American woman meets an Irish man on vacation- is he into me or is this American dream dead?

Long story short; short story long. Last month I went to Ireland with a couple of girl friends. One night at a pub, I ended up chatting with a local guy. I actually initiated the conversation and offered to buy him a drink, it was a soda. Turns out he doesn’t drink, totally cool. I drank lol We hit it off immediately and we all talked for a while.

My friend asked if he was on social media, (being a great wing woman) we followed each other, and at the end of the night I messaged him thanking him for the conversation. He replied by calling me pretty, and eventually we exchanged phone numbers.

At one point I mentioned I’d be back in Dublin later in the trip, and he replied, “It’s a date.” We ended up meeting again and well….hooking up.

Since then we’ve stayed in touch. We don’t have super deep conversations, but we chat fairly regularly. The dynamic is mostly playful, flirty, teasing, and lighthearted. Sometimes he’s very engaged, sends multiple messages, photos of what he’s doing, flirts heavily, interacts with my social media, and seems genuinely interested. Other times he’ll disappear for a day or two, leave messages on read, or go quiet for a bit before popping back up again (after I initiate something 99% of the time)

Recently we had a pretty flirty conversation, and afterward he left me on read. Now he was traveling with friends so I get it. A couple days after still nothing I later I decided to send something casual and the conversation picked back up.

For context, I’m not blowing up his phone, demanding constant communication, or trying to plan a wedding. lol I genuinely enjoy talking to him and I like that there aren’t a lot of expectations because we live in different countries. At the same time, I’m open-minded about where things could go if they naturally developed.

So what’s your read on this? Does this sound like a guy who’s actually interested? Maybe is open seeing where things go, or does it sound more like he’s being nice for my benefit and keeping in touch with someone he had a vacation hookup with?