23 Comments

• Strongbow | Dec 17, 2012, 10:30 PM EST

  The detrimental effects of british colonialism are still being felt throughout Irish society to this day in much the same way that the legacy of slavery still affects African-Americans both consciously and unconsciously.

• anglo-norman | Dec 11, 2012, 06:39 PM EST

  The Catholic Church was & is the detriment of Irish Society. GROW UP IRELAND!!!

• ToryTory | Dec 11, 2012, 02:44 PM EST

  Romanticising Ireland. It's no different to the rest of the British Isles in that respect.

• WoundedKnee | Dec 11, 2012, 01:26 PM EST

  glounlathan: What an absurd justification you make for supplanting Irish people with foreign migrants. Did Ireland swamp Poland with emigrants? Did Irish migrants stream in vast numbers into China or India? Will the people of Latvia be a minority in their own country within a couple of decades?--the Irish will. And does your friend whine about Irish people having to emigrate, even while he employs cheap and docile foreign labor? The Irish capitalist class are utter traitors, they have no allegiance to Ireland. What a piece of nonsernse you wrote.

• WoundedKnee | Dec 11, 2012, 01:19 PM EST

  RedBranch: " all the main roads out of Dublin ..." A smart Dubliner once explained this to me. He pointed out that the ruling class in Ireland, those who dominated politics, the media, business, the Church etc. were in huge majority not Dubliners. They never looked on Dublin as their home, even if they had lived 20 years there. They often sneered at Dublin and its people--the jackeens--even tho they were happy to take up a job and a house there. And they built roads out of Dublin, to get them "home" (a place they had been happy to leave) quickly on weekends and holidays.

• michaelidaho | Dec 11, 2012, 11:04 AM EST

  Bocktherobber, This article was about changes in rural Ireland. The most obvious change between the time period before the late 1990s and today is massive demographic changes. I do not dislike foreigners. I just miss the old rural Ireland, where 99.9% of the people were Irish and the rest were tourists. Today it seems less than half the people in rural Ireland are Irish, with the rest being made up of tourists and permanent foreign nationals.

• RedBranch | Dec 11, 2012, 07:00 AM EST

  A decent highway network was the best legacy of the Tiger years. Road deaths are down despite traffic volume being up. Thinking back all the main roads out of Dublin were two way streets ploughing into provincial towns.Drivers taking advantage of the hard shoulder like it was an extra lane. What is amazing is that thousands weren't killed annually.

• WoundedKnee | Dec 11, 2012, 01:42 AM EST

  Bocktherobber--No one is "complaining about foreigners", as you so clumsily put it. People are drawing attention to the truly pathological rate of Mass Immigration into many Irish communities. In lots of places fully 40% or 50% of the population is foreign migrant. Only someone with a "mental disorder" such as yours could not see the relevance of this huge and violent demographic change in any discussion of a changed way of life in Ireland. I suppose had you been in the Dakots in the 1870s you'd have wondered why the Sioux were "complaining about foreigners", as they witnessed the inexorable influx of foreign settlers. A decade later, and the Sioux culture lay in ruins, broken and gone forever. Don't be such an idiot.

• Bocktherobber | Dec 10, 2012, 10:20 PM EST

  It's amazing. No matter what Irish Central writes about, there's always someone trying to complain about foreigners. Is this some specific mental disorder unique to IC readers?

• glounlathan | Dec 10, 2012, 08:59 PM EST

  I agre with the last commenter when he said it is sad to see the changes but not all were bad. On the question of foreigners in Ireland, I guess we do not have much of an arguement there as we have been foreigners in many countries ourselves. I have a relative in Ireland who is a contractor and when times were good he could not get Irish lads to work for him. He got a couple of Polish lads who have proved to be exceptional workers and are still with him---is he supposed to let them go now because there are Irish lads available who would not dirty their hands a few years back? There has been nothing more tragic than the sex scandal, but it should be remembered that it was a small majority if religous who were guilty. All the good hard working charitable priests and brothers should not be tarred with the same brush. One set of evil doers who have not been brought to task in this are the Saturday night studs who left their own flesh and blood to the wind, and to whatever perils the children would face. It is sad where ever the innocent suffer.

• 2ndrepubalik | Dec 10, 2012, 07:38 PM EST

  Nothing stays the same - not even in Ireland.I was an emigrant , both to the UK and Australia - came back in 1990 - big mistake , at least from a financial point of view. I know the hardest things for Irish people when they emigrate is coming back in later years and feeling alienated because the place is not as you remember it.At least that's what I think.Contributors here have hit on a number of excellent points which even those of us who have stayed here now feel . For example there was a huge influx of people here from 1996 onwards and is still happening because the euros people earn and send home to Eastern Europe , The Phillipines, Brazil , India etc buys a multiple back home compared to here.The workers here are prepared to live on next to nothing to send money home which leaves Ireland's economy permanently.Also the roads , no - one drives through the villages and towns good which is good and bad . People do not go out as much now either because the internet has meant you can live and work from home and entertain yourself online.Crime ( Ireland has only 4000 prison places - one tenth of one per cent of our population compared to USA - 2% of population !!!) is a big problem both from "native" variety and imports so people don't leave thier home and contents unoccupied . Also people do not go out now because they have less or no money - no job , lower pay if you have one ( except Public Sector) and lower welfare - it all adds up.It's up to "The People" to stand up to decades of misgovernment - the single greatest tragedy has been the loss of able people like you guys and girls - all 2 million of you who were born here but don't live here anymore.No other Country in Western Europe has such an abysmal record.Votes for Emigrants for at least 5 years from departure - that'll help change things and is being "considered" by the Government ( they won't want to do it - pressurise them through your folks back home - for all our sakes !!!)

• glounlathan | Dec 10, 2012, 07:17 PM EST

  Let's hope that too much does not go, but there is no doubt that a terrific debt is owed to the GAA since its inception. It is a pity that there is a downward trend economucally but to be honest I have met many who have visited from here who they were astounded at the extravagnces of their own relatives in Ireland. The banks were not the only ones who over did it---people did not know where to stop with spending---and now they worry shout cut backs. Their kids have free educations, they have had free this and that, and have had it for years---did they ever think that there would be a day of reckoning? When I was young man a beggar was turned from the front door by many who received much from Europe later. Did the Irish ever consider themselves as beggars on the door of Europe.

• stanJames | Dec 10, 2012, 06:59 PM EST

  One mroe thing needs to change in rural ireland - freedom from the church of child twiddlers.

• curtisjohnson | Dec 10, 2012, 05:02 PM EST

  Sad - it seems the anglophile west brits in Dublin want to turn Ireland into a large New Jersey strip mall.

• Sparklet | Dec 10, 2012, 02:59 PM EST

  I suppose it's inevitable, but we can but hope. I can't bear the thought of things changing any more than they have already.

• WoundedKnee | Dec 10, 2012, 02:16 PM EST

  One of the biggest factors in destroying social solidarity and community in Ireland, both rural and urban, has been the importation of huge numbers of foreign nationals. It's amazing to see the numbers of Poles, Indians, Paks etc. hanging around the centers of even tiny villages in Ireland. They're an alien presence, which is helping to destroy the feeling of shared values and common purposes which goes to make up a national community. Living in Ireland now is like living in an airport terminal--countless people with nothing in common all rushing around with their own goals and agendas.

• WoundedKnee | Dec 10, 2012, 02:11 PM EST

  "There are not too many MacMansions any more." Are you telling us that the ones built over the past decade or two have been knocked down? They haven't.

• ejcphoto | Dec 10, 2012, 01:00 PM EST

  Hi and thanks for sharing this.. I believe that this is on track for what is happening in Rural Ireland. Being American and having lived in a small rural village for 3 years, I had a different experience to some degree. The village, Kilcrohane in West Cork was a vibrant little place most of the time. It has its own market comprised of local producers, a general store, 2 pubs that are very active and lots of socializing after mass on Sunday that spills over to the pub. In season, there is a very good restaurant with great atmosphere and food that offsets the pub fare. In addition, The closest town, Bantry continues to have a large market every friday and the market on the first of the month is a throwback to 30 years past.You can buy a cow, a horse and some sheep. Again, maybe I'm seeing it thru naive eyes, but I experienced the rural as alive. I'll admit, I don't know what it was 30 years ago.

• Helen Ferone | Dec 10, 2012, 12:38 PM EST

  I have traveled many times to Ireland, and much of the beauty for me is the rural areas especially in Connemara where you can see the old cottages in the distance, and farmers still toiling the fields for crops. They are an unusually friendly and kind people and I have never been disappointed when I return to Ireland. While up-dating some of their roads to by-pass big cities, leave the rural areas alone. I don't mind stopping my car when I see the sheep in the middle of the road. After all, they live there I don't, and if I want turnpikes, parkways, shopping mall, etc. I can stay home, but when I vacation just send me back to Ireland.

• Helen Ferone | Dec 10, 2012, 11:03 AM EST

  I have been to Ireland many times, and have always found the beauty of Ireland to be the rural areas such as Connemara, and hopefully that won't change. The small villages as compared to the big city are beautiful, and the people kind and friendly. If I want large shopping centers, turnpikes, and parkways I can stay home. I go there to get away from all that, and simply enjoy a simpler life. Especially in Connemara you can still see older cottages, the farmers working in the fields, etc. Life isn't easy, I'm sure, but the beauty of it is well worth it.

• michaelidaho | Dec 10, 2012, 09:48 AM EST

  “Rural Ireland changing rapidly with many of the mainstays of that culture fading fast.” Niall, nothing like stating the obvious. After a hiatus of 16 years, I finally was able to visit Ireland this past May. The most dramatic changes I witnessed were in the small towns in rural Ireland. Besides nothing going on in the passing countryside, the smaller towns lacked their former hustle and bustle that I witnessed during the 1970s and 1980s. Many shops and homes were empty, there were far fewer people walking about and many of them contained a much higher percentage of tourists and foreign nationals. Every pub I went into, there were hardly any people, the staff was not Irish born and most of the patrons were tourists. In fact, I stopped in Lisdoonvarna at 8:00 PM to get a bite to eat and the only place that was open was a pizza shop owned by Indians across the street from three closed pubs. Interestingly, all of the patrons inside the pizza place were Irish. Although the bigger towns actually seemed busier than previous decades (e.g. Westport, Ennis, Castlebar and Athlone), there appeared to be very little going on in the smaller towns. Sadly, I believe Facebook, I-Phones and other electronic gadgets will only accelerate the decline of the once vibrant, warm social life of rural Ireland that lasted for centuries, centered on the pub, church and tea with the neighbors.

• jamieLM | Dec 10, 2012, 09:35 AM EST

  There's an old American saying, "There's nothing permanent but death and taxes." Change comes to just about everything in life with the passing of time.

• CitizenWhy | Dec 10, 2012, 08:23 AM EST

  The GAA, since its inception, has been the most positive institution in Ireland. Thank you, GAA.