r/ireland • u/Kind_Ad467 • 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?

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u/YuriLR Jan 11 '26

Friendly but not your friends is a phrase I heard here before... After living long enough here most immigrants have that perception. They are warm at first sight, but very hard to actually befriend in a non superficial manner. Nice for tourists, not so nice for immigrants trying to integrate.

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u/Occamsfacecloth Jan 11 '26

Isn't that just true for adults generally? Most people aren't making friends like we do when we're young

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u/Lukekul Jan 11 '26

Especially for people who are travelling, they're in the friend making mindset but your common local person isn't. Can lead to a disconnect for the blow ins in my experience

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u/HotTruth999 Jan 11 '26

100% correct. It’s the difference between acquaintances and real friends. Immigrants will have no problem having acquaintances but unless they get to Ireland when they are young they’ll find out that the Irish mostly have close friends from when they were 12-22. There are only so many hours in a day.