Why are Irish not meaner?

We didn't have a great famine, there was plenty of food in the country at the time which was shipped out of the country to Britain, it was genocide.

You're a fret so you are with your ould slur on Cavan people.

Everyone knows they are an odious dacent breed of person.

Aye theres divil the lie in the truth.

When something bad happens, and you get shafted, most decent folks determine that they will ensure they don’t behave in that same manner towards another person. They operate on a mindset and platform of generosity.

the Irish in general, when they have an opportunity to help, do. It’s in our DNA…

yet, despite billions being spent on new arrivals you still have people clamouring for an end to direct provision.

looks like that is going to happen… the cost to the Irish taxpayers is according to governments own figures.. an extra 672 million euros.

Being mean is one thing… being prudent and knowing when to say enough isn’t mean, it’s responsible…

Catholic country. We're big on charity. Those other stingy parts of Europe are probably protestant. Like Scotland.

Edit - In case anyone wants to talk about the huge number of atheists in the latest census, I mean we are culturally catholic. Ingrained in the DNA. We mighnt believe in God, but we go to Mass at Xmas, get married in churches and believe in helping those who are worse off than ourselves.

Why is meanness so annoying? I know someone who always pays her way but is mind bogglingly stingy in her own life. I don’t know why it annoys me so much when it doesn’t impact me at all.

People won’t get ‘mean’ they’ll just have to start putting a greater emphasis on looking after their wellbeing and that of family and loved ones.

I was reading recently that people whom are mistreated in their early years are more prone to kindness and generosity in later life as they know what it's like to be treated like dirt, not sure how true it is but if it is maybe its in the national psyche to spread kindness and generosity to make up for our shìtty past

My father always said its the ones that could barely afford it would pay you first for a job, i suppose they didn't want a bill hanging over their heads

People get obsessed with Money as well, more they have the more so.

I do work for a man who will probably have an income of 350k this year, Money is all to him.

By built in to our DNA do you mean that generous people had an elevoritony advanrtage and this altered our genetics in just a few hundred years?

Neither a borrower nor a lender be.. is the phrase. There's two sides to that but if more people used that as a guide in life, we would have avoided the greed, over borrowing and defaulting that went with the Celtic Tiger. Those in favour of being flathulach with money are often the same as those who expect others to pick up the tab for them.

I remember as a kid, my father's van got robbed. He was about 1 year in business and his van and tools were essential for his business. The van was recovered, but it cost a lot to fix. Unfortunately, the tools were not insured as there was no policy at that time which would cover tools (this was back in the 80s).

He was devastated, his tools cost about £3,000 (probably around 15-20k in todays money) and he was resigned to his business going under. Around a week later, a neighbour called to the door and handed him an envelope with around £3,500 in it. He said they did a whip around in the estate, and word went to other estates - everyone donated to help him out. No big ceremony - he just handed the envelope and wished him luck in getting back on his feet.

I never saw my father crying until this point, and he was absolutely gobsmacked by the generosity of our neighbours. We were not from a rich area, it was a place with a lot of young families and money was tight for most. He was always generous with his time, and tools when required, and it came back in spades at that difficult time.

I often find when you visit other Countries, a lot of people in them only care about money, I think most Irish people know its good to have money but its not the most important thing in life, its more important to enjoy life and we use money to do that, its not our god.

That is why Americans love McGregor they just see the money he has, while most Irish people cant stand him now, no matter how rich he is, we don't care.

I get so bored when people try to talk to me about money, id rather spend it with friends and family than obsess over it and be miserable with it.

It seems like some people actually believe they can take their money with them.