Top 25 places to live in Ireland are chosen by newspaper

lads, this is based on people nominating the place they live in as a great place to live. It wasnt voted for by tourists. Michaelidaho, the reason there has been little outflow of native Americans is because the white man killed so many and now they pretty much live separated from the rest of the population which is a result of immigration.

Bythebay, I was making an observation of the changes in Ireland since my previous visit to Ireland. I was NOT offering my opinion on the value of multiculturalism. It was interesting your remark on the similiarities between the U.S.A. and Ireland in terms of multiculturalism. However, there is a major difference between the two countries in this regard. In the United States, immigrants have been coming to the country in droves since its inception, and there has been little outflow of native born U.S. citizens. The opposite is the case with Ireland. It has only been since the late 1990s that significant numbers of multicultural immigrants have entered the country. Moreover, there is now a significant outflow of Irish born citizens, especially the younger generation, whilst the recent multicultural immigrants have largely remained. It is quite obvious that the current state of multiculturalism and immigration in Ireland is quite different from the U.S.A. I will leave the Idaho comment for another day.

Bear, youre still American regardless of where your ancestors are from. You will NEVER be considered Irish in Ireland.

michaelidaho, the US is full of foreigners since it is a nation of immigrants. Ireland is a multi-cultural country, if those of you in the US do not care for multiculturalism or immigrants then of course you can stay in the US in your own nation of immigrants. You're probably best suited in Idaho where you probably haven't had immigrants in decades.

@GeorgeDillon, Yep. I was in Athlone a month ago. It is now like many medium sized towns in Ireland -- empty housing estates, full of foreigners and hardly any Irish people in their 20s and 30s. The smaller towns in Ireland are worse -- empty housing estates, empty storefronts, empty pubs, a varying numbers of foreigners, and little business in the towns. I drove from East Mayo to Leitrim and it seemed like the country was deserted. Much worse than the 1970s or 1980s. In one town, I went to three pubs looking for an evening meal between 6:00-7:00 PM. In each pub, the bartender was just sitting and watching television, there were no patrons and was told no dinner was served after 3:00 PM. I finally got a meal at the town hotel and the few people there were mostly French tourists. The owner of the hotel was actually from England. Not to understate the obvious, but Ireland has changed a great deal since my last visit in 1996, at least in the rural areas in the West and Midlands.

Many of the Tidy Towns choices are also good places to visit, or live.

RedBranch, Moate? That's an interesting choice. Have you been in Moate in the last 5 years? Michael Jackson liked it, he had a holiday home nearby and was given the luxury of anonymithy when there.

IrelandNorth, massive problems there in winter with snow/ice. Not that easy to get into Dublin either.

NYCsheridan, ghettoized Americans afraid and unable to mainstream.

Roundwood, County Wicklow! (GoogleEarth it!) Not the highest place in all of Ireland - but the highest inhabited(!) place in all of Ireland. Not too far from which is Lough Dan, beside which must be one of the most well appointed houses in Ireland or elsewhere which I would love to own. (Lottery material!) Stunning views while hill walking in summer. Easily accessible from Dublin airport.

michaelidaho: So you noticed it too? Athlone, it's full of foreign migrants. It's got to have one of the highest percentages of foreign migrants in Ireland, 25% I'd say. Weird. Mostly Africans and Poles, from what I saw, but I know the Chinese are moving in in a big way. At least the Chinese will work or study, I've never heard of Chinese drawing welfare.

my vote would be for Westport.

@bear022013 – your mind is a miniscule mess and not somewhere I’d like to visit never mind live. By your reasoning then the only people who deserve to live in the U.S. are Native American Indians yes?

My vote's for Moate.

Ardara is #1 in my places to be. Mom came from there!!!