BS: Is This Ireland?

Subject: BS: Is This Ireland?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 01:44 AM

The March Issue: Smithsonian Magazine has a rather "euphoric" article about "the new Ireland." While it would be great to believe that things are really the way the article claims, it sounds a little too much like the sort of thing a travel agent – or a high rolling promoter might spout.

You'll need to download a .pdf (200.93 KB) to read the whole article. It's only four pages, and unfortunately doesn't include the pretty pictures from the magazine. My quick look at both shows the full text is in the .pdf. ( and F.Y.I the ladies in the pictures were delightful, and apparently quite happy. I'm not a good judge of those of the other sort.)

It seemed a little longish to post, so I'll leave it to your curiosity to download.

The questions are:

– is it really that great?
– and is everybody there really that happy about it?

And if they're feedin' us a line, what's the real Irish view?

John

Subject: RE: BS: Is This Ireland?
From: GUEST,Toenails John
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 05:33 AM

I open truthfully, and say I didn't thouroghly read the article, but did gaze through it for curiosity, and agree or not, the man is mostly accurate in what he was saying.
Ireland within the last 10 years has rapidly advanced, especially in the "technological" area's. A relation of mine recently visited the U.S, and was most tickled to see mobile (cell) phones on sale over there, that had come and gone out of fashion over here a year previous. That one rather surprised me.

We have indeed become a contienental style culture with plenty of employment, A good strong economy, political and social well being, and security within ourselves. every point raised in the article was indeed relevant, and correct, but as also stated, this comes at a price. I fear too, that some of our traditional heritage may be lost to the whirl of modernisation, removing the irish people from their roots and placing them, and moulding them into a larger community, that lacks the local traits.

The Ireland of Grassy knolls, quaint people, wearing brouges, and full of the Blarney, with a Devil may care attitude, I'm afraid largely only exists in the mind of uneducated foreigners, and has done for some time.

No offence meant to you, or anyone, but that is my opinion on the subject, and i hope i've confirmed what you may or may not have liked to hear
All the best
Toenails

Subject: RE: BS: Is This Ireland?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 05:55 AM

Dublin now reminds me of Oslo, especially price wise, and houses in Black Rock and Killiney are as expensive as any you'll find in Europe, and a lot dearer than most.
It is the 3rd and 4th generation descendants of the emigrants that drink green beer on Paddy's day, and keep the nostalgia for 'The Ould Sod' alive. For many years political groups played on this Tir nan Og nostalgia to raise funds for iffy purposes, and it is to their disadvantage when people realise how happy and prosperous modern day Ireland is.
Not only that but they do have the prettiest girls in the world!
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Is This Ireland?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 06:15 AM

It seemed pretty uncontroversial to me. Nothing much you could argue with, but I think some people might have have made slightly different emphasis.

there are some people who would disagree with me, but I should say the church still kicks ass in a way most citizens of other countries would find difficult to put up with. If you got a provincial Irish newspaper and put it alongside a provincial English one, and did a quick priest count, I have a feeling the Irish one would be significantly ahead.

Subject: RE: BS: Is This Ireland?
From: gnu
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 06:18 AM

"...3rd and 4th generation descendants of the emigrants that drink green beer on Paddy's day..." and 6th.

Subject: RE: BS: Is This Ireland?
From: ard mhacha
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 06:51 AM

What church?, I can assure you that the days of the church "kicking ass" in Ireland, all 32 counties is gone. That remark today would be treated with scorn.
The prosperity in the 26 counties is definite proof that being tied fully to Europe has made all of the difference to the now thriving economy of the republic, the six unattached counties in the north-east
scrambling for the crumbs from the British table can only look on with envy.

Subject: RE: BS: Is This Ireland?
From: mooman
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 07:16 AM

The article is fairly accurate I would say. Prices have certainly skyrocketed over recent years. I visit the West of Ireland quite a bit for work, family and musical reasons and there is massive investment especially in high tech industries like IT and medical. There's a great deal more business "savvyness" apparent (whether one thinks that's a good thing or not as I'd say it's gone a bit rampant). Ireland has had huge subsidies from the European Union and these have been largely ploughed into massively improving the infrastructure.

Ireland of today is a completely different country to that I remember as a child in the 50s and 60s. I'd like to move back one day but have severe doubts as to whether I could ever afford to.

Peace

moo

Subject: RE: BS: Is This Ireland?
From: Rapparee
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 10:26 AM

My wife first visited Ireland in 1967 -- her relatives (across Dingle Bay from the town, no less!) had electricity in the barn but not in the house.

When we again visited in 1978, there was electricity in the house. By 1979, they had an addition to the front -- "Ryan's Daughter" had been filed very nearby (in fact, the woods were on their property) and Da had been the "security man" for the film ("The dog and me would go down and make sure the gate was closed....").

Since then we've visited in 1981, 1983, 1991, 1997, 2000, and 2002. Each time we saw evidence of a greater and greater burgeoning of the economy. Heck, in 2000 I even got to visit the Dingle sewage treatment facility -- something that's not on the usual tourist route.

After the pedophile priests, the Magdelan Houses, and other scandals, anyone who thinks that the RC church still rules Ireland is living way in the past.

Why when I was there in 2002, in February, I was walking around the pull-out at the top of the Conor Pass in two inches of snow (yes, really, and I have photos to prove it) when I saw a cluirican standing shivering. Being a good sort of guy, I offered him my jacket, but he just took another pull from his jug, handed it to me, pulled out a cell phone, and called a taxi. Then he took his jug back before I even got a taste, sat down at his wireless laptop, and continued to surf the Web.

Subject: RE: BS: Is This Ireland?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 10:41 AM

I appreciate the comments. I think that it's being agreed that the article is fairly accurate. Smithsonian generally does a pretty good job of keeping their writers to the point; but this just looked so much like the stuff we see in the US when one of the state's promo groups is trying to pump up the tourists, it made me wonder if it missed a point or two.

In the case of my own home state, they advertise a really glossy situation, but it's only the few with tourist businesses that seem to see what they promote, and the good stuff never gets mentioned.

As to the prettiest girls, I did note that those shown in the magazine version of the article reminded me a lot of several young ones I went to early school with. I don't know that many of those in my neighborhood had recent Irish lineage, and most of the family names in the area here were Deutsch and/or English then, but those in the article had a "familiar" look.

The population here has changed significantly since then. Apparently the pretty girls of my generation have moved elsewhere, with most of them being replaced by members of a "Russian Women's Tractor Drill Team" who must have defected en masse some years back. Or maybe we just grow up, although I'm sure I haven't changed all that much ….

John

Subject: RE: BS: Is This Ireland?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 12:19 PM

Accordingly alas the sense of history, and the awareness of one of the oldest civilised cultures in Northern Europe is diminished.

I'm not a Celtophile, but once history is gone, it's gone.

Subject: RE: BS: Is This Ireland?
From: ard mhacha
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 03:20 PM

For those "Russian womens tractor drill team", blame the big Macs.
And Irish women can be as ugly as any women in the world and the men are not all Pearce Brosnon`s, it`s all that Guinness the tourists drink.

Subject: RE: BS: Is This Ireland?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 04:22 PM

Oh I didn't say that all the women were beautiful, but some of those girls with the dark hair and the light eyes take some beating [figuratively]
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Is This Ireland?
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 05:36 PM

We caught part of a speech this week by Mary McAleese, President of Ireland, and she said that Ireland is now the biggest exporter of software in the world - bigger than India or the U.S.

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Is This Ireland?
From: gnu
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 05:42 PM

It seems to follow... poets, bards, writers... of software.

Subject: RE: BS: Is This Ireland?
From: michaelr
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 11:06 PM

Yahoo corporation just announced they'll establish their European headquarter in Dublin, creating upward of 400 jobs. Their CEO said in an interview that the decision to locate in Ireland was based on the fact that there is a large pool of highly educated young adults, which in turn he attributed to the country having spent big money to subsidize higher education.

Subsidize higher education? Duh -- I wish they'd try it here.

Cheers,
Michael