A US tech billionaire who claimed that Irish food and weather ‘suck’ was just having a “bad Ireland day,” according to former Rose of Tralee hopeful Brianna Parkins.

Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince recently tweeted that “no wants to live in Ireland unless they're Irish.”

He said the Irish community was not very welcoming to outsiders and claimed the weather and food here suck.

I wish you no ill will, but I’d be realistic about your strengths and weaknesses. You are not a very welcoming community to outsiders. And the weather and food suck. Hopefully you can fix 2/3. And then, maybe, global warming your friend.

— Matthew Prince 🌥 (@eastdakota) November 4, 2020

The comments were made in early November but have blown up on social media in recent days.

On The Hard Shoulder this evening, Ireland AM reporter and Australian expat Brianna Parkins said many people who move here experience the odd “bad Ireland day.”

“Everyone has one and you just snap,” she said.

“It is usually because Dublin Bus hasn’t come or you are paying €1,900 a month for a shoebox apartment with immersion and the hot water’s run out and you just absolutely crack.

“I had one person describe to me that living in Ireland is as frustrating as trying to have intercourse with a flaccid penis – and that wouldn’t be far off the mark.

“There are just things about it where you are saying, why is it this way? And the answer is because it has always been this way.

“It is incredibly frustrating for foreigners who come from a different system of efficiency.”

31/10/2013 The Dublin Web Summit. Pictured is Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of CloudFlare Inc., speaking on the main stage during the second day of the Dublin Web Summit today at the RDS. Photo: Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland

On Lunchtime Live earlier Paul Flynn – chef and owner of the Tannery in Dungarvan, Co Waterford – strongly rejected Mr Prince’s criticism of Irish food.

“I'm actually upset by that,” he said. “What country has he been to in the last 20 years? We've come on in leaps and bounds.”

Friendly

Ms Parkins said Irish people are “extremely friendly and will go out of their way to try and help you” but noted that it can take a time for them to warm to you.

“Once you start chatting to them and you get to know them, they will be like, ‘do you want a lift home? I’ll drive you,’” she said. “They are welcoming you into their Christmas dinner or inviting you down the road to meet your uncle.

“It just takes a while for them to warm up.

“The other thing is, on a personal level, Irish people are very friendly but they have had the same friendship groups probably from primary school upwards.

“They know everyone in their towns and they have built really strong bonds and, as an outsider, it is really hard to break into that.”

Sláinte

She said customer service is often incredibly low compared to other countries.

“Especially when you go into say rural towns that would be used to foreigners coming in for the summer,” she said.

“There is just a kind of outright hostility, like an annoyance that they have to serve you, in the café that you have come into.

“I kind of love that kind of surliness but maybe others, especially Americans, wouldn’t.”Br