What is the general Irish discernment/opinion of Germany?

The Irish and Germans share a lot of affinity traditionally. However the mass media and authorities recently however have been essentially trying to almost solely blame Merkel (and by implication Germany as a whole) for what ultimately were the foul actions of the ECB and European Commission at the time of the outset of Ireland's economic crisis. The prime reasons for this travesty are political. The media and mainstream political Establishment are ardently Europhile. The press is also overwhelmingly dominated by a bias in favour of the main party in Government, Fine Gael. FG are members of the EPP grouping in the European Parliament, which is REALLY the main driving force behind the whole "austerity" ideology that is deeply unpopular in Ireland particularly. By creating the impression "its' all them thar Germans" in the minds of the distressed public, it nicely distracts from the prime culprits who're more likely to be sitting in Dublin. The irony of the Euro-phile center Right in Ireland is that they are scapegoating actual European friends for their own corrupt motives- all in the supposed name of "European Unity". A recent good sign perhaps is that an openly Euro-skeptical candidate in the recent Euro-Parl elections has swept the boards. So despite all the Establishment's dirty tricks they may be failing to win as time progresses..

No Bob, you're got it wrong as usual. De Valera, the leader of Ireland at the time, who was in fact American, was a supporter of Hitler. The fact that many Irish men and women left Ireland and went to fight in the British Army against Germany is proof that Irish people did NOT in fact support the Third Reich. And neither did many Germans, as we have learned since. But that is now ancient history, and most Irish people today are perfectly fine with Germans, although you might get a couple of young yahoos who think it's smart to make comments about gas and say Zieg Heil - the same kind of fools who think it's funny to go to an airport in the US and say 'There's a bomb in my bag, hahahaha.' As you can imagine, detention, interrogation and a body cavity search knocks the funny out of such individuals amazingly quickly. You'll be fine, don't worry. A lot of Germans live and work in Ireland, incidentally.

The first thing I think of when I hear Germany, is Hitler. I don't hold that against them, but it's my first association. Germany: industrious, hard-working, determined, a bit serious, nature-loving (big on nudism)

They liked hitler. In two world wars theyt refused to stand with the world against him as theyt were neutral. As Orla once again makes up a story check the facts yourself. This is the link to wikipedia Section Internal affairs line one states " Irelands neutrality was supported by the MAJORITY of its population. " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_neutrality_during_World_War_II