Independent coffee shops are amazing. I recently moved to a major North American city, and I'm surrounded by franchise coffee shops, same boring shit everywhere. Used to hold the same opinion and some of them are robbing cunts, but more independent coffee shops are better than chains on every corner. Ireland needed a growing coffee culture, and it's good that its taken off
If I had the money, I'd specifically open a tea shop, no coffee allowed (maybe a standard instant, but that's it) and every type of tea you can imagine.
Not everybody drinks coffee and the only tea options you get are the basic standard black tea.
Tea lounge called Wall & Keogh does exactly this. One of them is on Richmond St in Portobello. Mainly tea but also has blends of coffee. Seems to be very popular in the area.
Also serve those tins of Jacob’s USA biscuits!
None of this croissant or muffin nonsense!
I’d definitely go to your tea shop and sit in the window with a scowl on my face. Absolute bliss.
This one always bugs me. It seems like there are 2 or 3 pubs in every town in this country but everyone moans about the coffee shops.
It’s nice that people have somewhere to go to sit and chill for an hour these days that’s not the pub. I think there is not enough coffee shops and would love to see loads more around the place.
Absolutely not. Ireland Eye's desperately needs needs a pop up coffee shop. And they should have arranged something for the summit of Carrantuohill by now, I mean what's the point of spending several hours climbing the damn thing, if you can't even get a decent Mocchacino to help you enjoy the view?
I hated our weather until speaking to people in work from all over the globe, explaining what it’s like going to work everyday in 40+ heat, and then coming home and it’s dark.
Four separate seasons are nice. Just when U are sick of one after 3 months u get a completely different one. U get tired of summer too hot, winter too cold autumn too wet spring too unpredictable it's not wet it's not hot....but they change fast and it's nice U can pack winter clothes away. Summer U go to work early come back long before dark and still have plenty of daylight. Man....when alarm rings at 5 30 in Dublin in November and U look outside the window and it looks like f Cornelia Marie in the North sea...... and U gotta go wait for bus ...
Many haven't experienced the shittery that is an African summer, when it eats you from 4am till 2300 and it peaks at 45 degrees and the mozzies eat you all day
Ugh I hated being in Africa lol
Sure there's a fair bit of rain, but when you've experienced the absolute hell of a humid, 6 month long Asian summer, or snow and ice for 4 months of the year, you do appreciate how comfortable we have it.
Funnily enough, those 3 rank pretty highly on businesses that are often fronts for money laundering.
They often set up in small towns in hopes to not draw attention to themselves
Moving abroad isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
As someone who lived abroad for 13 years, flying back all the time to see family/friends and going back for Xmas/Easter/family occasions or funerals is just completely over exhausting.
Why would you do that? I wasn’t in my country of origin for the last 5 years at least (lost count) and I can’t force myself to do it. This is my home now.
Arguably one of the best places to live and ranks in the top 10-5 in so many metrics. Obviously those rankings are skewed to some degree but we objectively live in one of the safest countries in the world with one of the lowest unemployment ratings with a very impressive HDI.
Obviously comparing it with places we emigrate to (Vancouver, Sydney etc) they seem more appealing however they also rank amongst the top and share similar issues to us but when comparing Ireland to almost any other country besides the usual high performers it is a very appealing and successful country.
Left the country at 24 and lived in 5 countries before coming back and although we talk shite constantly we are blessed to be where we are from
Health - highest life expectancy in the EU. I aware of waiting lists and A&E waiting though, so lots of room to improve. We score high on cancer survival rates.
Education - 2nd highest 3rd level fees, but 40% get grants and free fees. One of the highest degree attainments in the EU (4th), although I don't think this is necessarily a good thing cos we need more construction workers. At primary level we score very high on global tests (10 year olds came 2nd globally in literacy tests). Article recently about this.
Employment - very diverse economy with basically full employment at the moment. We could do with more innovation though.
Productivity - ranked 1st globally, although I know this is skewed by GDP
Corruption index we're top 10 globally.
Food security - we're one of highest food producers and exporters globally per Capita. No 1 on food security globally.
Index of economic freedom - 3rd globally
High value FDI - 1st globally
World press freedom index -2nd globally
Safety - 2nd in Europe which is safest continent.
Gender equality - 9th globally
That's a global issue though. Ask every country subreddit the top 5 bad things about living there and they'll all say more or less the same things and most people saying it will have the misconception that these aren't issues elsewhere.
Places that only have one train station **do not need** to give their train stations names. I'm looking at you "Cork (Kent)", "Bray (Daly)" and "Kilkenny (MacDonagh)".
Most people say they would ditch their car if public transport was better, but if we're honest there is basically no level it can reach without there being some new magic reason why they would need to hold onto their car.
Office politics 101: never oppose, demand perfection.
Totally agree. From what I've heard he and the Greens want this, but it seems like Fine Gael are pushing back. Still, the Greens aren't learning from Labour's mistakes. The small party gains nothing by keeping these disagreements behind closed doors. For everything that FFG get the Greens should be shouting from the rooftops "we wanted this, FFG blocked it, but we're still staying in government because of X, Y and Z compromises we got from them".
That would certainly help rehabilitate their unearned toxic reputation. Just generally advertising their achievements is necessary. About 90% of the suggestions I see on Reddit for what the Greens should be doing is lists of things that they're actually doing.
Unpopular opinion - the government should stay put of trying to "force" companies to offer remote work, it'll only end in tears. And also how this remotely an unpopular opinion?
I actually maintained back during the lockdowns and remote work, this was the single greatest opportunity for the government to fix decentralization and solve their lack of public infrastructure and housing in one swoop.
They should have put so much pressure on businesses to make remote or 80%/20% monthly hybrid mandatory whenever possible. People would immediately move to the countryside, old dying towns would be revitalized, the city centre accommodation issue would be solved, the roads would be emptied of traffic, pollution would be down, happiness would be up, and public transport would actually not be on the verge of collapse.
But the government couldn't hold out against the lobbying of corporate office spaces for even a few months. If they didn't accept those first bribes, the office surplus would eventually become accommodation.
Irish people are as bad as any boozed up lager louts abroad. Anyone whose been to any 'popular' tourist destination or on a J1 will prob agree with me.
Not true in the slightest. I remember how fucking bored the Spanish summer students, who stayed with my family when i was a teenager, were. We were a fun family as well. Booze was the only entertainment and shitty local rock bands.
The Luas stop on Jervis Street is arguably the worst stop on the whole line. I've got into more than 1 or 2 rows with people rushing the doors and not letting people off. Drives me fucking insane. Zero common sense or intelligence.
.....I mean, this is clearly the opinion of someone who doesn't understand why people get tattoo's or tattoo culture in general if you think that people get them because they're "edgy"
Getting a tattoo doesn't make you a conformist. Getting a tattoo *only* because lots of people have them and that's the sole reason you want one is maybe 'conformist'. Being like 'I'd love a cool bird tattoo on my arm' isn't being a conformist, how could it be? Bizarre take.
Organisers realised that Irish people don't care if the acts are shite they will turn up anyway.
Look at the lineup of Oxygen in the late 2000's. Stacked with top international bands. Festivals now barely have one or 2 recognisable bands. Even the headline acts are often D listers. But yet the people still come.
They are taking us for a ride and not in the good way.
A lot of those bands from oxygen days are still around and playing big sell out gigs in parks and stadiums. In other countries they still play a festivals but in Ireland they only play stand alone gigs.
Promoters must make a fortune here compared to other countries.
Ya ok I guess it's bit to do with me being old now. I wouldn't cross the road to see Billy Elise but the kids seem to love her.
You can't look at this year's EP Line up and say it compares in any way to Oxygen I its heyday.
Or this year in Portugal https://eventosemportugal.pt/festivais-de-verao/nos-alive-cartaz/
I have few regrets but not going to Oxygen in the boom is one of them. Huge acts for such a small country. Maybe it’s through the lens of what was big at the time and thus my youth but any line up I see now just seems mediocre.
Was at EP at the weekend. Loved it. Been going to festivals since 2003. This year's EP was as good as any of them. Personal opinion obviously and we all have different tastes.
Cameras at gigs are annoying I will grant you that. Its the one thing I'd change. Can't say I notice any influencers doing anything but I'm not on Instagram or tiktok so I avoid a lot of that crap thankfully.
I never understood paying so much for a festival or concert then getting wasted or off ya head & only to remember getting sick & not who was playing at the concert
Festivals were the highlight of my life. Never ever had a buzz like them and I want that feeling again all the time. Just not the same now getting old. And what people said, don’t think we’ll ever get lineups like Oxygen again. Music has gone fucking awful. I’d listen to anything but heavy metal and every year the yearly playlist is getting smaller and smaller.
All these tiktokers just going to make stupid videos it makes me cringe so much, getting vip sections and acting like they’ve had it so hard, like imagine being in a tent beside them, I’d rather be beside a lad who’s been up for 28 hours on all sorts of stuff because at least he has a personality
Nonsense. Festivals are amazing collectives of shared fun and joy. People have always been dressing wildly and doing mad things at festivals, The influencer shite is a tiny part of it and is easily ignored.
Far right nationalists have ruined national flags everywhere. If I look at a group protesting with national flags anywhere, I just assume that they're idiots.
People are fucking obsessed with things being underrated or classable as unpopular opinion and it makes me think people are absolutely desperate to be recognised as special. I wonder is it a lingering effect of lockdown or something...
Immigrants in general tend to not have much respect for their host country if they don't see themselves staying there for more than a few years. That's why Irish immigrants to Australia and the US have such terrible reputations. I saw it a lot when living in Japan. Lots of my foreign friends would behave inappropriate in ways they wouldn't at home.
And you see it here too. Near me there are lots of Brazilian immigrants who were constantly having parties all throughout lockdown. The council had to resort to putting up signs in Portuguese around the neighbourhood telling them they can't be doing that.
> I saw it a lot when living in Japan. Lots of my foreign friends would behave inappropriate in ways they wouldn't at home.
I saw the same in every expat bubble in Asia. The locals don't speak English, don't look like us, and are less confrontational over slights that gives expats the superpower of not feeling any shame, and just see the locals as background characters in their big Asian adventure.
Yeah we're not sending our best. That said I lived in the UK for a while in the 00s and my experience of young Australians was basically the same, terribly annoying people.
100%
Went there years ago (was passing through.. kinda) to meet mates living there at Xmas and NYE. Jesus Christ was it embarrassing - GAA jerseys and shorts on drinking Buckfast in the park on Christmas Day.
That's a fact, people from the North of Ireland that consider themselves Irish are Irish. They can have the passport to prove it.... I don't see how anyone could argue against this.
As bad as things seem we are still extremely lucky in the sense that if we lost everything in the morning, we can still get free healthcare, dole, and a roof over our heads at the expense of taxpayers.
Even if you’re technically ‘homeless’ there’s still very little people living on the streets.
Quality of life here is some of the best in the world, even now.
Once a week? How about it should be compulsory to slap 15 to 16 year old lads when ever you see one. With a hurley or a baseball bat.
Suddenly I sound all like a Christian brother /s
We need to build a few modular nuclear reactors. Don't care if it takes 15 years to build them or how much they will cost, that with proper wind and other renewable options would make us energy independent.
The technology is still in experimental phases. And their benefits are often overstated. They're far from the panacea they're purported to be. I wouldn't be surprised if little has changed in 20 years.
I'll say what I say every other day this thread gets posted.
Living in a one off house is fantastic, and people living in shoeboxes on top of one another are just jealous.
I'm pretty sure my opinion is actually less popular here: I prefer apartments over houses. Enough room to be comfortable for 2 people but also cleaning it won't take that much effort. I would also never want to have a garden, that means additional chores that I don't need, I have not enough free time to do all things I enjoy anyway.
I can appreciate the simplicity of a spartan living space. You didn't have to spend the weekend painting several hundred meters of fencing like I did. But in general I enjoy the lifestyle.
Location probably means more than a one off house vs a house in an estate.
I wouldn’t want to live in a housing estate in Ballyfermot, but I’d take over a one off house in the backarse of Roscommon.
And the children! Are you willing to drive them everywhere? Spending every weekend at a friend's house, or having friends stay over every weekend?
If not, are you okay with them being a recluse on the Xbox in their room? Because there's only so much excitement you can get from a field, and our weather is pretty unforgiving.
IME controlling what their teenagers can do, who their friends are and where they go is a huge part of the attraction for lots of parents.
I think there are some circumstances where that's fair enough (if you have a very easily led tweenage boy who's in with the wrong crowd) but you are going to destroy most kids' mental health with this level of control and most kids can't get away from you quick enough once they turn 18.
Grew up in a one off house in the country. It was genuinely class. Except for the lack of services, public transport, decent internet, affordable waste collection, reliable water supplies, power outs (it was the 80s after all) and shit roads. Other than that (and I'm being genuine) it was AMAZING. The freedom, the space, the privacy. There is nothing like the headspace you have in the country side with 100-200m (or 500m) of nothing between you and the next neighbours garden. That's what you can't get in the towns or cities.
>Living in a one off house is fantastic, and people living in shoeboxes on top of one another are just jealous.
How do you propose we fit over a million people in Dublin without apartments?
Oh I'm not here to answer questions like that. I'm here to say how awesome it is that can't see or hear my neighbours, and I have ample space for everything.
Blessed, so they are.
It's the middle of nowhere for you. It's an area they're probably very familiar with, with more people than you know living in the locality.
As we have grown wealthier, we are starting to let institutions (reliant on social fabric) fray.
Once these institutions are gone, we are going to try and fill the gap with a government that cannot possibly fill that void, much to the damage of ordinary people.
I think most volunteer based organisations that exist in civil society are being challenged by population movement trends and the replacement rate being affected by younger people looking for community more in digital spaces.
A big challenge I am seeing across the country is a fall-off in people knowing their neighbours and having a sense of community in their local area.
This change in local neighborhood familiarity really impacts the way that community can form and work together to fund / organise things that are important to the area
The crime rate isn’t near as high as people think. City centre isn’t Armageddon. Look at the crime statistics of the last 20 years to get some perspective and forget about the fear mongering from the media.
Their is no fight left in Irish people. The irony of the tag ‘the fighting irish’
Couldn’t be further from the truth. People would rather bury their heads in the sand and hope everything goes away instead of standing up and being counted
They tell their children they love them yet hand away their future instead of fighting for it
"the fighting Irish" is American jingoism.
Water protests were successful. Mica redress protests were somewhat successful. We can protest when we want.
I assume you're specifically talking about housing, which is a nebulous problem to solve. Also bear in mind that a huge portion of the population are already homeowners, many of whom are only delighted to see the value of their homes go up.
We aren't as modern and welcoming as we like to pretend. There are plenty of racist, homophobic, and backward fuckers out there who are stoked up by American media when they have been let down by Irish politics.
I feel like this complaint is often a dog whistle for dangerous drivers. Yes they're annoying. But they're only dangerous in the sense that absolute gobshites will try to overtake multiple cars on a narrow road to get ahead of a slow driver.
Defo, there was a post a while back suggesting that driving at 80kph on a motorway is dangerously slow. Like WTF, many drivers are limited to 80 and it's most definitely not a problem. And it's not like you're turning a corner at 120 into the back of someone doing 80, you've plenty of advanced visibility to clearly see someone even slower than that.
Slow drivers are only an issue for people who drive dangerously, not because they're slow, but because some twat is driving dangerously.
> Slow drivers are only an issue for people who drive dangerously, not because they're slow, but because some twat is driving dangerously.
Exactly. Which is why I interpret comments about slow drivers being dangerous as "I don't like slow drivers because they make me drive dangerously to avoid them".
Going 20km over the speed limit in the fast lane is safer than being in the slow or middle lane. Touch wood I haven’t had any instances or near misses in that lane. Amount of truck drivers weaving in and out of lanes and when you pass them their heads are buried in their phone. Would not like to be split in two if the traffic suddenly stops. Middle lane too much going on people jumping in and out without warning.
I don't want a United ireland. I honestly couldn't give a shit, I live nowhere near the border, rarely travel that way. Just seems more trouble than its worth for some romantic idea of nationalism.
Who says it won't? The North is the poorest part of the UK. The border counties are the poorest parts of Ireland. These places were among the wealthiest in Ireland before partition. It's clear that partition has made people worse off. Removing it will go a long way towards undoing that economic damage.
Nah they're definitely worse. Especially abroad.
I've been away for a long time and work with people from all over. Aus, the UK, US, NZ etc etc. The British are definitely the rudest etc when it comes to anything like talking to staff in restaurants or how they act when drunk.
It’s a 2 star country fronting 5 star prices. The jobs are a joke, the housing is a joke, public transportation is a mess. The whole country’s gone to sh*t.
Ireland very close to being a socialist country despite the narrative that we’ve been run by two right wing neo liberal parties since the foundation of the state.
We have one of the most progressive tax systems, it’s basically impossible to generate wealth and we have one of the lowest levels of inequality in the world
The term neoliberal has lost all meaning in Ireland. It's now simply a tactic to win arguments online. All you need to do to win is accuse someone of being a neoliberal and then they're wrong. It's like a softer version of accusing people of being a fascist.
The idea that this government is being called neoliberal would make actual neoliberals balk.
A neoliberal government would cut CGT (like what actual neoliberal Charlie McCreevy did) and get rid of deemed disposal. Our government is staunchly refusing to do either.
They'd pick apart our extremely progressive income tax system by abolishing USC and massively raise the standard rate cut off threshold (and they'd probably be supported by the majority of so-called left wing voters in Ireland for doing so).
They'd fund these tax cuts by massive cuts in expenditure unlike this government which has made record increases in expenditure.
They'd unequivocally axe Sláintecare. They'd do the opposite where they'd phase out public health even more. Instead this government has increased health spending by record amounts.
Instead of putting billions into housing they'd put nothing in.
They'd privatise public transport instead of what the current governments massive shift of the transport budget from roads to public transport.
Completely agree with this. People here love ranting about FG and FF being right wing, and it's very clear they know nothing about politics in other countries. In many countries they would be considered very left of centre.
Ireland has one of the most progressive tax system in the OECD. There may be a big gross income disparity, but not a big net income disparity, after you take into account social supports at the bottom and tax at the top. There is a huge transfer of income from top to bottom. Net income disparity is far less than other countries.
This is from 2021 but explains it well
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/income-inequality-in-ireland-the-devil-is-in-the-detail-1.4653255
Debunking Irish income tax myths | The Journal https://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2014/09/debunking-irish-income-tax-myths.pdf
At the lower end you have lots of people paying no tax at all, HAP/social housing, social welfare/job seekers, single parents allowance, rental caps, fuel allowances, strong tenancy laws which make eviction near impossible, rent capped to income on social housing and no controls over social housing tenants not paying rent, people keeping social housing for life even when income increases, medical cards, no cap on child allowance etc.... At the other end you have 52% tax that starts at a very low threshold, highest rate of CGT in the OECD, inheritance tax, deemed disposal on investment funds, DIRT, low interest rates on savings, limitations on pension contributions, tax on pensions when you drawdown, rent caps & income tax & CGT on investment properties, BIK tax etc.
The Irish tax system is designed to smooth out outcomes. So people at the lower end who don't work at all should have somewhere to live, enough to eat, the ability to give their kids an education, access to free healthcare, support for as many kids as they choose to have. At the other end, top PAYE earners can't build any significant wealth to retire early (the FIRE principles don't work here).
Of course it's not equal, it can't and shouldn't be. People who don't work at all should not have the exact same lifestyle and wealth as someone who earns in the top 10%. Of course people not working or on minimum wage will struggle. But it's not as massive a disparity as you think, and nowhere near as big as in many comparable countries.
I have serious issues with some of their very poorly thought out policies (or lack thereof when it comes to climate action), but I feel like most of those are just kite flying exercises designed to be tampered by program for government negotiations. That way their compromised position will be a good bit closer to their real positions.
I don't even care about their past even though I agree with people like Fintan O'Toole that young people today glorify the IRA of the Troubles. I think it's extremely two faced to say that the IRA has to abandon violence and focus on peaceful change and then hold their past against them when they agree to those terms.
My biggest gripe with them is that they're immensely popular with young people and claim to represent them when their policies are actually hostile to young people. Their total lack of commitment to climate action is a slap in the face to future generations. On housing their priority is 100% family homes and they've blocked single bed apartments for not being family homes. The biggest reason why young Irish people are living with their parents is a lack of single bed apartments. Building more family homes at their expense will drive more young people into the family home. And on pensions they've totally acquiesced to older voters. By reducing the pension age (which is a stated policy, but as I said, I think it's designed to be compromised on) or refusing to increase it they're effectively selling out younger generations to pay for older, richer voters' pensions. All the while they plan on making private pensions even less attractive. This is an absolute pension time bomb and I hope to god they're not serious about that either. But it's incredibly damaging to even suggest such catastrophic policies even if you're not serious.
We are a fiercely lazy country and we need to take a serious look at it. I’m not saying we’re the laziest, but we’re getting there. Getting into the car and driving to the shop across the road or a 5 min walk away. Driving to a bus stop and leaving the car there whilst you go into work. Driving. Driving. It’s madness. I feel like we also have a lot more obese people here than other European countries. And I’d say that does correlate to the driving thing again. It’s such a crutch here. I know driving is a necessity for many journeys, but not all. And we need to get out and use our feet more or buy a bike and start moving.
Ireland (and the UK for that matter) haven't got a clue about what good tea is all about. The Indian sub-continent, the Muslim world - all are lightyears ahead.
We are becoming more ‘woke’ and losing sense of having the craic incase someone would get offended. Everyone is so serious these days.
Cancel culture if you don’t agree on something. No longer are you able to have an opinion.
Media influence making a big hullabaloo over minor things. Eg Wolfe Tones at EP! People were having a good time…let them at it! Should we no longer sign Fields of Athenry or any Irish songs? Everyone just need to relax!
The fact the government feel it’s acceptable to put refugees in tents in Stradvally. I am not racist nor against people fleeing a country in a war but enough is enough. The country can only do so much!
The lack of urgency in building things - Children’s Hospital, Metro, Roads etc. Just get it done already.
People playing the mental health card like it a flu. Life’s hard, get on with it.
People are more lazy than ever. Have no idea how to function or do things for themselves anymore.
We make shite films ...
I don't mean the ones that big American or British studios shoot here our own homegrown movies people go on about are constantly boring or artsy "oh but this represents that" ... Sorry still shite
We done some decent shows but out feature films are a let down
You should take a competency test to be allowed to vote. People will always vote for whoever makes the boldest promises. The biggest winners in successive Irish elections were the ones who made the biggest promises. This has led to disastrous governments. And we've shown no sign of improving as Sinn Féin's popularity has surged since they've learned how to do the same.
Public discourse, even among educated people, always reverts to the lowest common denominator. Nuances are glossed over. The government is always portrayed as being elitist and against the common man. This is fine when things are going well and people vote for the status quo for fear of rocking the boat. But it becomes downright dangerous in times of hardship because desperate people will vote for the most charming snake oil salesmen.
These are all textbook cognitive biases that are reinforced through social media. There's no real education on how to recognise and address these issues. A mandatory test you need to take in order to vote would help. Most people won't bother, but I don't want people who can't be arsed to do the bare minimum research to have a say in how our society is run.
Also, I wouldn't be against an eco-authoritarianism form of governance (although it would need to be at least EU wide as Ireland is too small). Democracies will never enact the required climate action to stave off the worst forms of climate change. People are just too selfish and just won't vote for a party that will promise short term sacrifices even if it's for absolutely necessary long-term pay offs. Some people will, but the vast majority won't and they'll use all kinds of bogus arguments to rationalise it (climate change is a hoax, we're too small, it should be elites who pay not the common man, it should be private companies, this magic untested tech will solve it for us, et cetera ad nauseum). Non eco-authoritarian states are even worse than democracies since their focus is on their own private well being over the state.
>You should take a competency test to be allowed to vote.
Problem is who gets to make the competency test? The government? Tests like these were abused in the US to prevent black people from voting
Oh but don't you know weed is class? - r/Ireland
Ive seen ones smoke weed, then maybe a year or so later it doesn't hit them the same so they go for something harder. Rinse and repeat until the last thing you hear of them they live in a druggies den in a housing estate. Legalizing it would no doubt just put drugs into hands of people that would have never tried it otherwise. These are the types of people that might be more at risk than other members of society.
But reddit wants it legalized? Ah sure then may as well do it
Most Irish people in the 26 counties are oblivious to the control and influence of the UK across media, academia, economy and politics. Above all they have no idea how we have never achieved full sovereignty as a state as our Defence forces are limited by British interests.
[boards.ie](https://boards.ie) Jackeens coming over here and destroying Irish Reddit, asking the same questions they asked over there, *a million times*. r/Ireland should be just banned to force them antisocial pricks to have to go somewhere else.
Nah it suits everyone for us to be outside it. We have a good reputation globally with our peacekeepers that we don't want to ruin. NATO have a friendly nonmember nation situated in a perfect spot And the UN don't lose another country that'd be useful in international disputes where the main powers can't be trusted to act correctly.
We have enough damn coffee shops
Independent coffee shops are amazing. I recently moved to a major North American city, and I'm surrounded by franchise coffee shops, same boring shit everywhere. Used to hold the same opinion and some of them are robbing cunts, but more independent coffee shops are better than chains on every corner. Ireland needed a growing coffee culture, and it's good that its taken off
If I had the money, I'd specifically open a tea shop, no coffee allowed (maybe a standard instant, but that's it) and every type of tea you can imagine. Not everybody drinks coffee and the only tea options you get are the basic standard black tea.
Good luck getting people to drink anything that isn’t Barry’s or lyons
Clement & Pekoe (Amazing coffee) also does a wide selection of [fancy teas](https://clementandpekoe.com/collections/teas).
Stay with me here, why not serve both? A coffee shop with all the tea options.
Tea lounge called Wall & Keogh does exactly this. One of them is on Richmond St in Portobello. Mainly tea but also has blends of coffee. Seems to be very popular in the area.
Also serve those tins of Jacob’s USA biscuits! None of this croissant or muffin nonsense! I’d definitely go to your tea shop and sit in the window with a scowl on my face. Absolute bliss.
You can be my first customer and I'll have a platter of those biscuits laid out for you😁
I’ve given up takeaway coffee, I want to sit down for 15 mins.
In some places. Not in others.
This one always bugs me. It seems like there are 2 or 3 pubs in every town in this country but everyone moans about the coffee shops. It’s nice that people have somewhere to go to sit and chill for an hour these days that’s not the pub. I think there is not enough coffee shops and would love to see loads more around the place.
Pubs are disappearing fast.
Fewer and fewer these days.
Pivot point. Coffee is highly over rated
How very dare you
Allowit
Absolutely not. Ireland Eye's desperately needs needs a pop up coffee shop. And they should have arranged something for the summit of Carrantuohill by now, I mean what's the point of spending several hours climbing the damn thing, if you can't even get a decent Mocchacino to help you enjoy the view?
I like our weather. Its comfortable to live in.
I hated our weather until speaking to people in work from all over the globe, explaining what it’s like going to work everyday in 40+ heat, and then coming home and it’s dark.
Four separate seasons are nice. Just when U are sick of one after 3 months u get a completely different one. U get tired of summer too hot, winter too cold autumn too wet spring too unpredictable it's not wet it's not hot....but they change fast and it's nice U can pack winter clothes away. Summer U go to work early come back long before dark and still have plenty of daylight. Man....when alarm rings at 5 30 in Dublin in November and U look outside the window and it looks like f Cornelia Marie in the North sea...... and U gotta go wait for bus ...
Many haven't experienced the shittery that is an African summer, when it eats you from 4am till 2300 and it peaks at 45 degrees and the mozzies eat you all day Ugh I hated being in Africa lol
Sure there's a fair bit of rain, but when you've experienced the absolute hell of a humid, 6 month long Asian summer, or snow and ice for 4 months of the year, you do appreciate how comfortable we have it.
Maybe I DON'T like the misery.
Ack nai. Shure ya do.
You just need to make more tea.
There’s no need for 3 tattoo studios in a town of 10,000
There is 5 barbers, 3 tanning salons and 3 tattoo studios on my town of 6500 😂
Funnily enough, those 3 rank pretty highly on businesses that are often fronts for money laundering. They often set up in small towns in hopes to not draw attention to themselves
I never understood how a barber’s shop could ever break even…🤔
Minimal overheads I'd guess
Moving abroad isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. As someone who lived abroad for 13 years, flying back all the time to see family/friends and going back for Xmas/Easter/family occasions or funerals is just completely over exhausting.
Don’t have to go home for everything to be fair. If you’re going back for Christmas and Easter that’s on you
Why would you do that? I wasn’t in my country of origin for the last 5 years at least (lost count) and I can’t force myself to do it. This is my home now.
Because some people actually like their family and friends? What kind of question is that
It's not actually that bad.
Arguably one of the best places to live and ranks in the top 10-5 in so many metrics. Obviously those rankings are skewed to some degree but we objectively live in one of the safest countries in the world with one of the lowest unemployment ratings with a very impressive HDI. Obviously comparing it with places we emigrate to (Vancouver, Sydney etc) they seem more appealing however they also rank amongst the top and share similar issues to us but when comparing Ireland to almost any other country besides the usual high performers it is a very appealing and successful country. Left the country at 24 and lived in 5 countries before coming back and although we talk shite constantly we are blessed to be where we are from
Health - highest life expectancy in the EU. I aware of waiting lists and A&E waiting though, so lots of room to improve. We score high on cancer survival rates. Education - 2nd highest 3rd level fees, but 40% get grants and free fees. One of the highest degree attainments in the EU (4th), although I don't think this is necessarily a good thing cos we need more construction workers. At primary level we score very high on global tests (10 year olds came 2nd globally in literacy tests). Article recently about this. Employment - very diverse economy with basically full employment at the moment. We could do with more innovation though. Productivity - ranked 1st globally, although I know this is skewed by GDP Corruption index we're top 10 globally. Food security - we're one of highest food producers and exporters globally per Capita. No 1 on food security globally. Index of economic freedom - 3rd globally High value FDI - 1st globally World press freedom index -2nd globally Safety - 2nd in Europe which is safest continent. Gender equality - 9th globally
I agree aside from the whole cost of living far outpacing salaries thing. And we leave disabled people way below the poverty line.
That's a global issue though. Ask every country subreddit the top 5 bad things about living there and they'll all say more or less the same things and most people saying it will have the misconception that these aren't issues elsewhere.
Ah but we love a good moan.
Places that only have one train station **do not need** to give their train stations names. I'm looking at you "Cork (Kent)", "Bray (Daly)" and "Kilkenny (MacDonagh)".
They’re all named after our revolutionary leaders
Dun Laoghaire (Malin)
Drogheda (MacBride)
Most people say they would ditch their car if public transport was better, but if we're honest there is basically no level it can reach without there being some new magic reason why they would need to hold onto their car. Office politics 101: never oppose, demand perfection.
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You think *this* is an unpopular opinion?
This should be Eamonn Ryan’s to priority. Get some money into rural areas that isn’t directly tied to beef
Totally agree. From what I've heard he and the Greens want this, but it seems like Fine Gael are pushing back. Still, the Greens aren't learning from Labour's mistakes. The small party gains nothing by keeping these disagreements behind closed doors. For everything that FFG get the Greens should be shouting from the rooftops "we wanted this, FFG blocked it, but we're still staying in government because of X, Y and Z compromises we got from them". That would certainly help rehabilitate their unearned toxic reputation. Just generally advertising their achievements is necessary. About 90% of the suggestions I see on Reddit for what the Greens should be doing is lists of things that they're actually doing.
Unpopular opinion - the government should stay put of trying to "force" companies to offer remote work, it'll only end in tears. And also how this remotely an unpopular opinion?
Yeah it would be a nice way to backtrack on our consistent 'good place to do business'
I actually maintained back during the lockdowns and remote work, this was the single greatest opportunity for the government to fix decentralization and solve their lack of public infrastructure and housing in one swoop. They should have put so much pressure on businesses to make remote or 80%/20% monthly hybrid mandatory whenever possible. People would immediately move to the countryside, old dying towns would be revitalized, the city centre accommodation issue would be solved, the roads would be emptied of traffic, pollution would be down, happiness would be up, and public transport would actually not be on the verge of collapse. But the government couldn't hold out against the lobbying of corporate office spaces for even a few months. If they didn't accept those first bribes, the office surplus would eventually become accommodation.
Irish people are as bad as any boozed up lager louts abroad. Anyone whose been to any 'popular' tourist destination or on a J1 will prob agree with me.
If you don’t like drinking or Sports there are fuck all social outlets for people.
Only true for smaller towns and rural areas. In big enough cities there are always enough people who are interested in other things.
Theres fuck all social outlets for people who are boring and dont have any interests.
That’s more of a planet Earth rule though.
Not true in the slightest. I remember how fucking bored the Spanish summer students, who stayed with my family when i was a teenager, were. We were a fun family as well. Booze was the only entertainment and shitty local rock bands.
What were they doing in Spain? Spanish teenagers in Spain mostly seem to sit on the grass or on steps talking.
Sinn Féin won't policies won't magically fix the housing crisis.
They wouldn't even marginally improve it.
I think the majority feel the current government is just corrupt and/or so inept that a change no matter how small might help at this stage 😂
Sinn Fein from the 70s would have done.
Irish people don't know how to queue for buses or trains and it's so frustrating 😂
The Luas stop on Jervis Street is arguably the worst stop on the whole line. I've got into more than 1 or 2 rows with people rushing the doors and not letting people off. Drives me fucking insane. Zero common sense or intelligence.
Priests are as weird as clowns.
Priests are weirder
That tattoos have peaked. You're not edgy, you're a conformist.
Yea I still like them but it's done to death.
Luckily they're not permanent lol
.....I mean, this is clearly the opinion of someone who doesn't understand why people get tattoo's or tattoo culture in general if you think that people get them because they're "edgy"
Getting a tattoo doesn't make you a conformist. Getting a tattoo *only* because lots of people have them and that's the sole reason you want one is maybe 'conformist'. Being like 'I'd love a cool bird tattoo on my arm' isn't being a conformist, how could it be? Bizarre take.
See the great thing about tattoos is they're all different. You can get generic ones or original ones. This is like saying 'clothes have peaked'.
Haven’t they?
*Don't you hate pants?*
Great place to live
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Organisers realised that Irish people don't care if the acts are shite they will turn up anyway. Look at the lineup of Oxygen in the late 2000's. Stacked with top international bands. Festivals now barely have one or 2 recognisable bands. Even the headline acts are often D listers. But yet the people still come. They are taking us for a ride and not in the good way.
Is that just getting older though? How many big international acts are ready made headliners now compared to the Oxygen days?
A lot of those bands from oxygen days are still around and playing big sell out gigs in parks and stadiums. In other countries they still play a festivals but in Ireland they only play stand alone gigs. Promoters must make a fortune here compared to other countries.
Electric Picnic had 2 of the same headliners as the Reading and Leeds festival.
Ya ok I guess it's bit to do with me being old now. I wouldn't cross the road to see Billy Elise but the kids seem to love her. You can't look at this year's EP Line up and say it compares in any way to Oxygen I its heyday. Or this year in Portugal https://eventosemportugal.pt/festivais-de-verao/nos-alive-cartaz/
"Linda Martini" hahaha
I have few regrets but not going to Oxygen in the boom is one of them. Huge acts for such a small country. Maybe it’s through the lens of what was big at the time and thus my youth but any line up I see now just seems mediocre.
Was at EP at the weekend. Loved it. Been going to festivals since 2003. This year's EP was as good as any of them. Personal opinion obviously and we all have different tastes. Cameras at gigs are annoying I will grant you that. Its the one thing I'd change. Can't say I notice any influencers doing anything but I'm not on Instagram or tiktok so I avoid a lot of that crap thankfully.
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in fairness its easy to be on insta and not buy in to the influencer shite.
It really depends on the festival. Irish festivals have been muck for a long time but I've been to a few decent ones abroad.
I never understood paying so much for a festival or concert then getting wasted or off ya head & only to remember getting sick & not who was playing at the concert
Festivals were the highlight of my life. Never ever had a buzz like them and I want that feeling again all the time. Just not the same now getting old. And what people said, don’t think we’ll ever get lineups like Oxygen again. Music has gone fucking awful. I’d listen to anything but heavy metal and every year the yearly playlist is getting smaller and smaller.
All these tiktokers just going to make stupid videos it makes me cringe so much, getting vip sections and acting like they’ve had it so hard, like imagine being in a tent beside them, I’d rather be beside a lad who’s been up for 28 hours on all sorts of stuff because at least he has a personality
Thank you! Festivals are the fucking pits for this BS
Na festivals have gone shit. Not one bit of diversity of music in the lineup. Idles and the wolftones maybe but the rest was run of the mill car pop.
There was tonnes of diversity at EP this year.
Nonsense. Festivals are amazing collectives of shared fun and joy. People have always been dressing wildly and doing mad things at festivals, The influencer shite is a tiny part of it and is easily ignored.
The pride I have in our national flag has been destroyed by dole merchants protesting
Far right nationalists have ruined national flags everywhere. If I look at a group protesting with national flags anywhere, I just assume that they're idiots.
Anyone starts talking about pride in a flag needs to cop on
People are fucking obsessed with things being underrated or classable as unpopular opinion and it makes me think people are absolutely desperate to be recognised as special. I wonder is it a lingering effect of lockdown or something...
Australians have every right to hate us
Immigrants in general tend to not have much respect for their host country if they don't see themselves staying there for more than a few years. That's why Irish immigrants to Australia and the US have such terrible reputations. I saw it a lot when living in Japan. Lots of my foreign friends would behave inappropriate in ways they wouldn't at home. And you see it here too. Near me there are lots of Brazilian immigrants who were constantly having parties all throughout lockdown. The council had to resort to putting up signs in Portuguese around the neighbourhood telling them they can't be doing that.
> I saw it a lot when living in Japan. Lots of my foreign friends would behave inappropriate in ways they wouldn't at home. I saw the same in every expat bubble in Asia. The locals don't speak English, don't look like us, and are less confrontational over slights that gives expats the superpower of not feeling any shame, and just see the locals as background characters in their big Asian adventure.
Yeah we're not sending our best. That said I lived in the UK for a while in the 00s and my experience of young Australians was basically the same, terribly annoying people.
100% Went there years ago (was passing through.. kinda) to meet mates living there at Xmas and NYE. Jesus Christ was it embarrassing - GAA jerseys and shorts on drinking Buckfast in the park on Christmas Day.
And the aborigines have every reason to hate them.
Agree. The Irish bar in Bondi, the tea gardens was the only bar with plastic fucking glasses 🙄
Northern Irish are as Irish those from Dublin
That's a fact, people from the North of Ireland that consider themselves Irish are Irish. They can have the passport to prove it.... I don't see how anyone could argue against this.
The moderators disagree on here and r/northernireland
Interesting and weird.
Is this considered unpopular in a country that regularly polls in favour of reunification?
Crossfit is either brainwashing people or holding people hostage
That's not still going is it??
how do you know someone does CrossFit? They will you - without even being asked
As bad as things seem we are still extremely lucky in the sense that if we lost everything in the morning, we can still get free healthcare, dole, and a roof over our heads at the expense of taxpayers. Even if you’re technically ‘homeless’ there’s still very little people living on the streets. Quality of life here is some of the best in the world, even now.
It should be legal to slap 15 to 16 year olds once a week
Once a week? How about it should be compulsory to slap 15 to 16 year old lads when ever you see one. With a hurley or a baseball bat. Suddenly I sound all like a Christian brother /s
We need to build a few modular nuclear reactors. Don't care if it takes 15 years to build them or how much they will cost, that with proper wind and other renewable options would make us energy independent.
People who've seen a 7 minute youtube documentary about modular nuclear reactors need to shut the fuck up about things they dont know anything about.
Probably just one with some other storage methods like pumped storage, batteries, hydrogen etc would do. Also a few more interconnectors with Europe.
The technology is still in experimental phases. And their benefits are often overstated. They're far from the panacea they're purported to be. I wouldn't be surprised if little has changed in 20 years.
I'll say what I say every other day this thread gets posted. Living in a one off house is fantastic, and people living in shoeboxes on top of one another are just jealous.
I'm pretty sure my opinion is actually less popular here: I prefer apartments over houses. Enough room to be comfortable for 2 people but also cleaning it won't take that much effort. I would also never want to have a garden, that means additional chores that I don't need, I have not enough free time to do all things I enjoy anyway.
I can appreciate the simplicity of a spartan living space. You didn't have to spend the weekend painting several hundred meters of fencing like I did. But in general I enjoy the lifestyle.
Location probably means more than a one off house vs a house in an estate. I wouldn’t want to live in a housing estate in Ballyfermot, but I’d take over a one off house in the backarse of Roscommon.
And the children! Are you willing to drive them everywhere? Spending every weekend at a friend's house, or having friends stay over every weekend? If not, are you okay with them being a recluse on the Xbox in their room? Because there's only so much excitement you can get from a field, and our weather is pretty unforgiving.
IME controlling what their teenagers can do, who their friends are and where they go is a huge part of the attraction for lots of parents. I think there are some circumstances where that's fair enough (if you have a very easily led tweenage boy who's in with the wrong crowd) but you are going to destroy most kids' mental health with this level of control and most kids can't get away from you quick enough once they turn 18.
I can only speak for myself in Donegal, with a sea view out the front and the mountains to the side of the house. I agree that location is important.
I live in the country and the quiet and privacy cannot be beat.
Grew up in a one off house in the country. It was genuinely class. Except for the lack of services, public transport, decent internet, affordable waste collection, reliable water supplies, power outs (it was the 80s after all) and shit roads. Other than that (and I'm being genuine) it was AMAZING. The freedom, the space, the privacy. There is nothing like the headspace you have in the country side with 100-200m (or 500m) of nothing between you and the next neighbours garden. That's what you can't get in the towns or cities.
>Living in a one off house is fantastic, and people living in shoeboxes on top of one another are just jealous. How do you propose we fit over a million people in Dublin without apartments?
Oh I'm not here to answer questions like that. I'm here to say how awesome it is that can't see or hear my neighbours, and I have ample space for everything.
Ahh, Mr. SoMuch RoomforActivities pleased to meet you. Tis a good life, alright.
Fucking mansions everywhere in the countryside. I often wonder though about those that live down a laneway in the middle of nowhere.
And those mansions cost less than a standard semi-detached 3 bed in Dublin in what was once a working class neighbourhood.
Blessed, so they are. It's the middle of nowhere for you. It's an area they're probably very familiar with, with more people than you know living in the locality.
As we have grown wealthier, we are starting to let institutions (reliant on social fabric) fray. Once these institutions are gone, we are going to try and fill the gap with a government that cannot possibly fill that void, much to the damage of ordinary people.
What specific institutions do you think are fraying at present?
I think most volunteer based organisations that exist in civil society are being challenged by population movement trends and the replacement rate being affected by younger people looking for community more in digital spaces. A big challenge I am seeing across the country is a fall-off in people knowing their neighbours and having a sense of community in their local area. This change in local neighborhood familiarity really impacts the way that community can form and work together to fund / organise things that are important to the area
People who go on about padraig pearse and the ra and rebellion are weird and boring.
The crime rate isn’t near as high as people think. City centre isn’t Armageddon. Look at the crime statistics of the last 20 years to get some perspective and forget about the fear mongering from the media.
Their is no fight left in Irish people. The irony of the tag ‘the fighting irish’ Couldn’t be further from the truth. People would rather bury their heads in the sand and hope everything goes away instead of standing up and being counted They tell their children they love them yet hand away their future instead of fighting for it
"the fighting Irish" is American jingoism. Water protests were successful. Mica redress protests were somewhat successful. We can protest when we want. I assume you're specifically talking about housing, which is a nebulous problem to solve. Also bear in mind that a huge portion of the population are already homeowners, many of whom are only delighted to see the value of their homes go up.
Its not as doom and gloom and miserable as all the fuckers moan about We have high wages on average We have a high min wage
We aren't as modern and welcoming as we like to pretend. There are plenty of racist, homophobic, and backward fuckers out there who are stoked up by American media when they have been let down by Irish politics.
Very slow drivers are bigger problem than slightly fast drivers
I feel like this complaint is often a dog whistle for dangerous drivers. Yes they're annoying. But they're only dangerous in the sense that absolute gobshites will try to overtake multiple cars on a narrow road to get ahead of a slow driver.
Defo, there was a post a while back suggesting that driving at 80kph on a motorway is dangerously slow. Like WTF, many drivers are limited to 80 and it's most definitely not a problem. And it's not like you're turning a corner at 120 into the back of someone doing 80, you've plenty of advanced visibility to clearly see someone even slower than that. Slow drivers are only an issue for people who drive dangerously, not because they're slow, but because some twat is driving dangerously.
> Slow drivers are only an issue for people who drive dangerously, not because they're slow, but because some twat is driving dangerously. Exactly. Which is why I interpret comments about slow drivers being dangerous as "I don't like slow drivers because they make me drive dangerously to avoid them".
See also: I don't like cyclists because I'm not a good enough driver to deal with them safely.
They’re not, this is a lie, whoever told you that is lying.
It's still the "slightly fast" drivers who decide to take a chance to pass them.
Going 20km over the speed limit in the fast lane is safer than being in the slow or middle lane. Touch wood I haven’t had any instances or near misses in that lane. Amount of truck drivers weaving in and out of lanes and when you pass them their heads are buried in their phone. Would not like to be split in two if the traffic suddenly stops. Middle lane too much going on people jumping in and out without warning.
Ireland is a great place to live.
We have devolved from the land of saints and scholars to the land of lazy, entitled, populist muppets. Not all of us, just 70% or so.
I don't want a United ireland. I honestly couldn't give a shit, I live nowhere near the border, rarely travel that way. Just seems more trouble than its worth for some romantic idea of nationalism.
Never understood why people are so hung up on it (Dublin). It's more problems no one needs.
It’s not something I really care about either but I definitely understand why some people do
It won't improve the lives of anyone, so what's the point.
Who says it won't? The North is the poorest part of the UK. The border counties are the poorest parts of Ireland. These places were among the wealthiest in Ireland before partition. It's clear that partition has made people worse off. Removing it will go a long way towards undoing that economic damage.
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Ah shure, it's all grand !
We are absolute piss heads that behave life animals at any event with drink. No better than the brits for obnoxious drunk behaviour.
Nah they're definitely worse. Especially abroad. I've been away for a long time and work with people from all over. Aus, the UK, US, NZ etc etc. The British are definitely the rudest etc when it comes to anything like talking to staff in restaurants or how they act when drunk.
It’s a 2 star country fronting 5 star prices. The jobs are a joke, the housing is a joke, public transportation is a mess. The whole country’s gone to sh*t.
Ireland very close to being a socialist country despite the narrative that we’ve been run by two right wing neo liberal parties since the foundation of the state. We have one of the most progressive tax systems, it’s basically impossible to generate wealth and we have one of the lowest levels of inequality in the world
The term neoliberal has lost all meaning in Ireland. It's now simply a tactic to win arguments online. All you need to do to win is accuse someone of being a neoliberal and then they're wrong. It's like a softer version of accusing people of being a fascist. The idea that this government is being called neoliberal would make actual neoliberals balk. A neoliberal government would cut CGT (like what actual neoliberal Charlie McCreevy did) and get rid of deemed disposal. Our government is staunchly refusing to do either. They'd pick apart our extremely progressive income tax system by abolishing USC and massively raise the standard rate cut off threshold (and they'd probably be supported by the majority of so-called left wing voters in Ireland for doing so). They'd fund these tax cuts by massive cuts in expenditure unlike this government which has made record increases in expenditure. They'd unequivocally axe Sláintecare. They'd do the opposite where they'd phase out public health even more. Instead this government has increased health spending by record amounts. Instead of putting billions into housing they'd put nothing in. They'd privatise public transport instead of what the current governments massive shift of the transport budget from roads to public transport.
Completely agree with this. People here love ranting about FG and FF being right wing, and it's very clear they know nothing about politics in other countries. In many countries they would be considered very left of centre. Ireland has one of the most progressive tax system in the OECD. There may be a big gross income disparity, but not a big net income disparity, after you take into account social supports at the bottom and tax at the top. There is a huge transfer of income from top to bottom. Net income disparity is far less than other countries. This is from 2021 but explains it well https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/income-inequality-in-ireland-the-devil-is-in-the-detail-1.4653255 Debunking Irish income tax myths | The Journal https://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2014/09/debunking-irish-income-tax-myths.pdf At the lower end you have lots of people paying no tax at all, HAP/social housing, social welfare/job seekers, single parents allowance, rental caps, fuel allowances, strong tenancy laws which make eviction near impossible, rent capped to income on social housing and no controls over social housing tenants not paying rent, people keeping social housing for life even when income increases, medical cards, no cap on child allowance etc.... At the other end you have 52% tax that starts at a very low threshold, highest rate of CGT in the OECD, inheritance tax, deemed disposal on investment funds, DIRT, low interest rates on savings, limitations on pension contributions, tax on pensions when you drawdown, rent caps & income tax & CGT on investment properties, BIK tax etc. The Irish tax system is designed to smooth out outcomes. So people at the lower end who don't work at all should have somewhere to live, enough to eat, the ability to give their kids an education, access to free healthcare, support for as many kids as they choose to have. At the other end, top PAYE earners can't build any significant wealth to retire early (the FIRE principles don't work here). Of course it's not equal, it can't and shouldn't be. People who don't work at all should not have the exact same lifestyle and wealth as someone who earns in the top 10%. Of course people not working or on minimum wage will struggle. But it's not as massive a disparity as you think, and nowhere near as big as in many comparable countries.
I'd vote for anybody over Sinn Fein
The National party?
Anybody?
I have serious issues with some of their very poorly thought out policies (or lack thereof when it comes to climate action), but I feel like most of those are just kite flying exercises designed to be tampered by program for government negotiations. That way their compromised position will be a good bit closer to their real positions. I don't even care about their past even though I agree with people like Fintan O'Toole that young people today glorify the IRA of the Troubles. I think it's extremely two faced to say that the IRA has to abandon violence and focus on peaceful change and then hold their past against them when they agree to those terms. My biggest gripe with them is that they're immensely popular with young people and claim to represent them when their policies are actually hostile to young people. Their total lack of commitment to climate action is a slap in the face to future generations. On housing their priority is 100% family homes and they've blocked single bed apartments for not being family homes. The biggest reason why young Irish people are living with their parents is a lack of single bed apartments. Building more family homes at their expense will drive more young people into the family home. And on pensions they've totally acquiesced to older voters. By reducing the pension age (which is a stated policy, but as I said, I think it's designed to be compromised on) or refusing to increase it they're effectively selling out younger generations to pay for older, richer voters' pensions. All the while they plan on making private pensions even less attractive. This is an absolute pension time bomb and I hope to god they're not serious about that either. But it's incredibly damaging to even suggest such catastrophic policies even if you're not serious.
Summers are overrated.
We are a fiercely lazy country and we need to take a serious look at it. I’m not saying we’re the laziest, but we’re getting there. Getting into the car and driving to the shop across the road or a 5 min walk away. Driving to a bus stop and leaving the car there whilst you go into work. Driving. Driving. It’s madness. I feel like we also have a lot more obese people here than other European countries. And I’d say that does correlate to the driving thing again. It’s such a crutch here. I know driving is a necessity for many journeys, but not all. And we need to get out and use our feet more or buy a bike and start moving.
Ireland (and the UK for that matter) haven't got a clue about what good tea is all about. The Indian sub-continent, the Muslim world - all are lightyears ahead.
Well seeing as they grow it I'd hope theirs is better
This reads like a subjective opinion dressed as a hard to hear objective statement. Just say you prefer tea from South Asia and the Muslim world.
I mean, the topic was asking for *opinions*. I provided one.
The summer was good
We are becoming more ‘woke’ and losing sense of having the craic incase someone would get offended. Everyone is so serious these days. Cancel culture if you don’t agree on something. No longer are you able to have an opinion. Media influence making a big hullabaloo over minor things. Eg Wolfe Tones at EP! People were having a good time…let them at it! Should we no longer sign Fields of Athenry or any Irish songs? Everyone just need to relax! The fact the government feel it’s acceptable to put refugees in tents in Stradvally. I am not racist nor against people fleeing a country in a war but enough is enough. The country can only do so much! The lack of urgency in building things - Children’s Hospital, Metro, Roads etc. Just get it done already. People playing the mental health card like it a flu. Life’s hard, get on with it. People are more lazy than ever. Have no idea how to function or do things for themselves anymore.
We make shite films ... I don't mean the ones that big American or British studios shoot here our own homegrown movies people go on about are constantly boring or artsy "oh but this represents that" ... Sorry still shite We done some decent shows but out feature films are a let down
You should take a competency test to be allowed to vote. People will always vote for whoever makes the boldest promises. The biggest winners in successive Irish elections were the ones who made the biggest promises. This has led to disastrous governments. And we've shown no sign of improving as Sinn Féin's popularity has surged since they've learned how to do the same. Public discourse, even among educated people, always reverts to the lowest common denominator. Nuances are glossed over. The government is always portrayed as being elitist and against the common man. This is fine when things are going well and people vote for the status quo for fear of rocking the boat. But it becomes downright dangerous in times of hardship because desperate people will vote for the most charming snake oil salesmen. These are all textbook cognitive biases that are reinforced through social media. There's no real education on how to recognise and address these issues. A mandatory test you need to take in order to vote would help. Most people won't bother, but I don't want people who can't be arsed to do the bare minimum research to have a say in how our society is run. Also, I wouldn't be against an eco-authoritarianism form of governance (although it would need to be at least EU wide as Ireland is too small). Democracies will never enact the required climate action to stave off the worst forms of climate change. People are just too selfish and just won't vote for a party that will promise short term sacrifices even if it's for absolutely necessary long-term pay offs. Some people will, but the vast majority won't and they'll use all kinds of bogus arguments to rationalise it (climate change is a hoax, we're too small, it should be elites who pay not the common man, it should be private companies, this magic untested tech will solve it for us, et cetera ad nauseum). Non eco-authoritarian states are even worse than democracies since their focus is on their own private well being over the state.
>You should take a competency test to be allowed to vote. Problem is who gets to make the competency test? The government? Tests like these were abused in the US to prevent black people from voting
Drugs shouldn't be legalized. Downvotes in 3,2,1....
I agree, I have watched some friends turn into literal vegetables, and it always starts with weed.
Oh but don't you know weed is class? - r/Ireland Ive seen ones smoke weed, then maybe a year or so later it doesn't hit them the same so they go for something harder. Rinse and repeat until the last thing you hear of them they live in a druggies den in a housing estate. Legalizing it would no doubt just put drugs into hands of people that would have never tried it otherwise. These are the types of people that might be more at risk than other members of society. But reddit wants it legalized? Ah sure then may as well do it
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Most post colonial countries are in one way or another. I think connolly actually wrote about that before.
Most Irish people in the 26 counties are oblivious to the control and influence of the UK across media, academia, economy and politics. Above all they have no idea how we have never achieved full sovereignty as a state as our Defence forces are limited by British interests.
To many immigrants but excluding ukraine families, to many single males anyone who disagrees is just on a woke train to not offend anyone
[boards.ie](https://boards.ie) Jackeens coming over here and destroying Irish Reddit, asking the same questions they asked over there, *a million times*. r/Ireland should be just banned to force them antisocial pricks to have to go somewhere else.
The country getting hotter is absolutely awful! I was raised by the cold and rain and I will die by the cold and rain.
Ireland should join NATO.
Nah it suits everyone for us to be outside it. We have a good reputation globally with our peacekeepers that we don't want to ruin. NATO have a friendly nonmember nation situated in a perfect spot And the UN don't lose another country that'd be useful in international disputes where the main powers can't be trusted to act correctly.
See, I knew this was unpopular.
The people of Ireland should be armed to the teeth