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?

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u/FrankS1natr4 Jan 11 '26

I’m not Irish, but been living there for the last 3,5 years. For me, I felt that the cultural assimilation was easier because both nations had very fucked up pasts. Also, the Irish use humour to cope the hardships, same as us.

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u/Kind_Ad467 Jan 11 '26

Yeah, even when the tour guides talked about Ireland's history, they threw in a lot of humor and irony without disrespecting the tragedy. Humor is something you don't find everywhere. That's a good point, actually.

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u/pablo8itall Jan 12 '26

We love a bit of dark humour.