Why can't we as Irish people behave ourselves? Or can we?

AtomicHorror · 27-04-2017 12:54PM

They frequently allow outdoor drinking in Galway during festival times. Haven't gone in years but the atmosphere was always fun and friendly when I was there.

I guess it depends on how you pitch the event. Paddy's Day will always pull out a certain kind of crowd, but an arts festival, for example, will probably not be on their radar.

Barry Badrinath · 27-04-2017 12:57PM

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

I don't think it's sh*t at all, I just wonder why we seem to lack the togetherness and pride of other countries. It's a great place to live but there's not a lot of civic pride, even compared to London, from my experience of having lived there.

Ah I didnt mean you specifically. The general idea floated would expect negative responses.

I have to agree though, the last 10 political years have done little for civic pride. I hear more negative stuff weekly about Ireland than positive stuff.

Conor Bourke · 27-04-2017 12:59PM

AtomicHorror wrote: »

They frequently allow outdoor drinking in Galway during festival times. Haven't gone in years but the atmosphere was always fun and friendly when I was there.

I guess it depends on how you pitch the event. Paddy's Day will always pull out a certain kind of crowd, but an arts festival, for example, will probably not be on their radar.

Yeah I lived in Galway the year the Volvo Ocean Race stopped off and it was magic! The events that were organised were great but the off the cuff stuff was probably the best part- the first yachts arrived in iirc after ~4am Sunday morning so loads of people spilled down to the docks after the nightclubs to cheer them in, as well as bonfires being lit on the islands and all along the coasts to guide them in, which is such a lovely tradition imo. No much trouble that I heard of and the word was that it was one of the best welcomes they received that year.

Parchment · 27-04-2017 01:02PM

Cornelius Crow wrote: »

Yeah I lived in Galway the year the Volvo Ocean Race stopped off and it was magic! The events that were organised were great but the off the cuff stuff was probably the best part- the first yachts arrived in iirc after ~4am Sunday morning so loads of people spilled down to the docks after the nightclubs to cheer them in, as well as bonfires being lit on the islands and all along the coasts to guide them in, which is such a lovely tradition imo. No much trouble that I heard of and the word was that it was one of the best welcomes they received that year.

The Volvo Ocean Race was amazing. Great memories - there was a a wonderful atmosphere there.

J.pilkington · 27-04-2017 01:03PM

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

Well we do have St Patricks day but they pretty much need to have riot police on the streets. It's absolutely awful, the Paddy's day thing, I don't know anyone who looks forward to it or wants to go into town.

You're German, you have Oktoberfest and Love Parade etc, things that could never happen here.

Speak for yourself and your family! Not everyone gets wasted on paddys day.

My parents always brought my brothers and sisters and I to the local parade and we always had a great day witnessing none of the crap you are talking about, a tradition I am now doing with my son who also enjoys it.

I hate this Irish bashing crap

By the way you should go to Octoberfest (if you can afford it), it's far from how the picture postcard event you seem to think it is

jimmycrackcorm · 27-04-2017 01:05PM

Winterlong wrote:

I was at queens day myself in amsterdam a few years go. It is a great day out. Big community thing going on. You are right OP, it is a pity we cant have that type thing here....We need to crown a High King/Queen of ireland and celebrate him/her!

Both examples for the Netherlands and the UK revolve around their royalty. We've not been too happy with celebrating Lizzie and her predecessors hence we have no tradition.

Skatedude · 27-04-2017 01:06PM

we used to hold street parties all the time in phibsboro where my grand mother lived, always loved them and never, ever any trouble

Stars and Stripes · 27-04-2017 01:07PM

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

Well we do have St Patricks day but they pretty much need to have riot police on the streets. It's absolutely awful, the Paddy's day thing, I don't know anyone who looks forward to it or wants to go into town.

You're German, you have Oktoberfest and Love Parade etc, things that could never happen here.

You must not have been to the Oktoberfest no end of drunken yahoo behavior at it.

The Rape of Lucretia · 27-04-2017 01:08PM

bubblypop wrote: »

You seem to equate drinking with having fun.
No fun without drink.
Maybe that's the problem?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nJ_l5qMrdw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz3d24gMHPU

Dr Crayfish · 27-04-2017 01:09PM

J.pilkington wrote: »

Speak for yourself and your family! Not everyone gets wasted on paddys day.

My parents always brought my brothers and sisters and I to the local parade and we always had a great day witnessing none of the crap you are talking about, a tradition I am now doing with my son who also enjoys it.

I hate this Irish bashing crap

By the way you should go to Octoberfest (if you can afford it), it's far from how the picture postcard event you seem to think it is

My family? Afford it? What? I've been to Oktoberfest in Munich, yes it's messy and there's people asleep everywhere but at least they allow it to happen. The one in Dublin is pretty good actually but it should be a lot bigger given it's popularity.

Sure bringing your kids to the parade is nice, but for grown ups it's not much of a National Day, for me anyway.

Shenshen · 27-04-2017 01:10PM

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

Well we do have St Patricks day but they pretty much need to have riot police on the streets. It's absolutely awful, the Paddy's day thing, I don't know anyone who looks forward to it or wants to go into town.

You're German, you have Oktoberfest and Love Parade etc, things that could never happen here.

Can't it? There's the Ploughing, there's got the Electric Picnic, down here in Cork there's a Jazz Festival...

There are lots of things happening here, too. But it takes a good bit or organising, and a street party won't just happen accidentally.
I used to live on an estate a while ago where the residents organised a BBQ every summer on the communal green area.

andekwarhola · 27-04-2017 01:12PM

We're all too busy navel-gazing about ourselves online.

sbsquarepants · 27-04-2017 01:13PM

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

Do we ever hold street parties like they do in other countries? I know we don't in Dublin but perhaps elsewhere? I was chatting with my Dutch friend just now and he's celebrating Kingsday, which is an enormous party in cities in Holland were hundreds of thousands come out on the streets to drink beer and dance. I went a few years ago and it's amazing fun, little bars pop up on the streets and people bring out decks and play music etc.
I was in London during the Wills and Kate wedding and everyone set up street parties. One area had lots of bbqs making jerk chicken and lots of people set up stalls and people were drinking etc. There's also the Notting Hill Carnival and other big parties like this, really great events. Now you usually get a stabbing or two at the Carnival but it's rival gangs that would probably stab each other anyway, but not much trouble at all given something like a million people visit it.
Compare this to Ireland where you can't even buy a beer till 5pm on St Patricks day. It's no fun at all. I know we don't have great weather but it shouldn't stop everything.
People will probably say we'd all get too drunk and start rioting etc, which may be true, but why is that? Why do the Garda have to crack down on everything that's fun? Are we really that bad or are we just told we're that bad by the authorities? Is there something inherently wrong with us as a people that we can't behave ourselves? The English aren't that different and they seem to get by ok with these things.
It's a bit of a shame we can't come together and do these things and have a bit of pride and togetherness.

What the hell are you talking about - there are festivals, events and street parties the length and breadth of the country?

We don't have kingsday because we don't have a king! Well, except during the puck fair I suppose (which is one of those big party things we apparently don't have!)

27-04-2017 01:13PM

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

Sure bringing your kids to the parade is nice, but for grown ups it's not much of a National Day, for me anyway.

What is missing for you? I don't know if you're in Dublin, but there's loads of things on for the few days around paddys day

jester77 · 27-04-2017 01:15PM

Why not just organise your own?

Where I live we have a big get together every Summer, street is cleared, we put down benches and tables (and tents if it is too hot), we get out lots of BBQs, we rent some beer equipment and set up speakers. Everyone takes on some responsibility e.g. organising equipment, organising dates, setting up things for the kids to do (bouncy castle, games, etc), different foods, organising DJ sets, collecting money and so on

When everyone puts in a little effort then it is a great event. Whatever money is left over, we donate to local charity.

Dr Crayfish · 27-04-2017 01:16PM

Ok you're right, I started this thread on a whim, I didn't put enough thought into it, I'm not even sure what I'm trying to say, or maybe I just can't articulate myself properly. I just threw it out there as it's a discussion forum, but it's a total failure, I shall go back into my shell. I'd like to apologise profusely

Glenster · 27-04-2017 01:20PM

Stars and Stripes wrote: »

You must not have been to the Oktoberfest no end of drunken yahoo behavior at it.

I know I was an outrage at it last year.

Shenshen · 27-04-2017 01:20PM

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

Ok you're right, I started this thread on a whim, as it's a discussion forum, but it's a total failure, I shall go back into my shell

I think you were just trying to compare apples and oranges, that's all.

You can't really transplant another country's festivals and celebrations, there's traditions and culture around them that don't exist here. Oktoberfests outside of Germany are a good example (as if it wasn't bad enough in Germany), they have no reason to exist other than as an excuse for drinking.
But there are plenty of "home-grown" festivals and parties here, and they work just fine. They're not exactly the same, but they shouldn't be. They're Irish. Not German, or Dutch, or British.

irishguitarlad · 27-04-2017 01:24PM

Here in the south of Spain young people are always drinking on the street with their own drink and there is never any trouble whereas if that happened in Ireland there would be pitched battles.

touts · 27-04-2017 01:27PM

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

Why is that? Are we failing as a society? We must be.

There are too many "scummers", as the other poster put it, because our criminal justice industry is at best disfunctional at worst corrupt.
We need to reform the Criminal Justice Industry and return it to being a system that serves the public and not an industry that enriches the legal profession.

If you hold a party with 1000 honest decent hard working people all it will take is 4 or 5 "scummers" to cause trouble and end up with mayhem and press coverage that shames the whole 1000. Whats more if you had a guard on the door he/she could identify those 4 to 5 as they walk in and predict what could happen. If you put the local district justice or state solicitor on the door they would be on virtual first name terms with these 4 to 5 lads. They will have seen them in court dozens if not hundreds of times and not jailed them dozens or hundreds of times because by jailing them they therefore limit the number of cases that will appear in court and the money they can earn.

Firstly we need to hold state solicitors and barristers accountable for their mistakes. All should have an annual independent performance review and if they are found to have too high a number of cases struck out due to "unfortunate" paperwork "errors" they lose their position in the service of the state. Then we need to take the discretion out of the hands of judges. There should be a three strikes and your out rule. Commit three crimes and on the third one there is no option for "the poor box" or probation or early release. Third convictions get the maximum setence for that crime and no wiggle room for the judge.

Get the few hundred "scummers" off the nations streets and into jail where they belong and then the perception of Irish people and their ability to have a good time will change for the better.

Beefy78 · 27-04-2017 01:55PM

Senor Fancy Pants wrote: »

The gimmick that was Arthurs Day led to Dublin being packed full of street drinkers. I didnt see much hassle that I can recall. Much like most St.Paddy's Day's

Didn't Arthur's Day get canned because of the amount of trouble & hassle that it was causing?

FWIW as a non-Irish person I adore the atmosphere and scenes around Dublin on St.Patricks' Day. It's one of my favourite days of the year.

EDIT - seems I may have mis-remembered the issues with Arthur's Day.

pilly · 27-04-2017 01:59PM

I think the St. Patricks Day Festival takes a terrible kicking. There are amazing events arranged all around Dublin City, a lot of them family orientated. Most of the messy drinking occurs after dark in temple bar. If you're looking for family fun you wouldn't be around there at that time.

seachto7 · 27-04-2017 02:02PM

Beefy78 wrote: »

Didn't Arthur's Day get canned because of the amount of trouble & hassle that it was causing?

FWIW as a non-Irish person I adore the atmosphere and scenes around Dublin on St.Patricks' Day. It's one of my favourite days of the year.

EDIT - seems I may have mis-remembered the issues with Arthur's Day.

WHat happened again?

J.pilkington · 27-04-2017 02:14PM

pilly wrote: »

I think the St. Patricks Day Festival takes a terrible kicking. There are amazing events arranged all around Dublin City, .

Exactly posts like we have seen from the OP seriously misrepresent st Patrick's day and is a huge insult to all the good work that volunteers put in. It's a great family day out

Maybe the op needs to stay out of the boozer / trouble spots

kunst nugget · 27-04-2017 02:16PM

seachto7 wrote: »

WHat happened again?

General drunkenness abounded - I think the problems kind of stem from people leaving work and starting drinking straight away for the 17.59 'To Martha' toast and getting scuttered because they had no food in them.

Tuesday_Girl · 27-04-2017 02:30PM

I attended many Queen and King's days in Amsterdam, it's a huge party with hundreds of thousands people taking part, 200,000 of those coming in to the city by train for the day. It's not allowed to sell or consume alcohol on the trains and you can't carry more than one alcoholic drink at a time on the streets, nor buy more than one drink per person at a time. Thousands of boats take to the canals and the water police have a large presence checking safety of boats and doing random breathalyser tests.

The event is extremely well-organised and policed and while it gets a bit messy as the evening closes in it's nothing like the scale of drunkenness you would see on St. Patrick's Day, during Race Week, at a concert or even on a bank holiday weekend in Ireland.

Binge drinking is nowhere as widespread in European countries as it here, people of all ages mainly stick to beers when drinking, the police are never far away and are ready to hand out fines for drunkenness or any other public order offences. Makes for a friendly and safe day out for all ages.

seachto7 · 27-04-2017 03:00PM

kunst nugget wrote: »

General drunkenness abounded - I think the problems kind of stem from people leaving work and starting drinking straight away for the 17.59 'To Martha' toast and getting scuttered because they had no food in them.

Welcome to the advertising industry in Dublin, where this happens every week.

PARlance · 27-04-2017 03:20PM

Croke Park and it's surrounding areas on any of the many big match days throughout the year is a fairy good example of everyone getting along. Plenty of drink on board too, for many in attendance.

83,000 in one stadium and you don't even have to segregate fans.

Mrs OBumble · 27-04-2017 03:36PM

kunst nugget wrote: »

An off licence not opening until 5 is doing that off their own back. Paddy's Day is a bank holiday so normal Sunday times would apply to it.

Dunno about dublin.

But in Galway the guards "encourage" pubs and offies not to open until the parade is over, and the organisers put the parade start time earlier (11:30am) to facilitate this.

Such encouragement may not be 100% envisaged by the licensing laws but it has had a noticable positive effective on the state of the streets later in the day.

For Forks Sake · 27-04-2017 10:26PM

Only one man can save us all

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjCdB5p2v0Y

Why can't we as Irish people behave ourselves? Or can we?

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