Craic Down in Oz
We may have the finest football fans in the world, but the news from abroad isn’t all positive. In Australia, the Irish have – allegedly – been running amok. So what gives?
The Hot Press Newsdesk, 01 Aug 2012
Isn’t there something wonderfully ironic about the news that Irish and British backpackers are being told they aren’t welcome in Australia because of their drunken and anti-social behaviour? I mean, over 40% of Ozzies have Irish blood and in most cases that’s the blood of people who were transported from Ireland and England in the 19th century for…anti-social behaviour! Dear oh dear!
The tide has been rising awhile but reached a new level of visibility when it was reported in the Irish Echo that Dubliner Thomas Dunne, owner of the Queensland hostel Main Street Backpackers, will no longer provide lodging for Irish backpackers because of their disorderly behaviour.
Dunne has been running his hostel and adjacent bar O’Duinn’s since 2006. Backpackers stay there while working locally on farms for up to 20 weeks – a legal requirement to secure a second working visa in Oz.
He told the Irish Echo that “The Irish are the only ones to have caused deliberate damage… This year we have had eight Irish backpackers. It’s only the start of the season and already six have been thrown out…” He’s even had two Irish men arrested and charged with property damage to the accommodation.
The same picture emerges in Perth in Western Australia, where the Irish are disproportionately represented among those arrested for drink-related street disorder, and the police are clamping down.
And it’s not just what happens in pubs and the streets. Apparently property rental agencies are fed up with properties being trashed in drunken parties – and even when there aren’t parties.
The temperance moralists in Ireland love it, despite the fact that the Irish are (still) actually very well regarded in Australia. Indeed, Thomas Dunne was very careful to emphasise this. The trouble is caused by a minority. But sadly they’re out there, creating minor mayhem, and that begs a few questions.
Is it the deeply embedded belief in the craic, the idea that we’re great drinkers and singers and dancers and sure if we get a bit crazy it’s all part of our charm? You know, the wild Irish rogues, the leppin’ schleppin’ madlads on tour…
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