Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [24]
The Irish aren’t big on talking themselves up, preferring their actions to speak for themselves. They also admire the peculiar art of self-deprecation, known locally as an beál bocht a chur ort, or ‘putting on the poor mouth’, the mildly pejorative practice of making out that things are far worse than they really are in order to evoke sympathy or the forbearance of creditors, of vital importance in the days when the majority of the Irish were at the mercy of an unforgiving landlord system. As a result, the Irish also have the trait of begrudgery – although it’s something only recognised by them and generally kept within the wider family. It’s kind of amusing, though, to note that someone like Bono is subject to more intense criticism in Ireland than anywhere else in the world.
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The most popular names in Ireland are Thomas and Sarah.
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Beneath all of the garrulous sociability and self-deprecating twaddle lurks a dark secret, which is that at heart the Irish are low on self-esteem. They’re therefore very suspicious of praise and tend not to believe anything nice that’s ever said about them. The Irish wallow in false modesty like a sport.
This goes some way towards explaining the fractious relationship Ireland has with alcohol. The country regularly tops the list of the world’s biggest binge drinkers, and while there is an increasing awareness of, and alarm at, the devastation caused by alcohol to Irish society (especially to young people), drinking remains the country’s most popular social pastime, with no sign of letting up; spend a weekend night walking around any town in the country and you’ll get a firsthand feel of the influence and effect of the booze.
Some experts put Ireland’s binge-drinking antics down to the dramatic rise in the country’s economic fortunes, but statistics have long revealed that Ireland has had an unhealthy fondness for ‘taking the cure’, although the acceptability of public drunkenness is a far more recent phenomenon: the older generation are never done reminding the youngsters that they would never have been seen staggering in public.
Whatever the truth of it, there is no denying that the last couple of decades have transformed Irish society in ways no one could have foreseen, with this generation of under-30s only now having to confront the realities of a previous age, when unemployment, emigration and a cap on ambition were basic facts of life – although it must be stressed that whatever the current state of the economy, the Irish have truly come to believe that they are deserving of a seat at anyone’s table.
Prosperity has served the country well, and while a huge question mark still remains over the equitable distribution of the wealth accrued during the last decade, there is no doubt that the island has seen some dramatic shifts in traditional attitudes. Not so long ago, Roman Catholicism was a central pillar of everyday life in Ireland; today, the Church’s grip on society has slackened to the point that a recent survey revealed that one-third of Irish youth didn’t know where Jesus was born or what was celebrated at Easter.
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LIFESTYLE
The Irish may like to grumble – about work, the weather, the government and those feckin’ eejits on reality TV shows – but if pressed will tell you that they live in the best country on earth. There’s loads wrong with the