As a capital city is Dublin one of the biggest kips in any 1st world country?

wakka12

_Dara_ wrote: »

I found Berlin to be quite shabby. Lisbon too, despite the pretty buildings.

Lisbon is very much a charming ancient run down though like many southern european old towns

Yer Da sells Avon

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

Ah come on. What word do you use to describe the people whose idea of craic is hurling verbal abuse and even physical violence at random passers-by for absolutely no reason, if you don't like us calling them "scum"?

If someone's idea of 'craic' is heroin, calling them 'scum' isn't going to help anyone. And as I said, the 'business community' is doing far more damage to Dublin than any drug addict.

ArthurDayne

A re-tuning of perspectives is in order for some here. Dublin has never been the centre of any great empire, nor does it have vast swathes of rich architecture built with imperial riches. It is the primary city of a country which for most of the past few hundred years has been impoverished and subjugated. It exists on the fringes of Western Europe, and as such never developed the great rail networks which in turn spur on overall public transport.

Dublin, along with Ireland as a whole, does not have the historical glory of the cities with which many here seem eager to compare it. But it has come a hell of a long way. It remains plagued by issues and a lack of vision by its governing authorities -- but the vision is starting to slowly take shape and Dublin continues to punch way above its weight in the opportunity it provides. There is so much energy and ambition in the city right now and it can take years for the cumulative effect of that to translate into something tangible.

I have lived in Paris, London and Brussels and each city has much to love and much to hate. Dublin is a city whose strength has always been in its charming humbleness but I really find it difficult to take people seriously when they fail to acknowledge the vast improvement of the city even in the past 10 years never mind 20-30.

mg1982

Thank god Dublin has all the culchies down keeping the place going. The place would really fall apart without them.

mick malones mauser

mg1982 wrote: »

Thank god Dublin has all the culchies down keeping the place going. The place would really fall apart without them.

Absolutey
Couldnt agree more. As I said earlier, All are welcome.
What I don't like are provincials who complain about the city and call it a kip.
A kip it may well be but not quite on the same level as kippery as Ballygobackwards or where ever

keepalive213

These type of threads are a load of ****
Is it not just an Irish "thing" to be suspicious and derogatory towards people from other areas...
jackeens look down on culchies and vice versa.
People in large towns look down on small town residents who in turn look down on villagers, who in turn give out about the neighbouring village.
I'll bet the same thing goes on between neighbouring areas in Dublin be they kips or not.

mg1982

mick malones mauser wrote: »

Absolutey
Couldnt agree more. As I said earlier, All are welcome.
What I don't like are provincials who complain about the city and call it a kip.
A kip it may well be but not quite on the same level as kippery as Ballygobackwards or where ever

Bit of sarcasm in my last post.

Dublin has improved a lot aesthetically over the years and theres much more oppurtunites for people there now than before speaking as a provincial. In my opinion what lets it down is lack of proper policing especially in the city.

Theres a societal thing going on too where to have a good job now most of the time you need a college degree or masters.So a chunk of the population get left behind and some of them turn too addiction petty crime and what not. But thats not just a Dublin thing.

bingobars

For years I thought the song Dirty Old Town was about Dublin. It’s dirty and has a canal. Who can blame me??

shakeitoff

ArthurDayne wrote: »

A re-tuning of perspectives is in order for some here. Dublin has never been the centre of any great empire, nor does it have vast swathes of rich architecture built with imperial riches. It is the primary city of a country which for most of the past few hundred years has been impoverished and subjugated. It exists on the fringes of Western Europe, and as such never developed the great rail networks which in turn spur on overall public transport.

Dublin, along with Ireland as a whole, does not have the historical glory of the cities with which many here seem eager to compare it. But it has come a hell of a long way. It remains plagued by issues and a lack of vision by its governing authorities -- but the vision is starting to slowly take shape and Dublin continues to punch way above its weight in the opportunity it provides. There is so much energy and ambition in the city right now and it can take years for the cumulative effect of that to translate into something tangible.

I have lived in Paris, London and Brussels and each city has much to love and much to hate. Dublin is a city whose strength has always been in its charming humbleness but I really find it difficult to take people seriously when they fail to acknowledge the vast improvement of the city even in the past 10 years never mind 20-30.

Hmmmm, I kind of agree but think you're a bit dismissive of Dublin, it does have some signs of grandeur and you can tell it has been important at times in history(Obviously very far back in Viking times which I don't know if you count) and later with the Normans and onto the later British Empire. IMO, you can tell it was an important city in the British Empire even if the claims of it being the second city of the empire are off the mark. It looks like a British city that has actually been given precedence by the powers to be. Remember Dublin was the first occupied territory in the Empire so it obviously had a significance for those in power.

Cody montana

I avoid Dublin like the plague.
The city center is very intimidating.

mick malones mauser

Cody Montana
I am sitting in Davy Byrnes enjoying a gin and tonic.
Beautiful summers evening. Lovely atmosphere
Dublin can be heaven

corner of hells

Cody montana wrote: »

I avoid Dublin like the plague.
The city center is very intimidating.

You're dead right .Are you wearing your Batman pyjamas ?

Giraffe Box

Bit of hush please for Mick Malones Mauser, away you go Mick:

For Dublin can be heaven
With coffee at eleven
And a stroll in Stephen's Green.
There's no need to hurry.
There's no need to worry.
You're a king and the lady's a queen.
Grafton Street's a wonderland.
There's magic in the air.
There's diamonds in the lady's eyes,
And gold dust in her hair,
And if you don't believe me,
Come and meet me there,
In Dublin on a sunny summer morning.

Yamanoto

Cody montana wrote: »

I avoid Dublin like the plague.

I avoid clichés like the plague.

A cliché to me is like a red rag to a bull.

wakka12

shakeitoff wrote: »

Hmmmm, I kind of agree but think you're a bit dismissive of Dublin, it does have some signs of grandeur and you can tell it has been important at times in history(Obviously very far back in Viking times which I don't know if you count) and later with the Normans and onto the later British Empire. IMO, you can tell it was an important city in the British Empire even if the claims of it being the second city of the empire are off the mark. It looks like a British city that has actually been given precedence by the powers to be. Remember Dublin was the first occupied territory in the Empire so it obviously had a significance for those in power.

Yeh funnily enough Dublin was quite important throughout history and was one of the bigger cities in the world in the 1800's, hard to believe today though, it was also renowened as being quite a grand/beautiful city despite having bad slums also

Dublin missed out on the big industrial population boom victorian era of the late 1800's and early 1900's that allowed ciites like paris and lonond and new york their grandeur though as technology and population had increased hugely by then

Look at this table for biggest cities in europe 1800
https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/4kdvo1/the_thirty_largest_cities_in_europe_by_population/
In the year 1800 Dublin was 6th biggest city in europe!
And given how europe held the lions share of the worlds population during that era(bar some of the middle east and east asia) dublin would have been one of the biggest cities in the world then, probably in top 20 or even top 10

StereoSound

Dublin city wasn't a lot different in the late 80's up until now... Structurally it looks 90% the same. The only difference was the old analogue parking meters and big giant mullets going around. Then again young people today have hair that's getting bigger and bigger by the day. Young fellas today around the city center with these haircuts that give them a foot extra to their height....lol

shakeitoff

wakka12 wrote: »

Yeh funnily enough Dublin was quite important throughout history and was one of the bigger cities in the world in the 1800's, hard to believe today though, it was also renowened as being quite a grand/beautiful city despite having bad slums also

Dublin missed out on the big industrial population boom victorian era of the late 1800's and early 1900's that allowed ciites like paris and lonond and new york their grandeur though as technology and population had increased hugely by then

Look at this table for biggest cities in europe 1800
https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/4kdvo1/the_thirty_largest_cities_in_europe_by_population/
In the year 1800 Dublin was 6th biggest city in europe!
And given how europe held the lions share of the worlds population during that era(bar some of the middle east and east asia) dublin would have been one of the biggest cities in the world then, probably in top 20 or even top 10

The earlier poster was pretty off the mark in fairness. Like you say, Dublin starts to lose it's prominence around the 19th century which I suppose you can see why people would view it as a secondary unimportant city because that's all it has been in recent history. It seems to only become a backwater once we achieve independence and the connection to the empire waned. It had one of the best transport systems in Europe as well at the start of the last century before it was dismantled. People talk about the slums that were the worst in Europe back then but that doesn't mean anything. Most of the powerful cities were blighted by massive inequality and to me the fact we had a huge population living in urban squalor, is an indication of Dublin's relative prominence.

cusser

mick malones mauser wrote: »

Cody Montana
I am sitting in Davy Byrnes enjoying a gin and tonic.
Beautiful summers evening. Lovely atmosphere
Dublin can be heaven

Alcohol and sunshine is the 'heavenly' factor.
For those rare Irish who do not drink, Dublin is a depressing city, for all the reasons mentioned.

shakeitoff

Nah, Dublin is the perfect location to compliment the sunshine and alcohol, around Grafton St is just amazing.

forward8

Its not a good sign that exactly half of the participants have voted saying it is a kip. Something tells me if this poll was conducted in Berlin , Paris, Lisbon , Rome or many other EU capitals the votes would have been predominantly no votes. I know I can't say that for a fact without stats but this polls results really highlights the state Dublin is in.

shakeitoff

Paris is far more of a kip than Dublin, we don't live far away from it, how people can have this romantic view of Paris is crazy.

*I love Paris but based on this threads criteria for a kip it fits most of the boxes

Sycamore Tree

shakeitoff wrote: »

Paris is far more of a kip than Dublin, we don't live far away from it, how people can have this romantic view of Paris is crazy.

*I love Paris but based on this threads criteria for a kip it fits most of the boxes

I hear this comment on this thread and I wonder what people are talking about. The centre of Paris is amazing and beautiful. It's a magical city and the city centre is very large. I go there 4 times a year and it never fails to enthrall me.

Now some of the suburbs of Paris are manky. But the city centre (Arrondissement 1-12) is fantastic.

Comparing the quays in Dublin to the quays of the Seine is like comparing 2 different worlds.

wakka12

Sycamore Tree wrote: »

I hear this comment on this thread and I wonder what people are talking about. The centre of Paris is amazing and beautiful. It's a magical city and the city centre is very large. I go there 4 times a year and it never fails to enthrall me.

Now some of the suburbs of Paris are manky. But the city centre (Arrondissement 1-12) is fantastic.

Comparing the quays in Dublin to the quays of the Seine is like comparing 2 different worlds.

And why even compare them? Paris was only able to look like that because of how the people who lived there enslaved millions of people around the world and brought the wealth back home
Oslo and Copenhagen are cute cities of more comparable terms and thats what dublin should aim for and could actually be

Richard Hillman

London: Knife Crime, Acid Attacks, Moped Gangs
Paris: No Go Areas, Migrant Gangs, Riots
Madrid: Prostitutes, Roma gypsies, Pick Pockets
Brussels: Migrants, No Go Areas, Luggage thefts
Berlin: Mass Sexual assaults
Rome: Run down, Migrant Gangs, Scammers, Pick Pockets

fatknacker

Stay away from O'Connell St, Parnell, the boardwalk and Talbot if you're afraid of the povs and garish shops. Every city has its eyesores and addicts.

Thankfully my favourire gallery is around that area and it's rarely overcrowded with tourists.

The "nicer" parts of the city have too many tourists in them so choose your poison - too many tourists or too many skangers.

wakka12

fatknacker wrote: »

Stay away from O'Connell St, Parnell, the boardwalk and Talbot if you're afraid of the povs and garish shops. Every city has its eyesores and addicts.

Thankfully my favourire gallery is around that area and it's rarely overcrowded with tourists.

The "nicer" parts of the city have too many tourists in them so choose your poison - too many tourists or too many skangers.

I really like Parnell Sq/north georges street..I think stoneybatter arbour hill blessington Phibsborough Grangegorman and some other areas around there are really nice charactered areas that are quite underrated too, Oconnell Street is sadly a bit of a hole though and along with other ****holes like Summerhill and Dominic St serve as a bit of a divide between the nicer southern areas and the nicer northern areas of the city centre

Ursus Horribilis

fatknacker wrote: »

Stay away from O'Connell St, Parnell, the boardwalk and Talbot if you're afraid of the povs and garish shops. Every city has its eyesores and addicts...

But those are the areas the tourists are directed to. Open up any guide book or website and you'll see the Ha'penny Bridge, the Spire, O'Connell Bridge etc. Arguably O'Connell Street is the main street of our capital city and it's really not what it should be. There should be no tolerance for the anti-social behaviour on the boardwalk or that the city centre is populated by drug addicts who are off their heads. You don't have to be Einstein to spot them either. Why are they allowed to roam free in the city centre? It's not a good look for the tourists and it's not great for those of us who live here either.

forward8

Ursus Horribilis wrote: »

But those are the areas the tourists are directed to. Open up any guide book or website and you'll see the Ha'penny Bridge, the Spire, O'Connell Bridge etc. Arguably O'Connell Street is the main street of our capital city and it's really not what it should be. There should be no tolerance for the anti-social behaviour on the boardwalk or that the city centre is populated by drug addicts who are off their heads. You don't have to be Einstein to spot them either. Why are they allowed to roam free in the city centre? It's not a good look for the tourists and it's not great for those of us who live here either.

Reminds me of when I was waiting for the 13 in town. A group of German tourists let out an audibal gasp walking passed a phone box, I took a peak in to see an adict with his underwear around his knees injecting into his groin. A garda car was at the red light at one point and I swear they just looked at him and drove off. Its become so normalized here unfortunately.

Ursus Horribilis

That sort of hands-off policing has come back to bite us in a big way. That sort of thing wouldn't be allowed happen back home in Germany.

BorneTobyWilde

I know people who wanted to visit Ireland for ages, they flew into Dublin and was like '' what is this sh it '' and flew out next day.
Dublin is nothing like Ireland, it's a concrete jungle of crime and hate.

Giraffe Box

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

I know people who wanted to visit Ireland for ages, they flew into Dublin and was like '' what is this sh it '' and flew out next day.
Dublin is nothing like Ireland, it's a concrete jungle of crime and hate.

Flew back out the very next day?
Tell us more please!

Giraffe Box

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

I know people who wanted to visit Ireland for ages, they flew into Dublin and was like '' what is this sh it '' and flew out next day.
Dublin is nothing like Ireland, it's a concrete jungle of crime and hate.

Ah, their names weren't Harry and Meghan by any chance?

corner of hells

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

I know people who wanted to visit Ireland for ages, they flew into Dublin and was like '' what is this sh it '' and flew out next day.
Dublin is nothing like Ireland, it's a concrete jungle of crime and hate.

A concrete jungle of hate and crime ?
Is that not MegaCity in Judge Dredd ?

BorneTobyWilde

Giraffe Box wrote: »

Flew back out the very next day?
Tell us more please!

True story. I'm not kidding.
She expected green fields and friendliness, she got concrete and evil stares, does anyone in Dublin smile, or is it all just a self protection thing to keep head down and not make eye contact.

Titzon Toast

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

I know people who wanted to visit Ireland for ages, they flew into Dublin and was like '' what is this sh it '' and flew out next day.
Dublin is nothing like Ireland, it's a concrete jungle of crime and hate.

I call BS on that.

GowlBagJohnson

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Dubs are just as bad as the English tbh, their a different breed altogether

Spanish Eyes

GowlBagJohnson wrote: »

Dubs are just as bad as the English tbh, their a different breed altogether

Ah well, never fear, there are only a few TRUE Dubs left anyway. Like me

zl1whqvjs75cdy

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

True story. I'm not kidding.
She expected green fields and friendliness, she got concrete and evil stares, does anyone in Dublin smile, or is it all just a self protection thing to keep head down and not make eye contact.

She expected green fields in the middle of a major urban centre? She should read up a bit more on her destination me thinks.

Sycamore Tree

The Gardaí absolutely turn a blind eye to the drug dealers and users in the city centre. I have seen it many times in the streets off O'Connell.
There should be a zero tolerance approach to the drug dealers in the city centre. The people of Dublin should be protesting at the indifference amongst our esteemed police force.

Annd9

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

True story. I'm not kidding.
She expected green fields and friendliness, she got concrete and evil stares, does anyone in Dublin smile, or is it all just a self protection thing to keep head down and not make eye contact.

The people who smile are the true dubliner's, the people you see keeping the head down are usually Spud wollopers who have just made a show of themselves trying to give a bus driver a €20 note and are now scrambling for change .

cusser

Also,
Having no train service from the airport to the city centre is beyond belief, in this day and age.
There is chaos regarding where, how and when one finds a bus from the airport to the city.
Bus drivers are predominantly non-Irish, barely speak English and exude hostility.
I imagine it is a stressful start for any foreigner visiting the Country, especially for those who have endured long-haul flights to get here.

corner of hells

cusser wrote: »

Also,
Having no train service from the airport to the city centre is beyond belief, in this day and age.
There is chaos regarding where, how and when one finds a bus from the airport to the city.
Bus drivers are predominantly non-Irish, barely speak English and exude hostility.
I imagine it is a stressful start for any foreigner visiting the Country, especially for those who have endured long-haul flights to get here.

Bus drivers being hostile , non Irish and barely speaking English has very little to do with Dublin.

Laneyh

redblaze wrote: »

Junkies everywhere and so many beggers it makes New York before Giuliani look mild. Plus a health service that genuinely makes me ashamed to be Irish, but I suppose that's a nationwide thing and not just Dublin.

I'm back in it and in shock after 15 months living in London, a city known for been quite rough in parts too. But it looks like a Summer's day in Florence compared to Dublin.

"Fair City" my arse.

wow 15 months you must know London like the back of your hand

gandalf

Dublin has it's bad points but also it's good ones. Because we live here everyday we tend to see the bad about the city and ignore the good points. I've traveled quite a bit and I don't believe Dublin is any worse than any major city I've been in. Every city has it's nice parts and its rough places.

Elmer Blooker

cusser wrote: »

Also,
Having no train service from the airport to the city centre is beyond belief, in this day and age.
There is chaos regarding where, how and when one finds a bus from the airport to the city.
Bus drivers are predominantly non-Irish, barely speak English and exude hostility.
I imagine it is a stressful start for any foreigner visiting the Country, especially for those who have endured long-haul flights to get here.

Lisbon (Portugal didn't join the EU until 20 years after we did) can have an underground from the airport into the city, the latest "plan" for Dublin is to take away people's gardens to widen roads for more traffic. How such incompetent dinosaurs are still in such high positions in the planning process in this country is mind boggling. Post-colonial cronyism is the only conclusion I can come to.

Chris_Heilong

The city still has a lot of culture, nice parks and beaches just a stone throw away, there are also many ethnic restaurants serving food as authentic as their home countries if you ask them for the non Irish dishes(Chinese restaurants are more authentic than what you can get in America even). People on a whole are actually decent enough also so I would say Dublin is not that bad.

PlaneSpeeking

The journey from my work place to Heuston Station, taking in either O'Connell St and 2 x LUAS or the Millennium Quarter and 1 x LUAS takes you past some seriously scummy individuals.

Cina

From reading this thread you'd swear Dublin was the world's largest drug-den that's completed dominated by junkies, crime, scumbags and has shootings on every street corner every day.

Or, you know, we could focus on reality and reality states that Dublin is very low in crime and according to Mercer is #34 in the livable cities index (so a lot higher than many other 1st world capitals).

Dublin isn't perfect but I swear it's just a typical Irish thing on boards and in general to sh*t all over whatever we have, even though what we have is largely pretty damn great overall.

PlaneSpeeking

Cina wrote: »

From reading this thread you'd swear Dublin was the world's largest drug-den that's completed dominated by junkies, crime, scumbags and has shootings on every street corner every day.

Or, you know, we could focus on reality and reality states that Dublin is very low in crime and according to Mercer is #34 in the livable cities index (so a lot higher than many other 1st world capitals).

Dublin isn't perfect but I swear it's just a typical Irish thing on boards and in general to sh*t all over whatever we have, even though what we have is largely pretty damn great overall.

Walk alone past the Spire at 2am in a designer jacket carrying an iPhone.

Guarantee you'll change your tune.

rossie1977

cusser wrote: »

Also,
Having no train service from the airport to the city centre is beyond belief, in this day and age.
There is chaos regarding where, how and when one finds a bus from the airport to the city.
Bus drivers are predominantly non-Irish, barely speak English and exude hostility.
I imagine it is a stressful start for any foreigner visiting the Country, especially for those who have endured long-haul flights to get here.

I agree but many more famous world cities don't have an airport train service e.g Rio (which held recent world cup and Olympics), Los Angeles, Cape Town.