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Is Ireland as bad as some people make it out to be?
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The more I read about what's going on in other countries the happier I am in Ireland. Sure, it's got its problems and the weather can be ****e but nowhere is perfect.
****er weather- all in 2017
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_2017_Portugal_wildfires
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Afghanistan_avalanches
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Maria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_California_wildfires
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_outbreak_of_January_21–23,_2017
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/30/mumbai-paralysed-by-floods-as-india-and-region-hit-by-worst-monsoon-rains-in-years
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Central_Mexico_earthquake
They are some of the worst natural disasters of just this year and thousands of people are dead and many thousands more homeless
Rain isn't that pretty to look at, but at least nobody dies
Here in ireland I don't think we appreciate that thousands of people die and lose their family and homes to extreme weather annually, may of them even in developed first world countries0 -
There's some genuine problems, sure. But incessant moaning is probably our national sport so most things people are whining about online are overstated. And to be honest I wouldn't take comments sections seriously - it's generally the same 9 or 10 misery junkies whinging on every thread.
In general and compared to most other places, Ireland is a nice place to live - though we loath to admit it.0 -
Ireland is grand if you’ve the earning power.
For someone returning property prices are “challenging”, as will car insurance be tough.
You really need private healthcare.
But, if you have the earning power to cover these and have money left over to live then Ireland is a great place to live.
I will have a place to live so property prices will not affect me. I'll also have savings and a chance to earn some money before I start college so I think I should be ok.
Definitely going to look at getting private healthcare too.0 -
There seems to be a lot of people referring to the amount of whingers in Ireland. I would definitely agree with this from what I've seen on social media and news reports.
There also seems to be alot of 'pound smart penny foolish' people complaining about paying small amounts for some things and not saying or doing much about the fact that they are being ripped off by paying large amounts of money for other things. That's just my opinion though...I could be wrong.0 -
There seems to be a lot of people referring to the amount of whingers in Ireland. I would definitely agree with this from what I've seen on social media and news reports.
There also seems to be alot of 'pound smart penny foolish' people complaining about paying small amounts for some things and not saying or doing much about the fact that they are being ripped off by paying large amounts of money for other things. That's just my opinion though...I could be wrong.
Social media brings out the noisy minority, you are only seeing the complaints of a minority who are bothered to say everything is terrible.
Most people are happy enough to get on with it.
I was thinking and I’m sure you’ve thought of this you probably have a good bit in your ness or whatever pension you’ve paid into but make sure you know what happens when your gone. Be a shame to see any of that eaten away.0 -
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Sure maybe all the moaners and Irish lack of blind "we're number one" patriotism that you see in some other countries means we can see and attempt to correct the faults, isn't a bad thing.
Incidentally, I've lived in France - similarly full of moaners! England too. Yet they're both extremely developed countries.
Also the Scandinavian countries in some respects are remarkably self critical and full of pragmatic moaners.
I'd read the independent analysis of a country - genuine facts and figures and objective opinions before I would take social media commentary as useful.
Ireland has got an ability to be robustly self critical and increasingly, air it's dirty linen in public, in a way that many countries don't. We can be the polar opposite to the Americans and some other nationalities about that and do have a tendency to perhaps wallow in bouts national self criticism at times.
What's changing in Ireland is the moaning is increasing leading to things being done to create change. I find there's a growing genuine ability to get things moving here coupled with a more diverse political system growing transparency and it's become something that's is very positive in Irish society.
One of the huge positives is you don't generally have to deal with toxic American, British or French style partisan politics here. It's more about consensus building these days due to the voting system being totally proportional.
You just need to channel the moaners energy into something positive.
It's not perfect and it definitely has a few significant organisational issues in access to healthcare. However, I think most countries have some problems - very few are getting absolutely everything right all the time.
What I am growing to appreciate a lot in Ireland is that there's an ability to address and tease out problems without causing a political mess like Trump or Brexit. We've a very grown up capability to discuss divisive topics in a sane and sensible way.
We've rocked though a major economic crisis without going off the rails entirely and also just had a referendum and debate on what was a highly contentious issue - abortion without really having any political instability or serious nastiness.
My view of Ireland is it's a very stable and increasingly sensible northern European country with quite a lot of positives going for it.
But in the near future the party that bankrupted the country will be back in power, and they have never lost 25% of the countries support.
There was an EU referendum a while back that people were using to vote against the government in the ridiculous idea that a vote against the referendum would collapse the government.
Also the issue that caused the bankruptcy of the country was never dealt with.
I think Ireland's biggest problem is that people don't take things seriously enough, everything is just one big laugh and it's never Ireland's fault. Always England, the church or the EU.0 -
As for “third world economy” - Ireland’s economy only contributes to 0.44% of the world’s economy, meaning it contributes less than Nigeria as of this year
What a load of crap. Nigeria has a population of 186m.
Nigeria GNI per capita in 2016 $5,740
Ireland GNI per capita in 2016 $56,8700 -
Irish people aren't happy unless they're complaining about something. This is an incredible country when compared to some other places around the world. Don't mind the media, shower of gowls. According to them Limerick is like Damascus or Beirut at times.
Irish people dismiss facts when they don't suit and keep voting FF/FG and complaining about the left when things don't work out, again.
Record breaking numbers of homeless children. Sure everyone of them is only pretending.
When you pay tax, that goes on a loan to a builder. He builds, makes a profit selling his build to the state and the renter or buyer needs a state hand out to afford it....People Before Profit something something...0 -
OP in my opinion the answer to your question is pretty straightforward. There are numerous things wrong with this country. It's gotten too expensive for most essential items. Our major cities (and villages) are infected with low life scobes who will never work a day in their lives, and will instead live off the tax money that you, as a working tradesman, will be handing over to the government. Our politicians are purely in it for the money. Crime is rampant, from organised drug crime, to theft and burglaries all over the country. This is not helped by a corrupt police force more obsessed with getting more money for the government than in actually going out fighting real serious crime. You will pay a ridiculous amount of tax in your life here, and will see very little back in return for it.
Ireland certainly has its positives. But these are inconsequential really, things like beautiful scenery, nice eateries etc. But I believe we have definitely taken a turn for the worse in the last ten to fifteen years. The sense of community and helping your neighbour has all but disappeared. To be a practising person of faith is ridiculed. Money is our God now.
So really I suppose the question you have to ask yourself is......is my life in good order here in Australia? If it is, I'd stay right where you are.0 -
I moved back to Ireland from Sydney in 2005. What struck me the most about Ireland, was the chronic whinging. Even when everything was flying, there was always some thing to moan about.
All other things are just like you'd expect anywhere. Its a good country for social and family, and jobs are plenty now. But make sure you get health insurance. But hse is hardly third world. Tax is a pain.
it sounds like you'll be set up nicely. Depending on where your coming from in Oz, living costs might not shock you.0 -
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Why come back after ten years though?! I'd be mortified to show up to my Family after ten years away!! Outside of that, I can't think of any other reason that ye would want to do it!! What's drawing ye back may I ask?!?
What's the point at this stage like?!? I can only imagine it would be some Culture shock for ye!! And shure it'd probably take another 10 years to get accustomed to and aclimatized back into Irish life again!! No idea if your Wife is Irish or not, but she mightn't even like it here and she might want to move home or go abroad again! And yere kids.... Unless they are just coming-of-School-age now, - if they're in School already they're going to have to leave the Schooling system they got used to and start off fresh and get used to the Irish Education system. Amongst many other systems and obstacles! Health. Car-Insurance..... Etc. Etc. Etc. .....0 -
You could apply everything you wrote there to a lot of places in Australia. We're not the only country with these issues.opinionated3 wrote: »OP in my opinion the answer to your question is pretty straightforward. There are numerous things wrong with this country. It's gotten too expensive for most essential items. Our major cities (and villages) are infected with low life scobes who will never work a day in their lives, and will instead live off the tax money that you, as a working tradesman, will be handing over to the government. Our politicians are purely in it for the money. Crime is rampant, from organised drug crime, to theft and burglaries all over the country. This is not helped by a corrupt police force more obsessed with getting more money for the government than in actually going out fighting real serious crime. You will pay a ridiculous amount of tax in your life here, and will see very little back in return for it.
Ireland certainly has its positives. But these are inconsequential really, things like beautiful scenery, nice eateries etc. But I believe we have definitely taken a turn for the worse in the last ten to fifteen years. The sense of community and helping your neighbour has all but disappeared. To be a practising person of faith is ridiculed. Money is our God now.
So really I suppose the question you have to ask yourself is......is my life in good order here in Australia? If it is, I'd stay right where you are.0 -
opinionated3 wrote: »OP in my opinion the answer to your question is pretty straightforward. There are numerous things wrong with this country. It's gotten too expensive for most essential items. Our major cities (and villages) are infected with low life scobes who will never work a day in their lives, and will instead live off the tax money that you, as a working tradesman, will be handing over to the government. Our politicians are purely in it for the money. Crime is rampant, from organised drug crime, to theft and burglaries all over the country. This is not helped by a corrupt police force more obsessed with getting more money for the government than in actually going out fighting real serious crime. You will pay a ridiculous amount of tax in your life here, and will see very little back in return for it.
Ireland certainly has its positives. But these are inconsequential really, things like beautiful scenery, nice eateries etc. But I believe we have definitely taken a turn for the worse in the last ten to fifteen years. The sense of community and helping your neighbour has all but disappeared. To be a practising person of faith is ridiculed. Money is our God now.
So really I suppose the question you have to ask yourself is......is my life in good order here in Australia? If it is, I'd stay right where you are.
Every country has it's problems and most of the things you have written could be said about Australia too.
I'm not overly happy with my life in Australia at the minute. I'm stuck in a career that I don't enjoy and spend quite a lot of time away from home due to a lack of local jobs. After 10 years here and a change in lifestyle and perspective since becoming a parent has made me a little more homesick and it's something both me and my wife need to get out of our systems.0 -
misstearheus wrote: »Why come back after ten years though?! I'd be mortified to show up to my Family after ten years away!! Outside of that, I can't think of any other reason that ye would want to do it!! What's drawing ye back may I ask?!?
What's the point at this stage like?!? I can only imagine it would be some Culture shock for ye!! And shure it'd probably take another 10 years to get accustomed to and aclimatized back into Irish life again!! No idea if your Wife is Irish or not, but she mightn't even like it here and she might want to move home or go abroad again! And yere kids.... Unless they are just coming-of-School-age now, - if they're in School already they're going to have to leave the Schooling system they got used to and start off fresh and get used to the Irish Education system. Amongst many other systems and obstacles! Health. Car-Insurance..... Etc. Etc. Etc. .....
I have been back to Ireland 5 times in the 10 years I've been away so I don't really think my family will be mortified. Quite the opposite I would think.
My wife is Irish and we left for Australia together. Our first kid is 18 months old and our second kid is due in September so will be around 6 months old when we return to Ireland. It won't be a big change for either of them really. Even the older one will most likely have forgotten most things about Australia by the time we land in Dublin airport.0 -
Pauliedragon wrote: »I came back a year ago after 18 years in Sydney and have no complaints (Winter was a struggle I'll admit but apparantly it was worse than most years.) I find Irish people very negative. Health system is a mess but It's been like that as long as I can remember. Housing is bad too but as you stated that's not an issue. Other than that it's a fine place to live. On the positive side compared to Sydney people are much more polite/friendlier. Food is fresher, cheaper and nicer. Having neighbours that look out for each other instead of a grunt. Even though people here complain about traffic it's a breeze compared to Sydney. Cork has more motorways than Sydney, work that one out. All in all both places have pluses and minuses but to repeat myself I do think a lot of Irish people are way too negative.
Cork has one motorway, the M8. Even if you count dual carrigways as motorways, Cork is still a generation behind Sydney which has a full orbital motorway with multiple intercity links. Traffic in Sydney may be worse but Sydney has a larger population than Ireland. For a city of its size, Cork has absolutely appalling traffic with numerous bottleknecks all around the harbour, city and suburbs.0 -
We are a boom and bust economy. One side gets lifted by neglecting the other. People complain because when they have it good, the bottom falls out and they are told, 'sure look at...' or dismissed as whingers. A bit of stability would be nice. When you see no marks like Varadkar patting himself on the back and taking selfies, while grown adults have to move back home because although working, their wages don't meet needs, don't blame anyone for giving out. Yes it's worse in some other country, but don't make your pals millionaires and tell us 'sure it's worse elsewhere' and not expect some complaining.
Some people never have it bad, Noonan made a personal fortune when we were all 'taking one for the team', as Noonan said.0 -
aido79 wrote:I have been back to Ireland 5 times in the 10 years I've been away so I don't really think my family will be mortified. Quite the opposite I would think. My wife is Irish and we left for Australia together. Our first kid is 18 months old and our second kid is due in September so will be around 6 months old when we return to Ireland. It won't be a big change for either of them really. Even the older one will most likely have forgotten most things about Australia by the time we land in Dublin airport.
To be honest, I think this is the perfect time for you to come home, kids are at the perfect age for such a life changing event, anyway, from reading through your posts, you have your mind already made up,0 -
opinionated3 wrote: »OP in my opinion the answer to your question is pretty straightforward. There are numerous things wrong with this country. It's gotten too expensive for most essential items. Our major cities (and villages) are infected with low life scobes who will never work a day in their lives, and will instead live off the tax money that you, as a working tradesman, will be handing over to the government. Our politicians are purely in it for the money. Crime is rampant, from organised drug crime, to theft and burglaries all over the country. This is not helped by a corrupt police force more obsessed with getting more money for the government than in actually going out fighting real serious crime. You will pay a ridiculous amount of tax in your life here, and will see very little back in return for it.
Ireland certainly has its positives. But these are inconsequential really, things like beautiful scenery, nice eateries etc. But I believe we have definitely taken a turn for the worse in the last ten to fifteen years. The sense of community and helping your neighbour has all but disappeared. To be a practising person of faith is ridiculed. Money is our God now.
So really I suppose the question you have to ask yourself is......is my life in good order here in Australia? If it is, I'd stay right where you are.
I would say people who think like this are a biggest issue I hate about Ireland. Unable to look at the country with real comparisons to other countries and long for a time that suited them. Crime isn't so bad, tax is fairly progressive, community still exist, food is actually quite cheap here. I really wouldn't believe this post as it is essentially somebody who thinks things were better when every woman was a house wife and the whole family dressed up to go to church every Sunday0 -
JustAThought wrote: »I hope you have a plan for what job you hope to get with your new qualification in 3 or 4 years time when the country is awash with unemployed and highly qualified and experienced engineers.
I didnt stay in Oz as the country didnt suit me but now am beginning to wonder - if you have a nice lifestyle,family and good quality of life over there I would be scratching my head as to why you would abandon it all to come back here when you already have a respected trade and livliehood. Race to the bottom here with salaries, quality of life and commute times usually poor unless you work in the sticks or start pre 7am, the taxes are crucifing (half your salary before you start paying for mortgage/childcare/insurance etc) and property tax set to rise again by a couple of hundred in 2019. I'd seriously be asking why. Is a minimum wage job at entry level in engineering in 4 years time and 4 years of scrimping and sacrifices really going to pay off - you wont get those years back.
For you to be paying (a little bit less than)half your salary in tax, you'd have to be earning 775,000.0 -
Is Ireland as bad as some people make it out to be?
No, but the problem with this little country is, despite the lip service and the usual exercises in tokenism, golden circles and little cliques remain at the top of the pyramid. And no doubt we'll be bailing these kunts out in again in 10-15 years time.0 -
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Just got notice that the property I've been renting is being sold and that I have to move out, having lived here for 6 years. Now I'm faced with the reality of after having payed half my salary in tax, having half to two thirds of the leftovers handed over to a new landlord.
Is Ireland that bad? Yes, fuck this shit hole.0 -
It might work for you then if you can do that. I definitely couldn't have done any of my study or assignments during work and it just took up so much of my free time. I'd be threatened with divorce if I mentioned online study again ��
Honestly, as someone doing part-time study while working in the same industry (as my degree), I completely agree. You might do it, but I don't think you'd learn half as much.
And this is form someone without any other factors. I genuinely have no idea how the folks, with kids etc manage, when I'm barely awake trying to go to a lecture from 18:30 to 21:30.Sure maybe all the moaners and Irish lack of blind "we're number one"...
I think all of that was well said.0 -
Just got notice that the property I've been renting is being sold and that I have to move out, having lived here for 6 years. Now I'm faced with the reality of after having payed half my salary in tax, having half to two thirds of the leftovers handed over to a new landlord.
Is Ireland that bad? Yes, fuck this shit hole.
This is by far the most serious problem we have. Anyone who isn't a property owner or earning multiples of the average industrial wage is pretty much ****ed, and it's going to take years to fix the issue, assuming the morons in government are capable of it.
Seeing as this doesn't affect you OP, I'd say you're grand to come back.0 -
Fair enough I might have got a bit ahead of myself with that comment but it took me 45 mins to go from Ashfield to Randwick on a Sat night with no traffic just constant traffic lights. I go twice that distance in Cork in 25 mins through 2 sets of lights. For a supposedly world class city the road system is an embarassment in Sydney. The OP is from Cavan anyway so it's a mute point:)snotboogie wrote: »Cork has one motorway, the M8. Even if you count dual carrigways as motorways, Cork is still a generation behind Sydney which has a full orbital motorway with multiple intercity links. Traffic in Sydney may be worse but Sydney has a larger population than Ireland. For a city of its size, Cork has absolutely appalling traffic with numerous bottleknecks all around the harbour, city and suburbs.0 -
Ray Palmer wrote: »I would say people who think like this are a biggest issue I hate about Ireland. Unable to look at the country with real comparisons to other countries and long for a time that suited them. Crime isn't so bad, tax is fairly progressive, community still exist, food is actually quite cheap here. I really wouldn't believe this post as it is essentially somebody who thinks things were better when every woman was a house wife and the whole family dressed up to go to church every Sunday
Crime isn't too bad??!! Are you for real? Our capital city is an utter ****hole full of druggies and general low lifes! People living in rural areas are scared out of their wits of being burgled.
As for your housewife statement, both I and my wife work. We have to work to keep the roof over our heads. Progressive tax?? I'm paying USC and a property tax which for the life of me I have no idea what I'm getting back for it. At the same time watching locals getting free council houses because of who they know in the council or because they couldn't be arsed getting a job. But you're right on one thing.... We both kept our faith so we simply attend mass each weekend. I don't see anything wrong with that unless your name is Niall boylan.
It's all irrelevant anyway. The OP clearly has made his decision and that's fine. I hope everything works out brilliantly for him and his family. People have already pointed out that problems we have in this country also exist in other developed countries, including Australia. I understand that too. But that shouldn't stop us as a nation acknowledging that we have very big and very real problems, that our politicians are seemingly incapable of solving. The OP needs to realise this ( which I believe he does). I was merely suggesting that if things were going well over there, well, I'd be staying there.0 -
opinionated3 wrote: »Crime isn't too bad??!! Are you for real? Our capital city is an utter ****hole full of druggies and general low lifes! People living in rural areas are scared out of their wits of being burgled.
...more egregious nonsense...
I'm from the country, you might be scared out of your wits, but I'd attribute that more to a scarcity of wits rather than an excess of things to be scared of...
I live in the city centre and while there are lots of homeless people and drug addicts, it probably affects my life less than than the terror of being burgled that you seem to possess .0 -
Maybe I should have been a bit clearer..... I'm not living in fear as such. More so my elderly mother and our neighbours who have already suffered burglaries. I do feel sympathy for these people, as they do fondly remember a time when you could leave your back door open without the fear of your house being pillaged while you went to the local shop to get groceries. I believe my point is valid. Ireland has deteriorated as a place to live, and there is no real sign of any improvement on the horizon. But hey, don't let my opinion get in the way of the utopia that you currently reside in.I'm from the country, you might be scared out of your wits, but I'd attribute that more to a scarcity of wits rather than an excess of things to be scared of...
I live in the city centre and while there are lots of homeless people and drug addicts, it probably affects my life less than than the terror of being burgled that you seem to possess .0 -
opinionated3 wrote: »Maybe I should have been a bit clearer..... I'm not living in fear as such. More so my elderly mother and our neighbours who have already suffered burglaries. I do feel sympathy for these people, as they do fondly remember a time when you could leave your back door open without the fear of your house being pillaged while you went to the local shop to get groceries. I believe my point is valid.
Sorry, I was definitely overly harsh there. It must be awful to get burgled, I can't imagine.
We are living in the safest time to be alive though, and while it must have been terrible for your mother and neighbours, they are just unlucky. In general, crime is down. And while that doesn't help any specific person who is burgled/robbed etc, is is good for society in general.
In all the years I've lived in the country, I've never locked either back or front door, i think it's probably never a concern until you actually get robbed, but that's probably always been the caseIreland has deteriorated as a place to live, and there is no real sign of any improvement on the horizon. But hey, don't let my opinion get in the way of the utopia that you currently reside in.
As you can probably guess, I don't believe this to be true.
Maybe crime has spread out of urban areas, but I don't believe were living in any kind of dystopian (sorry exaggeration) hellhole. I think we just hear more about it now.0 -
I spent 3 weeks living and working in Australia (Sydney) and didn't see anything that compelled me to want to move there. It was such a massive sprawl, took a long time to get around and most worrying of all was hearing of all the racist attacks that seemed to happen most nights I was there (this was 2010, I believe). I went to a shop and got a bottle of coke, chewing gum and a Snickers. I was staggered by the price.
I asked an Australian about the racism who said it was fairly bad but mostly toward the Lebanese. Talked to a Chinese Australian taxi driver and asked him if it was as bad as it seems, he said the Australians are very rude to him and it hadn't gotten better in the 20+ years he had lived there. My wife's aunt runs a hotel in Bangkok and had many horror stories about abusive Australian visitors. So she's not sold on living there or even visiting!
I have Australian cousins who couldn't be nicer. I wasn't really expecting that level of violent racial attacks. In my mind the Aussies were chill happy go lucky types. I know now since so many Irish are over there that's not really the case.
I think everywhere has their pros and cons but when looking at English speaking countries with good opportunities, I'd say that's UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. For me, having spent time in 4 of those 5, I'd go with Ireland. I'd be willing to move somewhere where English isn't the primary language but my wife isn't up for it.0 -
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Pauliedragon wrote: »Fair enough I might have got a bit ahead of myself with that comment but it took me 45 mins to go from Ashfield to Randwick on a Sat night with no traffic just constant traffic lights. I go twice that distance in Cork in 25 mins through 2 sets of lights. For a supposedly world class city the road system is an embarassment in Sydney. The OP is from Cavan anyway so it's a mute point:)
Yeah I've visited Sydney a couple of times and actually never been in Cork so it doesn't really affect me.0
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