Ireland as a retreat environment We’ve all heard about the economic disaster that has recently befallen Ireland. The banking crisis has hit hard the country that less than five years ago was the third-richest nation per capita in the world. Unemployment is rising fast – almost 25% of under-25 year olds are out of work. And the economy is now effectively controlled by the terms of the recent IMF and EU bailout. So why consider Ireland for your survival retreat?
1. It’s conservative. The Irish Constitution begins by invoking “the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, from Whom is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions both of men and States must be referred” and continues by “humbly acknowledging all our obligations to our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, Who sustained our fathers through centuries of trial.” This is rhetoric, of course, but it isn’t just rhetoric. Homosexuality was only legalised in the late 1990s, and abortion is still illegal. The Constitution guards the family as “the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law.” It “recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved,” and promises to “endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home” (Article 41). The Constitution also identifies the family as “the primary and natural educator of the child … and guarantees to respect the inalienable right and duty of parents to provide, according to their means, for the religious and moral, intellectual, physical and social education of their children.” It promises that “parents shall be free to provide this education in their homes or in private schools or in schools recognised or established by the State” and that “the State shall not oblige parents in violation of their conscience and lawful preference to send their children to schools established by the State, or to any particular type of school designated by the State” (Article 42). There aren’t many European countries that offer this degree of protection for the family or for home schooling.
2. It’s largely rural. One quarter of the population lives in Dublin, the capital city. There are also large populations in cities such as Cork, Limerick and Galway. The midlands are under-populated – in fact the current population of Ireland is around half that of the mid-nineteenth century. Where we live, on the edge of the Dublin commuter belt, most country houses have an acre of ground and almost everyone is, unconsciously, a “prepper,” keeping hens and growing a large vegetable garden. The annual national agricultural festival – the Ploughing Match – attracts visitors interested in all aspects of country living. Last year over 180,000 people attended the three-day event. That’s a huge percentage of the national population interested in paying to see exhibitions of bee-keeping, home butchering and ploughing with traditional implements!
3. It’s citizenry is armed. Guns are relatively easy to obtain, and the licence is renewed every three years. Students in Trinity College Dublin can join the university rifle club for an annual fee of €4, for example, and on that basis qualify for a licence. It’s reckoned that there is one gun for every dozen or so people.
4. It’s defensible. The price of a castle is close to the cost of an average family home. I’m not joking: take a look at this recent offering to the market. Ireland is a small island on the edge of Europe, with a history of conflict, a tradition of national defence, and the real potential for agricultural self-sufficiency. Come join us! – C.G.