Irishman here - living in Canada nearly two years now. It's not very sudden to be honest - changes like the Marriage Equality Act have been wanted by a lot of

Irishman here - living in Canada nearly two years now. It's not very sudden to be honest - changes like the Marriage Equality Act have been wanted by a lot of people for a long time. The criminalisation of drug use clearly doesnt work the entire world over. In Ireland, especially Dublin, it's not unusual to see a heroin addict shooting up on public transport. I honestly feel that Irish people are in general a fairly liberal bunch. It can't be emphasised enough how much the Catholic Church held the country back. I don't think non-Irish people will understand just how high esteem (read: fear) that we held the institution in. All we need now is to remove religion (not necessarily the teachings but rather the role the Church plays) from the eductation system and we'll really be getting somewhere.