Ireland of the welcomes

Returning to Ireland after many years abroad is a strange experience. I know, I’ve tried it recently and it’s not much fun.

Coming back is more difficult than arriving in a new country for the first time. I can only imagine what new immigrants make of the place but the returning exile has the added twist of remembering what the place was like before. Any expectations I had of finding a friendly and civilised place were shattered soon after arrival. I find myself comparing the present with old memories like someone clinging to pathetic bits of ancient luggage.

The old place was shambolic, inefficient and dirty. So nothing much has changed then, you might say? Things have changed almost beyond recognition, in some respects for the better, but in some ways definitely for the worse. The old informality and friendliness has been replaced with a frantic scramble for wealth (or survival). Civility is forgotten. Daily life in Dublin and the commuter belt is marked by levels of aggression that would put New Yorkers to shame. So much energy is devoted to pursuing careers and advancement there has been a noticeable loss of respect for the individual. People who have little respect for themselves have none at all for anyone else. Serious violent crime is so common it's hardly noticed.

Sources of public information and help which are freely available in other countries hardly exist in Ireland. Try inquiring about the relative merits of various schools from official sources. It’s an experience which tells a lot about the contemptuous attitude of the Irish public “service” towards the people it allegedly serves. Try claiming your right to reciprocal treatment under the EU social provisions in the Irish healthcare sector and you will experience a level of official contempt more suited to a serial criminal.

One might expect the country, having shaken off the poverty of the past, would be a more confident, happier place. Wealth and progress are to be celebrated, after all. It is an unpleasant surprise that Irish society, having had a massive injection of capital, resources and people, is now going through a kind of adolescent phase with all the attitude and identity problems that implies. Old nostrums about national identity and character have lost their meaning. Some of this is welcome. The old Ireland was smug, introverted and frustrating for all but a favoured elite, but the chaos which has replaced it is hardly much better. There is work to be done in creating a new concept of national identity, one which is dynamic, transcends racial boundaries and, above all, is capable of delivering happiness and fulfilment. Irish people, like people everywhere, need more than purely monetary wealth if the country is to continue to progress and develop successfully.

The past serves as a very poor guide to the future in early 21st century Ireland. The middle class has exploded in numbers while accumulating previously unimaginable wealth and sophistication. Internationally mobile commuters spread their work and domestic lives across national boundaries. Vast numbers of wage-slaves crawl in huge migrations back and forth across the country each day. The most culturally significant wave of immigration since the arrival of the Tuatha de Danaan has provided us with Brazilian football teams in Galway, Russian and Chinese newspapers in Dublin and large Polish communities in Cork and Limerick. All these newly emerging forces, and many others, are jostling for position. There are few navigation points in national culture or history to guide us in this strange new world so we must make up new ones fitted to current and future needs.

One of the happier surprises is that the spirit of civility and neighbourliness which used to be a hallmark of Irishness still survives in the remoter parts of the country and, notably, in Northern Ireland. There are still many intractable political and economic problems in the North but the basic elements of civilised life are more freely available than one might expect after all the years of hostility and destruction. Northern Ireland in 2007 bears out an old Irish notion that wealth is not merely a question of accumulating money. Personal happiness and fulfilment are at least as important.

Being an Irish exile in Ireland gives me a unique perspective but I cannot help wondering about the experiences of foreigners arriving here for the first time. I have heard some appalling stories of hardship and some gratifying tales of kindness being extended to people in need, scattered signs perhaps that all is not lost in the scramble to ride the Celtic Tiger.
I intend to produce a more updates, focusing on specific areas such as health, transport, economics etc. Comments & ideas welcome.