Post up your reasons Ireland is class 

What reasons do you think Ireland is great?

At a basic level, its a pretty safe country without much risk of serious natural disaster. We have quality food. There’s good living and educational standards. The people are generally friendly. There’s a decent social scene. There are very high levels of employment including lots of well paid work. There is a thriving sports scene. That’s off the top of my head

A reasonably high quality of life

Natural beauty. Incredible scenery 

As much as I criticised the urban landscape of Ireland on the other thread, go out of the villages, towns and cities and the scenery can take your breath away sometimes. Was in Howth, I think, on a nice day years ago and if you didn't know where you were, you'd think you were in the French Riviera.

Disagree about the friendliness of Irish people. Some of the friendliest women I've met through college and work have been foreign. Very attractive as well. 

Conventional attractiveness is overrated to me so the homeliness of our women doesn't bother me, though.

Also think Irish men are closed off and it's hard to penetrate established friend circles.

Some of the best conversations I've had with random men have been people from the UK, US, or generally anywhere else.

I've never given a crap about GAA and played soccer and hockey growing up so maybe that's part of the issue.

Low crime rates;

Moderate climate (no extremes of heat or cold);

High life expectancy;

Punch above our size in terms of our footprint - business, culture, sport;

Majority of Irish people are generally sound;

Compact island

Outstanding scenery

People passionate about their sport

Ireland has produced some world class musicians

Guinness Tullamore Dew Bulmers etc 

Ballinskelligs

From the eighties on.
 

U2 are the only Irish band on my playlist, and I have a pretty broad taste in music.

We're safe, well educated, good job prospects, high average income, social net for those who need it. Climate is moderate with no natural disasters.

Once you get beyond the basics, I love the different sports we have, there's a nightlife for everyone, the scenery is decent without having to go vast differences, and plenty of flights to different destinations around Europe.

We've a pretty decent economy (despite our moaning about it)

Goldilocks weather (not too hot , not too cold- the last few days being the exception)

You're never too far from a pub 

Rate, happiness index etc etc. Ireland consistently is in the top 10 and always on top 20.  

When we gained our independence that was not the case and was not the case in 70s and 80s 

We have come a long way baby. 

What a bizarre post you really need to do some research into Ireland's rich musical history.

A lot of those artists listed are an acquired taste IMO; did The Cranberries have much success apart from Linger? And the majority of them were formed around fifty years ago. In terms of musical output, I'd argue we're punching under our weight, if anything, over the last however many years. IDK if The Pogues count as an Irish band since a lot of their members are British, but I'll throw them in with U2 and Sinead. Enya has a few decent tracks as well.

Cranberries sold 50 million albums.  If you are using sales as a metric, westlife, the corrs, van Morrison, boyzone, enya, hozier, Sinead o Connor Thin Lizzy have all sold bucket loads. 

Not to mention artists such as Rory Gallagher, Paul Brady, My Bloody Valentine, The Undertones, Whipping Boy, Glen Hansard/The Frames, Snow Patrol who can certainly hold their own.  

That’s not even to mention our huge folk tradition.  

Finally we also have newer pop musicians which may not be to everyone’s taste such as Dermot Kennedy, Gavin James, Kodaline, Walking on Cars and The Script who are popular with some.  

Bohs scum 😀😀😀.by the way I am not a fan of all the bands I listed and I am a fan of loads of Irish artists I didn’t list such as Mick Flannery. 

Fontaines DC are class

Not a fan of Irish folk music HH?

Not even their biggest hit ffs 

a lot of credit goes to tj whittaker for the vision that eventually put ireland on the road to prosperity but imo as much praise should go to ernie o'malley for going on a solo run as minister for education in the 60s and making education free to all. that decision above all others imo changed ireland forever and is the reason why today we enjoy the prosperity we do. 

my grandfather used to tell a story to my father about how he finished primary school on a particular  friday evening in the 40s. of the 12 in the class just 1 received a scholarship to continue on with second level education with the monks in the village, the other 11 started thinning beat on the monday morning in the abbeys farm. most of them eventually immigrated and many died young, my grandfather being one of them having died in his 50's. the majority of todays kids will go on to 3rd level education, some will do apprenticeships but very few will go on to do unskilled labour. we've come a long way.

Obviously things are better nowadays compared to that but I think we have become complacent about our education system. I think it is a little overated, too many of my friends have fancy certs from fancy colleges which are essentially useless.

there is that but there's also thousands of university graduates each year entering the pharmaceutical and IT industries for example. just look at all the recent job announcements here (1,400+ since the start of the month), the vast majority are of a high standard well paid roles >  http://www.siliconrepublic.com/topics/jobs-announcements/" rel="nofollow - http://www.siliconrepublic.com/topics/jobs-announcements/  

Donogh O'Malley, but ye it's definitely been one of the most seminal moments in Irish social history. It was genius to announce it while the Dail was on holidays so it gained serious popularity among the public, making it impossible for the government to reject.

When you compare it to the current government, who seem intent on doing everything to the detriment of the public, it really was a remarkable act.

Absolute sh*te talk.  Those who get privately educated would look down on a job ib the civil service even at the highest levels.  

Many people who grew up in council houses have got to the very top of the public service on merit.  That doesnt happen ib many other countries. 

have to agree with baldrick on this one. not just the civil service but in many walks of life have people come out of council houses and done great things. one example is fintan o'toole who was explaining on a podcast a few weeks ago that he grew up in a council estate in i think crumlin. his older brother was the first in the family to avail of free second level education and he himself admitted he would never have gone on to second level and subsequently graduate from ucd was it not for free education. 

It’s not about success stories. You made a specific allegation which may have been true in 1950s but it is not true in 2022 and has certainly not been true for 40 or so years. 

As I said those who go to private school do not tend to end up in the public service. 

The PS is made up of people who grew up in private and public housing at every level.  It’s not about highlighting success stories its just showing the Public service is not made up of the privately educated and growing up in a council house is not a hindrance to progressing with the service.  

By the way corporation house is only related to Dublin in the main as it was councils outside Dublin and it was a corpo house in Dublin. 

ok now you're sounding like a whacky conspiracy theorist. 

all i merely demonstrated was free education has provided opportunities where none existed before. ireland has become a far more egalitarian and wealthy society because of free education and one could say less "rigged" as a result.

City councils.  The vast majority of the country was county councils with those cities having corpos.  

Your first point regarding privately educated people and the civil service is rubbish and your points have been shown to be cliches class warrior nonsense.  

you can look a bit closer to home. in england the vast majority of places at third level are fee paying (somewhere in the region of £10k per year). as a result of government policies the divide between rich and poor is significant and growing. statistics in the uk show if you're from an underprivileged family the chances are you'll struggle to get out of that rut. 

while ireland has its problems it is far more equal providing opportunities for society as a whole.

You said they bought their education and got good positions in the civil service and it continues to this day.  

And, in the UK, tertiary level education is essentially tiered which reflects the US model. Thanks to Brexit, the UK has been moving away from social democratic values and that will further create division and lack of opportunity.

I think the major difference in Ireland is that pivots on policy might be sufficient to improve key public services and goods, which are generally available. As a society Ireland has certainly lent into the importance of funding key services that benefit society.

The Thrills were the worst band to ever pick up instruments. Awful. 

Yes but you can enter the PS with a leaving cert and educate yourself within the PS and progress through the ranks based on qualifications and experience and performance.   

 

I'll get an invite to your table someday.

Those lads definitely went to private school 😀😀

Ironically named band too. 

Hated them.  They were the Mumford and Sons before Mumford and Sons

Quality stuff.

Thanks for sharing.

Did you know the accordian player for flogging molly is an ex pro skater? Matt Hensley

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2022/aug/03/6-best-railway-train-trips-in-ireland-dublin-belfast-rosslare-cork-sligo?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other" rel="nofollow - https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2022/aug/03/6-best-railway-train-trips-in-ireland-dublin-belfast-rosslare-cork-sligo?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other