US billionaire calls out Ireland as "no one wants to live here"

runawaybishop

Whyever is he so negative about Ireland?

Recent employee feedback about Cloudflare on aggregation sites such as Glassdoor show negative remarks posted about international senior management, describing it as a “toxic” place to work.

Oh right, he's a cnut and doesn't like being called out on it. It's just his way of getting back at those uppity employees who dared to criticise him and his sycophant senior management team.

The food is an odd one for me seeing as it’s coming from an American. The weather and unfriendliness can’t be argued with.

For Forks Sake

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

The food is an odd one for me seeing as it’s coming from an American. The weather and unfriendliness can’t be argued with.

The dense hoore complains about the weather, yet it's our climate that makes an ideal location for (his) datacentres. Idiot.

For Forks Sake

Re. Paddy Cosgrove, there are many, many reasons to dislike the man, but we'll go with one of the more recent incidents, where he falsely and repeatedly claimed that four nurses had died, which was a complete falsehood.

The c*nt that cried wolf.

IAMAMORON

I think if they could at least make more off an effort to ditch the Champions League coverage midweek.

I respect that the BBC is out of our hands for the time being.

It is paralysing the entire nation.

For Forks Sake

For Forks Sake wrote: »

The dense hoore complains about the weather, yet it's our climate that makes an ideal location for (his) datacentres. Idiot.

Ideal weather for a data center doesn’t make it ideal weather for living in.

For Forks Sake

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Ideal weather for a data center doesn’t make it ideal weather for living in.

Apart from having datacentres here, do Cloudflare even have any operations or offices in this country?

https://www.glassdoor.ie/Location/All-Cloudflare-Office-Locations-E430862.htm

Seamai

I have in laws in Florida so we visit there regularly, I can honestly say that there is nothing in there that would want to make me live there, or any other part of the country for that matter, so I'm not overly offended by his comments.

buried

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Ideal weather for a data center doesn’t make it ideal weather for living in.

Its grand weather for living in Reg. Bit of rain and wind in the winter, sure what about it? Did these Silicon Valley dolls never hear of a coat or jacket? You'd think that some lad who has the term 'cloud' in his company name, he would be actually aware to what a real 'cloud' is capable of.

buried

buried wrote: »

Its grand weather for living in Reg. Bit of rain and wind in the winter, sure what about it? Did these Silicon Valley dolls never hear of a coat or jacket? You'd think that some lad who has the term 'cloud' in his company name, he would be actually aware to what a real 'cloud' is capable of.

It’s far from grand. It’s been miserable for months.

Mad_maxx

saabsaab wrote: »

There is a strong (sometimes too strong) rebellious streak in irish people. No deference to authority or those calling the shots, afraid to be seen as licking up.

thats overstated , we are very conformist and hate not being on the side of officially respectable positions

lawred2

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

It’s far from grand. It’s been miserable for months.

It's actually been a very nice autumn..

Are you out wesht?

Mad_maxx

saabsaab wrote: »

I saw a pub in Killarney throw a group of Germans out for drinking too slow!

probably Dingle ?

ReginaldSmythV

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

It’s far from grand. It’s been miserable for months.

And you, Reginald, have no doubt been miserable for years.

Autumn was fine as it happens, I've walked in Howth most weekends. One Sunday in November was miserable alright, but just one. Last year was much worse.

buried

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

It’s far from grand. It’s been miserable for months.

I thought the summer was grand, April and May were probably two of the best months weather wise we had. Granted you couldn't go far but you could still sit out and enjoy the really good weather. Summer wasn't great but it wasn't a total disaster either, not out west here anyways, I got away camping most weekends once the lockdown lifted and I wasn't straddled to a thermal or rain gear for them either. Autumn wasn't that bad either. Of course winter is going to be dark and bleak but you just deal with it. Its not like we are living in huts or anything. You prepare for the winter here to be what its going to be.

Mad_maxx

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

It’s far from grand. It’s been miserable for months.

september and october were both very good , November was very wet alright

Mad_maxx

Mad_maxx wrote: »

thats overstated , we are very conformist and hate not being on the side of officially respectable positions

We are both. My dad would bitch and moan about the catholic church when I was growing up and his family and close friends in the pub knew it.

In public though, amongst strangers, not a peep. Probably the same myself with the woke stuff. I'd keep my opinions to myself on pronouns in work.

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

And you, Reginald, have no doubt been miserable for years.

Novemember was fine as it happens, I've walked in Howth most weekends. One Sunday was miserable alright, but just one. Last year was much worse.

Could have won money on that reply, was all set up.

The wind and rain have barely stopped for months now. For all the things yer man said, you lot are fairly offended about the weather most of all. Very odd.

Mad_maxx

buried wrote: »

I thought the summer was grand, April and May were probably two of the best months weather wise we had. Granted you couldn't go far but you could still sit out and enjoy the really good weather. Summer wasn't great but it wasn't a total disaster either, not out west here anyways, I got away camping most weekends once the lockdown lifted and I wasn't straddled to a thermal or rain gear for them either. Autumn wasn't that bad either. Of course winter is going to be dark and bleak but you just deal with it. Its not like we are living in huts or anything. You prepare for the winter here to be what its going to be.

it was a poor summer in the West , first week of june were good after it was bone dry from St Patricks day , august was especially poor but its nearly always poor

Mad_maxx

Deleted User wrote: »

We are both. My dad would bitch and moan about the catholic church when I was growing up and his family and close friends in the pub knew it.

In public though, amongst strangers, not a peep. Probably the same myself with the woke stuff. I'd keep my opinions to myself on pronouns in work.

we are a people of complex contradictions , not corrupt in a big way like bulgaria or nigeria etc but not by the book like the Germans

we are anti authority in a philisophical sense alright but we are not an ideological people in the slightest so not many people go beyond " sure be grand " and revolt

buried

Mad_maxx wrote: »

it was a poor summer in the West , first week of june were good after it was bone dry from St Patricks day , august was especially poor but its nearly always poor

Ahh yeah, like I said, it wasn't great, but it sure wasn't cold I know that from camping. Spent a good few weekends camping in Clare in August, wasn't great but wasn't terrible, I got plenty of swims in the mighty Atlantic and after the initial 1 minute the sea was as warm as a heated pool. Was grand. You get used to it because you know what you are going to get and adapt to the changing scenario.

ReginaldSmythV

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Could have won money on that reply, was all set up.

The wind and rain have barely stopped for months now. For all the things yer man said, you lot are fairly offended about the weather most of all. Very odd.

I think most people agree with the weather point in general, we are not agreeing with you thinking the Autumn was bad because it wasn't.

buried

buried wrote: »

Ahh yeah, like I said, it wasn't great, but it sure wasn't cold I know that from camping. Spent a good few weekends camping in Clare in August, wasn't great but wasn't terrible, I got plenty of swims in the mighty Atlantic and after the initial 1 minute the sea was as warm as a heated pool. Was grand. You get used to it because you know what you are going to get and adapt to the changing scenario.

Wasn't it hot in September? A friend of mine decamped to the West for the summer, he worked from home and went there when restrictions were lessened. I was going to visit in mid September and he said it was pretty hot in Lahinch. I couldn't go that week and then the county travel restrictions came in. At the time it was cloudy in Dublin.

buried

Deleted User wrote: »

Wasn't it hot in September? A friend of mine decamped to the West for the summer, which still working from home when restrictions were lessened. I was going to visit in mid September and he said it was pretty hot in Lahinch. I couldn't go that week and then the country travel restrictions came in. At the time it was cloudy in Dublin.

I went back working in September fvp4, so I don't know what it was like in Clare, but my work is predominantly outside and I got loads done in September and October too. Wasn't great but it wasn't the pits some want to make out either.

whisky_galore

US food is sh1t.
No wonder many Yanks waddling around are the size that they are.

Mad_maxx

buried wrote: »

I went back working in September fvp4, so I don't know what it was like in Clare, but my work is predominantly outside and I got loads done in September and October too. Wasn't great but it wasn't the pits some want to make out either.

both months were good , especially october

Mad_maxx

whisky_galore wrote: »

US food is sh1t.
No wonder many Yanks waddling around are the size that they are.

**** coffee too

correct me if im wrong but is there less prevalence of independently owned cafes in america ?

i asked my sisters fiancee about it who is from New York and he said through much of the country its " Starbucks or nothing " ?

who would buy starbucks if they had the choice not to ?

ShatterAlan

monseiur wrote: »

Sadly most of us here in Ireland have a stereotypical image of Americans - that they're loud, live on burgers / fast food, are overweight etc. etc.
Most here have no concept of how big America really is - a flight from Florida to Alaska takes over 9 hours, travelling by air to Hawaii from say New York would take roughly 10 to 12 hours without leaving American air space.
There are almost as many types of Americans as there are different races on the planet - after all the place was built by emigrants.
Every state is almost like an independent country under one federal flag.
California for example has a bigger population than the whole of Canada.
The reality is that Ireland is a tiny rain sodden rock jutting out of the north Atlantic and if a tsunami wiped us off the face off the earth in the morning it would not make an iota of difference to world's economy, climate, demography etc. etc.
In global terms, we don't really matter as much as we seem to imagine at times.
Since the great famine we have been exporting our best and brightest and it's effects are obvious and sometimes it takes an outsider to give us a wake up kick in the posterior.

So effing what? Tokyo is just a city and it has about the same population as California. What does that mean or prove?


And does US airspace extend all the way from the West Coast all the way to the mid-Pacific? Maybe it does...I don't know...but again so what?


Every state is different? Really? I can't tell the difference between Ohio and Pennsylvania, Missouri and Kansas, Michigan and Illinois, North/South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming, except for the colour of the taxis, police cars and license plates.


Now there's obviously a big difference between Vermont and Nebraska......but when the weather is the same...they both look the same and they're 2000 miles apart.


America is so diverse that they don't need to travel the world because they have everything there. What bollocks.


Do they have lions that roam free like in the Serengeti or camels or penguins? Do they have the turtles of The Galapagos? Or the Great Barrier Reef or the villainous monkeys of Gibraltar? Of the high-speed trains of Osaka and Beijing?


"Yeah but we can see killer whales at SeaWorld"


I can see The Grand Canyon on TV...whoopee!

Wibbs

Mad_maxx wrote: »

thats overstated , we are very conformist and hate not being on the side of officially respectable positions

I would say yes MM, but IMHO it's more about our attitude to authority. On the one hand we bloody love it and seek it out, on the other we like to thumb our noses to it when we think it's not looking and think oursleves the "rebel Irish" when we're anything but. At least on home soil. The list of Irish men and women who go full on atomic rebel overseas is a long one. And not just politically, artistically too. I've long considered Ireland to be a great womb, but a lousy mother.

riclad

It's a UK and Irish challenge, many artists and writers go to America, if you can succeed there even on a small scale it's a big deal. Every state is different, there's blue states, red states, city's, small towns,
Living in Texas is very different from living in New York
or washington or Idaho.
It depends on the economy, when the economy is booming I don't think every bright young person just go's to America
Trumps America is not a particularly friendly
place
Hopefully things will get better with Biden becoming
president
Many business people may not like Ireland because
taxs are higher than an average US city and unions
are more powerful here
Every state has different tax rates laws on gun control etc
Eg new York is Liberal Texas is conservative
The reason trump was elected was he got alot of support from rural flyover states that have industrys
like coal in decline

buried

Wibbs wrote: »

I would say yes MM, but IMHO it's more about our attitude to authority. On the one hand we bloody love it and seek it out, on the other we like to thumb our noses to it when we think it's not looking and think oursleves the "rebel Irish" when we're anything but. At least on home soil. The list of Irish men and women who go full on atomic rebel overseas is a long one. And not just politically, artistically too. I've long considered Ireland to be a great womb, but a lousy mother.

I'd say its more our attitude to actual real 'responsibility' IMO Wibb's. I think this is probably the best place in the world to live, as long as you control a real semblance of actual responsibility for your actions, in every facet of life. Every opportunity is there for anyone to advance themselves in any way that they want. The state itself, and I give out about it a lot, but our state does provide every single person in this country the opportunity to do this. No matter who you are or where you come from. You just have to take it yourself. Be responsible for yourself. This includes vapid stuff like 'food' and the 'weather'. Prepare your own gaff for any of these things here and you can advance and get by. This Prince Cloudfare lad talks like he expects everything to be delivered to him on a plate. But sure maybe that's how he lived his life from the get go, everything handed to him.

rossie1977

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Ideal weather for a data center doesn’t make it ideal weather for living in.

Where on planet has ideal weather?

We all complain but we don't have ice storms like parts of Canada, stupidly hot weather and drought/wild fires like most of western US/Australia. We don't have hurricanes or tornadoes, no monsoon season.

Irish weather is far from perfect but there is nowhere off top my my head with utopian weather. Norway and New Zealand it rains more than here.

Austria!

It's hard to judge this man's comments without knowing the wider context i.e. does he have any access to my internet browsing history? If he does, then I agree with every word and only wish I was half as handsome as he is.

mandrake04

rossie1977 wrote: »

Where on planet has ideal weather?

We all complain but we don't have ice storms like parts of Canada, stupidly hot weather and drought/wild fires like most of western US/Australia. We don't have hurricanes or tornadoes, no monsoon season.

Irish weather is far from perfect but there is nowhere off top my my head with utopian weather. Norway and New Zealand it rains more than here.

I live in Sydney and on average it rains 1300mm per year which is nearly same as Co. Kerry 1400mm, Dublin only gets 760mm.

In saying Sydney gets 2592 hours of yearly sunshine where Dublin 1453 hours.

mandrake04

mandrake04 wrote: »

I live in Sydney and on average it rains 1300mm per year which is nearly same as Co. Kerry 1400mm, Dublin only gets 760mm.

In saying Sydney gets 2592 hours of yearly sunshine where Dublin 1453 hours.

Casement Aerodrome gets a mere 711mm a year.

But lack of sunlight is the real reason Ireland seems to have worse weather than it does, it is gloomy. But much of coastal Northern Europe is similarly gloomy.

Kaybaykwah

Wibbs wrote: »

I would say yes MM, but IMHO it's more about our attitude to authority. On the one hand we bloody love it and seek it out, on the other we like to thumb our noses to it when we think it's not looking and think oursleves the "rebel Irish" when we're anything but. At least on home soil. The list of Irish men and women who go full on atomic rebel overseas is a long one. And not just politically, artistically too. I've long considered Ireland to be a great womb, but a lousy mother.

It was yer man Jimmie Jyce used ta call it "the sow that eats her farrrow".

Elite Genetics

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Casement Aerodrome gets a mere 711mm a year.

But lack of sunlight is the real reason Ireland seems to have worse weather than it does, it is gloomy. But much of coastal Northern Europe is similarly gloomy.

It's not. The only place with worse weather than Ireland is Iceland. Every other country in eu gets significantly more sunshine. You don't realise that until you actually go there for summer and you feel like you are in a different world when you get constant sunshine for 3 months and can actually make plans for the weekends.

Kaybaykwah

ShatterAlan wrote: »

So effing what? Tokyo is just a city and it has about the same population as California. What does that mean or prove?


And does US airspace extend all the way from the West Coast all the way to the mid-Pacific? Maybe it does...I don't know...but again so what?


Every state is different? Really? I can't tell the difference between Ohio and Pennsylvania, Missouri and Kansas, Michigan and Illinois, North/South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming, except for the colour of the taxis, police cars and license plates.


Now there's obviously a big difference between Vermont and Nebraska......but when the weather is the same...they both look the same and they're 2000 miles apart.


America is so diverse that they don't need to travel the world because they have everything there. What bollocks.


Do they have lions that roam free like in the Serengeti or camels or penguins? Do they have the turtles of The Galapagos? Or the Great Barrier Reef or the villainous monkeys of Gibraltar? Of the high-speed trains of Osaka and Beijing?


"Yeah but we can see killer whales at SeaWorld"


I can see The Grand Canyon on TV...whoopee!

Well, even when the weather is the same, or similar, Vermont and Nebraska as per your example, are very different. Vermont is very green and mostly hilly, and Nebraska is mostly flat and drier. These make for very different mentalities in the long run. Vermonters have a very nordic outlook on life, have more socialist values than most other rural states in the US. Their neighboring states of Maine, New York and New Hampshire are very different in a lot of ways, too.

I live next door to these states, and there are immediately noticeable differences when entering the US, but the same can be said of Quebec and Ontario, and the other provinces...

seenitall

https://worldhappiness.report/assets/images/2020/whr-2020-ch-02-fig-2-1-part1.png

https://worldhappiness.report/assets/images/2020/whr-2020-ch-02-fig-2-1-part2.png

https://worldhappiness.report/assets/images/2020/whr-2020-ch-02-fig-2-1-part3.png

Not doing too shabbily, Ireland!

Elite Genetics

Elite Genetics wrote: »

It's not. The only place with worse weather than Ireland is Iceland. Every other country in eu gets significantly more sunshine. You don't realise that until you actually go there for summer and you feel like you are in a different world when you get constant sunshine for 3 months and can actually make plans for the weekends.

Scotland is also a lot gloomier than Ireland. And the UK as a whole is pretty much the same, although London and the south east is better.

When I say coastal Northern Europe I specifically said that, rather than name countries for a reason. Coastal north Germany is different from even central Germany. A few hundred miles makes a big difference.

I'll post an image on this tomorrow. All of Europe is pretty bad though, compared to the US, even Spain and Italy dont come near the sunniness of the best parts of the US.

That said cloud cover doesnt stop you doing anything. And the East of Ireland isnt all that wet.

Ardillaun

Elite Genetics wrote: »

Quoting crap weather and unfriendliness.

I think what he means by no one wants to live here is that the Irish themselves run away to Australia and Canada.

I'm very happy in Canada but the weather isn't what keeps me here. The local golf season is 5 months max after which the whole thing closes down completely.

One special pleasure on trips home to Ireland - beef and ham sandwiches. Not the same over here at all. Restaurant fare in Ireland has also come on by leaps and bounds since I left. Which I take personally.

Elite Genetics

Ardillaun wrote: »

I'm very happy in Canada but the weather isn't what keeps me here. The local golf season is 5 months max after which the whole thing closes down completely.

One special pleasure on trips home to Ireland - beef and ham sandwiches. Not the same over here at all. Restaurant fare in Ireland has also come on by leaps and bounds since I left. Which I take personally.

Good summer is guaranteed in Canada, while you wouldn't be surprised if you get 12 months of crap in Ireland and hope to get a good summer.

Elite Genetics

buried wrote: »

Its grand weather for living in Reg. Bit of rain and wind in the winter, sure what about it? Did these Silicon Valley dolls never hear of a coat or jacket? You'd think that some lad who has the term 'cloud' in his company name, he would be actually aware to what a real 'cloud' is capable of.

So if that doesn't matter, you could go and live in Siberia, Alaska or whatever. Just wear more clothes, the weather doesn't matter.

Elite Genetics

ShatterAlan wrote: »

The guy's gripe about the food is weird.


I lived in NY and never once did I get a decent salad in 7 years. I've never seen Cos lettuce in the US, just tasteless, watery iceberg lettuce. Combine that with tasteless GM tomatoes, onions, chick peas, slather the lot in sugar-laden 1000 island dressing and that's the best you get.
There are some great restaurants in NY......I love NY chinese food. But maybe it's laced with MSG. I also have a soft spot for those obnoxious, oversized deli hero sandwiches...but they cater more to gluttony than to taste-buds. As I mentioned in a previous post the staples in the US are awful. Bread, butter, milk, eggs, cheese, fruit, veg, it's all very poor quality or chemically/hormone enhanced or ruined with pesticides.



As for "friendliness".....he probably bases this on the fact that he went to a restaurant and the waitress didn't beam like a jester and blow smoke up his arse at every opportunity just to fish for tips. Like wise he probably went into a pub and did the usual "My grandfather was from County GAL-way" and got the piss taken out of him and he didn't like it.


His comments about the weather are childish too. It's all a matter of opinion and it's all relative.


Is the weather in the US great? Well what are we talking about here. I had many American ask me about the weather in Ireland and I told them that in winter it doesn't really drop below the mid 30's (F) and in summer it rarely gets much higher than about 75...normally high 60's and it rains generally once a week on average. And they exclaimed "Wow, so that's just perfect then" Go figure.


Where would you rather be in winter? Ireland or Alaska/Minnesota? Where would you rather be in July/August? Wicklow or Arizona?

I'd rather be in Alaska/Minnesota/Russia/Canada over the winter because it is so easy to protect yourself from the cold, you wear a base layer and a jacket, and that's it. The cold is completely different from Ireland, as it is so damp and wet, you progressively get colder over time, imagine jumping into a river then walking around in -5 temperature while in Canada, you would get this amazing dry, fresh cold that doesn't make you feel miserable over time. -5 in Ireland for me is way colder than -20 anywhere else. It's also very windy and rainy which adds to the difficulty.

In regards to summer, why Wicklow or Arizona are the only choices? My personal choice is Arizona of course, you'll always find a a way to cool yourself, while getting warm is much more difficult and energy consuming. But I'd take Paris, London, NYC... over Dublin anytime in summer. Dublin also has the best weather in Ireland with least amount of rain, anywhere west of Dublin is a different story, rain for majority of the days of the year.

Dempo1

jackboy wrote: »

I don’t get why Paddy is so disliked in Ireland. The only people he has a go at are corrupt politicians and other wealthy dodgy characters.

Don't you recall his little tantrum when government refused to continue to subsidise his highly profitable Web seminar, he then proceeded if I recall to belittle all things Irish, Lisbon hasn't worked out so well. I do however share his distain for FG

Dempo1

whisky_galore wrote: »

US food is sh1t.
No wonder many Yanks waddling around are the size that they are.

Fair point, I actually worked there as a chef in a teaching capacity and the food was pretty appalling, one item was there way of preparing mash potato, it was just god awful sludge and most didn't fully remove the skin. You really had to go to high end ethnic restaurants, Italian, Indian Chinese etc to find quality food.

whisky_galore

Mad_maxx wrote: »

**** coffee too

correct me if im wrong but is there less prevalence of independently owned cafes in america ?

i asked my sisters fiancee about it who is from New York and he said through much of the country its " Starbucks or nothing " ?

who would buy starbucks if they had the choice not to ?

If you saw various videos of Yanks making British "tea". Fcuk me they have no taste buds.

Hamachi

His points on the food and the weather are rubbish. As others have pointed out, the food in Ireland is generally decent and pretty healthy, assuming you’re not hitting the chipper every night. The weather is what it is. My hobbies are mainly outdoors-oriented and it’s very rare that I’m prevented from getting out for a run.

However, I do think he touched on something with the unfriendliness comment. About half my colleagues are foreigners and I’ve heard this complaint too many times for there not to be some kernel of truth in it.

Granted, some of them don’t do themselves any favors. The p***ing and moaning about the minutiae of Irish life doesn’t exactly endear them to the locals. There is also a tendency to fall into ex-pat circles, negating the opportunity to make Irish friends.

Having said all that, I have a Brazilian colleague who has been here about 5 years. A genuinely lovely guy who has made countless efforts to make Irish friends. He’s joined sports clubs, toastmasters, and even tried learning Irish. All this effort hasn’t yielded much in the way of results. The only Irish friends he’s made remain a few of us colleagues in the office. To be honest, it’s not a great testament to the alleged Irish friendliness.

Personally, I also find Irish friendships pretty shallow in general. They’re all about getting out for pints or whatever. I lived abroad for many years and found the friendships I developed there, albeit fewer, to have more substance. This was brought home to me during lockdown where I’ve been in regular contact with foreign friends, but I haven’t heard a peep from a couple of my Irish friends of 20 years standing.

Just my 2 cents..

jackboy

Hamachi wrote: »

Having said all that, I have a Brazilian colleague who has been here about 5 years. A genuinely lovely guy who has made countless efforts to make Irish friends. He’s joined sports clubs, toastmasters, and even tried learning Irish. All this effort hasn’t yielded much in the way of results. The only Irish friends he’s made remain a few of us colleagues in the office. To be honest, it’s not a great testament to the alleged Irish friendliness.

I think there is an age thing at play in general. Young Irish people up to their mid twenties will readily make lots of friends as they want people to party and do things with. Once Irish people get a partner or children they don’t need real friends anymore and just don’t have the time. That is why work friends are great as you can just forget about them when the workday is done.

Hamachi

jackboy wrote: »

I think there is an age thing at play in general. Young Irish people up to their mid twenties will readily make lots of friends as they want people to party and do things with. Once Irish people get a partner or children they don’t need real friends anymore and just don’t have the time. That is why work friends are great as you can just forget about them when the workday is done.

Good point and age is definitely a factor. We’re all in our 30s. However, having a partner and children isn’t unique to Ireland. People in other countries also get busy and become time poor as they get a little older.

What is pretty noticeable here is that Irish people do shut down when their lives become busier. As you say, they have no need for or interest in developing friendships after a certain age. From my experience abroad, I didn’t notice this same degree of ‘shut down’ at 25 or 30. My own circle of friends abroad spanned 20-somethings to lads in their 50s. This isn’t something you see very much in Ireland.