Is rural Ireland as backwards as people say?

jonnypacket

With all the talk about the upcoming referendum on gay marriage, I often hear people worry that it will be rejected due to the conservative, backward nature of rural Ireland. Obviously rural Ireland is not as cosmopolitan as Dublin and so the people there are less exposed to gay culture so perhaps their opinions stem from innocent ignorance. I'm not familiar with Ireland outside of Dublin but I imagine rural dwellers are more fixated on farming, GAA and the Catholic church. How true is this?

TheDoctor

Doing so well until the last line

biko

Tell you what, how about you go and have a look for yourself? Do you good I'd say.

pmasterson95

Stereotyping galore!

Always seems one thread like this in AH a week.

Generic Dreadhead

What with the different ways to dress at funerals and the likes? I'd say so

The Backwards Man

I have no farm, hate the GAA ( no club here anyway) and I'm not a Catholic, and you have the cheek to call me backwards?!!

Most of the people around here are voting yes, including the priest and the retired COI minister I was talking to in the pub the other night, so take your assumptialisations elsewhere.

Intifada

A lot of the time when I go to Dublin it is quite hard to discern "gay culture" from the hordes of metrosexual embarrassments that pass for lads up there.

ScumLord

Rural Ireland isn't that backward, Ireland has a very spread out population so most towns are only 10 miles from the next town and maybe 30 miles from a major town like Galway, Limerick or Athlone.

We shop in the same shops, eat the same food, watch the same TV and listen to the same radio. The only difference is we have more space and don't have the same level of services.

It would have been true that in the past that if you want to be plugged into culture and information you'd need to be in a city, but in the age of the internet culture and education can roam free, as far into the wilderness as it they like.

Generic Dreadhead

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I have no farm

Typical farmer, pretending like he got nothing, don't let them fool ya! Hard done by me hole. Probably has like 8 farms

pconn062

jonnypacket wrote: »

With all the talk about the upcoming referendum on gay marriage, I often hear people worry that it will be rejected due to the conservative, backward nature of rural Ireland. Obviously rural Ireland is not as cosmopolitan as Dublin and so the people there are less exposed to gay culture so perhaps their opinions stem from innocent ignorance. I'm not familiar with Ireland outside of Dublin but I imagine rural dwellers are more fixated on farming, GAA and the Catholic church. How true is this?

It's very true, I'm currently playing hurling with 2 sheep, a cow and the local priest.

Red Alert

So OP believes the rural crowd shouldn't have a vote because they might vote differently to him/her? Sure then why not just have the referendum with only box on the ballot paper, in case people make a "mistake" and vote No.

cournioni

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I have no farm, hate the GAA ( no club here anyway) and I'm not a Catholic, and you have the cheek to call me backwards?!!

I trust that this nice little piece of irony was intensional?

kneemos

Saw a gay once.Walked down the street and went into one of the shops beside the Library.

pmasterson95

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I have no farm, hate the GAA ( no club here anyway) and I'm not a Catholic, and you have the cheek to call me backwards?!!

Most of the people around here are voting yes, including the priest and the retired COI minister I was talking to in the pub the other night, so take your assumptialisations elsewhere.

No one should call The Backwards Man a backwards man totally untrue

bjork

You should take a spin out the old west clare road...It's like wall street below. Johnjoe O'Reilly opened a centra and sells lottery tickets. You wouldn't see the like in New york. I went to dublin once with my mother. It was terrible. There was no where for her to sit down and rest, full of places to rest your aunt though.

tonycascarino

Seriously are 'city slickers' really that backward that they haven't a notion of what happens outside their own bubble??

darkpagandeath

Do You mean Middle Earth ? Sorry Middle Ireland ?

The Backwards Man

cournioni wrote: »

I trust that this nice little piece of irony was intensional?

Na, I was too busy pointing at an aeroplane to realise what I was writing.

Fat Christy

Please don't tell me you were born and raised in Dublin but have never ventured outside of it. O.o

Taxburden carrier

Red Alert wrote: »

So OP believes the rural crowd shouldn't have a vote because they might vote differently to him/her? Sure then why not just have the referendum with only box on the ballot paper, in case people make a "mistake" and vote No.

Or you could just have a Dail vote. :rolleyes:

jonnypacket

So are the worries about rural Ireland rejecting the referendum unfounded? Hasn't Donegal voted no to most referenda in the past in an effort to stifle progress? And believe me, allowing two men to be husband and husband is progress for the human race. And I never suggested that rural dwellers should be denied the vote, so you can kill that strawman.

Aidric

You can tell a lot by the jumper they wear. Those v neck diamond jobs and I'd be weary.

pmasterson95

jonnypacket wrote: »

So are the worries about rural Ireland rejecting the referendum unfounded? Hasn't Donegal voted no to most referenda in the past in an effort to stifle progress? And believe me, allowing two men to be husband and husband is progress for the human race. And I never suggested that rural dwellers should be denied the vote, so you can kill that strawman.

So is all of Donegal now classed as rural? Or is everything outside of Dublin rural?

James Bond Junior

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I'm not a Catholic

So your a Prod then are ya?

The Backwards Man

jonnypacket wrote: »

So are the worries about rural Ireland rejecting the referendum unfounded? Hasn't Donegal voted no to most referenda in the past in an effort to stifle progress? And believe me, allowing two men to be husband and husband is progress for the human race. And I never suggested that rural dwellers should be denied the vote, so you can kill that strawman.

I have a feeling it will probably still be a No here, but it will be pretty close. Which is a huge leap in itself as even twenty years ago it would have been a resounding no. But times have changed, the oulwans who never left their own parish are all died off, even people of my Dad's generation are voting yes because they've seen a bit of the world, and are more tolerant and understanding of things than their parents would have been.

I don't mind trolling, but it should be subtle.

This one is far far too obvious. The title is a giveaway. Ooooooooooooooooooooo I can provoke some urban v rural thing and get a few digs in ooooooooooooooooooooo I say.

Must. Do. Better.

As for those of ye who answered it as a serious issue...

Fat Christy

jonnypacket wrote: »

So are the worries about rural Ireland rejecting the referendum unfounded? Hasn't Donegal voted no to most referenda in the past in an effort to stifle progress? And believe me, allowing two men to be husband and husband is progress for the human race. And I never suggested that rural dwellers should be denied the vote, so you can kill that strawman.

I'm very country.....in the house I grew up in there was a range which heated the water and was used for cooking as well. My granaunt would send me out to collect kippings (sticks) for the fire and you had a bath about once every six months as a kid. :pac: I did go to mass every Sunday and lived on a farm. My idea of fun was scraping the yard (of cow ****e), jumping on bales and fencing fields.

The local shop was some ol' wans house, it was also a post office.

No I'm not 50, I'm 23. :pac: Backward? Hmmm....not how I would describe myself or my closest relatives tbh. Some of them, yeah, but the majority of them would be open minded.

The Backwards Man

James Bond Junior wrote: »

So your a Prod then are ya?

They wish.

I think I'd make a great lay minister actually, aside from the aul praying craic.

The Backwards Man

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I don't mind trolling, but it should be subtle.

This one is far far too obvious. The title is a giveaway. Ooooooooooooooooooooo I can provoke some urban v rural thing and get a few digs in ooooooooooooooooooooo I say.

Must. Do. Better.

As for those of ye who answered it as a serious issue...

You bastard, I've already turned myself in to the Revenue

Mint Sauce

jonnypacket wrote: »

So are the worries about rural Ireland rejecting the referendum unfounded? Hasn't Donegal voted no to most referenda in the past in an effort to stifle progress? And believe me, allowing two men to be husband and husband is progress for the human race. And I never suggested that rural dwellers should be denied the vote, so you can kill that strawman.

Unfortunately, Donegal are the forgotten county. No votes have been more of a protest, rather thanto stifle progress. If Donegal were thought of more by the Government, maybe Donegal might be more willing to co operate. Although as far as The SSM Referendum is concerned, most people I know from Donegal are voting yes, and most have seen allot of the country and beyond, unlike the OP by the sounds of it.

Tar.Aldarion

Can't just generalise the whole country apart from dublin lol...

As for the vote, yes tehre will be more rural people voting no. Divorce referendum counties sorted by no %, will be similar for this vote. Donegal are piped as the place to vote no most, after that its east galway, mayo, roscommon etc.

Constituency, Y N
Cork North-West 34% 66%
Galway East 35% 65%
Longford-Roscommon 35% 64%
Limerick West 37% 63%
Mayo East 37% 63%
Cavan-Monaghan 37% 62%
Kerry South 38% 61%
Tipperary North 38% 61%
Cork South-West 39% 60%
Laoighis-Offaly 40% 60%
Donegal North-East 40% 59%
Donegal South-West 41% 59%
Kerry North 41% 59%
Sligo-Leitrim 41% 59%
Mayo West 41% 58%
Westmeath 42% 58%
Tipperary South 42% 58%
Cork East 43% 57%
Clare 44% 56%
Carlow-Kilkenny 46% 54%
Cork North-Central 46% 53%
Meath 48% 52%
Wexford 48% 51%
Galway West 48% 51%
Waterford 50% 50%
Limerick East 50% 50%
TOTAL 50% 50%
Louth 52% 48%
Cork South-Central 53% 47%
Dublin Central 57% 43%
Kildare 58% 42%
Dublin North-Central 58% 42%
Dublin South-Central 58% 41%
Wicklow 59% 41%
Dublin North-West 61% 39%
Dublin South 64% 35%
Dublin South-East 65% 35%
Dublin North-East 65% 35%
Dublin West 65% 35%
Dublin North 65% 35%
Dublin South-West 67% 33%
Dun Laoghaire 68% 32%