If ever there was a sign that the Celtic Tiger is waking from its long hibernation, it is a man with a “Leprechaun yourself” stand on Grafton Street. A European – I’m guessing Dutch or Belgian – getting Dubliners to take selfies in the middle of winter while dressed as a national joke? That requires an ability to laugh at yourself that I have not seen on any trip back to Ireland since 2008.
When I first moved to Sydney, with my partner and our baby daughter, in 2002, I wrote an article in The Irish Times about why we left: house prices, greed, profiteering, litter, traffic, bad service, the cost of eating out and more.
I did several radio interviews on the subject, too. But people didn’t want to hear that the party mightn’t have been as good as they thought, and callers to radio stations said I was a whinger – and good riddance to me.
After trips back in 2010 and 2013 I wrote about how I perceived postcollapse Ireland (not favourably).
But on a trip home in December, my first visit in two years, I found things quite different. I was blown away by how bustling Dublin was. The other places I spent time – my home village of Adare, Co Limerick and Dingle, Co Kerry – are also doing better than I've seen in years.
I saw more well dressed people, female and male, carrying bags from posh shops, than I could ever recall. Maybe people are just tired of austerity, and wanted to splash out for Christmas, but it seemed more than a fling.
Every bar I went to in Dublin was packed to a point that I'm unused to seeing in Australia. Does Ireland not have safety limits for pubs? None of these bars, if they were in Sydney, would have contained so many people. Door staff would allow new customers in only when others left.
I was also shocked by the number of homeless people I saw in Dublin. I gave one man €1, but he said it wasn’t enough. If he was that aggressive with me – I’m a fairly big guy – I dread to think how he might frighten others.
If, as seems to be the case, homelessness is being caused by rising rents due to the economic recovery, the Government needs to address this as a priority.
The ongoing battle over water charges reminded me of a letter that James Joyce sent to the London publisher Grant Richards, explaining his unwillingness to dilute Dubliners of its language and sexual references. "I seriously believe that you will retard the course of civilisation in Ireland by preventing the Irish people from having one good look at themselves in my nicely polished looking glass," Joyce wrote.
Water charges
Amusing though it is to see Sinn Féin outmanoeuvred on water charges by populist protest politicians, it is time for the Irish people to have a good look at themselves.
The protesters have forced the Government to provide a fairer system than it first envisaged, but voters must now accept that water has to be paid for.
Australians are always astonished to hear that household supplies were free. At first I wasn’t happy at having to pay for water in Sydney, but I soon got over it, especially after seeing the effects of drought.
The Taoiseach has warned voters that Sinn Féin might hold the balance of power in a hung Dáil after the next election; he should be more worried about a cabal of single-issue left-wing candidates holding it. The best way to prevent that is to wait as long as possible to hold the election, so the electorate get used to paying the lower water charge and let go of some of their anger.
In Northern Ireland, Gregory Campbell’s odious comments about the Irish language reminded me of how glad I am that his views have a geographic range only of the island of Ireland. In the rest of the world he’s the nonentity he deserves to be. If Ian Paisley’s regular hate speech (before he became a cuddly Chuckle Brother) was said to have driven people to join the IRA, Campbell is surely pushing people into Sinn Féin’s arms.
As usual, though, the North’s political leaders are united when it comes to money. David Cameron had to put up €2.5 billion in grants and loan facilities before the politicians would ask their followers to behave themselves. Doesn’t the UK government know it’s bad parenting to reward bad behaviour? Throwing money at Northern Ireland won’t make people less likely to burn one flag or another.
Ireland’s basic cuisine is rarely praised, but it should be. I ate more potatoes, carrots and cauliflower in three weeks than I’d had in the previous year in Australia. And they were uniformly delicious. Sydney’s dominant Asian fusion cuisine could perhaps use a touch of Irish staples.
Multiculturalism
Another thing Australia could learn from Ireland is to provide more free wifi. In Ireland I had it on trains, buses, bars and cafes, in hotel rooms and even on the street. That’s the kind of progressive thinking that will help boost tourism.
Something Ireland seems to have learned from Australia and other countries is to reflect multiculturalism. It was nice to see television ads featuring black and Asian faces alongside white Irish people.
As well as Irish tea, crisps and chocolate, I also brought a dose of bronchitis home to Sydney with me, but it was still a great trip.
