41 Comments

• DaveDillon | Oct 22, 2011, 01:10 PM EDT

  I must share my love of the Irish road signs so badly maligned here. Some years ago we decided to have a trip out with the family to Carrantuohill and followed the signs this way and that and just could not find it. As the afternoon was drawing on to evening we gave up and laid a picnic in the grass. While devouring our late lunch we heard giggling coming from over the wall at the small schoolyard nearby and I turned and noticed a little hand turning a road sign around to face the opposite direction. I soon realised that we had passed this way a number of times during the day. Better than a trip up Carrantuohill I have this story to relate forever more, it's all about the craic.

• DLW12183 | Sep 12, 2011, 11:37 AM EDT

  I couldn't get the Bank of Ireland to convert $100.00 US bills to Euros as they say they have a policy of not accepting $100.00 US bills. At the same time my US credit cards were frozen by three different issuers as I was out of the country even though they were called in advance and advised I would be in Ireland. It took four international calls to get one card unfrozen. When I got home there we 6 phone messages from my credit cards issuers wanting me to call them as my card(s) had attempted to be used in Ireland. With all these brillant people running the financial world it is no wonder we are in the tank!

• billie061 | Sep 10, 2011, 06:13 AM EDT

  I have Polish, Russian friends who I love, also friends in the U.S. I don't look on them by their nationalities but who they are. I worked in tour company and looked after tourists from the U.S. Aus, Hong kong and Ca, by far the people from U.S. were the jolliest and happiest many of them on return trips, so we must have something going for us, and not just a boring little Island.

• Springfield9 | Sep 09, 2011, 12:11 AM EDT

  There is a very odd phenomenon underway. Ireland is commiting ethnic suicide and bragging it up. There are Bulgarians roosting in Co. Roscommon! Meanwhile, the Irish Americans who kept their heads down for nearly 100 years are banding up. The Irish Americans are showing pride in their history and suffering to learn Irish. It's like watching a mirror turn into a window ... fascinating.

• GeorgeDillon | Sep 08, 2011, 02:53 PM EDT

  gstevenson: "There is a good reason why all transatlantic flights (not just to Ireland) make the eastbound trip overnight." That's flat wrong. Not all transAtlantic flights are overnights. Why don't you refrain from posting on things you're ignorant of?

• GeorgeDillon | Sep 08, 2011, 02:51 PM EDT

  gstevensoN: "Ireland's openness to immigrants should be welcomed, not criticized." WHY?

• gstevenson | Sep 08, 2011, 12:55 PM EDT

  I don't know anything about Morrison, but I would guess he is an American who had never visited a foreign country before. Most of his comments are trivial or unfair. There is a good reason why all transatlantic flights (not just to Ireland) make the eastbound trip overnight. Ireland's openness to immigrants should be welcomed, not criticized. I do agree with his seventh point about road signs in rural Ireland, however. They can be confusing if you don't live in the neighbourhood.

• radharc05 | Sep 08, 2011, 12:21 PM EDT

  As an Irish person LIVING in Ireland. I agree 100% with the top 10. I also happen to agree with most of the below comments... with the exception of the latter part by DUNKELLY1. I found your RANT most objectionable. I personally hope you dont return over here. Our 'narrow roads' met nicely with your 'narrow mind'. We've enough negativity to deal with without your sad GENERALISATION of our little island. Your NOT welcome back anytime soon.

• seagreen | Sep 08, 2011, 09:58 AM EDT

  George Dillon.....In my opinion you make a valid point. Much the same as America, businesses are doing the immigrant shuffle. Of course there are plenty of unemployed Irish, however why hire an Irish person when you can hire a foreign national that will sleep in a room with eight other people, not complain, and be happy to take what they are offered, because it is more than they are able to earn in their homeland. A large percentage of businessman are financial whores, and the generation of healthy profit by having employees earn next to nothing (in a relative sense) is considered good business sense amongst themselves. National loyalty is for fools that that have been conditioned in that train of thought since childhood. In America, people will say "oh the Brazillians work so hard" Of course they do, because they will return to Brazil and purchase a house and land with money made in someone else's country, while the locals try to live to a standard that guarantees they will never own anything ! They cannot enter Brazil ! To emigrate there , you need $70,000 cash to start. When that is questioned, Brazils answer is " we already have enough poor people"

• GeorgeDillon | Sep 08, 2011, 03:44 AM EDT

  What a clueless comment from TheOriginalWes. He says he can't find Irish workers, yet there's almost half a million Irish out of work. He obviously made no effort. He prefers docile Easrern Europeans or Asians who will sleep three in a bed while they try to save money to send home. Pity they didn't import a Pakistani worker to put this "stupid American" (he's an abusive creep too) on the dole where he belongs. I've stayed in Irish hotels which were situated on the edge of neighborhoods of huge unemployment, yet virtually all those working in the hotel were foreigners. As to RichardP, unless you're travelling on business, in which case it's understandable that you don't care whether you're in Detoit or Dublin, it's really weird that you have no interest in the country you're visiting.

• S.Connolly | Sep 08, 2011, 01:17 AM EDT

  If you didn't like the service you got, or a second cup of coffee, I suggest that you stay at better lodgings. Killarney Plaza was wonderful and had coffee and tea up me arse!

• joanxis | Sep 07, 2011, 10:04 PM EDT

  My first comment was for katiemac.

• joanxis | Sep 07, 2011, 10:04 PM EDT

  From your tirade against Ireland, I can only assume you won't go back any time soon. I've traveled alot - mostly when I was younger, but I don't think I ever had a bad experience. I was agreeable, polite, interested and didn't complain. I believe if you treat people with respect, you will be treated with respect. It's all attitude and I've been luck to have a good one when it comes to travel.

• springs1 | Sep 07, 2011, 08:17 PM EDT

  Let me first address the small pours or whatever it was called..friends and we were literally blown into a pub, the Strand, somewhere near Arthurstown about 9 pm on our first night in Ireland. My friend asked for a Manhatten, which the bartender did not know how to make but was eager to learn..we each ended up with a waterglass full..had an incredible time...I asked for mussels and I swear the staff went out back to get them directly from the Irish Sea and heap them on my plate...wonderful, wonderful people and have never encountered a bad waitstaff in our 9 trips to Ireland

• Sparklet | Sep 07, 2011, 07:42 PM EDT

  The lack of road signs is part of the charm.

• Pittsburghkid | Sep 07, 2011, 07:09 PM EDT

  The European Union get out of it, and the United Nation. The EU will distroy your national idenity. You will be labeled racist if you try to maintain your Celtic Nature. Although the Muslims, and whatever will be able to be Muslim or what ever minority. In America (which is another version of the EU), it is OK to be Black, Bl;ack Pride is OK, organization for the advancement of Blacks OK. White Pride is racist. Organizations to promote Whites are racist. Stay in the EU, and you will see.

• pmohinoaklawnillinois | Sep 07, 2011, 07:07 PM EDT

  The only complaint I have is that none of the houses have screens on the windows to keep the bugs out. Can't figure out why.

• ellenfromcork | Sep 07, 2011, 06:51 PM EDT

  #11- IC's running this article a second time!!!

• mamaginnty | Sep 07, 2011, 05:00 PM EDT

  All I can say is if ye don't like us don't come back. We are Irish not American.

• RichardP | Sep 07, 2011, 04:07 PM EDT

  @Dunkelly1 - you don't do irony do you? It seems like there is an over-supply of sensitivity here. As an Irish person living overseas for more than a few years I am inclined to agree with most of Simon's points - except #2 - I like the Poles and Lithuanians and others in the hotel industry; they are unfailingly polite and efficient. They aren't terribly friendly but I'm not there to make friends, only to get to my room. @ KatieMac - why don't you just apply for a job as Vatican spokesperson. Your bleats about the poor RCC get rather tiresome. If ANY nation has a reason to be upset with that organization it's the Irish.

• TheOriginalWesW | Sep 07, 2011, 03:54 PM EDT

  Simon, from one yank to another, you're clueless!! I've lived abroad in Ireland for 10 years now and in fact, work in the hotel industry. If you want everything to be like at home, then STAY at home. Open up your mind and accept other countries for what they are instead of being like 50% of every other stupid American that comes over here and complains that it's not like at home. And do you want to know where the Irish are in the hotel business, long gone when the Celtic Tiger hit. Managing several hotels over my years here, I would rejoice if I got an application from an Irishman/woman but when the big old Celtic Tiger roared, few had the passion for the industry and didn't wanted to work in hotels, wanted the BIG MONEY and turned their nose at the hospitality industry. If it wasn't for those from Estonia, you wouldn't have had anyone to check you into your hotel bedroom where you struggled with more than one light switch at a time. So open up your mind and your horizons and start to enjoy travel for what it is, the experience!! AND if ya walked around Dublin (one of the smallest capital cities in Europe) like all the Irish instead of depending on the buses, maybe you wouldn't be sporting those elastic stretch wasteband pants like most yanks!

• DrTrelawney | Sep 07, 2011, 03:41 PM EDT

  @Katiemac. Am I missing some subtle joke in your mad tirade? The "punt" (never called that in Ireland, incidentally) hasn't been the official currency of the country for close to a decade. Are you posting from the past?

• babsoc5 | Sep 07, 2011, 01:49 PM EDT

  As my mother always used to say "The problem with Ireland is that any Irishman that had any get-up-and-go, got up and went"!

• bunbegdonegal | Sep 07, 2011, 01:42 PM EDT

  My Uncle Marty said on a trip in 1984 about driving "If there is one thing one mic hates is another mic in front of him!" So true!

• joan1954 | Sep 07, 2011, 12:57 PM EDT

  Goldenblade, what are your 20 statements on Americans not that I haven't seen some in action. I get asked if I really am an American because I don't act the stereotype. My dear late mother always said to treat people the way you want to be treated and I do.

• christilcaugh | Sep 07, 2011, 12:41 PM EDT

  Just because the waitstaff doesn't fall all over you their rude??! France has the Irish beat on that point and do you know how New York and Boston act to tourists? Any trip can have it's bad spots, but PLEASE don't compare them to what you expect. Discover who they are!

• Dunkelly1 | Sep 07, 2011, 12:29 PM EDT

  Last time I was there, I was amazed at the # of foreigners, British and East Europeans mostly from what I could tell. Yes the service in Ireland SUCKS, always has. Narrow roads and snooty bankers....right on. I agree with George Dillon on the having to listen to the Irish go on and on about how they disagree with American foreign policy......you know what, nobody cares what you think, you are a tiny island on the edge of Europe known for corruption and neutrality.

• Nelsonbarry | Sep 07, 2011, 12:25 PM EDT

  Dublin's Dart was the worst. No idea what to pay or how to pay. no directions.

• jackinny | Sep 07, 2011, 12:14 PM EDT

  @goldenblade I am objectively interested in your list.I spent a lot of time in Ireland between 1991-2002 to the point that I actually rented 2 flats the 1st across from Dublin Castle & later one in D4.I observed a lot of my fellow Americans exhibiting behavior that was both insulting to the Irish person on the recieving end & the good will generated by decades of Americans of Irish descent.Back in the States I was involved in several American-based organizations that were responsible for successfully lobbying Congress on everything from the Morrison Visa program to cash used to fund schemes in NI. Niall has given extensive coverage (through all his communications channels) to profiling the men & women behind these efforts and frankly I haven't met a "plastic paddy" in the bunch.So please give us your list I'm sure it will liven up the conversation here!

• GeorgeDillon | Sep 07, 2011, 12:07 PM EDT

  The strange thing is that a lot of Irish sneer at Americans, try to denigrate our country's achievements, and blame individual Americans for American foreign policy (I've opposed every war we've been involved in since I was a teenager, yet I have to listen to long boring whining sanctimoniousness from the Irish. Well, I actually don't listen--I tell them to shudda F* up). But, as I was saying, the strange thing is that the same people exhibit a cringe-inducing inferiority complex as regards Latvians, Lithaunians etc. They think these people from impoverished Eastern European countries are smarter than the Irish, more hard-working, more witty, better looking, better dancers, more honest, better in bed etc. etc. So they sneer at Americans, but bow down before Latvians. Any Irish care to SHORTLIST great cultural and scientific achievements of Latvians?

• tocon1941 | Sep 07, 2011, 12:04 PM EDT

  Anyone who thinks the waitresses are rude in Ireland has never been to France.

• cillowen | Sep 07, 2011, 11:14 AM EDT

  blow-ins galore - natives wanting to save the world and displaying chutzpah of being right. Kissing Queenie's ring and yearning for honors from this Germanic Saxon. Queen, once of the house of Hanover changed to Windsor when Saxon brothers had a falling out. A land whose athletes can't decide on, under whose flag they should play for or anthem to sing.

• DERRYGIRL | Sep 07, 2011, 11:10 AM EDT

  You nailed it...maybe it's time the tip system took off there and maybe service would improve. I too find the waitresses for the most part are unfriendly and rude-maybe a little incentive would help.

• jamieLM | Sep 07, 2011, 10:41 AM EDT

  @goldenblade, do you like American money to your shores? I have no doubt you could list 20 things you dislike about Americans. No country is perfect. Every country is what it is and there's always room for improvement.

• beaumax99 | Sep 07, 2011, 09:50 AM EDT

  @Goldenblade...I would like to know what you have against what appears to be "ALL AMERICANS". From your "TONE"...you obviously generalize and are most likely one of those "RACIST" who feel that they are better then anyone else. I am American born Irish and I repeatedly state that you cannot...repeat...cannot dislike an entire nationality, creed, or color. If I dislike YOU...it is because you obviously are not a nice person.

• DrTrelawney | Sep 07, 2011, 09:48 AM EDT

  Oh Lord, this garbage is back. For Pete's sake, it's "uninterested", not "disinterested". The latter means unbiased. The former means showing no concern. A decent judge is disinterested. An inefficient waitress is uninterested.

• BiffSissy | Sep 07, 2011, 09:47 AM EDT

  I sent this along to Travel Advisor as rebuttal to this article dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2034223/Devon-p…

• GeorgeDillon | Sep 07, 2011, 09:42 AM EDT

  You're dead right on Number 2, and don't let yourself be shouted down by Irish Mass Immigrationists who try to tell you that it's normal that a country should allow settlement by maybe 20/25% foreign migrants. Right also on Number 8, though to be fair I think the red eye is the only option for almost all European cities. London is the only exception I know--I flew daytime to London a couple years back, and it was wonderful. Left NYC around 8 a.m and got into London about 8 p.m. Plus the worst thing about the overnite is that the Irish hotels understandably don't want to check you in if show up around 7 a.m. So what to do when you get in at that time? I have never solved that one satisfactorily.

• belcarra | Sep 07, 2011, 09:37 AM EDT

  you are spot on.. all the irish workers are over seas

• goldenblade | Sep 07, 2011, 09:36 AM EDT

  I have a top 20 list about what we don't like about American visitors to our shores - anyone interested?

• torbreezy | Sep 07, 2011, 09:35 AM EDT

  YES, to all of the above . . . .