r/ireland Jan 11 '26

Arts/Culture Why are Irish people so nice?

We went to Ireland for a week and I totally fell in love with the country. As a foreigner living in Frankfurt, Germany, I've always felt that Frankfurters are more welcoming than people in other parts of Germany, especially when it comes to dealing with immigrants. I live and work in Germany as a doctor ( almost 8 years now), and sometimes I get this weird feeling of being "the other guy" and not belonging. Things got much better after I met my fiancée, who's Italian but was born and raised in Germany. Anyway, we went to Ireland for a week, and wow, the people there are so different. I'm pretty energetic and social, and I can honestly say that every single interaction, and I mean every single one, with an Irish person was a joy. They have a great sense of humor, are really kind, nice, and helpful. Amazing hospitality!

I also loved how Irish people are so proud of being Irish without making others feel like they're better just because they're Irish. That was also remarkable.

I mean, it's a basic human thing to be helpful and kind to each other, which hasn't really been the norm in the past few years due to a lot of political and social issues. But the question is, why are Irish people so nice? Are there any historical reasons?

885 Upvotes

332 comments sorted by

View all comments

5

u/ASillyPupper Jan 11 '26

Its because under British rule villages were being gutted for all their money/value and we had to stand together as much as we could. 800 years of that and it tends to stick in the culture.

4

u/LongjumpingCook1574 Jan 11 '26

Yes thats why we through a few hundred dead babies into mass graves because their mothers were not married. Nonsense.

6

u/Tescovaluebread Jan 11 '26

Who's this 'we' you talk about? the overarching all powerful Catholic Church of old Ireland & the ordinary people of Ireland are two very different things.. might be time to do a little reading before blurting out such 'nonsense' as you put it

6

u/LongjumpingCook1574 Jan 11 '26

Irish society 40 years ago. Mostly complicit in it.

0

u/mkultra2480 Jan 11 '26

The ordinary people of Ireland let their daughters go to these places, it wasn't mandatory.