... about major cities, major hospitals, openness towards foreigners, etc...
I'm Irish. I'll tell ya what I can...
Major cities include:
1. Limerick
2. Cork
3. Galway
4. (The capital) Dublin.
All of the above have hospitals, usually more then one.
Galway is the smallest of the major cities, but is the main city in the province of Connacht. Connacht is the western province, and has the lowest population. It is on the opposite side of the island when compared to the capital.
Cork is the third most populous city on the Island. It is in Munster, my home province. To the south of the Country. I don't know all that much about the place, though, since...
Limerick is the second biggest City in Ireland, and a major trading hub for the EU and Ireland as a whole. It is (interesting fact) where my family originates. It is a bit to the south of Galway, in the west of Ireland. It is directly facing the US.
Dublin is the capital. Enough said.
We are quite friendly, where I live we have a large community farm which is part of the Woofer system and we have recently gained a lot of semi-permanant lodgers who are leaving the U.S for the next four years. Wow. We have lots of people from all around the world, I know an asian family that runs the local takeaway, a friend of mine was from new Zealand, some people from Spain, and I think that Owen O' Brollachán is from somewhere other then Ireland. My Granddad was from scotland a- never mind, you get the idea.
I am guessing that you want to live here, so I'll give you a few ideas.
Galway or Limerick would be nice choices, since the European apple branch is situated in Limerick, along with a lot of other things, and Galway is... Cool. Quote from several people. I wish that they could give me a better answer...
I live in an ecovillage, and we are always willing to accept people here, whether or not it's permanant. Although, the hostel we have is a bit... Not the best. We have an extra section of the house that we're renting out to people, but we already have a lodger, sorry 'bout that. Another place I
highly reccomend visiting at some point, is the Dingle penninsula. It runs almost entirely off tourism and a bit of fishing. It is an amazing place. Beutiful, too!
That is all I vp an tell you. Have a lovely day.