Quote from: Tills on June 16, 2025, 11:04:02 PMPolice Service of Northern Ireland. It's a bit old hat now since The Good Friday Agreement between the two countries. The Troubles, as they were euphemistically termed, are a thing of the past.

The Troubles are over in one way but they're not in another. I love the place, but over the decades have learned to see it through Irish eyes. It's a land where there are constant reminders of the division, in the form of the many ruins left from the disastrous Civil War that followed the War of Independence. The split that followed is reflected yet in Irish politics and while the border remains, the tension will always be there.

It's a quiet thing, barely visible at first, but the better you get to know Ireland, the more you'll begin to see it. We were in a bar a few years ago in Cork, still a hotbed of Republicanism, as the south and west tends to be, and our friend's wife said, 'People are looking at you because you're singing along.' I was, 'Why?' and she said, 'Because you're Brits and they don't expect you to know the words, let alone repeat them!' In the end we were invited on the stage by the band and I had to admit to the crowd we'd not being doing it consciously, but we got a cheer all the same.

In the south, it's still the case in some areas that catholic farmers won't work with protestant ones and vice versa. This thing runs deep, but once you're aware of it, it's easy to stay out of it.

Two films are worth seeing by anyone who wants to visit Ireland. The first, which absolutely captures the spirit of the old border, is Eat the Peach. It's sweet and funny and we've seen it three times, I'll not spoil it by spilling the plot. The other, more serious, is The Wind that Shakes the Barley, which captures the essence of what the War of Independence and the Civil War did to Ireland.

If anyone wants to read a book about what Ireland was like not that long ago, J.G. Farrell's Troubles is an absolute must read. It's not serious and it's extraordinarily well written. If the content at times seem unbelievable, there is hardly anything in it that I haven't seen in Ireland at one time or another. It's the most magical piece of writing.

I think, if I may say so Tanya, that you may be rather out of date. I know you have built a career out of conciliation between factions but one can get stuck in the mindset that there are factions to reconcile. If you view a world through that lens then you'll see it.

I first came to Ireland many years ago and things are entirely different now. I don't want anyone coming to this thread with a possible view of looking to settle in Ireland to be put off by something that was true thirty years ago, or more.

I'll write-up thoughts for people when I've come to the end of my tour. A phrase that used to have another meaning in these parts.

xx

Quote from: Tills on June 17, 2025, 08:58:00 AMI think, if I may say so Tanya, that you may be rather out of date. I know you have a career built out of conciliation between factions but one can get stuck in the mindset that there are factions to reconcile. If you view a world through that lens then you'll see it.

I'm sure it depends where you go and what company you keep, Tills, but we were last there just before Covid and the place hasn't changed that much since. As our friend says, you could live there a long time as an outsider and never be aware of it. It's not something that is likely to cause anyone serious problems but an awareness of the country's conflicted past consequent on British settlement is worth respecting, if that makes sense.

Quote from: TanyaG on June 17, 2025, 09:06:11 AMI'm sure it depends where you go and what company you keep, Tills, but we were last there just before Covid and the place hasn't changed that much since. As our friend says, you could live there a long time as an outsider and never be aware of it. It's not something that is likely to cause anyone serious problems but an awareness of the country's conflicted past consequent on British settlement is worth respecting, if that makes sense.

It does Tanya.

I'm sure you don't mean it to sound condescending though, but it all does a tad. You know, you're the insider with the insight kind of thing.

I've spent all my life nomadically around the world and wouldn't presume to say I knew a country better than anyone else, even those whose languages I speak fluently, nor that I had insights that others haven't.

I'm primarily concerned that no one is put off Ireland by erroneous and esoteric "information". There may be reasons for people on this forum not to consider settling here but the old Troubles isn't one of them. And nor is it anything like the conservative country you have implied. It's far more progressive on so many levels than the UK.

Anyway I just arrived in Dublin on my multi-circular routes around the country. I came here once to be interviewed for a senior lectureship at Trinity College.

Peace

xx

Quote from: Tills on June 17, 2025, 11:12:35 AMI'm sure you don't mean it to sound condescending though, but it all does a tad. You know, you're the insider with the insight kind of thing.

Not so, and very far from my intention, but I can no more stop you interpreting it as you wish, Tills, than I can influence the rate at which you breathe.

Recent posts had all the trappings and tensions of a philosophical debate. I loved it! Especially the good natured ribbing. Okay. Well, ribbing at any rate. But most informative and enlightening. I learned so much about Ireland in a few posts. Thanks Tills and Tanya.

Hi Everyone

There are now 3 web sites that list which places are safe.  The first two have been listed previously.

Which states in the US and countries are safe are listed below:

• The following link provides information which are the Safest Countries.
• The following link provides information which states in US are safe
• Another safe site information Snapshot: LGBTQ Equality by State

Best Wishes Always
Sarah B
Global Moderator

Thanks Sarah: that's really great. Excellent links for proper objective analysis

I'm still travelling solo through Ireland, using local and national transport (buses, trams, trains) rather than any tourist ones.

More to come when I get back to the UK, which I'm partly dreading.  Mine will be an anecdotal report but I'll try and separate some objective observations from my own preferences.

More anon.

xx

A bit of snooping around has taught me that my family hails from the Cork county and Galway areas. 

Hugs, Devlyn

Quote from: Tills on June 22, 2025, 10:17:26 AMMore anon.

I look forward to your impressions and observations. Safe travels and just have fun.

Quote from: Devlyn on June 22, 2025, 10:34:17 AMA bit of snooping around has taught me that my family hails from the Cork county and Galway areas. 

Hugs, Devlyn

I'm looking out over Galway Bay at this very moment

According to a YouTube video creator, here is what they as a couple found it cost per month in US Dollars to live in a truly USA upper middle class setting:


$7,300 USA
$2,100 Vietnam
$2,400 Thailand
$2,900 Mexico
$3,800 Italy

For the USA they were living in the Atlanta, GA area.

They did mention it is very possible to live on less money per month but they stressed their USA upper middle class lifestyle.

They did say that Thailand is very modern.  In fact, like the USA but far more modern.


Chrissy

IRELAND REPORT

Summary

Ireland is a very easy country for a trans person. Just make sure you have other reasons for being there.

Methodology

I spent a fortnight travelling around the country. I avoided all tourist transport, instead exclusively using local trains, buses, and trams. I went solo and chatted to Irish people, not tourists.

It was ethnographically qualitative fieldwork and therefore more subjective.

I have not included References below as this is not pretending to be an article for academic publication   Please let me know if you would like to see them.

Results

I arrived during Pride month and this may have contributed to the prominent displays of LGBTQ+ support in evidence. One coffee shop had no fewer than 20 Pride flags on display. There was no part of Ireland where this was not the case, even in the more rural remote areas, which surprised me.
People's attitudes were noticeably friendly. Coming from the UK the lack of hostility was a stark contrast. This was not only towards LGBTQ+ but generally. It is a welcoming, friendly, and relaxed nation.
There was no noticeable difference in attitudes amongst older people, nor really in the more remote rural areas.

Conversely, the more tourist hubs have a greater influx of non-LGBTQ+ friendly overseas visitors and these brought some increase in a sense of being noticed. You should also be aware that in some hotels where overseas staff are present you may encounter less trans-friendly attitudes. This is not so much the case in Dublin because it is such a young and progressive city but in other obvious tourist destinations out west this may be a factor to bear in mind. In the main this probably only affects the summer months anyway.
Before I visited Ireland I had come to believe that the attitudes of people mattered as much as the legal protections. During my visit I realised that this is not true, as others on here have equally pointed out. The fact that as a trans person you are legally protected, for example in the use of female spaces, is very important. You cannot be legally challenged. You are legally protected to be you. I became very thankful about this and relaxed to the point where I was no longer thinking about the matter.

Transphobia and homophobia are outlawed and any such abuse is a criminal offence, punishable by up to 5 years in prison. You really are protected.


Other Comments about Ireland

Ireland is very green. It is ringed at the edges by ranges of hills and mountains: south of Dublin in the Wicklow area and then on around to the south-west beyond Killarney and up the Atlantic coast as far as Donegal at the top of the country.
Inside this ring of uplands, the central basin is predominantly flat with gentle undulations.
There are some very pretty towns in the centre, one thinks of somewhere like Carrick-on-Shannon or Westport, but there is also a lot of poverty relative to a country like the UK. There are a significant number of run-down and derelict houses in town centres and rural areas. Everywhere you will see the effects of rain and damp on the buildings. There has been a significant concrete scandal with defective materials, especially in the north and north-west, something to bear in mind if you are considering property purchase.

Transport infrastructure is good. I decided to use West of Ireland Airport (NOC) near Knock for strategic reasons which was in a beautiful rural setting. Other international airports are Dublin, Cork, and Shannon.

There is an extensive bus network and these run efficiently and well. Legroom is noticeably cramped which you should bear in mind for longer journeys.

Trains are modern and excellent but be aware that with limited carriages they can get fully booked. You must buy a ticket in advance anyway. The Irish Rail website is good.

The country is not known as The Emerald Isle for nothing. The centre of the country has many wetlands and peat bogs. A lot of farming out west is pastoral, especially sheep in small fields enclosed by dry stone walling. I was surprised at how many trees there are, having read that the forests were cut down. Having seen the way in which the Caledonian forests of Scotland were decimated I feared something similar and one widely-quoted figure claims that only 11% of the country is covered by trees but this is highly misleading. The figure refers to forests rather than trees. The lush supportive climate means self-seeding has occurred widely and the countryside is now covered with trees, admittedly of often young growth. They are mainly deciduous and one person said to me that it may look beautiful now but in winter 'it looks desolate'. There are some areas of the coast which do not support tree growth e.g. the Burren in County Clare. But if you like trees then you will find rural Ireland to your taste.

The country is remarkably free of litter, compared to say the UK. I counted two pieces of litter all fortnight. This seems to be brought about through a combination of education, public awareness, and hefty fines.

Ireland's weather is classified as 'maritime temperate'. It is mild for its latitude, warmed by the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Drift. With predominantly Atlantic westerlies, rainfall is high, especially in the west and north. In the east around Dublin annual precipitation is 750-1000 mm per annum. In some parts of the west this figure doubles and some of the mountains receive up to 3000 mm a year. Even in the east there are 150 wet days per annum. In the west this figure is closer to 225. That means you can expect 2 in every 3 days to contain some rain.
Temperatures are mild throughout without either extremes of heat or cold. However, air frosts are still common in winter.

Ireland is a member of the European Union and the currency is the Euro. Support for EU membership remains high with over 2/3rds of people continuing to support membership post-Brexit (Britain's exit from the EU). Some commentators have suggested that Ireland is the most pro-EU country of the 27 member States. This may be because, in general, Ireland has benefited from EU economic support. However, EU flags were not prominent and there are a few ongoing arguments with Brussels e.g. over the widespread use of peat for winter fuel and over the defective concrete. Regional flags were more common than Irish ones e.g. yellow and blue flags throughout County Clare and County Tipperary.

Ireland is not a participant in the Schengen agreement of free movement. This is how a Common Travel Area is allowed to exist between Ireland and the UK, which is no longer a member of the EU and which was also never part of Schengen. This means that as a UK citizen you can travel and live in Ireland freely, and vice-versa. However your passport is still checked on arrival and exit. You are able to access the Irish health service, and vice-versa.
If you so wish then after approximately 5 years of mostly continuous living you may be eligible to apply for Irish citizenship (please see Irish Govt guidelines on this). As an Irish citizen you would be eligible to travel and live anywhere in the EU.

The Irish Government also has citizenship eligibility criteria for those who can prove close Irish descent. Please see their advice and rules about this.

Ireland is the correct name for the country and Irish is the language. There is no need to attach the word 'Republic,' and most people don't use the Gaelic equivalents. The main languages are English and Irish (Gaeilge). The latter is widely used e.g. in public announcements on trains and also especially out west and in Donegal.

Northern Ireland is a separate country and is part of the United Kingdom. There is a soft border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, which also allows a (convoluted) trade system to exist without breaching EU regulations. Whether there will be a united Ireland is an ongoing but currently muted debate. Younger people tend to be in favour. One older man in the south told me that he was quite happy to leave things as they are: he didn't want the north messing things up.

Ireland is sparsely populated relative to the UK: 77 per square km compared to 426 in England, so roughly a sixth of the density. This was very noticeable to me.

Sport is dominated by Hurling, Gaelic football, Rugby Union, and Soccer, as well as horse racing, and golf.

Catholicism is very noticeable, especially in the rural areas. There are numerous mini-shrines and statues as well as graveyards: cremation rates are only 20% compared to 75% in England and Wales. However, a lot of the religious belief is of a cultural and superstitious nature rather than, say, evangelical conversion fervour. Outsiders may not at first understand this relaxed attitude. It helps explain why the country is at the same time so progressive on many issues: Ireland was the first country in the world to enact same-sex marriage by a public vote in 2015. It took a long time to overturn the Catholic Church's abortion restrictions, but this too was made by public vote in 2018 with a 2/3rds majority in favour.

Conclusion

Much of this report has not been about trans issues per se. And there's a reason for that.

In the 2003 film Finding Nemo [spoiler alert] the inhabitants of the fish tank spend their lives planning how to escape the evil dentist, and especially his niece Darla. Right at the very end of the film, after the closing credits, you see all the fish bobbing outside in the harbour. Their plan has worked: they escaped.
But they're still stuck in the bags. They had spent their entire time planning how to escape, not what came next.

My point is this: for someone living in the UK, or the US, it is very understandable to allow trans issues to dominate your life. The present environment is so toxic that it easily takes over. It's not just the legalities. It's also the attitudes: outright hostility has become very noticeable; and people now feel legitimized in this. It's worth pointing out that this is part of a wider swing to the Right in both the UK and the US, with the Reform party now leading in all the UK national opinion polls: something which would see Donald Trump's friend Nigel Farage become next UK Prime Minister.

Go to Ireland and you may be thinking about trans issues on Day 1 but I virtually guarantee that by Day 2 you will forget about them. In friendly legal Ireland they, literally, cease to be a concern. You are protected by law and people's attitudes are non-hostile. You can get on and live your life.

So if you intend to move to Ireland just be sure that you have considered the Day 2 Nemo question: 'Now What?'

It's not just about escaping a toxic hostile country. It's about what comes next.

xx

From what I've heard about Ireland is that yes it's very much trans safe and friendly but that's pretty much where it ends. That the health care system and gov doesn't care if you transition as long as you pay for it yourself.

I could be wrong but that's what I've heard.

Tills,

Thank you for this report. It is always helpful to get observations from someone with "boots on the ground". Thank you for all the details, and I am happy you had a good trip!

I could be wrong I think I maybe thinking of Finland

Thanks @Lori Dee

@Robbyv213 I didn't address longer term issues such as healthcare and trans access. I know it can take a long time to get onto the ladder and GenderGP (who are after all a private for profit company) wrote a critical assessment in this regard. But that's not because of being 'anti-trans'. Indeed, the Irish Government has committed to reforming transgender healthcare.
This is the national Irish transgender healthcare website on hormones: https://nationalgenderserviceireland.com/hormones/

I think if you are moving to Ireland you need to take things down a notch in terms of general edginess. It's noticeably more laid back than the UK, which also means everything may happen at a slower pace. That may be a factor to bear in mind if you want or need things to happen at a zip.

For UK citizens living in Ireland there is free access to Irish healthcare on the same basis as an Irish citizen:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/healthcare-in-ireland

In theory this should mean that you can carry over an existing GP prescription from the UK to Ireland.

I didn't mention that transphobia (better known as trans hatred) and homophobia are criminal offences and carry a prison sentence of up to 5 years. I'll do a quick edit and pop this in.

You really are protected in Ireland. And that came to mean a lot to me when I was out there in terms of relaxing and realising that I would be able to get on and live my life.

Thank you @Devlyn for all your encouragement, prompts, and insights. You were spot on about the importance of legal protections.

xx

So ... will I move to Ireland?!

Watch this space

xx