A new multi-cultural Dublin
 In Dublin you can hardly hear any English. The
city centre is filled with traffic fit for a true metropolis and you are
surrounded by excited conversations in Spanish, French, Italian and Polish.
Dublinis bustling. The streets are crowded; restaurants and pubs are full at
all hours. It’s a big city in a small space, like London
squeezed into Camden or Soho.
On the streets of Dublin
the close and complicated relationship with the British can be sensed in
architecture, traffic planning, monuments and street names. The long-lasting
economic boom makes business blossom and the shopping possibilities, variety of
restaurants and selection of pubs never-ending.
Ireland was stated as the
least developed country in Europe before
joining the European Union in 1973. With the help of EU grants and foreign
investments, the 1990’s saw the rise of the Irish economy and the boom it’s
still riding on, “The Celtic Tiger”. Now Ireland is one of the world’s
wealthiest nations. Low corporate taxation has attracted international
companies, and a surplus of jobs creates immigration. Workforce pours in from
“lesser” European economies such as Germany,
France, Spain, Italy,
Poland and the UK. Dublin, its capital city, competes with the likes of Paris and London for the
title of most multicultural city in Europe.
And one of these days it just might win.
03-31-2008
in - Dublin -  E-Mail This Article -  Comments -
|
Historic handshake in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland leader Ian
Paisley and the head of state of the Irish Republic, President Mary McAleese,
shook hands Monday for the first time — another symbolic milestone on Ireland's
road to reconciliation.
Paisley, 81, for decades
rejected any role for the Irish Republic in Northern
Ireland, a predominantly Protestant part of the United Kingdom.
Last year, he accused McAleese of being a deceitful politician who talked
nicely in public but privately loathed Northern Ireland's Protestant
majority.
Since taking the helm of a
new Catholic-Protestant administration in Belfast
four months ago, First Minister Paisley has demonstrated a sudden zeal for
cooperating with the predominantly Roman Catholic south.
09-13-2007
in - Dublin - E-Mail This Article - Comments -
|
