This 5km restriction malarkey....

 Yep, still in Ireland.  Actually, I can't think of a better place to be riding out this Covid-19 thingy.  Luckily I still have my job, the weather is getting nicer, and the vaccines are being rolled out (slowly, but surely).  I completely agree with the restrictions the Irish government have put in place, but I'm getting weary.  So are many others around here....weary to the point of taking the piss.  The amount of traffic on the roads is way, way higher than it should be if people are taking essential trips only within their 5km radius.  Main street Greystones seems as busy as it always was pre-Covid.

Anyways, to stay sane we are really taking advantage of forest walks, almost always staying within our 5km (ok, maybe stretching it to 8km).  Almost daily walks up in the foothills of the Wicklow Mountains has kept us sane.

In two days the restrictions are being relaxed and now we'll be able to venture within our country for exercise.  I can't wait to get back up in the hills of Wicklow!

The Greystones building boom...

So you may have noticed that I wrote a post about 11 years ago about doing the Bray to Greystones hike in Co. Wicklow, and then complaining about the monstrosity being built in Greystones harbour.  That must have been foreshadowing, because in 2011 we moved to Greystones.  We rented for a while, and then bit the bullet to buy before my age really made it impossible to secure a mortgage.

Now Greystones has a bit of a problem.  It is a lovely place, and everyone knows it.  For years it was probably too far out from Dublin to commute, but then they extended the DART to the village and improved some of the access roads.  Now everyone (us included) wants to live in Greystones (apparently voted the World's Most Livable Community at some ceremony or other).  It really does have a lot going for it....on the beach, nice main street, friendly people (for the most part), but not enough pubs if I'm honest.

As the 'Great Recession' drew to a close, developers who had lots of land around the town started building massive housing estates.  Fair enough, loads of people want to live here so who am I to complain when we did the same thing (we bought an old cottage, not in the new estates).  But, it really does seem to be losing some of its allure that brought us here in the first place.  Lots more traffic, and buses and trains are packed.  Schools are oversubscribed, but that's a whole other story for another day.  It's still a lovely place, but the harbour development is still not finished, and quite frankly is a bit crap.  Oh yeah, house prices are daylight robbery as well.  My long-held disgust with Irish estate agents keeps getting worse.... Cowboys, Ted, Cowboys.

Photo stolen from Wikipedia apparently taken by someone called moptoptv.

and....10 years later

So I started blogging here way back in 2009 when I was newly arrived in Ireland.  We're still here, loving it, bought a house a while back, and now have an almost 10 year old Irish boy.

I'm not sure why I stopped blogging, it's not like I ran out of things to say.  I probably lost the password, got too busy with a small child and pressures at work.  Anyways, figured out the password, kid now occupies himself with an XBOX 360, and yesterday was the first day in 2 months that I ventured into the office.

This whole Covid-19 thing has got me with some spare time on my hands and a few new things to talk about, so the plan is to continue to blog here about my not-so-newly adopted home of Ireland.  In the 12 years that we've been here lots has changed....the recession sort of ended only to be restarted abruptly, politics are still only moderately ridiculous (but now I'm used to it), and the country really does now feel like home.  Yes, still have a huge part of my heart in Canada, but feeling more and more like the Irish everyday.  My good friend Caroline said a while back, ' a sure, you're one of us now'.  Best compliment I've had in quite a while.

A couple of photos from Kerry

These photos will have to do until I get my writing mojo back.

I haven't done much posting obviously for the past 6 months, but hope to soon.

Lots of new topics to chat about....so stay tuned.

Stephen

Here comes the budget!

Today is Budget Day in Ireland. And boy is it going to be a tough one, probably the toughest budget in Irish history. Ya see, there's a significant hole in public finances after the job and construction markets collapsed and also the banks were bailed out. The government needs to make public spending cutbacks of €4 billion. That may not sound like a lot but for a small country with drastically reduced tax intake and an economy that has been absolutely battered, that's a lot.

So where are these cuts going to come from? Well, our illustrious leader, Brian Cowan, is taking a €60,000 paycut, but he'll still be one of the highest paid leaders in Europe. So that's a start at least. Most of the cuts will likely come from paycuts to the public sector as well as decreases in social assistance payments (which again, are currently among the highest in Europe).

We found a really stinging way that the government is trying to make up some lost revenue as well. A leaflet was posted through our letterbox yesterday for a town meeting to discuss the plans a local businessman has to develop some land in the centre of town...for a bigger supermarket and apartments on top. According to the leaflet, if you want to submit an objection to any planning application in the county (may apply across the country, don't know for sure), you must include €20 with your objection. Completely ridiculous, €20 to participate in public governance?

Apparently there will be no tax increases in this budget.

Stay tuned. And don't be surprised if there is an election around the corner in Ireland.

Ways to boost tourism

An article today in the RTE website talks of strategies to boost tourism in Ireland. Apparently Tourism Ireland hopes to boost the number of visitors by 3% next year, after a 12% drop in visitors in 2009 (that's 600,000 fewer visitors!). Apparently the strategy will focus on luring British and German tourists to our fair isle.

The article also admits there was a 25% drop in visitors from Britain last year, likely as many people are opting for 'staycations' during these tough economic times.

What the article doesn't state, and I haven't looked elsewhere for reasons, is why tourists aren't coming to Ireland. I've got a few ideas, so here goes.

The exchange rate and the cost of everything. Currently the pound sterling is worth about €1.10, making rough approximations as to the cost of things fairly valid. So, with this in mind, and in general people with less disposable income, I think the question should be 'why the hell are people still coming to Ireland? Hotels are expensive and often not up to the same standards as Britain or the US, car hire is expensive, eating out fairly ridiculous, and the price of a pint in Temple Bar should send every tourist scurrying back to the airport pronto.

The inconvenience of it all. Yeah, I know I complain about the inconveniences of daily life here, and that probably comes from living in Canada and the USA for too long. But it is so true! Public transport is inefficient, the roads network is good in places and quite poor in others, shopping can often be a struggle, and government services are dated on concepts from the 70s (not that tourists see that). Some people see these inconveniences as quaint, which I suppose they could be if you're here for a 2 week holiday, but they can become annoying if you life here.

So why do people come to Ireland for a vacation? I would think two main reasons. First, the scenery. Absolutely beautiful mountains, coastlines....even the bogs are gorgeous. The cultural scenery is great too (churches, ruins etc.), but I'm not sure its anything better than they already have in the UK. Most tourist spots are woefully unprepared for large numbers of tourists though. I've taken coach loads of students on trips to the west coast, and just try finding somewhere with public toilets, or where you can get a meal for 30 people on the spur of the moment.

The second reason I think would be heritage. I've stopped counting the number of people I've bumped into (mainly Americans) who are over here seeing where their forebearers came from. Mostly older and likely with a bit of disposable income and looking for a bit of comfort on their travels. The recent economic conference at Farmleigh called on the diaspora to come home to Ireland (either physically or at least to support financially), yet there appears to be no organized effort to help this along. I think a big campaign in America to get people over here for a visit would do wonders.....let's call it Come Home to Ireland - 2012. Making it two years from now should give us a bit of time to scrub up, remove some graffiti, finish a few roads, and to allow the floodwaters to drop.