How bad is Eastern Europe etc

The_Brood wrote: »

You get paid more to come over here and take the dole money for no work than you do working full time at even average-paid jobs in several parts of Eastern Europe.

Let that sink in.

I was a software tester for a well known American software company. I earned 12k euro the first year. My partner at the time was a vulnerability manager in IBM and she earned less than that.

Versus here,186 a week in dole plus HAP. Is it any surprise people want to come here?

HalloweenJack

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I'm pretty sure I met you in the Immigrant in Brno in 2012.

Haha, could be, though there was another Boards poster living out there and I met up with him a few times as well.

whisky_galore

A disappointment was Czech Rep.
Found Prague over touristed, stank of piss, BO and weed.
Heaps of homeless, but seemed to be harmless. None of that Dublin edginess and a fine city otherwise.

Budapest had shop assistants who would nearly throw the change and receipt at you they were that rude.

BuboBubo

Poland, nice to visit. Went to Krakow a few years ago, highly recommend it.

There are jobs in Poland, but the wages are poor compared to here. Red-tape and bribery are rampant (throwback to communist era) buying a car in Poland is more difficult than buying a house here!

Saving enough to buy a house, then moving back to Poland is common, others have bought homes here and will never return.

Expect to hear more eastern-european names in hurling and football circles in the coming years. Many have settled, enjoy the pace of life here, and have kids born here who will stay.

Sorry for generalising by using Poland as an example, I have some Polish friends I chat with regularly.

I've been to most "East European" countries, and what a diverse set of places they are. The Baltic
countries, in particular, are developing fast and align themselves more with Scandinavia. They are certainly immaculate, with high living standards, and with ever increasing prices. Sofia in Bulgaria is a splendid city, with a huge investment in exposing its historic underground city, a place where people really do respect their own environment. The Balkan countries have a great organic food scene, quite in tune with the "hipster" society. Last time I was in Hungary was 1996 and it was then a very hospitable place, in a quiet sort of way, which was enthusiastically opening up to tourism; however I believe it is quite the opposite now for some reason. I noticed back then that Budapest was a city of dog-lovers (people were bringing cats out too), and that if you were seen to admire or interact with people's pets, it went a long way and a conversation opener.

The_Brood wrote: »

You get paid more to come over here and take the dole money for no work than you do working full time at even average-paid jobs in several parts of Eastern Europe.

Let that sink in.

EU citizens cannot just rock up to ireland and claim social welfare.

AndyBoBandy

Though not strictly Eastern Europe, Lithuania (one of the 3 Baltic States) is a fantastic place.

I lived there for 18 months while on a work assignment, and the capitol city Vilnius was fantastic. Great bars, great clubs, great restaurants, and great culture all round. (would put Dublin to shame in a lot of categories). People were incredibly friendly, and in the 18 months I was there, we were never hassled once by drunkards, or toe rags in general (we went out every weekend and simply didn't see any behaviour like this).

Before I went there I was expecting to enter an 80's style Soviet dystopia, but was quite shocked at how modern the place was.

I spent the first 9 months I was there single, and had a great time in that regard (women were incredibly friendly & beautiful)..... then the 2nd 9 months I was in a relationship with a girl. 10 years later we are still together. She followed me back to Ireland a few months after I left as she transferred from the Lithuanian office to her companies U.K. office (and got to be home based in Ireland).

For anyone that's never been, I'd highly recommend going for a long weekend if/when things get back to normal.

Below is a photo of a purely decorative lake in an immaculate city park in Bulgaria. It has notices "no swimming" and everybody heeds them. I reckon if that park were in Dublin it would be filled with scobes nesting about, throwing litter and adding some interesting colours to the water. I have not been to the Black Sea coast where most foreigners go, but the inland cities of Bulgaria have terrific civic landscapes which are hugely respected by the locals. It is very uplifting to visit likes of Sofia and Plovdiv, and I would recommend them for a nice city break which is about as affordable as you could get. If you are a history buff you are in for a treat.

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

EU citizens cannot just rock up to ireland and claim social welfare.

I assume that is sarcasm?

whisky_galore wrote: »

Found those countries and their cities easy, cheap and very safe to get around. Most places were neat, litter free and well looked after.

Unlike here no nackery kids throwing fireworks, burnt out cars or benefits underclass perpetually making trouble. They can do apartment living without going down the Ballymun dystopia road.

Why do people put Ireland down at every opportunity?

Do you really think that Eastern European countries are utopias

Why mention one failed project Ballymun, that is now regenerated but not mention all the awful communist era tower blocks that you see all over?

A few incidents here of kids with fireworks and now the whole country is sh1t?

I actually think that Ireland is one of the best countries to live in with great scenery, attractions and normally a thriving social scene. I've lived abroad and I'm very happy to back here.

It's positives far outweigh the negatives. Plenty of foreigners like living here too.

Also, "Benefits underclass". What is this as people in Ireland don't receive "benefits".

breezy1985

The_Brood wrote: »

You get paid more to come over here and take the dole money for no work than you do working full time at even average-paid jobs in several parts of Eastern Europe.

Let that sink in.

Ya but you would have to live here with our very high cost of living so. It all relative.

I lived in London until last year and I found the cost of living there cheaper than Limerick

Deleted User wrote: »

Below is a photo of a purely decorative lake in an immaculate city park in Bulgaria. It has notices "no swimming" and everybody heeds them. I reckon if that park were in Dublin it would be filled with scobes nesting about, throwing litter and adding some interesting colours to the water. I have not been to the Black Sea coast where most foreigners go, but the inland cities of Bulgaria have terrific civic landscapes which are hugely respected by the locals. It is very uplifting to visit likes of Sofia and Plovdiv, and I would recommend them for a nice city break which is about as affordable as you could get. If you are a history buff you are in for a treat.

So you've never seen the clear waters in the likes of Stephen's Green?

Seriously the stuff people come up with.

As far as I'm concerned my Eastern European travels have been Poland, Lithuania, Prague & Budapest.
Some lovely spots but I found a lot of the people dour, architecture outside city centres to be bleak and you see the same social problems there that you see everywhere else.

The_Brood wrote: »

I assume that is sarcasm?

statement of fact

https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/fc9c5e-operational-guidelines-for-deciding-officers-on-the-determination-of/#circumstances-giving-exemption-from-the-hrc-for-family-benefits-and-swa

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

statement of fact

https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/fc9c5e-operational-guidelines-for-deciding-officers-on-the-determination-of/#circumstances-giving-exemption-from-the-hrc-for-family-benefits-and-swa

Well yeah they don't get it the literal very first day they step foot in Ireland, but those listed hurdles are very easily overcome and they know how to overcome them with great success.

The_Brood wrote: »

Well yeah they don't get it the literal very first day they step foot in Ireland, but those listed hurdles are very easily overcome and they know how to overcome them with great success.

hmmm actual facts vs unsubstantiated nonsense. I wonder which i will believe.

murpho999 wrote: »

So you've never seen the clear waters in the likes of Stephen's Green?

Seriously the stuff people come up with.

As far as I'm concerned my Eastern European travels have been Poland, Lithuania, Prague & Budapest.
Some lovely spots but I found a lot of the people dour, architecture outside city centres to be bleak and you see the same social problems there that you see everywhere else.

Take a walk In the area from O'Connell Street towards Connolly Station. Have not come across anything like it in any other European city centre, east or west for that matter. So much of my own city is an absolute kip with under-educated people visibly deep in the sh1t of addiction, petty & worse crime.

Officer Giggles

I spent a week travelling across Albania. Shockingly poor country but the people couldn't have been nicer. Been to Hungary, Croatia, Montenegro and Slovenia, all lovely places

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

hmmm actual facts vs unsubstantiated nonsense. I wonder which i will believe.

I have no idea what ax you have to grind, but you should believe reality.

Deleted User wrote: »

Take a walk In the area from O'Connell Street towards Connolly Station. Have not come across anything like it in any other European city centre, east or west for that matter. So much of my own city is an absolute kip with under-educated people visibly deep in the sh1t of addiction, petty & worse crime.

Have you never seen people in Amsterdam. Especially around the back of Central Station.
Parts of Paris are no go areas.

Seriously, you mention one street and just focus on the junkies that you see and people then say that they're dominating the whole street whilst ignoring 80% of normal people walking around about their daily business.

I've had visitors come to visit me from abroad and they've all liked Dublin and felt safe and not one commented on people like you have.

The_Brood wrote: »

I have no idea what ax you have to grind, but you should believe reality.

no axe to grind. just responding to nonsense.

silver2020

HalloweenJack wrote: »

I taught English in Brno in the Czech Republic back in 2011/2012.

It's a decent-sized city. There's a good amount of IT companies there and there's a good bit of industry. It's not a poor place at all. It's not Prague either, though, where things are more expensive and more exciting. I earned about €600 a month and I never had to worry about not having enough. About half of that went on rent (which many told me was expensive for where I was). It was a comfortable enough life but any time I came home, I noticed the difference. A pint there could be had for €1.20 which doesn't compare to paying between €4 and €5 at the time.

Saving a decent amount of money was the big problem. Whatever you could save didn't go very far as soon as you left. The Czech Republic is one of the more stable Eastern Europe countries. Public transport is pretty good and accomodation in that there is a lot of both, though it is dated. The problem is the money that can be earned for the majority, not that those opportunities don't exist.

Huge changes since 2011/2012.

But even then the relevant price was similar to here. A pink cost you 0.2% of your monthly €600 income. You probably would have had €2400 monthly income for similar job here and a pint cost you 0.2% too. (look up Big Mac index - tells you how many minutes you work for the price of a big mac anywhere in the world.

Czech Republic is roaring ahead. Wages have increased substantially as has quality of life.

as for the OP, people like to travel. We do it ourselves in droves and there are thousands of Irish people in Eastern European countries. We are in the EU, we speak English. Many Eastern europeans want to speak English and therefore look at Ireland as ideal.

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

no axe to grind. just responding to nonsense.

My guess is you are neither Eastern European (I am), nor do you know many Eastern Europeans in Ireland, nor do you know the economic realities in Eastern Europe.

The_Brood wrote: »

Well yeah they don't get it the literal very first day they step foot in Ireland, but those listed hurdles are very easily overcome and they know how to overcome them with great success.

This to me is just bar stool stuff that people spout all the time.

You were presented clear proof that immigrants are not entitled to social welfare but you just dismiss it.

Also, you're being very disrespectful to people.
Any European immigrant I have met have come here to work, improve their lives whilst contributing to society.
They're not travelling in hoards to get free money off the state.

The_Brood wrote: »

My guess is you are neither Eastern European (I am), nor do you know many Eastern Europeans in Ireland, nor do you know the economic realities in Eastern Europe.

i know the rules around claiming social welfare.

murpho999 wrote: »

This to me is just bar stool stuff that people spout all the time.

You were presented clear proof that immigrants are not entitled to social welfare but you just dismiss it.

Also, you're being very disrespectful to people.
Any European immigrant I have met have come here to work, improve their lives whilst contributing to society.
They're not travelling in hoards to get free money off the state.

Wow. As an Eastern European I can tell you you have been lied to out of your mind. A select few may fit that description. The vast majority are running away from economic depravity and see it is an absurd paradise to be paid huge money for not working. If you're Irish they obviously won't tell you that, but that is the reality.

murpho999 wrote: »

Have you never seen people in Amsterdam. Especially around the back of Central Station.
Parts of Paris are no go areas.

Seriously, you mention one street and just focus on the junkies that you see and people then say that they're dominating the whole street whilst ignoring 80% of normal people walking around about their daily business.

I've had visitors come to visit me from abroad and they've all liked Dublin and felt safe and not one commented on people like you have.

Amsterdam is not my favourite place. In fact I hate kips of any kind, and unfortunately the 20% of people In a major part of my city *centre* make themselves very loudly known and drown out the 80% of ordinary decent people including their fellow residents. Anyway, I just personally don't have much tolerance for antisocial types, others might enjoy their colourful presence. Enough said by me on that.

So far I have been fortuitously lucky to enjoy peace & harmony in eastern bloc countries. Not that they are perfect, far far from it, they are a diverse array of countries. The ones I have yet to visit are North Macedonia, Kosovo & Romania.

murpho999 wrote: »

Have you never seen people in Amsterdam. Especially around the back of Central Station.
Parts of Paris are no go areas.

Seriously, you mention one street and just focus on the junkies that you see and people then say that they're dominating the whole street whilst ignoring 80% of normal people walking around about their daily business.

I've had visitors come to visit me from abroad and they've all liked Dublin and felt safe and not one commented on people like you have.

You also obviously don't live anywhere near Dublin city center and have no clue what goes on. No clue.

I don't know where you are sitting commenting on all these things but nothing of what you're posting reflects reality.

RobertKK

I have Romanian friends and will visit them when all this virus stuff is over.
Some of the nicest people I have ever come across.
Romania is a country that reminds me of Ireland growing up, they have the emigration, but now they have the higher economic growth (excluding the virus anomaly) the motorways are being built so it is a country in a rapid transformation.
I hope they keep their traditions and culture. It is a Latin country in an area dominated by Slavic
I see is as a major tourist destination in Europe in the coming decades, between the Carpathian mountains, the Danube Delta - ranked as the third most important biopshere on the planet after the Great Barrier Reef and the Galapagos islands and then there is the Black Sea coastline, not to mention all the castles and beautiful Transylvania.
Wages are on the rise but they have the lowest cost of living in the EU.
Many go abroad to make some better money, but their country is a hidden jewel.
What I find is people holding prejudices against the country due to the Roma people who make up 3% of the population.
If people look beyond their prejudices they will discover a great country with people to match.

breezy1985

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

no axe to grind. just responding to nonsense.

Nonsense indeed. He still hasn't answered why it would benefit "them" to come over here and be on the dole with our high cost of living rather than be at home earning less but with a low cost of living