Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [25]
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An Irish birthday tradition for kids is ‘the bumps’, where the celebrants are lifted by their limbs and swung up and down by a number corresponding to their age plus one.
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Traditional Ireland – of the large family, closely linked to church and community – is quickly disappearing as the increased urbanisation of Ireland continues to break up the social fabric of community interdependence that was a necessary element of relative poverty. Contemporary Ireland is therefore not altogether different from any other European country, and you have to travel further to the margins of the country – the islands and the isolated rural communities – to find an older version of society.
Ireland has long been a pretty homogenous country, but the arrival of thousands of immigrants from all over the world – 10% of the population is foreign-born – has challenged the mores of racial tolerance and integration. To a large extent it has been successful, although if you scratch beneath the surface, racial tensions can be exposed. So long as the new arrivals take on the jobs that many Irish wouldn’t bother doing anymore, everything is relatively hunky dory; it’s when the second generation of immigrants begin competing for the middle-class jobs that Ireland’s tolerance credentials will truly be tested.
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The average number of children per family has fallen to 1.4, the lowest in Irish history.
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POPULATION
The total population of Ireland is around 6 million: 4.3 million in the Republic and 1.7 million in Northern Ireland. There has been a steady increase in population since 1961, but the figures have a way to go before they reach their pre-Famine levels. Before the tragedy of 1845–51 the population was in excess of eight million. Death and emigration reduced the population to around five million, and emigration continued at a high level for the next 100 years.
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GAY-FRIENDLY IRELAND
The best things that ever happened to gay Ireland were the taming of the dictating church and the enactment of protective legislation against any kind of sexual discrimination. According to Brian Merriman, the Artistic Director of the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, the collapse of church authority and the shocking revelations of priestly abuse, coupled with the liberalisation of the divorce law, helped Ireland come to terms with its own sexual and social honesty.
‘Ireland is no longer talking about “them” when referring to anyone who is vaguely unconventional; they’re talking about “us” and that every family has the potential to be different,’ he says with great conviction. ‘It’s not just “them” who have the gay in the closet. They’re everywhere!’
But it’s not all good. There is a huge difference still between attitudes in urban and rural Ireland, he says, and while legislation and liberalisation have been very important, there is still a legacy of internalised homophobia.
‘Our enemies are no longer as clearly visible, so it’s hard to know sometimes who exactly thinks what.’
He believes, however, that gays and lesbians need to be more visible in Irish society, if only to continue the struggle for parity of esteem and respect. Merriman says that, ‘The fight will not stop until the constitutional ban on gays getting married is lifted and there are no second-class citizens in 21st-century Ireland’.
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Although the effects of emigration have been tempered by a slowdown in the rate and an increase in the rate of immigrant arrivals, Ireland still loses proportionally more of its native children to emigration than any other European country; in 2005 more than 20,500 left the country to seek their fortunes elsewhere.
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Females outnumber males in Dublin by 20,000.
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Dublin is the largest city and the capital of the Republic, with about 1.2 million people (about 40% of the population) living within commuting distance of the city centre. The Republic’s next largest cities are Cork, Galway