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Due
to the rapid economic growth of Ireland in recent years, the country
has become one of social changes and cultural revival instead of a
rural and poor country in people’s minds. Ireland actually has a young
population, a rich cultural life and a growing economy, especially in
the area of new technologies. However, as a consequence of the
country’s rapid growth, the gap between the poor and the rich has
alarmingly increased. House prices in Dublin are so high that a major
part of the |
population cannot afford a property of their own, even
renting proves far too expensive most of the times. Although Ireland
has a very low rate of unemployment, probably one of the lowest in the
EU, it has only been four years that a minimum salary has been
introduced. As far as sexual matters are concerned, the declining power
of the church has provoked some kind of sexual liberation. Sex however
often remains taboo. Even though contraceptives such as the pill or
condoms are now freely available, even though divorce became legal in
1995, abortion still is not allowed (although women can go for an
abortion in the UK without being sued when they return) and sex is not
much talked about in public or in private. The Irish are welcoming in a
general way, although it might be a good idea not to talk about
religion and politics. Religious matters are still very much present in
older people’s minds, especially in rural areas. On the contrary, the
young are often radical and liberal in their reactions. English is the
main language to be spoken in Ireland. Although the Irish accent can
prove quite difficult to understand, especially when nearly every part
of the country has a specific accent, it is nonetheless a lovely one,
probably one of the nicest variants of English to hear. Irish is
however still very present and some areas known as Gaeltacht use it as
their official language. Irish is a gaelic language which could be
compared to Scottish and has many common points with the Welsh and
Breton languages. Officially, the Republic of Ireland is bilingual, ie
with both English and Irish. For this reason, most official documents
and road signs are written in both languages. One has to know that
until the Plantation period began, the various invaders of Ireland were
assimilated and adopted the Irish language. Then after it was
considered as the language of the poor and the British worked towards
its extinction. Nowadays, Irish is a compulsory subject at school. |
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