This morning, we had a guest lecture from Dr. Darren Kelly, Academic Director and Global Internship Program Coordinator for CAPA. In his talk, Dr. Kelly discussed the contrast between the education system in Ireland and the United States, the minor cultural differences that make a major impact in a business setting, and the importance of culture in a developing country. For example, the Irish education system does not have a middle school level. Instead, students begin planning their future careers at the age of eleven, where a point system with grades is involved for universities to decide whether to eventually accept them into their programs. The cultural differences involved taking compliments, where accepting compliments is common courtesy in America can be seen as rude and arrogant in Ireland. Also, hanging up first immediately on a phone call is seen as insulting to an Irish person. Finally, we discussed how culture in Ireland is the main attractive characteristic to tourists. Ireland quickly developed into a booming technology location when it was a second world country just three decades ago. Ireland underwent the same technology evolution in thirty years that America experienced in two-hundred years.

After his lecture, Dr. Kelly took us on a tour of The Docklands, the quickly developing business district on the North Side of Dublin. Most of the complexes in the area were under fifteen years old, which displays exactly how quickly Dublin is growing as a mecca for industry. However, with every benefit to an area comes a price. We walked through a neighborhood called the East Wall, which was in the center of The Docklands. This neighborhood was compiled of single bedroom houses which now held worth of over 500,000 euros due to the booming industry. The issue that resulted from this is the relocation of the individuals that lived there prior to the development. Most of the people living in East Wall cannot drive, so moving out to the suburban area of Dublin would affect utility cost, and how they would be able to access grocery stores without a means of effective transportation.

Overall, Dr. Darren Kelly’s lecture definitely aided in my understanding of Ireland, and the figments of information that he provided definitely added to my insight of the business world in Ireland, where such differences can be the shift between a successful relationship and an awful fallout. Additionally, his knowledge of the fast-developing Docklands area benefited my understanding of exactly why we were in Dublin for our trip, for I knew Dublin had become a technology center for the European Union, but now I am able to visualize exactly what that means.