poor telecoms, crap weather, begrudgery and little chavs with no respect, Ireland is a better place to live than probably 90% of the rest of the world, albeit rather expensive!

bugler

It appears that everyone is out for themselves. It may not be the actual case, but it just appears that way. Its all about me me me.

Definitely. There is an element of "If I'm doing ok, then the country is doing ok", which is not to say all the completely positive posters on this thread are using this as their reasoning.

I hope we all know what Maggie Thatcher had to say about society!

I'll be sitting back and laughing, because then all these begrudgers and nay-sayers will really have something to moan about.

Well I won't be. Unemployment, disenfranchisement and indebtedness (according to the Financial Regulator Irish people are now the most indebted in Europe) all have very real consequences for our society. It might even encroach on our individual 1,000 Sq Ft fiefdoms.

grahamo

Ireland. A democracy ruled by a minority. Crap weather,total rip-off. Way too many low-lifes. A health service on a par with the Albanian Health service. A 1950's public transport system for a 21st. century country. Wouldn't live anywhere else though.

Heinrich

zuutroy wrote:

Yeah, I think all the Ireland haters haven't spent significant amounts of time anywhere else. I've spent almost 10% of my life living in other countries, and seriously....Ireland's not that bad, in fact its very good.
If I could have the job I have here for the same money in Dublin I'd be back tomorrow.

La blague belge du mois!
If I could have the job I have here for the same money in Dublin I'd be back tomorrow.

On your 10% stay abroad have you compared:

• Health Service
• Public Transport
• Car Tax
• Motoring along motorways at 5 kph
• VAT or TVA
• Politics
• Education

just to name a few.

Now I have lived abroad for 50% of my life and my views would differ greatly from yours. Main thing is not to get sick, try to buy a house, need to "commute" more than 10 k, not have a need to use public transport, be a non smoker, not have valuables to be stolen, keep out of trouble with skangers etc. etc.!

But yes, it's a great place, great night life, Temple Bar/Galway City vomit fields. Great stuff.

And I will not feck off as I am not a Ballymun Roundabout resident non Irish....

thelordofcheese

Karl Hungus wrote:

If I was in charge, I'd hire a load of Japanese engineers, and build a NEW capital. Those guys know how to build a city like no others.

Can we get them to design it so that it can also transform into a giant robot?
That'd be sweet.

Terry

bugler wrote:

Definitely. There is an element of "If I'm doing ok, then the country is doing ok", which is not to say all the completely positive posters on this thread are using this as their reasoning.

I hope we all know what Maggie Thatcher had to say about society!



Well I won't be. Unemployment, disenfranchisement and indebtedness (according to the Financial Regulator Irish people are now the most indebted in Europe) all have very real consequences for our society. It might even encroach on our individual 1,000 Sq Ft fiefdoms.

Perhaps I should explain a bit better.

I'll be laughing at all the petty little things they were complaining about, when the reality is that they will really have something to moan about when the shít hits the fan.

Karl Hungus

thelordofcheese wrote:

Can we get them to design it so that it can also transform into a giant robot?
That'd be sweet.

I think we could at least have the city centre turn into a giant robot, yes.

Heinrich

Terry wrote:

Perhaps I should explain a bit better.

I'll be laughing at all the petty little things they were complaining about, when the reality is that they will really have something to moan about when the shít hits the fan.

Apart from the petty Health Service, Public Transport, Housing, Clogged Roads and the like what do envisage we will REALLY be moaning about?

Caliden

cance wrote:

:rolleyes:

i suggest you spend more time researching your political facts before making an arse of yourself again.

HAHAHAHAHAHA

what makes it so funny is that you're deadly serious!!! :D

purple'n'gold

Permanent and pension able, benchmarked protected civil servants who get huge bonuses even when they cannot deliver drinkable water to the people of Galway.

Marksie

Karl Hungus wrote:

If I was in charge, I'd hire a load of Japanese engineers, and build a NEW capital. Those guys know how to build a city like no others.

yeah my dad managed a load of em when he was helping to build a desalination plant in Libya.
He said it was amazing to see em swarm all over the building with those boots with the big toe in em.

He also said, if you changed the plans, they would take time to assimilate the change then of they would go again. but therein lies the problem, the japenese would build it, Its managemnt here that is utter Sh*te they couldnt do anything properly.

So to keep it on topic:

Public transport: I travel every day by rail. and for all the money invested it is utter crap.

Corruption: the nudge wink policy from top to bottom, allowing the corrupt to gain power and maintain it.

The lost opportunity: People are saying we never had it so good, and look what we got with the celtic tiger.
I belive history will look back and say, look what you didn't get. All that money wasted when the real opportunity was there do do something with it. But because people have a few extra bob in their pocket, well thats ok then

But look at it 1000% budget overruns. PPars etc.

Money just thrown down the drain or into the back pockets of the guys who own the FF government.

50 million on e-voting.... what could you have done with that to improve the health service.

So finally, the utter stupidity of the electorate in voting them in time and time again.

Other than that, lovely and like it here very much

Terry

Heinrich wrote:

Apart from the petty Health Service, Public Transport, Housing, Clogged Roads and the like what do envisage we will REALLY be moaning about?

Eviction due to being unable to pay the mortgage.
Reposssesion of cars, TVs and other material goods.
Having to leave the country to get any work at all.

Heinrich

Terry wrote:

Eviction due to being unable to pay the mortgage.
Reposssesion of cars, TVs and other material goods.
Having to leave the country to get any work at all.

We could all go to Poland when they achieve THEIR equivalent of the Celtic Tiger.:D

Where would all the evicted people go?
What will be done with the re-possesed cars?

I suppose we could all go and die of MRSA or summat:mad:

jester77

Terry wrote:

Eviction due to being unable to pay the mortgage.
Reposssesion of cars, TVs and other material goods.
Having to leave the country to get any work at all.

"ah but sure we'll be grand"...
That's the reply that most people will give to that, got to love the head buried in the sand attitude that most people have!