Ireland Q&A

[Carlos Thin]

I saw the current trend of Q&A's, and didn't see one for Ireland. Ireland, where it's St. Patrick's Day every Friday night...Been living here for about 20 years on the west coast, so I guess I'm an expert.

 

[Carlos Thin]

Drinking is actually pretty enforced. It's 18, NO HAGGLE and a lot of places only accept passport or police certified I.D's for authentication. Alcohol cannot be sold after 10pm, although there is leniency about the closing time of bars/clubs -- they can keep people in after closing their doors.

Edit: Alcohol cannot be sold on either Christmas Day or Good Friday (this coming Friday), which is horrible when you forgot to buy some on the Thursday

 

[Ravenor]

Alcohol cannot be sold on either Christmas Day or Good Friday (this coming Friday), which is horrible when you forgot to buy some on the Thursday

You know what that explains a mystery for me, around good Friday I have for as long as I can recall noticed a uptake on Irish Tourists in Liverpool I pegged it as a side effect of the long weekend but the no alcohol thing makes sense.

 

[Coldgrip]

Is leprechaun hunting still Ireland's national sport?

 

[Centipede]

How expensive is it to live in Ireland? As a general rule, would it be more expensive than living in England?

 

[Carlos Thin]

Leprechaun hunting died out in the 1980's amid fears of public safety, there was a subsequent recession due to the loss in gold; although the rainbow came back after it was long thought to be extinct.

Generally it is about as expensive to live in Ireland as it is the U.K., I had friends live in Scotland who say the U.K is much worse -- that was due to social welfare I think. There's a big hullabaloo about both housing and water taxing right now, so the U.K. may be cheaper soon.

 

[Hat]

How are things between the North and the South?

 

[AnimuGinger]

How drunk is the populace on any given day?

 

[Carlos Thin]

There was never really any ruckus between the north and the south, The Troubles, as they're known, were kept confined to Northern Ireland. We thought they sipped tea with the queen while wearing high-vis orange jackets shouting "ULSTER SAYS NO!", and they thought we lived on farms eating potatoes and getting drunk. Anybody who went around in green camos and a balaclava was our friend though. They blew up the former party in the name of Eire and 800 years of oppression.

Today, all of that is mainly kept to "The Twelfth", July 12th, which is the North's St. Patrick's Day. The IRA disbanded (the actual one, there are 34873248752368756 different sects of the IRA) in 2006, so organized attacks are rare. Usually a law is passed which forbids the color orange or the union jack and people [read: kids] riot and burn tri-colors like drunk soccer fans.

The populace is unwittingly locked into the "just going for wan [read: one]" paradox. An unwitting suspect would go to a bar for one pint but realize upon finishing that he wants another. The math of the situation is: 1 leads to 3, 3 leads to 7 and so on. Therefore, after 5 of clock, anyone over 18 is possibly drunk. On weekends anyone above 14 (maybe?) is definitely drunk.

 

[Mourning Dove]

Is Ireland actually full of pale-skinned red-haired people? Or is that just a stereotype?

 

[Atsimuel]

Is Ireland actually full of pale-skinned red-haired people? Or is that just a stereotype?

Of course not you racist. That's Scotland you're thinking of.

 

[Carlos Thin]

You're either ginger or have back hair. Everyone has green eyes. Everyone is pale or sunburned.

 

[AN/ALR56]

Why you guys are shown in the media as drunk idiots?
Also a lot of brazilians mention visiting ireland.
Did you meet any brazilians?

 

[Carlos Thin]

We're perceived as drunken idiots because we are drunken idiots. I think we're only beaten by the Czech Republic on annual alcohol consumption in Europe.

Yes and no, all the Brazilians (all Bazillion of them) seem to flock to a small town called Gort. They now outnumber the Irish there. I've met a few, but none who actually live here.

 

[AN/ALR56]

We're perceived as drunken idiots because we are drunken idiots. I think we're only beaten by the Czech Republic on annual alcohol consumption in Europe.

Yes and no, all the Brazilians (all Bazillion of them) seem to flock to a small town called Gort. They now outnumber the Irish there. I've met a few, but none who actually live here.

Yeah most Student exchange companies always offer a dublin exchange trip.
How they behave?
I really want to see a third person view of a brazilian tourist.

 

[Carlos Thin]

Where I'm from (Galway), they're all Spanish. They're mostly chill, although they do suffer from terrible haircuts

 

[PantsOfDesire]

How expensive is it to live in Ireland? As a general rule, would it be more expensive than living in England?

Eating out is more pricy, and so's a pint. Also a severe lack of pies in bars. At least in London I could find places with cheaper pints, but I think the pubs here are better. London has too many sanitised Weatherspoon-like places - cheap beer in a soulless setting. We're seeing a bit of a micro brewing explosion going on, which is nice, and some happy hour type stuff happening in some bars. I'd rather drink less in a decent bar.

Healthcare tends to cost more here - no free GP visits unless you're well and truly on the breadline and can get a medical card. It's not a drastic difference unless you're coming from a dirt poor place where pints are £1 and served directly in to your hands. Dentistry is pretty expensive - no free cover unless you're in the poor house.

 

[AN/ALR56]

How is the hygiene?
Do you guys bathe eveyday?
brush your teeth?
I Just heard horrible things from brazilians who visited Uk.

 

[Carlos Thin]

In Galway, you have a very large hippy/hipster/homeless population so hygiene is quite bad. Dentist suicide rates are also quite high.

 

[HG 400]

Are you guys okay with Mel Gibson's portrayal of William Wallace?