One of the things I remember in The West was that they took great delight in conversation, so if you did express an opinion (steering clear of anything contentious of course) they'd be in agreement with you - it was a way of keeping the conversation going on as long as possible and they wanted to please you at the same time.
We were once in a small village pub near the border (on the Southern side) and an old man began (gently) complaining to me how much the border was nuisance for them and got in their way in their everyday life - this is at the beginning of the 1980's - I made sure that I showed that I was listening to him and assuring him every so often that I sympathised with what he had to say.
The first question was - where are you from? and the next, do you like Ireland? Sometimes they were trying to find from what part of Ireland I was, as they couldn't quite place my brogue. It was quite a compliment but I had to disappoint them.
We stayed in youth hostels or camped in fields - having asked for permission first. We did quite a lot of mountain walking, but I understand that now there are more signposts for footpaths and that the walkguides are more precise, shall we say. Naturally we offered to pay a pint to the person who allowed us to camp there, which was well received. We brought bottles of fine burgundy wine and a pot or two of traditional mustard (Moutarde de Meaux) which we exchanged for pints and favours.

I've often been asked if I liked Ireland too, which I find interesting. A couple of people last summer asked me specifically if I liked the Irish sense of humor (the answers, of course, are "yes" to both).

Politics can be a challenge wherever you are. Generally, I try to avoid political topics in conversation, but in the upper-level classes at Oideas Gael, political questions are often jumping-off points for classroom discussion. Interestingly, American politics are often on the list. It was interesting trying to explain our system of checks and balances (in response to a question about why President Obama didn't just do this or that) to my conversation partner in Irish!

I also found that I had to be a bit more careful about explaining myself when using certain words. For example, in another classroom situation, I was describing a problem I had with a Republican stance on a particular topic, and noticed that my conversation partner had gone very quiet and looked a bit shocked. I quickly explained that I was talking about the AMERICAN Republican party and named a couple of Republican presidents (George Bush and Ronald Reagan), which moved the conversation back into the safe territory. It can be hard to remember sometimes that a term that means one thing in your home country can mean something quite different in another!

Redwolf

It's best to stay away from politics in any country not of your birth. Irish people might be able to add a bit to talk on British and American issues purely out of familiarity, but as everyone knows, taking no stance on anything is most sensible

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__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___

The usual conversation starter in Ireland is “Where are you from?” Don't assume people are asking you that just because you're a tourist or have a foreign accent. We even ask local people where they're from (as in which village, which area of the city etc.) Asking someone if they are locals or visitors is the easiest way to get a conversation started, in English or in Irish.

The general rule is that you don't discuss politics, religion or money with people you don't know well. I notice that Americans have a tendency to ask how much money you make (not often, but I've heard it a couple of times) and it's probably one of the rudest questions you can ask.

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Táim ag foghlaim fós. Fáilte roimh gach aon cheartúchán.

That would be considered extremely rude here as well, Mick. I can't imagine someone asking me how much money I make (and if I were asked that, my only possible response would be "none of your business").

I mentioned politics because they were printed conversation topics that we were supposed to use for in-class conversation. Generally speaking, of course, discussion of politics (and religion) are best left out of the equation.

I suspect that American politics were more prevalent in the questions because they were "safer" political topics than, say, Irish or European politics might have been (in the higher-level classes, at least when I was there, there seemed to be more Irish people and people from other European countries than Americans).

Redwolf

I learned to avoid discussing religion in Ireland in the late 70's when I was on the ferry between Wales and Dun Laoghaire and got into a conversation with a very friendly woman from Dublin who was surrounded by a bunch of children, all of them red-haired and as Irish-looking as could be. She initiated the conversation and was advising me about all sorts of things to see and do in Dublin, because it was my first time there and I knew no one in Dublin (I did go on to stay with relatives in Mayo after visiting Dublin).

I have no idea how the topic of religion came up, because I'm not religious and I don't bring it up as a rule (I think she may have actually been fishing for the info, which is not uncommon even now I've found), but somehow it came out that I was raised Catholic and you could just see her face shut down immediately and things became very awkward. She was obviously Protestant (which I, following stereotypes, would never have guessed) and must have assumed that an American with a Southern accent would be a fellow Protestant. About the only conversation after that was her response to a further question from me somewhat along the lines of "Your people will be able to advise you about that".

I know it's not really like that in many places now, because I've met both Catholics and Protestants in Ireland for whom the topic is not very relevant these days (at least within the Republic), but I definitely learned to avoid the topic and not make assumptions myself.

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

We stayed in a house in a small village on the main Aran Island and in the evening, when her man had gone off to the pub, the bean a tí proudly showed us her wedding photos, she then (quite logically) asked to see ours. I had to tell her that unfortunately we hadn't brought them with us, I can't remember how I managed to avoid any further questions about that - but it least she didn't catch on that we weren't married, I don't doubt that we would have been told to leave immediately if she'd realised that, (we're still together many years on and have since had three children, but only recently have we been officially civilly partnered - do you have that in Ireland?) She was the one who had never managed to master Irish, not being from there and so she was surrounded by neighbours she couldn't understand. "I hate that language" she said - "it was better when the English were here" I just didn't know what to say - I think we managed to talk about something else.

Yeah we do.


Sounds deliberately provocative to me.

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The dialect I use is Cork Irish.
Ar sgáth a chéile a mhairid na daoine, lag agus láidir, uasal is íseal

One bit of advice I have for travelers is DON'T OVER PACK!!!

I can't believe the number of people I've seen leaving the airport in Dublin (or getting on a bus in Dublin to go to Donegal) who are hauling suitcases as big as they are, as well as a huge carry-on duffle. I've occasionally asked how long they were staying, and the answer is almost always "two weeks" or "a month."

People, air freight charges aside, do you really want to haul around all that crap the entire time you're in Ireland? This is a civilized country you're visiting...if you've forgotten something, you can buy it there! You can live without your favorite brands of shampoo and toothpaste! They have launderettes (or you can do what I do and just wash things out at night in the nearest sink).

I travel to Ireland with my beloved Gregory backpack (fits like it was made for me!)...and that only half full, as I always plan to bring lots of goodies back. My carry-on is only slightly larger than your standard purse. I do also carry along a small harp, but that's just me. I'm weird that way.

The secret to packing for Ireland is to think in terms of layers. Irish weather may be legendarily bad (yes, it does rain a lot), but it's not especially cold in summer (and when I was there last summer, we actually had a heat wave!)

It's amazingly freeing traveling knowing that you can easily carry everything you brought with you, with no help.

Redwolf

That wasn't really the impression I got - I think it was because that she was so frustrated at not being able to communicate with those around her and also perhaps it was just her way of 'ingratiating' herself with us. Several times, we had local people in other parts of Ireland saying to us how dissatisfied they were with various aspects of life in Ireland such as how bad they thought the administration was or how there was too much litter lying around and so on. I'm not saying that what they telling us wasn't genuinely felt, but you did get the feeling that it was said in an slightly ambiguous way, they were playing to an audience, which is why I much preferred listening rather than expressing an opinion and making sure that they understood that I was interested in what they had to say.