Ireland named best country to live in

[Brigitte]

I can understand why Ireland is in leading position. I always enjoyed when being there, the countrie's vibe catches me everytime and it has been a dream to move there for years... oh well.... I love Germany, too so I am a happy girl anyways. I think the position Germany ended at does not reflect the reality but knowing my folks, I believe a typical German manner came into their voting "Germans can be perfect moaners and even see a lottery win as a negative thing" oh well....

We got an email from a friend yesterday forwarding us this petition, I thought here might be a good place to put it as you all have at least an emotional connection to Ireland and many probably have been there or have still family there. This is the text:

The Irish fiddler Fionnuala Devlin (ex-WÜ, now in Berlin) has set up following call to save Tara.

She makes it easy for you to show civil courage and to take part:
just one click on http://www.petitiononline.com/Temair/petition.html
and insert your name and country.

Please pass this information on.

1000 Dank!

I've started an International Campaign to protect the Hill of Tara.
The Irish Government are planning to build a 4 lane motorway through
its ancient grounds. I've set up a website in English and German
www.protect-tara.org
and also a petition
www.petitiononline.com/Temair/petition.html
I need to get people, if they want to, to sign the petition as soon as
possible.
The minister in Ireland is deciding now about maybe changing the plans
for the motorway, and I would like to go to the Irish newspapers with the
information about my campaign, it would increase the public pressure on
the minister.
My question to you then is, you've guessed it, can you look at the website,
and if it's ok for you, to sign the petition, and then also to pass the
website information on to as many people as you can. I believe if we can act
now we have a real chance of getting the motorway completely stopped.
There's already a lot of opposition to it in Ireland, and the campaign here
will just add to the pressure.
And as you know economically Germany is a big tourist resource for Ireland,
so that it is important to the government.
I know you are really a lover of Irish culture, and without exaggeration
Tara has always been at the centre of it.
I would really appreciate if you can do what you can to help, and to pass
the information to as many people as you can, asking them to sign the
petition
as soon as possible.
With many thanks,
slán,
Fionnuala

Peter, maybe you know more about this and could tell us, if you think it could make a difference? I have signed, too.

Have a nice weekend
Brigitte

[Cayden]

Ah the new Ireland, all new big houses and motorways and a health care system you don't want to think about. And the weather only seems to be getting worse.

<a href="http://www.iol.ie/~robinh/map.html">This map</a> may shed a bit more light on the issue.

There's a considerable uproar against the Tara motorway, a petition with 10.000 signatures has already been presented t othe minister. More opposition voiced is always good. Although some of the opinions voiced by the on-line undersigners are somewhat naive: 'you don't need a motorway' is easily said if you don't live in a town up there and have 30.000 cars and lorries roaring by a few meters from your house every day. When you live like that or are stuck in traffic a few hours every day you need better infrastructure. Sign the petition to make the National Roads Authority decide on a different route, it may help.

[TonyHiggins]

My parents grew up in Dublin and left at the age of 26 with me at 2yrs old and a younger sister to Toronto. I remember asking my dad a while back if he'd ever consider living back in Ireland again. He was emphatic that he wouldn't. He always referred to Ireland as 'back home,' though. "You just don't understand the rain there" was his biggest complaint. In California, he liked to visit places, so I can see how the rain had an impact on his enjoyment of the land. He and my mom went back every other year after his retirement for 2 or 3 weeks, and he would say that was enough time. They was mainly visiting family.

My wife has asked me the same question about moving there. I used to think I would, but I have come to realize I feel pretty connected to where I live now, which is where I've lived most of my life. If I want to visit scenic places, there's no shortage in Northern California. My job situation is pretty ideal as a registered nurse. I know there's a nursing shortage in Ireland, but part of that is because Irish nurses are recruited to come to the US for better paying positions. I hear nurses are given less respect in Ireland than in the US. Just what I've read.

I've still toyed with the idea of retirement in Ireland, but, realistically, the weather is changing for the worse. If global warming continues (sounds likely), the weather is predicted to turn much nastier for Northern Europe. Not sure I want to deal with that.

I wouldn't argue that social conditions must be much better in Ireland than here. However, you will make good friends wherever you are if that's important to you.
Tony

[OnTheMoor]

My parents grew up in Dublin and left at the age of 26 with me at 2yrs old and a younger sister to Toronto. I remember asking my dad a while back if he'd ever consider living back in Ireland again. He was emphatic that he wouldn't. He always referred to Ireland as 'back home,' though. "You just don't understand the rain there" was his biggest complaint.
Tony

You're parents went to Toronto to escape Dublin weather???

[claudine]

The weather must not have been an important point in this best-place-to-live-contest. Norway is 3rd - don't they have those endless long and dark polar winters, same as Iceland (No 7)? I would rather have rain than a neverending night that lasts several months.
From BBC:

'TOP TEN COUNTRIES'
1 Ireland
2 Switzerland
3 Norway
4 Luxembourg
5 Sweden
6 Australia
7 Iceland
8 Italy
9 Denmark
10 Spain

[Whitmores75087]

I lived in Ireland until I was 23. It's got its downsides, you know. Cold weather. Parochial, narrow-minded thinking. Alcohol problems. Poverty...although that's not as widespread as it once was. If you are Catholic and have plenty money, go for it. I'd take it over England any day, though.

[OnTheMoor]

The weather must not have been an important point in this best-place-to-live-contest. Norway is 3rd - don't they have those endless long and dark polar winters, same as Iceland (No 7)? I would rather have rain than a neverending night that lasts several months.
From BBC:

'TOP TEN COUNTRIES'
1 Ireland
2 Switzerland
3 Norway
4 Luxembourg
5 Sweden
6 Australia
7 Iceland
8 Italy
9 Denmark
10 Spain

... that seems like a pretty strange list.

[Will O'B]

I clearly am in the minority around here. What did I miss when I was in Ireland those 2 weeks in May & June? Apparently it was the terrible weather that so many of you keep alluding to. When I was there the temps hovered around the mid 50's to upper 60's. We experienced the daily shower that lasted an hour or two, and the rest of the time it was partly sunny (even into the wee hours of the night - or so it seemed). Maybe it was just a fluke, but I couldn't have asked for better weather.

When we were in the Dingle Penninsula, the people said the past couple of winters were very mild with no snow (unlike where I am now off of Lake Michigan). I also heard this from a lady friend who returns to County Tipperary every December to visit her mother. County Clare and other locales in the country may be different; I don't live there and don't know. I do, however, remember the midges in Lisdoonvarna. They were horrific.

Will O'Ban

[OnTheMoor]

I'm with you actually Will.
Not a huge fan of the heat, I shut down.
Ireland was perfect weather for me... it was fun going through 4 seasons in the space of 5 hours.
It really wasn't that bad, everything was like this (avatar)
Back here it's either raining or snowing or damned humid.
While I was there last, a fellow said "Rotten weather around here eh?"
"I'm from Ottawa"
"Lived there for awhile... nice weather around here eh?"

[Will O'B]

While I was there last, a fellow said "Rotten weather around here eh?"
"I'm from Ottawa"
"Lived there for awhile... nice weather around here eh?"

[talasiga]

The best country to live in does not = the best country to move to.

Think about it .....

[TonyHiggins]

You're parents went to Toronto to escape Dublin weather???

Good point. I'm not sure what he knew about the weather. We were there 5 years. I remember the lightning storms in the summer were amazing.

What I do know is his job situation in Dublin in 1957 was not pretty. He did things like stage hand at the Gaiety Theater, made tennis rackets, and washed trains. He and my mom were in line to inherit my grandmother's small shop in a rough part of Dublin (Summerhill), but they didn't want any part of that. An emmigrant to Canada who was back in Dublin for a visit advised him to look into moving to Canada. In Toronto, he worked in a paint factory and got on as a truck driver for them. Also did part time work driving taxis. In California, he did the stereotypical immigrant jobs: gas station attendant, handyman. Then got on as a truck driver until his retirement. He managed to support 9 kids and a wife with that job, bought a nice house, and did a lot of traveling after he retired. I have to admit he seemed pretty stressed out most of the time.

Boy, my life could have been different.
Tony

[emmline]

I clearly am in the minority around here. What did I miss when I was in Ireland those 2 weeks in May & June?

I would think that, as much as you took in, you missed quite a lot. I have this notion that I would like living in London (having spent a grand total of 3.5 cumulative weeks there.) But my sis-in-law, who was there for three years, has much more insight into the differences between living in the UK and the US. While I am not her, and would not object to the same things as she...it takes longer to know what cultural variations may tug at your personal comfort zone, and whether you'd grow to love them, hate them, or merely accept them.

[lixnaw]

The best country to live in does not = the best country to move to.

Think about it .....

right on talasiga!! "home is where the heart is"

[RonKiley]

I spent a couple of weeks in May. The temperature was just right for me and the rain didn't bother me at all. After all I lived in Seattle for 2 years. It was the wind that was bad. Here we have high winds in gusts but while I was there the wind was relentless. However I loved it.

One of my friends had a father and mother born in Ireland and came here as an adult. At a party a friend asked him when he was going back. He answered, "I spent half my life trying to get out of there. Why would I want to go back?"

It is all in ones point of view. I lived in Newport RI for a few years. Every summer people came from all over to visit because it was such a great place. We couldn't wait for September when the tourists left and we could have our island back. By October restaurant, motel and store prices dropped to about half what they were in the summer. Then we enjoyed things until May.

Ron