The downsides of progress
It tames the population and sucks all the charm out of national life
In our first visit, almost 30 years ago, Dublin was still a grim city on the Liffey. It took three hours to drive, on little, winding roads, to get down to our office in Waterford. Eating out was not an easy matter back then; there were few good restaurants. And bars were still of the “Old Ireland” vintage.
In one, we recall standing on a bed of sawdust and talking to an Irishman, both of us holding big tankards of Guinness. In the course of the conversation, our companion got drunker and drunker. And then, he fell down, not once, but three times. Remarkably – and perhaps as proof of his Old Ireland pedigree – he didn’t spill a drop of his beer.
We ran into the Old Ireland again recently when a man in his 40s showed up with two chainsaws and offered to cut down some trees in exchange for the firewood. We agreed and got to talking and he told us of his love of salmon fishing on the nearby river. “I thought you weren’t allowed to fish in the river,” I said. The Duke of Devonshire has the fishing rights since the 17th century, hasn’t he? Aren’t you afraid of getting caught?” “I did get caught once,” he said. “I got home and there were two gardai (policemen) waiting for me. But they didn’t know anything about the fishing rights. I told them I have a special licence that gave me the right to fish out in the ocean or in the river. It was not exactly true, but who really wants to look out for the Duke of Devonshire’s fish? I invited them in. We had a drink. Then, they left. That’s how you settle problems in Ireland.”
But all this charm is being swept away by wealth and progress. Today, a modern highway system spreads out from Dublin. In just an hour and a half, you can zip along to Waterford. And the old pubs?
Some are still there,but many have been turned into Italian or Thai or French restaurants. The Irish themselves have changed. “We think of ourselves as European,” explains a neighbour. Like Europe, Ireland has become risk-averse and lawabiding. No more drinking at the pub until late at night. Now, Dads share childcare and put on helmets before riding a bicycle.
Dublin is still gray. Its old public buildings and handsome Georgian private houses still grace the centre part of town. There are still some pubs and tour companies offering to show
Americans the Old Ireland. And there are still a few wrinkled taxi drivers able to speak the old brogue and keep a few jokes on hand for visitors from Boston. It must be a huge disappointment for Irish Americans. They think they’ll hear the harp, the bagpipe and fiddle, and a tenor calling from across the glen. But then, arriving at Dublin airport, they are whisked to a prosperous, modern city, with a section – the Silicon Docklands – that could be in Kuala Lumpur or Vancouver. The taxi driver is more likely to be from Bangladesh than Tipperary. There are Pakistanis, Africans, Chinese, Malays, Spaniards, Brazilians – not just one or two, but whole groups of them speaking their native languages. They are almost all young, and, we presume, employed by Ireland’s booming tech sector.
“I guess Dublin is more like New York than New York itself. It’s a real melting pot,” explained our taxi man. Indeed, Ireland is now the secondrichest country in Europe after Luxembourg. According to UN estimates, Ireland has a GDP per capita of $101,000. The US has only $69,000.
The Old Ireland was poor and wild. The New Ireland is rich and tame.
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“Ireland is now the second-richest country in Europe”