if the person was Irish it may be that you got someone from the west or Cork, both have very heavy accents and i have trouble understanding them sometimes, especially Leesiders (people from Cork). i am amazed sometimes at the range of accents for such a small country. we actually speak excellent english in dublin and every year have tens of thousands of franch, spanish and italian students coming here ot learn english. the way we speak is influenced by the irish language so to some, even in England, phrases we use may no sence.
~M

>Our firm become a Microsoft partner. Today I needed to talk with a Microsoft worker from Ireland.
>
>He only asked me an ID number and a phone number and I difficulty understood him. He wasn't talking like in the films or non-english speakers. I went to Taiwan and I can talk with chinese people in english but I couldn't talk with him (Microsoft's worker) even only two words. :((