An Comhrá na hÉireann - The Ireland Thread!

I was incredibly moved to hear by way of a Kahnawake friend that Ireland Lacrosse has dropped out of the World Lacrosse championships to allow the Iroquois Nationals to take their place. For some odd reason, the qualification process was limited to IOC members, leaving the people who invented the game on the outside looking in.

“As much as our players would have been honored to compete, we know the right thing is for the Iroquois Nationals to represent our sport on this international stage."

It is very hard to convey how moving this is. The traditional colours are purple and gold-yellow. I am told they are doing everything they can to get new green uniforms in time.

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hi lads,am i correct in saying that there is no 2 week quarantine crossing the border from ni? am i working in england but want to go back home for a few days. if i have it correct if i go through ni i can technically get around it. i need to be sure before i do it though because i don’t need another run in with the law.

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Surely your last brush with the law was over a century ago?

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you can travel to NI from England ok as long as you have been there (or any othercommon travel area e.g. Scotland, Wales, IOM etc) for at least 14 days. Then you can cross the border to the south with no restrictions.
I think that if you travel from England straight to the south, you need to restrict your movement for 14 days, though you might want to double check that online.

yes that’s what I thought cheers pal.

Had a sad thought this week that my plan last December was to tack on a week of vacation to our board meeting in Ireland this Fall, and spend some time in other parts of the country. Specifically, I was thinking of taking a look at places to retire in. I was shocked last December when my wife said she loved the feel of Dublin, and could imagine retiring in Ireland. Climate is gentle enough (no ice), she speaks the majority language (she is crap at languages), people seem friendly and decent, culturally rich and a short flight to both warmer climates and all of Europe’s cultural wealth. Direct flight to Toronto is as short as you can get to Europe too.

So, in lieu of a ten day tour, 2020 presents a question thread on TAN. If you had a comfortable income and could simply purchase a home (no debt), where would you live in Ireland, and why? Where would you swerve?

My working list right now:

  1. Cork area - warmest, driest climate. City sounds cool, never been.
  2. Waterford - warm, coast is sunniest part of Ireland - that is about all I know. But not far from Cork or Dublin
  3. Iveragh or Dingle peninsula somewhere - warmer and sunnier on the coast than most of the country. Gaeltacht there, and it has ancestral appeal, one of the two lines of Irish in my family is from the area. I am curious about the Killarney area as well.
  4. Tralee area, similar reasons.
  5. Galway - our accountants are there! Not like any accountants I have ever dealt with, at least not when the job is done. Meeting was possibly going to be there instead of Dublin (our Irish directors seemed disgruntled). Gaeltacht nearby as well. Actually in the middle on the warm/sunny scale, but damn it is wet there a lot.
  6. Wicklow - somewhere in the middle on the climate measures. Close to Dublin, but close to natural beauty too. Saw a picture of the lake at Glendalough, a visit was on the list.
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Left Dublin out as this is where i’m from but like everywhere it depends on what type of life your looking for so for me i’d go with

Anywhere on the west coast(wild atlantic way) in particular Galway (city) and Kerry(Dingle peninsula).There are many Gaelteacht areas all along the coast if your looking to speak/learn to speak the language.Scenery is fantastic,a couple of decent sized cities,international and regional airports,The whole coast is a huge draw for tourists,both foreign and domestic.Surfing is huge NW while SW has a slower feel to things,both have some great towns within easy reach for socialising.

Down south i’d really only look at UBERMICKS Cork(city and county) although the sunny south east that is Wexford is best if it’s half decent weather you’re looking for, while the east coast county of Wicklow(the garden of Ireland) is lovely

One thing to remember is we’re not that big,by Canadian standards,so that you couldn’t drive anywhere in a matter of hours, if you were in a hurry.

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Check out Skibbereen… :+1:

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Dang, a few minutes of searching on daft.ie (what a name) over morning coffee sets one to dreaming, as the snow changes to rain here this morning…

Mick’s old TIA thread probably planted this idea.

I think its called “Daft” because of the way house prices tend to go in this country.
My family still live in Wicklow, both parents still alive. We have a level 5 lockdown restriction on travel at the moment so I haven’t seen them in a while.
I’d recommend the east coast for reasons on climate, access to Dublin, the Airport and Healthcare facilities. Property prices can be extortionate though the closer you get to Dublin.
Ireland is so small that every where is in reach within 3 or 4 hours drive if you want to move around.

I grew up very close to this where this guy flies out of.
I would swerve Tralee personally. I live 20mins North of Dublin Airport, if you do get over make sure you travel up this direction, visit Newgrange and Carlingford in particular. From here its a short trip into Northern Ireland, lots to see there. plus a short ferry trip across to Scotland if the mood takes you.
In my opinion the East coast gives the most flexibility in terms of further travel within the country, access to Dublin and Belfast Airports, Ferry across to the UK and to France from Rosslare.

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Is that the Sugarloaf a minute in

Does Ireland have any forests??? Whatever images I see on TV or online are just shrubs and bushes. I Googled forests in Ireland and ended up with some images which looked like parks rather than forests.

Property prices are quite relative - I am shocked by what you can get in Skibbereen. Dublin housing is expensive by Irish standards, but if your comparator is Mick’s Bay Area or Toronto, rather reasonable. Real estate market in this area has gone mad in the past 2 years, the pandemic has simply accentuated that. A neighbour’s place sold for 200K over asking in 4 days, 800K for the place.

But I think I would like a more rural existence, just within reach of urban. East Coast is appealing, can’t see myself taking up surfing in my 60s.

Is that Glendalough? The geology looks very similar, but there could be dozens of lakes like that.

It is. This guy takes off from Newcastle “airfield”, my Grandparents lived there and I spent many a childhood summer with them on those beaches and walking the hills. It’s amazing what you take for granted when you are a kid.

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Ireland is a strange place in forestry terms - it has very few native tree species compared to most similar biomes, due to the effects of the last ice age. So you don’t see the same transitional forests that you would expect to see.

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We do but not a lot.
https://www.dw.com/en/irelands-forests-watching-a-vanished-world-return/a-44848417

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I was shocked to discover how much Sitka spruce there is in Ireland, relatively speaking.

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There are some old Oak forests left in Wicklow, lots of new forestry is fast growing softwoods.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TMetLIU2o0
This is the Devils Glen in Wiclkow, about 10 mins from my home place.

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Hard to tell. Wicklow has many lakes dotted between the hills and mountains.
Its definitely in this video.

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Monoculture! Commercial forestry???

Damn :heart_eyes: you live in some place.

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