News / "It's too late for Germany" (but not for Poland) [1798]


I said we help those whom we believe to be in need and the Irish do. It is a fact.

There's no point in all of you nutcases trying to pretend that Ireland and the UK are the same because they're not. Most of our few Muslims are Indians, not Pakistanis and we have no ghettos. The country is simply too small. Now of course only a fool would say that we could never have an Islamic terrorist attack because that can happen in any country in the world, all countries in the Western world are a potential target. But:

1) the demographic of Ireland is very different to the UK,

2) we are a neutral country with no history of aggression against any Muslim nation and

3) we are a small and unimportant country on world's political and economic stage

So we tend not to attract a lot of hate and desire for vengeance.

News / "It's too late for Germany" (but not for Poland) [1798]


Not the same thing at all.


This is our army recruitment video. Compare it to the UK. The voiceover is in Irish, the guy is saying "I am a Fenian Warrior, I am the son of Cu Chulainn, I am the brother of Fionn MacChumail, I am one of the Fianna". We're not English, Adrian :)

youtube.com/watch?v=3wIKck2idVI


Considering we only have about a 1% Muslim population I don't think so Girlfriend :)

News / "It's too late for Germany" (but not for Poland) [1798]


What does that have to do with the thread?? Of course there are scumbags in Ireland, same as anywhere.


You know absolutely nothing about life in Ireland. What about those Orthodox Celts you bang on about? Were they attacked by Marauding Muslims when they went to Galway recently? They said they had a wonderful time. Big dream come true for them visiting my rainy, windy homeland. Nothing an Irish cross-wind that catches you on a junction and blows in every direction at once :))

News / "It's too late for Germany" (but not for Poland) [1798]

Irish people are very political Rich. It's a small country and people talk politics a lot. They know quite well that a portion of their taxes goes to fund these things and they're ok with it on the whole. Ireland is a charitable nation and will always put their hand in their pockets to help those whom they consider in need of that help.


Never mind the national debt - we'll be fine. There won't be another Famine. We can still afford to share our comparative riches with the destitute.

News / "It's too late for Germany" (but not for Poland) [1798]

Well I certainly agree one should place a cap especially when one considers that most immigrants whether they are refugees from war, asylum seekers or economic migrants will end up living in a handful of cities, probably with most of them concentrated in the capital, not evenly spread around the country. So if I were managing immigration policy, the first thing I would do is set a cap at a percentage of the population of the cities where the migrants are likely to end up living. You also have to consider the fact that while one percent of the urban population is not much at all, even if no more actually come, it will multiply over time through the natural process of reproduction, even if it's a very long time. You have responsiblity to think about the future of your country,not just for your children and grandchildren but beyond.

I sometimes think of it in relation to my own family history and indeed Irish history. On my father's side, we were part of Cromwell's invading army into Ireland in the 1600s. One man who arrived in Ireland nearly four hundred years ago and had only one son founded a family that numbers several hundred now. So, if an immigrant population integrates well, as Cromwell's forces did in Ireland oddly enough despite their violent arrival, then there's no problem, regardless of skin colour, but if they don't, there's a problem. In the North of Ireland, the invading armies and settlers did not integrate and the result of that is still there today.

Obviously though you have to temper that with the fact that you may have no option but to recruit from abroad in employment areas with a severe skills shortage.

Another thing to consider of course is your budget. Just as an ordinary individual can only give a certain amount to charity no matter how altruistic they may be, a nation can only afford to spend so much on helping refugees or asylum seekers. So it seems sensible to me to set a cap on numbers based on a) percentage of your urban population in key centres of employment and economic activity and b)your capacity to give aid without undermining the needs of your own native population and putting a strain on public services.

News / "It's too late for Germany" (but not for Poland) [1798]


Forgot to answer this. About half are men and the rest are women and children. Don't know the ages of them. Top place of origin is Syria. I should also add that the figure of 600 was for 2015. We agreed to take up to 4,000 in total over a three year period but have only taken about 1,500 as far as I can remember.

News / "It's too late for Germany" (but not for Poland) [1798]


Well, the stupidity would lie in not placing a cap of some kind on numbers. It has to be capped somewhere. The logic of why not 601 becomes why not 602, why not 1,000.


Yes we do. We've been taking refugees since the 1980s and we've never had an Islamic terror attack - God between us and all harm. If refugees who settle in Ireland ever feel that they can go back to their homelands, fine but if not they can make their home with us.


Adrian, I really wonder about your brain cells at times - are they actually dying? The fact that you cannot remember that I am Irish considering the way I blather on about it, truly boggles the mind. And once again, you know NOTHING of the UK.

News / "It's too late for Germany" (but not for Poland) [1798]

Here's a number for you. We agreed with the EU to take 600 refugees into Ireland in 2015 as our share of spreading out the influx at the height of the crisis. Our population is under 5 million. I consider that a reasonable number. Irish people are compassionate but we're also sensible.

We are very fortunate in being an island because people can't simply flood into the country and we have an extremely strict vetting process. The Irish police went to Italy to interview the potential candidates during the crisis and carry out background checks on them. We only accept about 20% of applications we receive through other channels.

News / "It's too late for Germany" (but not for Poland) [1798]


You didn't read that properly. It said born OUTSIDE the UK not in the UK. By the way, as I said earlier Britain doesn't have the same racial divide as the USA. A white working class Londoner will generally consider his second or third generation Afro-Carribean or Indian neighbour to be as British as he is himself. I lived there. I know what I'm talking about.

The street I lived in in North London had a typical mix of Irish, black, Asian, one or two Chinese. There was an London Irish family whose little girl used to practise her Irish dancing steps on the street outside her house while ther Jamaican neighbour, would stand on the doorstep playing his harmonica and shouting 'cor blimey' after he'd had a few drinks :D Next door lived a real old salt of the earth London couple, Jack and Winnie, a few doors away an incredibly posh lady, all tweeds and silk headscarves like the Queen. It was both racially and socially diverse which is typical of London, but it was a true little community.

Oh and DougPol is right that Poles found it much harder to integrate into English culture than former Colonials like the Jamaicans or Indians.

News / "It's too late for Germany" (but not for Poland) [1798]


It's quite evident from the things you write on this forum that you don't know the UK well unlike many of us here who DO. You really have no clue what you're talking about. I'm willing to bet that you've never been even to one village within fifty miles of London.


Wrong.

Of the 8.88 million people living in London at the time of the most recent UK estimates, 3.32 million(37%) were born outside of the United Kingdom.

Of these, approximately a third were born within European Union countries, while the other two thirds were born outside of the European Union.

The most common country of birth for London residents outside of the UK is India.

When you talk about 'foreigners' in London, they are not all Muslims, refugees and welfare spongers. They are a huge mixture of nationalities and most of them are there to work or study. Many of them will not remain permanently in London so the demographic shifts all the time.

The largest 'foreign' population in the whole of the UK is Poles, followed by Indians, Pakistanis,Irish and Germans. 86% of the population of Britain is white, mostly British with a smattering of 'other white' as in European, American, Australian etc.The Poles, Irish and Germans combined far outnumber the Indians and Pakistanis. Those are the facts Adrian whether it suits you or not. Most crime in the UK is committed by white or black Brits, not by Muslim hordes and that's also a fact.

The irony is your obsession with the racial profile of a nation whose population is nearly 90% white when your own homeland of America has barely 60% white people and huge racial tensions that are not found in the UK as you would know if you'd ever lived there.


The problem with those kind of programmes is that they generally encourage people at the lower economic level of society to take a casual attitude towards expanding their families. Those are often the kind of households who later have difficulty in keeping their children in education and raising them to make a contribution to the societies they live in. Also when the welfare programme runs out, as it will, there is even more misery for the children born into those families as their parents struggle to provide for them.

The successful programmes are those that provide good quality free childcare and training programmes for out of work mothers to encourage them to get into the workforce.

News / "It's too late for Germany" (but not for Poland) [1798]

Not only do you not know London well, you clearly don't know France well either. Outside of a few pockets of a few cities it's a predominantly white country and it IS beautiful and extremely civilized.

News / "It's too late for Germany" (but not for Poland) [1798]

There's no reason for French people to want to settle in Poland. They have a beautiful country, the most visited in the world, a wonderful culture. Just because they want to have a holiday in Poland is no reason to imagine they would want to live there.

News / "It's too late for Germany" (but not for Poland) [1798]

"Too late to turn back now"

youtube.com/watch?v=d34Kz5M9FjA

Travel / Eventually Traveling to Poland (from America) [10]

This might help you decide between Wrocław or Kraków.

tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g274772-i961-k5999684-Krakow_or_wroclaw-Krakow_Lesser_Poland_Province_Southern_Poland.html

If you're just going for a week, I would opt for a hotel and eating out rather than self-catering. It's supposed to be a holiday after all and you don't want to be grocery shopping and cooking, well I wouldn't anyway! There's plenty of cheapish eating options. You would really need to do proper research, not rely on a forum like this.

First consideration is your flights. Decide what time of year you want to go and google for ticket prices. Then check out accommodation prices for hotels based on whether they're budget options, or three/four stars or whatever. I would allow 100zl per day for other expenses (you could spend more, you could spend less but give yourself a starting point) and another few hundred if you want to buy some souvenirs and that's it.

Try booking.com for hotels

Life / Why Polish people are fat ? [81]


Stilton, Wensleydale, Cornish Blue.................long, long list of really delicious cheeses.


Depends. If you want 'real' ale,you can't do better than the Brits.

youtube.com/watch?v=DuWQMUecYBM

Read the first remark in 'comments' for an American's point of view as I know you won't believe anything I say! If you get the chance to go to England, go to a decent pub and try it for yourself :) By the way saying that 'Europe' makes great beer is meaningless. When will you guys understand Europe is not a country!! There are many European countries with not much of a tradition of making beer, it might be wine, or spirits and plenty of European countries brew very average beers.

Law / Non payment of child maintenance & court in Poland [17]


And I supplied it, did you not notice? I was the first person to answer you. A 'thank you' to poor little me would have been nice!

News / Hungary Veto on Poland Sanctions may not happen [108]

Interesting result of a poll conducted by Pulsuz on the Hungarian public's reaction (those ages 18-49 years old) to the triggering of Article 7, 56% of repsondents said yes it was fair, only 24% said no, it was unfair. The rest were unsure. Most people felt that the actions of the European Parliament were directed at the Hungarian government and not at the country itself.

News / Hungary Veto on Poland Sanctions may not happen [108]

The Polish vote on Hungary breaks down as follows:
22 votes in favour of Article 7
23 votes against
5 Abstensions and one person didn't vote at all.

So the margin of Polish support for Hungary is very small indeed.

Other accession states voted as follows:

Finland, in favour
Latvia, in favour
Lithuania, in favour
Romania, in favour
Estonia, in favour, only one vote against

Croatia, evenly split

Bulgaria, against
Slovakia, against
Slovenia, against by one vote
Czech Republic, against by one vote

News / Hungary Veto on Poland Sanctions may not happen [108]

European Parliament has voted to trigger Article 7 against Hungary by 448 votes to 197 with 48 abstentions.

Law / Non payment of child maintenance & court in Poland [17]

If you mean that he hasn't been paying his maintenance and is being pursued for it, then he needs to go to court on the date of the case and agree to start paying off in instalments on the amount he owes. In addition to that if he is still liable for ongoing maintenance he will also need to pay that each month as well. Yes, in theory they can send you to jail for non-payment. They can also send the Bailiff to seize assets of any value to help pay off the amount. However they would probably prefer him to just start paying so I suggest that's what he does ASAP.

USA, Canada / I'm struggling with my culture - I grew up Polish in America. DNA test. [37]


Her mother isn't Polish. One set of her mother's great grandparents were Polish so it's hardly surprising that the OP doesn't have that much 'Polish' DNA although as we've discussed, that in itself is a bit meaningless. I think we just have to accept that it's an American thing, this need to figure out your European origins.


That theory is a bit discredited nowadays as well Ziem. Apparently it seems that being a Celt was more of a cultural thing than a genetic thing.

Some research they did on the DNA of the English,Scots, Welsh and Northern Ireland at Oxford University a couple of years ago turned up the following:

"Although people from Cornwall have a Celtic heritage, genetically they are much, much more similar to the people elsewhere in England than they are to the Welsh for example," said Prof Donnelly.

"People in South Wales are also quite different genetically to people in north Wales, who are both different in turn to the Scots. We did not find a single genetic group corresponding to the Celtic traditions in the western fringes of Britain."

USA, Canada / I'm struggling with my culture - I grew up Polish in America. DNA test. [37]

What tests are those? As the States are many hours behind us, regardless of which side you live on, it's late. Why do you object to being called Cinderella? She was blonde, blue eyed, beautiful and most importantly, she was good, kind and pure of heart - and she was European :D

USA, Canada / I'm struggling with my culture - I grew up Polish in America. DNA test. [37]

To be honest, you're starting to sound like you're a bit stoned. What time is it there?? Time for you to toddle off to bed Cinderella.

USA, Canada / I'm struggling with my culture - I grew up Polish in America. DNA test. [37]

Alexandria I don't know where you get the idea that Americans are despised all over the civilized world. They certainly aren't. You, as an individual, will be seen as whatever you present yourself to be. If you're a slim, intelligent, hard working person and people see you as fat and stupid, then you're mixing in the wrong circles.

USA, Canada / I'm struggling with my culture - I grew up Polish in America. DNA test. [37]

Alexandria, Polish people, like most nationalities are friendly to tourists but it's a very different situation if you live here. They're not an especially open or friendly people and it's quite a harsh society in many ways. Pretty much every country in Europe has amazing history compared to America because they're so much older.

USA, Canada / I'm struggling with my culture - I grew up Polish in America. DNA test. [37]


So what you're saying is that one set of your great-great grandparents was Polish and that's why you choose to identify as Polish? Golly. That's very American!! The thing is, that the moment you open your mouth, people in Europe will see you as American. We always think it's a bit weird when Americans say 'I'm Italian" or "I'm Irish" or in this case Polish. To us, you're American, especially if the connection is so far back. What's your Greek connection?

USA, Canada / I'm struggling with my culture - I grew up Polish in America. DNA test. [37]

Ziemowit is right, it's not as simple as Western European genes, or Scandanavian genes etc.

What I find interesting is the number of people whom we Europeans would consider 'American' but who don't seem to see themselves as American but rather need to indentify as some other nationality, in your case Alexandria, Polish. Why can't you just be happy with being American? America also has a distinct culture, even if it is a relatively new one and you are a part of that. Also, why not enjoy learning about the other bits of the mix of your genetic make-up. See it like this, it means that on some level, you belong in a lot of different places. By the way, there's no such thing as a Great Britain gene. You have can have Scottish, Welsh or English DNA but not British. The English DNA is somewhat different to the Scots and Welsh who are closer to the Irish.

UK, Ireland / Polish passport - Can I apply from the UK? [51]

If it's a renewal then you probably don't need your birth cert, just your Polish ID card. However if you have the birth cert bring it along. Always better to have more documents when dealing with Polish bureaucrats as you know! You should definitely bring your ID card. You'll also need to bring some passport photos. There's some kind of form to fill in but I think you can get it there. It sort of depends on which consulate it is. At the Polish consulate in Ireland you have to make an appointment via their online booking facility. You can't just turn up and join the queue.

Law / Inheritance Law in Poland (protecting myself from in laws) [25]


I'm presuming he has an Irish passport but even that won't help. From the link you provided:

"The authority of the EU country that handles your inheritance or succession can refuse to apply certain provisions of the law of your nationality if they are contrary to local public policy".

That's the clincher there. Even if you try to invoke his Irish citizenship, the Polish courts can disregard it. That's what you'll find if you decide to relocate permanently to Poland, always difficulties at every turn and the legal system is a travesty compared to the one you're accustomed to. It is NOT an easy country to live in and I have to say as an Irish person living there, I am mystified as to why your husband would want to retire there when he could choose Ireland instead :)) Ireland is a much easier and friendlier place for a retired person to live in, in every respect, than Poland. If you're thinking of the cost of living issues, you're so far off retirement at this stage that by the time you'd be living in Poland, God knows what the cost of living will be. It's already coming in line with the Western Europe and many things cost the same. Also Poland's future is very uncertain. There is no guarantee that they will still even be in the EU ten or twenty years down the road. Do you follow Polish politics? If not, I suggest you start doing so.

And as for your husband being an ATM he needs to knock that on the head. He has no moral responsbility to provide for the entire family. Taking care of his parents in their old age is one thing, but other than that, they can look after themselves to the standard that they can afford to live based on their local earnings. 25,000 for a car is ridiculous, that's about 6,000 euros. Even in Ireland you can get a lovely secondhand car with low mileage for about 2,500 euros, one you can actually afford to tax, insure and maintain which is also an issue.


And that's because the State doesn't want to - unless the ruling party is trying to drum up votes for an election and then they come up with a sticking plaster over the open wound scenario like the 500+ programme.

@Thingymebob, the Polish state makes little or no provision for its vulnerable citizens. Bear that in mind when deciding about your retirement because even if you have sufficient funds to live comfortably do you want to live in that kind of society?Also consider that if you're widowed you would be alone in a foreign country where your husband's family won't give a toss about you other than getting their hands on your pension book.

Life / Small change in shops in Poland!? [95]


Actually banks in Poland don't have much in the way of coins which is why the small shops don't either. In many countries there is a practice of having what's known as a 'float' in the till each morning at the start of the day. The float is a supply of coins which enables you to give your customers change - an incredible idea isn't it? The coins are supplied by the bank. Yes, that's right. I know it's radical but you tootle along to the bank a couple of times a week and change some notes for coins in order to keep your float topped up. It works surprisingly well ;)