I don't know about the intolerance bit, I actually think people here are quite tolerant, but then I lived in Canada for years... putting one's toe over the PC was always, unhumorously considered "inappropriate"

Other weaknesses... well, the island thing is a plus for security reasons, but a big minus re the cost of transport. Costs have got to come down.

Weather a little bit warmer would be better for growing stuff; it rarely gets above 25 degrees here. Having said that, the rain at least means adequate water reserves (if unevenly distributed)

FDI; we need to diversify away from it a bit...a lot of us are good at lateral thinking etc, but there's a tendency towards pessimism and risk aversion which doesn't promote entrepreneurialism.

Conservatism... there's a lot of opposition to ANY change...and I'm particularly ticked off with the Nimby/banana faction who think we shouldn't a) build nuclear power b) exploit the fossil fuels off the west coast c) erect windfarms anywhere. THERE IS GOING TO BE A BIG ENERGY CRISIS.... are we going to have to wait while pensioners freeze in their homes because the German and French owners of UK utilities have decided to re-route UK/Norwegian gas to the Continent?? This is threatened this week if the Russians and Ukrainians can't get their act together??

The housing bubble... as a people, probably for historic reasons, we seem too attached to the value of property and we have a huge collapsing bubble on our hands. And you needn't blame the Government without blaming the Opposition too, they were all falling over themselves with schemes to persuade the idiot first time buyer to get yet more in debt for less monthly repayments, more MIR, FTB stamp duty exemptions etc. The chickens are now home to roost

Ronald Binge wrote:

As for the recreation of the Irish language as the real first official language of this country, we are wasting our time. No amount of teenage gaelgoirs slapping "Gaeilge Anois!" stickers on road signs will change this. It is an annoyance and an utter waste of time. We would be better off consolidating as best we can those places that do use the language in reality, shore it up and rethink the whole project. Irish language and culture are worthwhile, but Irish is not and never will be the spoken language of this nation again.

You know, they stopped that a long time ago, back in the seventies I think. It's more a matter of keeping the language alive than anything else. Some people find that quite annoying.

45 years of compulsory fluoridation (starting with Dublin city, other cities and towns following over the years) must have weakened the population. Fluoride is a cumulative poison. Ireland is the only democracy in the world with mandatory water fluoridation.

Note that only two towns in Northern Ireland were fluoridated, and that was stopped a few years ago.

Our weakness is in our character, I would hazard, which impacts our community which impacts our Nation

Prone-ness to arrogance, snobbery and pride
short-termism
knocking and begrudgery
short-sightedness
resorting to pettiness and cliches instead of constructive dialogue
we're vindictive and often unforgiving
we're afraid to put our goat, however small, in the middle of the market for all buyers to see
we're lazy i.e. fearful of self-promotion unless we're bestowed by Divine Right with our natural gifts and belongings in which case everyone will know how many servants, houses here and in Brussels that we have
we're not good at timing

a lot of our systems are too complex and convoluted to get effective decisions made
for all our education I don't believe we're good at educating ourselves in practical socio-economic and political fields - we prefer to take a tribal view
we're prone to complacency

short-termism again : we do not do the Long Term very well

we don't appreciate the great stuff we have enough

We're a small country with a small population.

cactus flower wrote:

We're a small country with a small population.

It is a definate weakness but the space we have (population density) provided future planning improves is a great strength especially given the over population of the world. One could expect Irish property in the longterm to increase hugely in value for that reason... that isn't necessarily a good thing though - we could end up like a ski resort where local people can't afford to live which would obviously be a weakness.

johnfás wrote:

cactus flower wrote:

We're a small country with a small population.

It is a definate weakness but the space we have (population density) provided future planning improves is a great strength especially given the over population of the world. One could expect Irish property in the longterm to increase hugely in value for that reason... that isn't necessarily a good thing though - we could end up like a ski resort where local people can't afford to live which would obviously be a weakness.

Funny you should say that, johnfàs, but that very debate is raging in St. Moritz right now. Locals (and this takes on a Gaeltacht-style relevance because they speak Rhaeto-Rumansch as their first language) are being forced out by the international skiing industry. but it is being remedied. I will find out more as to how the Swiss are sorting it out and come back on this issue.

Auditor #9 wrote:

Our weakness is in our character, I would hazard, which impacts our community which impacts our Nation

Prone-ness to arrogance, snobbery and pride
short-termism
knocking and begrudgery
short-sightedness
resorting to pettiness and cliches instead of constructive dialogue
we're vindictive and often unforgiving
we're afraid to put our goat, however small, in the middle of the market for all buyers to see
we're lazy i.e. fearful of self-promotion unless we're bestowed by Divine Right with our natural gifts and belongings in which case everyone will know how many servants, houses here and in Brussels that we have
we're not good at timing

a lot of our systems are too complex and convoluted to get effective decisions made
for all our education I don't believe we're good at educating ourselves in practical socio-economic and political fields - we prefer to take a tribal view
we're prone to complacency

short-termism again : we do not do the Long Term very well

we don't appreciate the great stuff we have enough

You forgot to mention that we talk ourselves down constantly.

905 wrote:

Auditor #9 wrote:

Our weakness is in our character, I would hazard, which impacts our community which impacts our Nation

Prone-ness to arrogance, snobbery and pride
short-termism
knocking and begrudgery
short-sightedness
resorting to pettiness and cliches instead of constructive dialogue
we're vindictive and often unforgiving
we're afraid to put our goat, however small, in the middle of the market for all buyers to see
we're lazy i.e. fearful of self-promotion unless we're bestowed by Divine Right with our natural gifts and belongings in which case everyone will know how many servants, houses here and in Brussels that we have
we're not good at timing

a lot of our systems are too complex and convoluted to get effective decisions made
for all our education I don't believe we're good at educating ourselves in practical socio-economic and political fields - we prefer to take a tribal view
we're prone to complacency

short-termism again : we do not do the Long Term very well

we don't appreciate the great stuff we have enough

You forgot to mention that we talk ourselves down constantly.

One strength at least about our character is our ascerbic wit and Beckettian humour in the face of Doom Death and Despair:

I have my faults, but changing my tune is not one of them.

Dublin university contains the cream of Ireland: Rich and thick.

No, I regret nothing, all I regret is having been born, dying is such a long tiresome business I always found.

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