Another thing about Irish pubs that I don't understand.

How come every country is plagued with them, yet in Ireland, we don't have "German Pubs" or "French Pubs" or "English Pubs"? What would you put in them? Great big sausages? Pictures of Jurgen Klinnsman? Big long strings of onions tied together and pictures of Michel Platini? Or perhaps some Union jacks, a few bulldogs and a portrait of the queen?

Irish pubs abroad bear very few similarities to pubs in Ireland. If you want to experience real Irish pubs in Ireland, stay away from the Temple Bar area in Dublin.

Go to McManus's or McArdles in Dundalk, Co.Louth. Not a plastic shamrock in sight.