Sure! Ireland is a country in the northwest of Europe. Even though it’s quite a small country it’s quite influential in the world. I think a big part of that is because we’ve got a massively emigrating population. Always have had in the past, so a lot of people in America or in Britain considered themselves Irish. So Irish culture is quite well-known in the world. And there are two parts – Northern Ireland and the Republic. The Republic has just 5 million people and the two combined have about 7 million.

You should be very proud to be an Irishman. Why do so many Irish people emigrate?

Historically, about 150 years ago we had a famine, and a lot of people left at that time. And a lot of people died, so the population decreased incredibly. I think it's only just about reached the same level as it was, and since then we've had periods of economic difficulty that have caused people to emigrate, too. But I think now it's just become a part of the culture that a lot of people like to experience working and living in other places. And on top of that, it can be a difficult place to live because of the weather. The weather is absolutely terrible in Ireland. We don’t get any extreme weather, but it’s gray in Ireland.

You probably get used to the heat and the sun here in Vietnam. Do you have different seasons in Ireland?

We have four seasons. But in the summer, we have maybe two weeks of actual summer. The maximum temperature is only 28 to 30 DC.  Only a couple of weeks of nice sunshine and heat. Otherwise, it’s pretty gray. And it’s gray, wet, and cold in the winter.

Hill of Skryne, Valley Meath, Ireland (Photo: Noel Meehan)

Ireland is a very green country, isn’t it? And its agriculture is quite famous.

Ireland is famous for its agriculture and the area I'm from Meath is famous for dairy farming, and farming in general. We have very flat, rich soil which produces really high-quality agriculture. The landscape of Ireland varies a lot, so other parts of the country are famous for other kinds of agriculture, like raising sheep on the West Coast. Lamb is a very popular meat in Ireland because we raise sheep.

Sheep at Rock of Cashel, Ireland (Photo: Benedek)

Besides agriculture, what else contributes to Ireland’s economy?

We export a lot of agricultural products. We also make a lot of money from tourism. And it’s also very much a tax economy, so a lot of major American and multinational companies have their head office for Europe in Ireland. That generates a lot of jobs associated with that, and a lot of people come to Ireland to work in those industries. The cooperation tax in Ireland is low compared to other European countries. That makes Ireland a lot more competitive.

Thank you very much, Joe, for sharing some interesting facts about Ireland. I know there are many more things you still want to tell us, but save some for next time!