US billionaire calls out Ireland as "no one wants to live here"

Mad_maxx

riclad wrote: »

It depends on where you live, I dont think anyone in dublin cares where you come from as long as you are polite well mannered and law abiding
I like Irish weather because it changes every day
I would be boring to live in a country where its just
sunny everyday or maybe rains once a month
I have always found dublin people very friendly.
It might be different if you have a foreign accent or are a member of
a minority group eg Polish etc

Dublin people are very friendly

Kaybaykwah

It's a pretty arrogant comment to make about a country, any country. Wouldn't have expected that from a billionaire.

Yyhhuuu

jackboy wrote: »

Deep down mostly closed off to insiders also. In modern Ireland true friendships are a rare thing. It might be the same in lots of other countries also but I don’t know much about them.

This is an extremely interesting discussion regarding the meaning of true friendships. It's sad to read some of these comments. Perhaps it should be a separate thread for discussion.

ILoveYourVibes

Kaybaykwah wrote: »

It's a pretty arrogant comment to make about a country, any country. Wouldn't have expected that from a billionaire.

Its not that i wouldn't have expected it from a rich person.

Its that i wouldn't have expected it from a media savvy person in public.

In private ..of course. I would expect many people to make unpleasant comments out Ireland and other places in private.

It seems gauche though..to make it in public ...and to be in the public eye.

Yyhhuuu

BloodyBill wrote: »

Have to agree. My wife isn't Irish and found Dubliners extremely unfriendly but some of the older generation bucked the trend. We live in the UK now where bus drivers have a smile and shop assistants say 'thank you and have a good morning'. The friendly shop assistants in Ireland are Eastern European.
Ireland is a great country..safe and good standard of living but by God we can be smug. Tucked into the UKs defensive realm but still in Europe we feel as safe as houses. So yeah the billionaire is mostly right we love the sound of our own voices ... lots of egos in Ireland

I must say I found many people I met in London far friendlier than in Ireland. Very friendly bus drivers and shop assistants in London and others I met there whereas the Irish bus drives were grumpy ( not all though) and many shop assistants unfriendly with a poor attitude. It makes such a difference to make a customer feel welcome.

Mind you I did always think the true dubs were a friendly especially the down to earth working class. The middle class would not be as friendly in my opinion.

I still think Ireland is a wonderful country.

ILoveYourVibes

Hamachi wrote: »

Another guy had set himself up as a stage Irishman and became borderline hostile when he was no longer the only ‘paddy in the village’.

The city I lived in had less than a hundred Irish people resident there. I knew a few of the others pretty well and they had similar experiences, particularly with the latter guy who all of us had encountered during our time there. If anything, we concluded that some of the Irish weren’t being themselves and were pretty unrepresentative of people at home.

:pac: OMG!

ILoveYourVibes

Yyhhuuu wrote: »

I must say I found many people I met in London far friendlier than in Ireland. Very friendly bus drivers and shop assistants in London and others I met there whereas the Irish bus drives were grumpy ( not all though) and many shop assistants unfriendly. Mind you I did always think the true dubs were a friendly lot.

I find the UK very mixed. Some very friendly some not.

Sam Quentin

I love Ireland..I love it with all my heart.
Each to their own on the friendliness of the Irish.
But I do not and will never understand the reason for the high price of property. It can't be explained and in no way shape or form can it be justified.

Yyhhuuu

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

I find the UK very mixed. Some very friendly some not.

I was in Manchester three times. The people I met in Manchestr were awful. Liverpool extremely friendly. London has a name as being unfriendly but it's a lot friendlier than people make out in my experience.

ILoveYourVibes

Yyhhuuu wrote: »

I was in Manchester three times. The people I met in Manchestr were awful. Liverpool extremely friendly. London has a name as being unfriendly but it's a lot friendlier than people make out in my experience.

For me it wasn't really based on place.Or class etc.

I found friendly and unfriendly people everywhere there.

It was just varied.

ShatterAlan

buried wrote: »

Its grand weather for living in Reg. Bit of rain and wind in the winter, sure what about it? Did these Silicon Valley dolls never hear of a coat or jacket? You'd think that some lad who has the term 'cloud' in his company name, he would be actually aware to what a real 'cloud' is capable of.

The guy pisses about the weather in Ireland. In 2019, just 70 days into the year and it had already rained 38 days in San Francisco and 44 days in San Jose. The so called sunny Silicon Valley. Place is wetter than Galway.


https://abc7news.com/weather/2019-has-been-a-year-full-of-rain-so-far/5184352/

JupiterKid

I’d never heard of him before, I was presuming someone like Tim Cook of Apple or a top financier and investor was giving out about Ireland.

This country certainly has its flaws, but on balance it is a great place to live in. We can be very clannish and cliquey, but frankly we need to develop some thicker skin. Yes, the reality is that not everyone likes Ireland, and I can live with that.

AutoTuning

Well, he suggested that we stick to our strengths, as should he: PR should be left to professionals!

ygolometsipe

Well if he was after fee publicity, he sure got it now!!

So can we kick him out now?

Visa Revoked,

now **** off is that welcoming enough for ya:)

the purple tin

Can't stand that fake US style courtesy 'have a nice day' and all that shíte. Like you really give a fúck about my day :rolleyes:

riclad

Property is expensive in city's in the UK and Ireland ,
our population has been increasing since the 90s
The no of houses built has not been enough to
meet demand .its not a mystery at all You can buy a cheap house if you are willing to live in a rural area
Young people tend to like to live in city's to study and to work. Rich people from America will pay more tax here than they would pay in America
Trump has increased tax credits for the top 5 per cent
and for big corporations
Irish politicians do not in general make changes to tax
rates when they get elected
American republicans would regard Ireland as a country governed by Liberal socialists

M.T. Cranium

Is there any actual downside to having U.S. billionaires avoiding your country?

I wish they would avoid my country too.

Mad_maxx

riclad wrote: »

Property is expensive in city's in the UK and Ireland ,
our population has been increasing since the 90s
The no of houses built has not been enough to
meet demand .its not a mystery at all You can buy a cheap house if you are willing to live in a rural area
Young people tend to like to live in city's to study and to work. Rich people from America will pay more tax here than they would pay in America
Trump has increased tax credits for the top 5 per cent
and for big corporations
Irish politicians do not in general make changes to tax
rates when they get elected
American republicans would regard Ireland as a country governed by Liberal socialists

American Republicans wouldn't be too far wrong on that one

beggars_bush

Sam Quentin wrote: »

I love Ireland..I love it with all my heart.
Each to their own on the friendliness of the Irish.
But I do not and will never understand the reason for the high price of property. It can't be explained and in no way shape or form can it be justified.

History.
Comes down to the attachment to land and property.
Its from our history when majority of population were not allowed own land or anything but small houses from the Penal laws.


Then there's a cultural thing about the stigma of small houses.

Randy Archer

Kaybaykwah wrote: »

It's a pretty arrogant comment to make about a country, any country. Wouldn't have expected that from a billionaire.

He’s American, it’s hardly a shock

Randy Archer

AutoTuning wrote: »

Yeah I find Conan quite unfunny at times, but then I’m not entirely plugged into American late night show humour. The unfunny monologues and set pieces on all those shows are often not funny at all and then you get the “zany” wisecracking that seems to be upstaging the guests.

I find though that on a few occasions I was basically expected to “do your Irish thing” and act the clown which I found really annoying after while and they’ll throw ludicrous stereotypes - particularly some guy taunted me in a bar and kept saying stuff about the “fighting Irish.”

I’ve also had people tell me “ah you’re not Irish” because I don’t meet the stereotype they expect me to.

The worst I’ve ever encountered was a tourist on the Cork to Dublin train. I was in a very quiet, off peak city gold coach, about 5 seats away from him and trying to get a ton of work done ahead of a meeting and I was on the phone a few times.

He wandered over and asked me where I was from. I said Dublin. He responded “You really need to work on your Irish accent buddy! - You sound like a Brit!”

I didn’t really know how to respond, but he kept trying to talk to me so, in the end I was pretty blunt and told him I booked the seat to be able to work en route, and would he mind leaving me alone!

No doubt he’s probably gone home going on about how unfriendly the Irish (or the Brits as he seems to think) are and we are sooo unwelcoming because I wasn’t flattered by being spoken to by some obnoxious asshat.

Something about “putting your head through the glass window” (Fr Fintan Stack style - Brendan Grace) might have left him in no doubt ...

Some Americans are incredible obnoxious when they get into the whole research thing ie Wikipedia and start telling you reels of irrelevant “fun facts” about ones own area, never mind the country .

They are big into the home testers for DNA tests (total scams , doesn’t take into account the history ) now, yet, like many of us here, they couldn’t tell you a thing about their great great grand parents - oddly enough unless one’s family were in public office of some sort , we know very little about our relations beyond the grandparents pre 1950s ... families just don’t talk about them (bit like how you don’t hear people of the Irish civil war era (who are still alive or lived long enough to meet you) want to talk about it )

The McDonagh brothers ,who wrote plays and films , have regularly put in cheeky home truths / gags about the typical Yank

One of the worse experiences I had was in a Boston Bar , visiting an aunt . We made the mistake of travelling up to near Southie (junkies and knackers) It was March 1996 . A bucket came around the pub , collecting for “the cause” . My father , who had friends in the Gardai and army ,who had dealt with a lot of attacks in the 1980s at the hands of the Ra , politely declined to contribute . Surprise surprise that didn’t go down well with the Yank

My auld fella humiliated the lads who started questioning our nationality , asking them basic questions about the country that , inevitably they were clueless about . They were reminded that Irish people were getting caught up in the bombings in British cities that are heavily populated by the Irish. Probably but for the bar man and bouncer, things would have got violent because the shuttering Yank didn’t take to kindly being dressed down and laughed at


It was shortly after the Canary Warf bombing in London , I had a cousin and two aunts working in that area of London and the cousin got attacked by thugs because he was Irish ,who were understandably angry (but you were arrested and prosecuted) , so naturally it was hard to stomach what was going on in the bars of Boston - but, it was our own fault, we knew what we were getting ourselves into by going into those bars .

As for Conan O’Brien, it is hard to believe that he was part of the Simpson writing team back in the day. He’s a lot smarter than that (his act on his tv shows) but then, he probably knows what the audience wants

Late Night US shows can be dreadful. The host always wants to be the centre of attention , David Letterman was a whore for that . You see in the U.K., Jonathan Ross was like that but, he was funny and he wasn’t as bad as those two

Elite Genetics

ShatterAlan wrote: »

The guy pisses about the weather in Ireland. In 2019, just 70 days into the year and it had already rained 38 days in San Francisco and 44 days in San Jose. The so called sunny Silicon Valley. Place is wetter than Galway.


https://abc7news.com/weather/2019-has-been-a-year-full-of-rain-so-far/5184352/

Ireland bas better weather than San Francisco lol. That's a first bahahahahaha.

BloodyBill

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

I wonder why the people of Cork didn't like the uppity billionaire.

His Twitter is full of comments made in questionable taste.

Do I think we are overly friendly ? No. We are genuine.

We keep to ourselves.

Is the food great ...no.

He comes off as bitter. Which is a pathetic thing for a billionaire to be.

The idea of him feeling rejected by Ireland in his position is sad.

I am Irish ..I would never really strike up a conversation with a stranger. I find for the most part other Irish people don't either. Its not a great habit to have in the 21st century. Unless you live in a small town. But generally its not safe. And it does mark you out as a tourist. Which again marks you out as ...vulnerable. I wouldn't advise it.

Thats sad. I dont think any statistics would back you up on your assertion that its unsafe to strike up a conversation with a stranger. You've more chance of getting killed my a kick from a horse than something bad happening during your interaction.
I disagree on all the American bashing. I lived in Texas and Arkansas. Best few years iv had. Absolutely outstanding people who are friendly. Most in Arkansas were Scotch Irish..real aware of their Presbyterian Irish background.. not aware of the modern Ireland but so what. We native Irish dont actually have a monopoly on how the Irish culture should develope. Irish Americans and Anglo Irish have just as valid an Irish identity as we do. Like I said we native Irish are smug...very condescending

FixdePitchmark

I love Ireland - but said I would challenge my natural thinking on this , to try understand his perspective.

The dude is from California or at least has spent a good bit of time there - as Irish we probably need to keep that mind - it must be one of the most amazing places to live in the world , from a cultural, entertainment, weather, landscape, sport - incredible place. Then the food there must be as good as it gets in America. We have this attitude that food is crap in America , but that is a bit over simplistic . There must be a fairly hip food scene in California to start. With their weather and landscape - it is a bit naive or at least closed mind to say Ireland has better produce. Ireland has the best produce is a bit clichéd here now. We buy all our food in mega corporations . We don't go down to the local farmers market - and do we really trust our restaurant scene here. Yes there is a top level , that you pay massive money , but I wouldn't be convinced many below that are going out and sourcing produce in an ethical way. The way you get gouged on wine and price - they already have lost a bit of faith in me.

In relation to weather - I personally like it - but the dude again is referring to California. Even the south coast of England / France is phenomenally better than Ireland - we need to take that one on the chin.

On the friendliest front - Ireland has changed a good bit. people are more closed off , tied to their phone and social network .People have very established relationships from their education and families. It is very rare you see an Irish person get a "new friend" - in fact it would almost be a joke if you did - is that your "new friend" - lol. Can imagine that happen - in fact I've experienced it.

I would criticize the lad in one way - if he is a billionaire and ate poorly in Ireland - he would want to do his research a bit better. Isn't a county in Ireland without stunning food. Yes if he was going into the likes of Spar or going to the now horrendous service stations - you could see a bad experience. We really made a balls of our service stations / chains like Supermacs / Costa / Burger King - they are mostly horrendous places and again - you are totally gouged.

To try be light hearted for a second.
We should really blame coffee culture - bring back the pub. I can't remember anyone opening up to me in a coffee shop , people sitting down with phones , laptops and they are typically filthy places, charging almost 5 euro for a coffee and begrudge you use of the toilet. You can't imagine someone sitting down in a Costa and singing all 8 verses of Arthur Mcbride. You'd almost get daggers for asking for milk.

AutoTuning

There is a growing “stranger danger” paranoia and unfortunately it’s more global than just an Irish thing. People are increasingly in a bubble or headphones and screens and the art of small talk is dying.

Big cities were always like that, especially on public transport like the Tube, Metro, Subway etc, but it’s spreading to everything else now.

There’s a friendly degree of small talk that isn’t intrusive or annoying, but I think we are losing the art of how to do that all over the world.

You don’t stop and ask for directions, you use Google Maps. You don’t talk to someone on the train, you’re too busy interacting with someone 200 or 2000km away on Twitter. You don’t chat people up, it might be weird, so instead you swipe left and right based on head shots and meet strangers from the internet for anonymous sex.

You’re fed a constant diet of BE AFRAID be VERY AFRAID, especially of OTHERS! That’s not coming from an Irish source, but it’s bleeding in online. The world is less dangerous than it has probably ever been, yet we are living in bubbles of paranoid fear a lot of the time.

That’s not an Irish unfriendliness. It’s modernity and the internet.

I was in Brussels Airport about a year ago and there was a big delay, and an 60-70 year old Dutch lady I was sitting beside struck up a conversation. She was old enough to be at least my mother, anyway we ended up blabbing away. There was a major delay at the airport and we ended up deciding to grab lunch, and even had drinks and it was weird in a way, but we were both saying, it’s nice to be human sometimes and she was saying the world used to be a lot more like that.

We’re definitely losing something by being so steeped in the internet and, this isn’t America bashing, but the fear of others thing is most definitely breezing in from a transatlantic direction as American media and politics increasingly thrives on creating that sense of fear and Irish and British media and online commentary more so is starting to follow - all it takes is talking to one old lady on a train and you’ll end up being kidnapped by the mafia or worse... apparently and that’s if you’re not caught up in a terrorist incident, stuck by lightening or hit in the back of the head by a meteorite

and don’t get me started on Irish roads! Let’s ignore all the facts and statistics, showing how it’s probably one of the safest countries in the world to drive, the fact you even survived that entirely boring and uneventful trip up the M8, with its conservative drivers and perfect surfaces is a miracle!

sidegolo

Gruffalux wrote: »

Haha He is not wrong about the food and weather. It is often shyte but with moments of heart stopping revelation.
I love this country and the people but the whole blather about the wonderful "Irish" is a bit condescending.
I am not all that sad about him thinking we are unfriendly. A bit of honest Eastern European style grumpiness would do us no harm. The top o the morning milking the brim of the hat shyte has long worn thin.
A few years ago I was having a month in Bulgaria and the locals were delightfully unimpressed and misanthropic. None of this licking your arse spiel. They could not give a toss where you were from, had barely the patience or interest to take your order, much less converse. I loved their honest humanity. I found the same in Hungary. Nobody putting on a show. Other countries too. I enjoy it. Plamas is unnerving. Let us be honest and unfriendly and grouchy and say fcuk you Mr Billionaire, like it or lump it, we are done pretending to be nice and oozy all the time like some creepy paedophile uncle. No more sycophancy.

You know, people are either 'peaches' or 'coconuts' type. For example, Americans fall into the former and eastern European people you described are definitely in the latter category.

FixdePitchmark

Randy Archer wrote: »

My auld fella humiliated the lads who started questioning our nationality , asking them basic questions about the country that , inevitably they were clueless about . They were reminded that Irish people were getting caught up in the bombings in British cities that are heavily populated by the Irish. Probably but for the bar man and bouncer, things would have got violent because the shuttering Yank didn’t take to kindly being dressed down and laughed at

I had a father a bit like that - I always admired his courageousness - but a brother of mine said to me a few years after - na , he was just a bit of an arsehole.

If your going into a bar in a dodgy area - you can go in and have the craic or you can cause trouble.

Even if your going to say something controversial , you need to have the skill and street smart to do it. In fact - the Irish are masters at it. Others get into daft fights.

FixdePitchmark

@ AutoTuning

The mobile phone has really ****ed up human interaction. People literally do not interact. At this stage - some can't. Even in work now - lads have headphones on.

AutoTuning

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

@ AutoTuning

The mobile phone has really ****ed up human interaction. People literally do not interact. At this stage - some can't. Even in work now - lads have headphones on.

They won’t even answer voice calls. We have *HUGE* issue at work with people who are terrified to pick up the phone. Instead they listen to voicemails and respond by email. We have literally discovered some people have their phones forwarded permanently to voicemail and had to issue policies asking people not to “hide behind voicemail”.

Other people will get their noses out of joint if someone rings instead of texting / IMing.

Also the issue of people point blank refusing to answer non displayed or unfamiliar phone numbers. We’ve had issues on sites where contractors don’t take calls because they didn’t recognise the numbers.

I appreciate you get the odd spam call, but I mean I could count the number of scam / spam calls I got in 2020 on one hand. You also aren’t going to get kidnapped and teleported into a parallel universe by a chancer on the other-side of the world telling you they are calling from “Windows” about your virus problem ... There's a hang up button and an ability to say feck off!

I mean seriously? What do they think will happen if they answer a call from an unfamiliar number?! Do they have that many debt collectors, private detectives and tabloid journalists trying to track them down ?!

jmlad2020

Maybe he is talking about Dublin specifically and it's depressing housing market /quality of life which is dire to the majority who don't have a high wage or have struck it lucky with inheritance.

Poor weather, poor transport system and average food - yes i'd agree with some of his comments.