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IRELAND HAS DROPPED three places on a list that seeks to rank the “best countries” in the world.
Ireland came in 21st place in the annual survey which is carried out by US News & World Report, Y&R’s BAV Consulting and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
The overall winner in the list was Switzerland which came in ahead of Canada, the UK, Germany and Japan.
The survey ranked 80 countries across a range of categories before making the overall list.
The 20 categories included areas like adventure, citizenship, cultural influence, entrepreneurship, heritage and raising children.
Out of all the categories, Ireland’s best results were in the categories marked ‘best countries to travel alone’, where we came in 9th place, and ‘best countries for raising kids’, where we were 12th.
Interestingly given the focus on in it, Ireland performed poorly in terms of being a good destination for international students.
Ireland was ranked in 47th in the ‘study abroad’ category, our second lowest ranking behind ‘power’ where we were 51st.
In its overview of Ireland, the survey makes reference to the country’s economic reliance on foreign multinationals and the historic influence of the Catholic Church:
Long considered a traditional, even conservative society, Ireland’s social norms are evolving, causing clashes between younger generations and the Roman Catholic Church. In 2015, Ireland became the first nation to approve same-sex marriage by a popular vote.
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At last a sensible solution. Thanks.
A lot of them were already free.
@The Shape: most of them
Botanic gardens are already free
mad how they charge you to look at your own stuff.
LIke visiting the rock of cashel, forced to be a catholic to get into school and then charge 20 quid to go to mass.
@Aodhan Maguire: Cashel will be half price anyway, and it’s always been free to locals.
@Aodhan Maguire: So would you be quite happy if everyone just visited all these sites without any limits and eventually leads to damage and for them to go into disrepair. If you do that’s fair enough, but don’t expect to have these sites available and maintained and then at the same time want them to be free.
If they could maybe throw in some nice weather
Trim castle grounds & Hill of Tara already free
@Linda: I paid an admission fee to Trim Castle year – I must have been had !
This is the first I’ve heard that there was ever a charge to visit Dún Aonghusa. Is it not enough that people visiting have travelled to the island?
Counting myself lucky that I saw it by following our patient guide: the dog from our B&B, whom we didn’t even have to tip ;-)
I’ve just been to Dún Aonghusa… Its already free, only seen an OPW umbrella when leaving.
May need to Fact check @Journal.ie
“The OPW sites which will have fully fee admission are”
Surely that ‘fee’ ought to be “free”!
Affordable accommodation in these places is the problem. We need more family friendly hostels. Once you have children it’s impossible to holiday here.
have your say