Ireland--a warning!

Tarry

What part you going too? Ie, what county?

lazer

OP - I think you are being unfair on Ireland

The state of the roads is terrible in some places at the minute - but a lot of that was due to the snow in March/April this year - which they simply don't have the time or the resources to fix.

I personally find some places are very reasonable and think that the expense of Ireland is very exagerrated, yes some places will fleece the tourists and charge you an arm and a leg, others won't.

I stayed in a lovely homely hotel on Tuesday night (In Co.Tyrone - ok in the North but the point is the same) and got a 3 course meal for 2, bottle of wine, and a pint for £38 - to me that is excellent value for what was a really lovely meal.

I am regulary travelling all over Ireland (mainly to go to football games) and I have to say I have always been able to find places to eat for reasonable prices.

1jim

Wexford :-)

Tarry

1jim wrote: »

Wexford :-)

Wexford is lovely, enjoy

soolin

I went to Cork last year and eating out and having a simple drink in a country pub was so much more expensive than I am used to in London. I was quite shocked .

Didn't really notice the roads though as we had a hire car (brand new but really uncomfortable) so we probably just blamed that for the rough ride.

Charlton_King

There's a lot of sentimental tosh talked about Ireland.

It's a foreign country, ok? Let me say that again: it's a foreign country.

I repeat it for the sake of many Brits and British organisations - the good ol' Beeb leading the way (who seem to think it their life's duty to hire as many as possible talentless Irish nationals to front radio and TV shows at, literally, the expense of UK citizens) - where there is some kind of quaint notion that Ireland is really England painted green and with straw in its hair.

Ireland is a foreign country. We owe it nothing.

lazer

Charlton_King wrote: »

There's a lot of sentimental tosh talked about Ireland.

It's a foreign country, ok? Let me say that again: it's a foreign country.

I repeat it for the sake of many Brits and British organisations - the good ol' Beeb leading the way (who seem to think it their life's duty to hire as many as possible talentless Irish nationals to front radio and TV shows at, literally, the expense of UK citizens) - where there is some kind of quaint notion that Ireland is really England painted green and with straw in its hair.

Ireland is a foreign country. We owe it nothing.

Although you are right, it is a foreign country it was part of the UK before 1922, which is less than 100 years ago.

Ireland shares a a border with the UK and is their nearest neighbour and all the citizens of Northern Ireland have the right the dual nationality of the UK and of Ireland. This makes the relationship between the UK and Ireland different between the UK and other foreign countries.

The good ol Beeb might give jobs to Irish presenters, but equally it might give jobs to French presenters etc, the reality is the the Irish speak English (because the British wouldn't let them speak their native Irish) which is why their are more Irish people than other European nations working on the BBC.

814man

OK I can see the way this is going and suggest this thread gets moved to the Discussion Forum as soon as poss!

1jim

Well just come back from Ireland and have to say that I found Ireland exactly as it was last year and on previous years

The people were as friendly ad always, no issues with being English as stated above, nor have I ever come across this

Roads weren't as bad as I was expecting, perhaps the very remote country roads could do with some work but so could ours. The main roads were fine and I came across some resurfacing work whilst out and about

Expense, well to me it's a bit more expensive than here, but then I've always found that and the £ to euro exchange rate is nowhere near as good as it was last year, but with currency rates you win some you lose some.

Eating out, well paid around €13-€15 for burger&chips type of meal in pub but was very nice, around €10-15 for Sunday dinner type of food but bowl of soup around €5 ish.

Got talking about the health system to someone staying next door to us and although the nhs has its faults it seems that we have it exceptionally good here compared to there (some talk of €50 charge to see GP etc and very long waits for hospital referrals)! Also read in the newspaper on the way back on the ferry that one in five households are in arrears with mortgage...and with all that they remain the friendliest people you could ever meet. Had a cracking time and likly will go back next year