The Irish are known for many things. Their patriotism, music, green rolling
hills, poets, potato famine – and drinking.
It is beyond a national hobby, it’s
a way of life. Quaint Irish pubs that have low ceilings and are the size of a
bedroom dot the cities and countryside while Dublin’s infamous Temple Bar
heaves with tourists.
While the Irish are incredibly hospitable and
love nothing more than a perfectly poured Guinness and the “craic” (Gaelic with
no exact translation apart from it being “fun and laughter” in social
situations), excessive booze can turn into violent fights, drink driving,
sexual assault and terrible accidents.
Not an ideal way to end a holiday.
(Blend in with the locals by donning a traditional silly hat.)
Drinking Culture
The Irish are so friendly, charming and fun,
especially with a few under their belt, that they make for such entertaining
company you may not want to leave your position holding up the bar! But while
they may be match fit and can easily neck pint after pint, you could find
yourself legless and worse for wear in the bathroom, driving the porcelain bus.
This can be particularly risky when you are travelling
on your own and in an unfamiliar town, or in a big city like Dublin.
The last
thing you want is for your belongings to go “missing” because you’re so tanked
you left them at the bar with a stranger and don’t know what’s happened to
them, and you can’t pay for or remember where you are staying.
And if you
manage to keep hold of your stuff after a skinful and find yourself swaying and
stumbling down the cobbled streets at night, you could become an easy target
for a mugging. As mentioned under crimes and scams there are group of hoodlums
known as “knackers” who frequent tourist hot spots and pick off prey.
("Knackers" hide themselves inconspicuously until ready to attack!)
Be
mindful of anyone who tries to show you a “short cut”, obviously this isn’t
a crime unique to Ireland. If you’re going out for a night on the town, try and
go with someone. If not, just watch what you drink, keep your wits about you and know when to call it a night.
Drink Driving
Like most other western countries, it’s a
crime. The limit in Ireland it is 0.08 and there are random breath tests. So don’t think because you are in a country where
there’s a bar on every corner and whiskey is liquid gold that there won’t be
cops on the street targeting drink driving. If you do happen to be well
over the limit, and get arrested, spending the night in the police “drunk tank”
is hardly a postcard moment for the folks back home.
Safe Sex
Now that religious and social expectations of
this predominantly Catholic country have softened in the last generation, no
sex before marriage is a rule that has been mostly abandoned by young Irish
people. But their carefree attitudes to unprotected sex has led to an increase
in sexually transmitted diseases.
If you are up for some holiday “romance”,
take your own condoms. In Ireland they aren’t cheap and not stocked widely, especially after hours when you need them.
Drink
Spiking
A warning to male and female travellers.
Ireland is generally a very safe country to travel in on your own, but there
are limits to the risks you should take, and accepting drinks off complete
strangers is one of them.
There are many easy and effective ways for someone to
spike your drink and depending on the drug used, the effects can be debilitating
very quickly.
The most popular drugs used to spike drinks are Rohypnol and Ketamine. The first is nicknamed “roofie” and
contains the powerful sedative
flunitrazepam that will knock you for six if secreted in a drink. It is also
known as the “date rape drug” as women become so incapacitated that the spiker easily
has their way with them.
Ketamine is a horse tranquiliser and when taken with
excessive amounts of alcohol can be fatal. So much for the “craic” then.
Just
be careful with how much alcohol you consume, don’t leave your drink to have a
dance and come back and drink it afterwards and generally don’t accept drinks
from strangers. If you are being chatted up and enjoying the process, buy your
own drinks or if he buys yours, watch them being poured and delivered.
Emergency number
If you do
find yourself in trouble or have been sexually assaulted, contact the police on
112.
