Was Ireland always this bleek/depressing, or is it just me?

sheesh

you'll be back when the sea level rises! you'll all be back

10000maniacs

I spent a summer in Amsterdam as a student, and it was ok. But when I returned to Dublin, it was a great feeling.
Nothing wrong with Ireland apart from the price of drink and fags.

john123470

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

Loads of them f*cked kids. A crazy amount of them. Loads of them who didn't covered it up. Loads of Irish people ignored the horrors ..


Apart from the kid f*cking, they were horrible to women, tried to control young people, the list goes on.

By loads of / crazy amount of .. would that be the same as "stacks of" ? .. that'd make it clearer

Apart from the kid f*cking, they were horrible to women, tried to control young people, the list goes on.

You tune into Joe for the Magdalen laundries, didn't you ? g'wan, yous were glued to the radio. Lickin your lips. I know it

All i can say is if you've picked up this one wrong (and you so obviously have), what else have you missed out on in life

vriesmays

vriesmays wrote: »

A lot more people in Hungary and Romania own their own homes than the Irish do.

Ireland used to be the same. It's something you tend to find in less prosperous countries, as the property prices tend to be far lower, along with the banks requiring less return on mortgages (many governments will have schemes in place to lower the cost to decrease social unhappiness). In any case, you'll find in most relatively poorer nations, that complete home ownership is more common, and it declines as a country becomes more prosperous.

murpho999

bertiebomber wrote: »

Iireland was a great country, getting a bit overly liberal these days the other extreme from catholic domination so its a fine line to balance your life here.

The latest liberal call for mercy killing is not an ireland i recognise i remember when we loved our grand parents and looked after them at home till they passed. Some of the ideals & practices of new ireland leave a lot to be desired - just sayin'

I think you need to read about it again.

It's not compulsory death at a certain age.
It's for people suffering with a terminal illness.

I don't you have experienced a person experiencing a long slow and painful death. It's awful for all parties and dying with dignity should be the person's choice.

I also don't see how a country can be too liberal and the social attitudes and changes in Ireland over the last 10-20 years have been fantastic.

Mad_maxx

Seamai wrote: »

I was in Budapest 20 years ago and was shocked at how unfriendly Hungarians were, I even told the receptionist in the hotel that she should try to smile once in a while, horrible.
Was back there last year and felt it had improved quite a bit but then again I was only there for three night, they're quite a morose race.

was there in 2005 and 2008 myself , only thing that saved that place for me was the amazing racks on the women

riclad

We were once a country ruled by priests , now in many ways we are more Liberal than America. I think we have the balance right. Catholics are a minority in America if there's a new judge who is Catholic elected to the supreme Court
it will have a major effect on women's rights. We have an advantage in that we speak English the international language of business.

Mad_maxx

riclad wrote: »

We were once a country ruled by priests , now in many ways we are more Liberal than America. I think we have the balance right. Catholics are a minority in America if there's a new judge who is Catholic elected to the supreme Court
it will have a major effect on women's rights. We have an advantage in that we speak English the international language of business.

catholics have always been a minority in america, whats your point ?

Mules

Alia Wrong Soil wrote: »

Maybe that's Holland as a whole, but it's not Amsterdam.



They're not really, there's just the ever contending slightly publicized battle between some marginalized religious institutions that want to thump their bible, and the government/city council.

The hookers and ganja aren't going anywhere, nor are they really trying to.



Alls I know is, before EU, Ireland was non-progressive, horrible dump and heinous place to live, especially those ruralized "parish" areas.

And then the EU came, the money came, the jobs came, the infrastructure came, the companies came to build a home here (mostly to avail of tax breaks), and naturally the Irish thought all their Christmases has come at once, milked it for everything it was worth whilst doing the minimal possible amount of work - which was followed with the inevitable subsequent recession and residue of residential buildings which were either not fit for purpose, or had to be condemned outright due to shoddy workmanship.

The multinationals went back to government economic policy in the 60's- pre eu.

Charles Babbage

Frankie Machine wrote: »

It was interesting to listen to Mannix Flynn on the radio a few weeks back.

His insight on this issue was a lot more measured, and thus more interesting, than yours.

That's the point, the "interesting" accounts are often of quite unusual experiences, who wants to hear of "went to school, teacher was a decent skin" type life stories. Which is not to overlook the disgraceful nature of the treatment of people at the rough end.

As for the the Eighties, jobs were harder to get and that was depressing for many, but people otherwise had great craic.
I was chatting with a friend of mine recently (from 2.5metres of course) and he was saying that all your hear now is talk of stress from students, whereas when he was in college jobs weren't so easy to get, but stress was not the predominant emotion. Now jobs are easily got but people stress over getting points and the like.

I had a foreign girlfriend in the 80s, which was bit avant-garde for those days. Having seen her again last year she said that Irish people were cheerful then, even if the economy left something to be desired, while now they were unfriendly and up themselves.

Edgware

Mad_maxx wrote: »

was there in 2005 and 2008 myself , only thing that saved that place for me was the amazing racks on the women

I was working 6 months in Gdansk. Jesus would they ever ****ing lighten up!
Back in Dublin on a few contracts the Polish lads I met really need to realise that there is only one life. Its not all about recycling what they can get from the skips

Aongus Von Bismarck

One of the things Irish people tend to overlook is how good the quality of food is. Absolutely phenomenal seafood, cheese, butter, lamb, beef, bread, vegetables. A well-known French travel writer and food critic visited Ireland in the early 70's and quipped that the Irish had the best food in the world until they decided to cook it.

That has changed. It's now possible to eat very well in most Irish towns and cities. The quality of restaurants has increased enormously in the past 20 years. Of course you will still find far too much slop, Musgraves precooked meals in pubs masquerading as restaurants, and people buying frozen chicken nuggets in Lidl, but it's very easy to spend a little bit of extra money and eat some of the best quality produce in the world.

I was last home in Ireland at Christmas, and my local Supervalu had Clarinbridge oysters for 1.50 a pop, 32 day dry-aged beef, freshly baked brown bread, world class Irish cheese, locally produced seasonal vegetables, and wonderful craft beers. And for far less than you would pay for similar quality in Germany.

jmayo

Alia Wrong Soil wrote: »

Do they?

Amsterdamers - I've never heard them say that.

I've only ever heard an Amsterdamer they say it's a wonderful city.

Some old school dutch from other provinces visitings, I've heard them besmirch the place but, they're old school - they don't like multiculturalism, they fit in badly with people and have poor interpersonal skills (and they're probably lame in bed - sucks to be them).

It's a wonderful city for me in every way, out of anywhere I've been (and by been I mean, lived/worked), no where else compares, or comes even close.

Housing/accommodation is a problem.

Ah FFS now you are bitching about the Dutch themselves.

JasonStatham wrote: »

It's culturally approved in Ireland to talk down the country. Or another one is to talk down someone doing well....

If you see anyone doing this, make sure you call them a shyte hawk.

But really some of them are shytehawks.
A fair few of them talk down to us because they have been successful, especially some of those that have made it overseas.

Also as it is perfectly apparent here, a fair few of our emigrants get notions once they leave and it is like the old jokes about the returning "yanks" back in the day.
They are full of shyte.

Frankie Machine wrote: »

Depends on what you want to emphasise of course, but to me The Eighties can be a lot more depressing in retrospect than they were at the time.

I mean, 'Reeling In The Years' rarely makes us look good, but the lyrics of 'I Useta Love Her' are laugh out loud funny to me.

It gets tiresome reading commentary from people weren't even born then, about how oppressive Catholic Ireland was.

We weren't as emotionally open, maybe, but we still had great friends and great times growing up.

And we never really believed we'd go blind, as we dedicated another one to Gabriela Sabatini, or Nena in her leather britches.

And though too many of us had to go away, for anyone who found the place that oppressive, London was available. Many then discovered the truth in the old saying about far away hills.

The church still had a fair amount of power, but by the 80s a lot of people were educated, young people were ignoring the church and even with older generations any of those that had returned from living abroad had a much lighter attitude to religion.

But to some, especially the younger generations who didn't fooking exist in the 80s, we were priest ridden (in more ways than one and quiet literally), we didn't have feck all because of course we didn't have 100 TV channels offering muck like Geordie Shore, the Kardashians, etc etc or we didn't have mobile phones or internet.

The thing is neither did people any other place on earth.

Also have to concur on Gabriela Sabatini.

Frankie Machine

jmayo wrote: »

The church still had a fair amount of power, but by the 80s a lot of people were educated, young people were ignoring the church and even with older generations any of those that had returned from living abroad had a much lighter attitude to religion.

But to some, especially the younger generations who didn't fooking exist in the 80s, we were priest ridden (in more ways than one and quiet literally), we didn't have feck all because of course we didn't have 100 TV channels offering muck like Geordie Shore, the Kardashians, etc etc or we didn't have mobile phones or internet.

The thing is neither did people any other place on earth.

Also have to concur on Gabriela Sabatini.

Indeed

I'm not a religious person at all, but I do see a kind of smug righteousness about the church-bashing that goes on. I think it's probably because it costs people nothing to indulge in it.

Whereas one thing that I remember being more obviously crippling to Irish life then, was the attitude to alcohol.

We still haven't got that right, but being able to crow superiority to their forebears on that issue, might prove a self-discipline too much for many.

Thelonious Monk

Gabriela Sabatini is still a total ride at 50

jmayo

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

Gabriela Sabatini is still a total ride at 50

Nah she can sometimes look a little too muscular ala Madona.

Ahh the 80s when you had the twin big hairdos from Argentina.

Almost every lad wanted to be Maradona and do Sabatini.

Who the feck do you have now.
Oh yeah a whiny characterless Messi and one of the Williams sisters.

And they say the 80s were bad.

imme

Legalisation of prostitution will make Ireland more integrated.

Wha

bo0li5eumx12kp

imme wrote: »

Legalisation of prostitution will make Ireland more integrated.

Wha

Just FYI I left a comprehensive reply to this - but AH moderators saw fit to remove it.

.....

Whatever happened to freedom of speech?

statesaver

My boss asked an Estonian colleague how their country was doing with Covid, she replied ' us Estonians don't like each other so social distancing is not a problem '.

We all laughed but I really think she was serious.

Lillyfae

statesaver wrote: »

My boss asked an Estonian colleague how their country was doing with Covid, she replied ' us Estonians don't like each other so social distancing is not a problem '.

We all laughed but I really think she was serious.

I remember there being a similar joke in Ireland at the time of swine flu, "Sure that won't catch on here like in Europe with all the kissing hello they do, we prefer to wave at each other from a distance".

wexandproud

Alia Wrong Soil wrote: »

Holy smokes.

I visited some relatives over the weekend, from the old country, hadn't seen them in the longest time.

It's weird I was completely overcome with nostalgia.

Reminds me of when I was growing up, that environment.

I think we forget what a rain soaked dump Ireland was before had billions of euros pumped into our economy and became a home for multinational companies, by way of joining the european union.

Memories from childhood - a poorly insulated ice box house, dreary dull atmosphere, insane loco wildchild kids running about, raining outside and not a neon light for miles around.

See I ditched Ireland at every opportunity and bounced entirely when I was afforded the opportunity to do so.
Not saying other cultures are necessarily a whole lot better, but Christ - I mean, I feel like that ruralism (which largely defines Ireland) needs to be injected with an eye rolling dose of meth.

I can't express my detest and loathing of the advocacy for that underdevelopment and quiet, cold, isolated rural living.

The most lively, upbeat, forward thinking, positive, productive atmosphere and fun city I've ever been is not Rome, not London, not New York - no.

But Amsterdam.

What separates Amsterdam as being in my mind, the optimized city, the optimized culture?
It's not Dutch culture - hell no - rolling wheels of cheese through shopping malls and clopping along in wooden shoes - no.

It's that Amsterdam reflects a culture not of Holland, but a culture of integration.

What underpins this integration, is the collective attitude that defines the city - which is to have fun; open minded, liberal, but controlled, well kept, and well policed - state legitimized fun.

......

My point being, I hate historical Irish dullness and I think state legitimization of prostitution by way of a potential upcoming bill spearheaded by the Irish department of justice via Helen McEntee - could spark the most profound cultural revolution in the entire, bleek, oppressive history of our rain soaked little Atlantic Isle.

......

:eek:

to be honest i cant see how legalisation of prostitution will change the weather , however maybe all the red light outside some buildings would brighten up the place .... although we have a good bit of street lighting now

riclad

A large proportion of the population is non national, they come here for work, why do 1000,s of tourists come here if its so miserable.
theres an escort service website for ireland.
i think prostitution is legal in ireland to a certain extent.
i think the rule is only one escort per residence.
if theres 3 or 4 escorts in the one residence they can be arrested for running a brothel.
i think in every town there,s italian,chinese, restaurants from various countrys .
ireland is now a modern western country .
of course its a bit depressing ,we are under lockdown, we are in the middle of the worst pandemic since 1919 .

at least we dont have riots in the streets as in america .
or 17 year old kids going around with machine guns shooting black people
or protestors they dont like the look of.

bo0li5eumx12kp

riclad wrote: »

A large proportion of the population is non national, they come here for work, why do 1000,s of tourists come here if its so miserable.
theres an escort service website for ireland.
i think prostitution is legal in ireland to a certain extent.
i think the rule is only one escort per residence.
if theres 3 or 4 escorts in the one residence they can be arrested for running a brothel.
i think in every town there,s italian,chinese, restaurants from various countrys .
ireland is now a modern western country .
of course its a bit depressing ,we are under lockdown, we are in the middle of the worst pandemic since 1919 .

at least we dont have riots in the streets as in america .
or 17 year old kids going around with machine guns shooting black people
or protestors they dont like the look of.

*sigh*

The fact that my illuminating post was removed is testament enough to where Irish mentality is still at.

No culture is perfect, stop comparing us to other cultures.

There's lots and lots and lots of room for improvement within our fair shores - that should be the focus.

Prostitution legality is only a means to an end..... and I can't say anything more than that cause probability is AH moderators will remove it.