Welcome again to this week's career advice column, and thanks for putting your faith in our country. I hope we match up to your expectations.
I have heard so many mixed reports, most based on hearsay about why Ireland has proved such a popular draw, to so many of you who have come to live and work amongst us.
I decided that the only way to find out at the grass roots level, as to why you came, and what you thought of us and our country, was to go out and speak with some of you and ask you a few questions.
Equipped with a notepad and pen, and a pocket full of change to buy the myriad of cokes, that I was to drink, I descended upon Dublin 's pubs just north of the Liffey. I of course decided to pick one of the hottest days of the year, when walking was a real effort.
Let me diverge slightly, by attempting to explain another unusual characteristic about the Irish people. We never stop complaining about the Irish Rain, yet we stay here. We are always asking for heat and sunshine, yet when it comes like it did that 3 rd week in July, we all seem to complain about the “heavy heat”, and how “shocking” the weather seems to be!
So who did I speak to – well only a small cross section of nationalities, listed below, and about 70% males. The nationalities that I managed to speak with were as follows; Poland, Czech Republic, Philippines, India, China, Singapore, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Italy, France, Germany, South Africa.
Interestingly enough, the vast majority of people wish to stay in Ireland for the foreseeable future. Those of you, who wish to leave, said your main reason was the “bloody Irish Weather”!
So why did people come here, and as someone who left our fair shores myself, for 8 years, I have to say, while not surprising, was still amazing to hear. The three most common reasons for coming here were; - Good Jobs
- Friendly People
- Good Money
I just wish you had come here 10 years ago, before the Celtic tiger, and then you would have seen how friendly we really were then.
But is everyone friendly? Well when pushed, I finally got the truth out of many people. It appears that in Ireland, we have only 2 classes; those who are educated and those who are not. The later, were in many cases quite discriminatory towards “Bleedin Foreigners”!
While I can not condone that behaviour, I do understand that. Let's face it, you guys are like the Irish were 20-30 years ago. You work hard and diligently, and show up the indigenous population. So thus, my fellow Irish Nationals feel threatened, and they take it out on you. Please accept my apologies, but you just can't please everyone all of the time.
Finally, apart from the highly impressive line up of further education I encountered, with Engineers, Architects, Computer Scientists and MBA students, your English is amazing.
To answer a very popular question as to why more of us don't speak Irish, our supposed national language – well you have never been taught a language the way Gaelic was forced down our throats!
I am going to go out on the streets again for next month, but in the meantime, if you have any questions, comments or observations, please do send them in.
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