Sir, - I was not surprised to read the results of a recent international survey in which Irish tourists were judged to be the second worst behaved. I was actually surprised we didn't top the list. Although we like to imagine that our drunken ignorance somehow endears us to people the world over, it is time we realised that we are not as popular as we think. My experience of Irish tourists on a recent trip to Egypt left me thoroughly ashamed and embarrassed.
After spending a wonderful week travelling through this remarkable country, I spent a week in a remote hotel which was filled with Irish guests. As Egypt is a strictly Muslim country, very conservative dress is the norm, and most guidebooks suggest modest dress as a sign of respect for the culture. The Irish seemed to take a perverse pleasure in ignoring this suggestion and indeed were determined to wear as few clothes as possible on all occasions.
In Muslim countries the vast majority of people do not consume alcohol, but naturally that didn't stop the Irish tourists drinking themselves into oblivion from early afternoon into early morning at the hotel bar. They also engaged loudly in that Irish habit of "slagging" by asking the lowly paid Egyptian waiters how much they earned and then laughing heartily at the reply. The fact that they were humiliating these men would never have occurred to them; it was just a bit of harmless "craic".
There was constant obnoxious boasting in the morning about how much drink had been consumed the night before. Of course the late-night revellers were blissfully unconcerned that these waiters were not paid overtime and had to serve alcohol as long as people wanted it. There's no one like the Irish to take advantage of this.
And then there were the loud anti-Muslim jokes that seemed so hilarious to the majority of Irish guests. But of course this was only "slagging". I was so embarrassed at the loutish behaviour of Irish people of all ages that my companion and I actually apologised to the men working in the hotel. For a brief moment their mask of politeness fell and they admitted to feeling rage at the behaviour of the Irish tourists. As one waiter said to me: "The Irish are the worst, much worse than the English". As jobs are so scarce in the country they have to put up with as much abuse as the tourists give and in the case of Irish tourists that is quite a lot.
I left the country with strong feelings. First, I will never forget the generosity and friendliness of the Egyptian people and how privileged I felt to experience a culture so different from our own. Second, I vowed never again to travel with groups of Irish tourists and I wondered what hope there is for a nation where drunken ignorance is so readily accepted and even admired. - Is mise,
A. McSHANE, Phibsboro, Dublin 7.