back from Dublin

[Goliath]

^When I visited Dublin, in 2000, Kerry was playing Galway for the championship, at Croke Park.

The archivist at the Police Museum in Dublin Castle surprised me by telling me that he was going to bet on the tie. I'd never heard of a sport where a championship game could end in a tie, before.

And of course, the first match was a tie. When I came in to the museum on Monday, I expected him to be happy--but he was despondent.

"I forgot to bet!" he lamented. Poor guy.

 

[Dart]

Good story, but the most important thing is that we won the replay. .
We won again in 2004, 2006 and 2007, but lost the finals of 2005 and 2008. Also having a record 35 titles isnt bad either.
This is Tommy Walsh Man of the Match yesterday.

 

[SiorX]

^Ye're no use at the hurling though.

 

[Dart]

Well.

Our first All-Ireland was in hurling. 1891.

 

[TheGodBen]

With the greatest of respect our educational standards are the equal of any in europe.

I don't know, I graduated with a 2.1 degree and I've been accepted back to do a masters in the autumn, and all I did was the absolute bare minimum of studying required. Hell, my Final Year Project was 50 pages about how I didn't get anything to work, but I still passed it because my supervisor remembered me from a class he thought two years prior and I seemed like a nice guy. I'm a black mark on the reputation of the Irish educational system.

 

[alasdairsim]

I've heard that Dublin is ridiculously expensive as well. Although after a few Guinness's i'm sure any worries go out of the window.

 

[Deckerd]

Could you clarify exactly what you mean by this please?

Educational standards are exactly why so many foreign-owned companies decided to establish their european operations here in the republic.That and the admitedly generous tax system.With the greatest of respect our educational standards are the equal of any in europe.
As for social care,the old-age pension and the unemployment assistance payments dwarf those paid out in the UK.Consult the Irish governmental website before making any sweeping statements.
Sorry for going off at you,but at least try to be factual and less condescending.

I didn't mean to be condescending. There are restrictions in Irish education which are peculiar to that country alone, for instance teachers must be Roman Catholic, Irish language speakers and preferably Irish. No other country limits their school staff in such a way. These rules are occasionally broken but it's few and far between. My 5 year comment was because the last time I was in Dublin, young girls with babies (not Eastern Europeans btw) were begging on the streets. I saw none of that this time round.

 

[TheGodBen]

I didn't mean to be condescending. There are restrictions in Irish education which are peculiar to that country alone, for instance teachers must be Roman Catholic, Irish language speakers and preferably Irish.

I don't think the catholic thing is true, I had at least one protestant teacher in primary school and at least one in secondary school, and a few atheist/agnostics too. I believe there is a legal requirement that religion be thought for a certain amount each week and the religion being thought is almost always Christianity, but I never saw any law saying that all teacher had to be catholic. Personally, I would get rid of that legal requirement that religion has to be thought, but I also think that baptisms should be outlawed for everybody under 18 and that churches should come with warning signs on the outside like a packet of cigarettes.

As for the Irish language thing, few people hated learning that crap more than I, but of course any primary school teacher needs to know the language because they have to teach it every day. Believe me, I've suffered dearly because of that requirement in a way I don't want to go into, but if the Irish language is on the national curriculum then it makes sense that teachers have to be able to speak it.

 

[Deckerd]

We were speaking to the Irish people at the conference and they were saying they studied Irish for years and then as soon as they left school, never spoke it again.

 

[Goliath]

^So, it's like learning French in Western Canada?

 

[TheGodBen]

Hell, I couldn't speak it even when I was in school! It was the only subject I had to take at ordinary level in the leaving cert, which was horrible because for 40 minutes every day I had to hang out with normal people rather than my nerdy friends. My Irish oral exam went something like this:

"Tá. Níl. Níl. Níl. Tá. Bainne. Níl..."

 

[Dr. Horrible]

I've heard that Dublin is ridiculously expensive as well. Although after a few Guinness's i'm sure any worries go out of the window.

I go over there quite often - €5+ a go in central Dublin for a pint of Guinness at the moment. Luckily I get to claim it back on expenses.

One of my clients over there did tell me a joke about 6 months ago - the only difference between Ireland and Iceland is one letter and 6 months. Fortunately, it hasn't turned out that way, yet, but the economy in Ireland is pretty dire at the moment.

 

[flandry84]

The catholic teachers thing may hold true in catholic schools...duh!,but TBH things have moved on and in reality,it has gone that you would be hard pressed to find anyone to even admit to being catholic now.

The language thing...well,what's wrong with that?That irish citizens should be taught their own native language?
Cruel&unusual punishment.
In my experience the people that bitch about the irish language are the people who would be bitching anyway.

As for the cost of living here.....no arguments from me on that one.

 

[Deckerd]

I've heard that Dublin is ridiculously expensive as well. Although after a few Guinness's i'm sure any worries go out of the window.

I go over there quite often - €5+ a go in central Dublin for a pint of Guinness at the moment. Luckily I get to claim it back on expenses.

One of my clients over there did tell me a joke about 6 months ago - the only difference between Ireland and Iceland is one letter and 6 months. Fortunately, it hasn't turned out that way, yet, but the economy in Ireland is pretty dire at the moment.

We're not allowed to claim booze on expenses . Bloody unfair I call it. One pint of cider was €6.30! The car parking ticket was €19.50. It's so blatant it's breathtaking.