The wages in Ireland are generally not lower than England. In both cases it depends what you work at! The standard of living in Ireland is higher than most other countries in Europe.
In Dublin for example, the average wage is higher than say.. Spain. This is because the rent is higher and and it needs to balance.
In Belfast the wages are a little lower than England, but this is because the cost of living and rent is lower than England.
Typical American, open you mouth and think later. I get offended when Americans think they know it all about other countries, particularly Ireland. Take a look at you own countries state at the minute.
30k equivalent to 100k here.....what a joke.
I am Irish and don't know any alcoholics....perhaps we judge less or dont panic if someone has more than 5 drinks on a night or hand out pills for every little thing in life.
But as usual, the American thinks they know best, the truth is we look at you as being rude and dumb. Rememeber that next time you enter an Irish pub!
What rubbish! Take an economics lesson!
Actually I think you took offence to his comments way more than anyone else would have. Are you just upset an "American" made a comment? He stated that one would need to make more money in Ireland to live comfortably than in the US - how's that offensive; obviously it's based on the cost, or standard, of living of the area.
In fact there are places in the US where one can live VERY comfortably off of $25-30k per year. Where I live you need to make at least $65k to live comfortably. You also need to understand what one's interpretation of "living comfortably" is; his "comfortably" could easily be different from yours.
When I visited Ireland a few years back, there was enough drinking going on; maybe you view drinking differently and thats fine. Don't jump down the guy's throat because he made post about HIS observations while in country. I personally think folks from the UK and Australia drink way more from my time in both of those countries - not to mention Germans. I was amazed at the ability of others to drink me under the table.
Your other points about the US and it's views of drinking and pills, I whole-heartidle agree with you. That's the damn Liberal Politicians getting there way - I always vote for the "other guy."