Beyond the basics

Here are some resources for exploring aspects of Irish life in more depth.

Arts

The opportunities to enjoy the arts in Dublin are many and you should all take advantage of them. There are numerous public galleries and museums as well as a vast number of commercial galleries. Music establishments range from the large (The O2) to the small (pub venues). Listings and guides for all of these places can be found in event-listing magazines such as In Dublin and in the Friday review section of the Irish Times.  A good online source for national listings is http://entertainment.ie.

There are many periodicals that cover arts related issues. Some that you might like to take a look at are:

• CIRCA - Ireland’s leading magazine for contemporary visual arts.
• Irish Arts Review - a beautifully printed quarterly journal. Their web site includes an index of articles since 1984, info on the contents of recent issues, and subscription details.
• Film Ireland Magazine
• Film West, film magazine (published quarterly.)

Business

Ireland has a free-market economy in which international trade is a vital part of economic performance.  Multinationals fuel most Irish business, while local private enterprise also plays a part.

Students can keep up with the latest business and economic trends through newspapers and television. The UK and US exert a huge influence on Irish business, so many relevant resources are international

• Financial Times - published daily, a must for all business students.   http://www.ft.com
• Economist - weekly summary of news with an emphasis on financial issues. This publication is also useful to politics and marketing students. http://www.economist.com/
• television news - the main national and international news programmes are found on RTE 1 and TV3.  UK and cable networks, like the BBC and Sky News also broadcast in Ireland
  
  

Media

Familiarize yourself with Irish TV, newspapers & periodicals and advertising trends as much as you can. Find out what Irish people read and watch and are influenced by.

Newspapers are a serious preoccupation here – virtually every television and radio program discusses “the day’s papers.” People tend to have a favorite that they stick to. The “quality” newspapers are:

• Irish Independent - Right of centre paper with massive readership. www.independent.ie
• Irish Times – A little to the left of the dial and more arts and culture focused than its rivals. www.irishtimes.com
• The Examiner – A Cork-based paper and a new entrant on to the national scene. www.examiner.ie
• The Sunday Business Post – Sunday paper with business and financial focus with good coverage of property markets and restaurant reviews.  www.sbp.ie
• The Guardian – British left of centre paper, good for international, social, arts, educational and media issues. www.guardian.co.uk

The “popular” or tabloid newspapers are the Irish Mirror, The Irish Star, The Irish Sun, and the Evening Herald!

Television in Ireland consists of 4 national terrestrial channels – RTE1, RTE2, TV3 and TG4; but satellite and cable TV are becoming increasingly popular.

• RTE 1 – the main channel of the Irish state broadcaster (Radio Telefis Éireann), like all RTE channels, it is financed through both a tax on televisions (“tv licences” – if you decide to rent a tv, you must purchase a tv license from your local post office) and commercials.  It airs a combination of news, Irish produced dramas, comedies, and documentaries as well as foreign produced programming. It is designed to have the broadest appeal of all the RTE channels.
  Visit http://www.rte.ie/live for live simultaneous broadcasts of Irish TV.
  Visit http://www.rte.ie/radio/index.html for Irish radio broadcasting.
• RTE 2 is considered the “youth” channel, in that its content is somewhat edgier and geared towards a younger demographic.  It also airs the majority of children’s programming.
• TG4 (Pronounced “TG Cahir” it stands for Telifis na Gaeilge Cahir – roughly meaning “Irish Language TV 4”) is the state Irish language broadcaster based out of Galway.  They show a variety of home produced news, drama, comedy, soaps, and documentaries, as well as foreign produced programmes which have been dubbed or subtitled into Irish.  They offer an excellent selection of movies (not always subtitled in Irish) from all periods and genres.
• TV3 is the youngest of the Irish free to air channels.  It is financed solely through commercial revenue. It produces local and international news and some other content, but is largely reliant on US, Ireland, and Australian shows to fill out their schedule.
• BBC 1 & 2, the two main channels of the British Broadcasting Corporation are included in most basic cable packages and are regularly watched by many Irish people.
• CHANNEL FOUR – a British channel which encourages innovative and experimental TV. Channel Four is self-financing through the sale of advertising and works on a basis of commission programmes from independent producers. http://www.channel4.com
• ADVERTISING - watch as many of the TV commercials as you can and the poster and print media advertising campaigns. You will find a fairly big difference between advertising here and in the United States – it can be a fascinating window on the culture.
  
  

Politics & Law

Most people living in Ireland have strong and well-informed political opinions on both national and international issues. This view tends to be expressed in the newspapers and magazines they read. You may also be surprised at the level of knowledge most Irish have about U.S. politics. You should think before you speak on certain sensitive political areas, especially on Northern Ireland. The Irish will find uninformed opinions on these subjects offensive.

Ireland operates on a parliamentary system of government.  The two houses, The Dáil and the Senate, constitute the legislative branch.  The chief executive, called An Taoiseach, or Prime Minister, is actually the leader of the majority party.  While the USA is dominated by two major political parties, Irish politics operates under a multi-party system, with coalition governments common. For more information, visit http://www.irlgov.ie.

The legal courts are also open to the public although major cases can be heavily over-subscribed. All Irish judges are appointed, not elected, so it is a completely different system from the USA. All of the quality newspapers cover legal cases and, as always, there will be many debates on legal reform and law and order.

Healthcare & Social Policy

There are differences between Ireland and the United States in health care. In Ireland, health care is subsidized to all Irish nationals through the local health boards. While Ireland has a population of just over 4 million, health care is a major political and social issue as resources are in high demand.

Ireland has a highly complex welfare system whereby anyone unemployed or on a low income is eligible for income-related benefits.  This payment is commonly called the “dole”.

These are all issues of great importance and concern to all health and social services professionals and will be major talking points at most placements.

Newspapers and periodicals that will help you keep abreast of these issues are:

• Irish Times - on Tuesday, carries a health supplement http://www.irishtimes.com
• Irish Medical Times - specialises in health issues http://www.imt.ie.

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