What Sucks About Ireland?

saxitlurg · 22-04-2020 1:29pm #1

I'm looking to move to Ireland, and I don't want to go in with any rose-colored glasses, because that's a recipe for disappointment. So bitch to me! Tell me everything that annoys or pisses you off about living in Ireland!
(Looking for general info, but any queer-specific issues would also be helpful, obvs)

mr_fegelien · 22-04-2020 8:32pm

Cons

1.) It's expensive - This i suppose is due to Ireland being an island off Europe that has a small economy that doesn't allow for large economies of scale and also a high standard of living.

2.) ****ed up weather - I remember an article back in 2010/11 stated that the UK and Ireland were scored the worst places to live in Western Europe due to the numbers of sunshine. It also rains a lot here. The plus side is that it never really gets cold like Eastern Europe or North America due to the Mid Altantic Drift

Pros
1.) Good standard of living - This is an opposite take to the con of expense. Ireland ranks very high on metrics of happiness, health and wellbeing. It's in a way a lottery of birth to be born here (though I immigrated) as probably 90% of the world has worse standards than here (even if Irish people sometimes feel that it's a kip).

2.) Greater career and academic opportunities - This comes with being a developed country. My home country in Africa is nearly impossible to make it if you don't follow the traditional route of education. Here in Ireland, failing the LC is not the end of the world as you have trades, PLC courses, and even working minimum wage here will earn you more than some professionals in third world countries.

That's all I can think from the top of my head.

saxitlurg · 23-04-2020 12:53pm

mr_fegelien wrote: »

Cons

1.) It's expensive - This i suppose is due to Ireland being an island off Europe that has a small economy that doesn't allow for large economies of scale and also a high standard of living.

2.) ****ed up weather - I remember an article back in 2010/11 stated that the UK and Ireland were scored the worst places to live in Western Europe due to the numbers of sunshine. It also rains a lot here. The plus side is that it never really gets cold like Eastern Europe or North America due to the Mid Altantic Drift

Pros
1.) Good standard of living - This is an opposite take to the con of expense. Ireland ranks very high on metrics of happiness, health and wellbeing. It's in a way a lottery of birth to be born here (though I immigrated) as probably 90% of the world has worse standards than here (even if Irish people sometimes feel that it's a kip).

2.) Greater career and academic opportunities - This comes with being a developed country. My home country in Africa is nearly impossible to make it if you don't follow the traditional route of education. Here in Ireland, failing the LC is not the end of the world as you have trades, PLC courses, and even working minimum wage here will earn you more than some professionals in third world countries.

That's all I can think from the top of my head.

Thanks for such a detailed and balanced response!
1) I've heard that, and even experienced it somewhat, as I've already lived in ireland for a few months on a job. It is a little worrying. But I generally try to live very frugally anyway, and rarely spend money on shopping and evenings out.

2) Lol, Irish weather is actually one of the main appeals for me! Nothing puts me in a better mood than rain and clouds. I have summer-onset seasonal affective disorder, so sunlight is like a punch to the face. One of the main reasons I'm moving is to get away from Texas and it's 9 months-a-year of summer

1) I agree with you that a high standard of living seems like a reasonable tradeoff for how expensive it is to live there.

2) Ireland does have an impressive minimum wage, it even leaves most of the U.S. in the dust (I had to work at my first job for three years to get enough of a raise to even come close to the Irish minimum wage)

Thanks again for responding, I really appreciate it! I'm even more grateful that youre an expat as well and sharing your thoughts ðŸ˜Š Thank you!

Heebie · 23-04-2020 9:34pm

saxitlurg wrote:

2) I have summer-onset seasonal affective disorder, so sunlight is like a punch to the face. One of the main reasons I'm moving is to get away from Texas and it's 9 months-a-year of summer

Have you been here during in Irish Summer? When it's not raining... We get over 17 hours of sunlight around the summer solstice. The ozone layer also tends to be thin over Ireland, so we get more uv light for any particular amount of sunshine. (and clouds do not block uv, so it's there even on cloudy, and rainy days), so if it's UV triggering your SAD, you might have more problems rather than less.)
The extra uv also means we have higher rates of skin and related cancers.

I was born an Irish citizen, but grew up in Massachusetts. I've been here 14 years with no desire to go back. I'm looking to buy a place myself... I've never thought about that before now.

If you're the child of an Irish citizen, it's really easy to come here. It's a bit harder if you're a grandchild, and probably harder still if you're not a descendant of a citizen.

Good luck making your decision.

saxitlurg · 24-04-2020 2:23pm

Heebie wrote: »

Have you been here during in Irish Summer? When it's not raining... We get over 17 hours of sunlight around the summer solstice. The ozone layer also tends to be thin over Ireland, so we get more uv light for any particular amount of sunshine. (and clouds do not block uv, so it's there even on cloudy, and rainy days), so if it's UV triggering your SAD, you might have more problems rather than less.)
The extra uv also means we have higher rates of skin and related cancers.

I was born an Irish citizen, but grew up in Massachusetts. I've been here 14 years with no desire to go back. I'm looking to buy a place myself... I've never thought about that before now.

If you're the child of an Irish citizen, it's really easy to come here. It's a bit harder if you're a grandchild, and probably harder still if you're not a descendant of a citizen.

Good luck making your decision.

I have, I actually spent my whole summer there once for a job, and I only had one day where the sun made me sick (instead of every day) I'm not entirely sure what about the sun triggers it, but I think its more to do with the light than the UV, since on cloudy days, I'm perfectly fine, and wearing sunblock and covering up doesnt help on sunny days.

Yeah, I read about the descendantcy path, and unfortunately, I have to do it the hard way. (Even though I actually am a descendant, but no one in my family knew it until a couple years ago, when my grandmother got a DNA test done to learn who her father was. Great-grandchildren can be nationalized through descendancy, but my father would have had to register as a citizen through his grandfather before I was born, so the information came far too late to do me any good)

L1011 · 24-04-2020 4:50pm

The hours of sunlight in summer increase relatively quickly with latitude here; for example in the farthest North it never actually gets properly dark (not to the Scandi levels, its still dark for all intents and purposes) for about three and a half weeks in summer; whereas in the further South that never happens. So you may want to look at somewhere Dublin and further South.

CreativeSen · 30-04-2020 10:01am

I (Irish & live in Ireland) work with some Americans. They had the stereotypical view of Ireland and Irish people, we are all great craic, monster raving alcoholics and the country is full of stone walls, green fields and rainbows.....Over the years they would get a notion and move here....always disappointed as their expectations were not met.

All this is just my opinion so take it with a pinch of salt:

- yes, we are friendly but we are also standoffish, we tend not to get involved in other peoples lives unless we are invited to. So if we don't know you, we will likely not get too friendly with you. I also think that we are quite "cliquey" and it can be hard to break into a group of Irish people.

- we hold grudges....we have long memories and quite often will make references to events that have happened hundreds of years ago to justify our grievance/superiority over others

- Irish people moan, A LOT! We give out about everything! This is particularly true for Irish people that have never lived outside of Ireland for an extended period. Most Irish people would have you believe that everything in Ireland (Healthcare, Roads, Education, Politics, Public Service...the list goes on) is the worst in the world and we are all fools for thinking otherwise

- In a complete and total reversal about the moaning and how some people believe our country is the worst...WE ARE SO VERY PROUD OF OUR LITTLE COUNTRY! And when the sun shines, that level of pride explodes all over the streets and boreens of Ireland!

Haughey Was Framed · 30-04-2020 1:20pm

I've lived in a few different parts of Ireland and the UK, just recently moved back to Dublin (here for about 10 years on and off).

Cork and Galway are two of my favourite places — always something fun happening, just the right size that there're interesting things happening but you feel like you could actually get to know everyone

Both are limited, compared to Dublin, when it comes to an LGBT scene — sports clubs, meetups, bars and cafes.

I found dating in both those places much harder. I'm in my 30s and it was like a missing generation: lots of guys in their early 20s, then men from 55+. Felt like people might go to college there but head to Dublin to work. It was fine for casual fun, but hard to find guys for something more serious.

I spent a few months in Wexford and the people I met day to day were very friendly and welcoming, but no LGBT scene at all. Many guys I chatted with were in that "discrete" mindset — which is easy to understand given where they live, but I found hard to deal with. The only negative experiences I've ever had happened there (catfishing and "light" stalking).

Dublin itself is a bit limited compared to UK cities, but there's a good flow of people coming from other parts of the country and internationally (big Brazillian community, those lads know how to party).

If you're coming as a couple and looking for something easy going, Galway is huge fun and Connemara is just Ireland showing off. On your own, I'd suggest Dublin. Of course you could walk into Cleary's bar in Milltown, west Clare and meet the person of your dreams in 5 minutes

Your experience might be very different to mine (I'd still recommend a pint in Cleary's).

If you can afford it, I'd suggest finding somewhere cheap to establish a base and explore from there (keep most of your stuff in storage or wait a few months to bring it over). Cork is almost perfect (don't tell Cork people that though), Galway is great in summer but can be a bit bleak out of season. Wexford, Kilkenny, Mayo, Sligo are all great places to visit but might be tough to live longer term. The country is small so you can easily spend weekends exploring.

Good luck!

What Sucks About Ireland?

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