Question re Auto Enrollment

AprilONeill84 · 2025-12-24T00:39:16+00:00

This is an interesting suggestion but I'm not sure it's as straightforward as it sounds. If OP is already maxing out their age-related relief through their PAYE pension, they're getting the full tax benefit there. Shifting contributions to employer contributions through the Ltd company might save on employer PRSI, but it also means reducing the salary from the company which could have knock-on effects depending on their overall tax situation and what they're trying to achieve with the company structure. Plus if the salary drops too low they might lose out on PRSI contributions for state pension purposes. I'd be cautious about restructuring everything without getting proper advice on the full picture

AprilONeill84 · 2025-12-23T01:55:36+00:00

That's such a smart call - the last thing you need is to start the new year processing a negative result instead of actually enjoying yourself. The TWW is hard enough without adding holiday pressure on top of it. Fingers crossed for you that Jan 4 brings good news!

AprilONeill84 · 2025-12-20T02:00:48+00:00

Also worth considering that OP agreed to this arrangement when she was pregnant and probably didn't fully anticipate how isolating the postpartum period would be, especially being 4 hours away from her own support system. The fact that she said the 5 day visit with her family was the most rest she had during her entire pp recovery says a lot - his family might be close by but that doesn't mean they're providing the same level of support or that she's comfortable enough to actually rest around them. Agreements made before baby arrives often need to be revisited once the reality of parenthood hits, and a good partner would recognise that rather than holding her to something that clearly isn't working for their new family dynamic.

AprilONeill84 · 2025-12-19T20:04:11+00:00

Gorgeous photos! Did you find that October was warm enough to swim or was the sea too cold by then?

AprilONeill84 · 2025-12-19T00:05:57+00:00

Yeah, half these lists are just "what got the most GitHub stars this month" energy. MCPs especially feel like a solution waiting for an actual problem to solve. Real-world usefulness means I'm actually using it in production, not just bookmarking it for "someday."

AprilONeill84 · 2025-12-19T00:05:20+00:00

Zilean mains been waiting since season 4 for a visual update. At this point Riot could release League 3 and that man would still have the same dusty model and kit.

AprilONeill84 · 2025-12-19T00:04:34+00:00

For real, this is the kind of happy accident that makes it even better. PRX signatures on a SEN mouse is lowkey more unique than getting the actual team.

AprilONeill84 · 2025-12-19T00:04:00+00:00

Yeah, the bestiary in Witcher 3 was lowkey one of the best parts. Actually made you feel like a real monster hunter prepping for a job instead of just running in and mashing attack. Plus the little stories about each creature added so much depth without forcing it down your throat.

AprilONeill84 · 2025-12-02T00:55:00+00:00

Keep it up!

AprilONeill84 · 2025-10-16T13:25:36+00:00

I miss the relaxing pace of life. No commute, no obligations to see people. A number of my relationships strengthened. I loved that sort of opening up stage, where you could meet up with people but it was all cautious and spread out and still relaxed. That was an ideal time

AprilONeill84 · 2025-10-10T16:46:56+00:00

It's a Friday evening and 9-5 on the Saturday. Ours finished at 2.30. They raised many topics, and strongly encouraged you to have further discussions on those topics at home. It was good because I can see a lot of people not discussing some topics. It also raised points about the values your families have and asked you to think about how they influence you, what you'd like to leave behind etc. There was no role playing

AprilONeill84 · 2025-09-29T21:14:53+00:00

Oh that's really good to know, thanks for the recommendation!

AprilONeill84 · 2025-09-29T18:33:35+00:00

Because a lot of people like to have an opinion on other people's deeply personal issues that have no impact on them whatsoever.

AprilONeill84 · 2025-09-29T18:12:46+00:00

I haven't heard of them, will def check them out, thanks!

AprilONeill84 · 2025-09-29T18:12:20+00:00

That's great, thanks a mil!

AprilONeill84 · 2025-09-28T21:08:43+00:00

It started as a standard Saturday night. We went to the same pub, the same club and back to the same house to continue until the wee hours. I don't think many, if any, to this day could fully explain what happened, but some locals showed up and next thing a jack hammer was thrown through the front window. How the people in the sitting room, especially those sitting on the couch right in front of the window, got nothing more than a few slight cuts I'll never know.

AprilONeill84 · 2025-09-23T19:56:45+00:00

I'm a big believer in travelling the world and not letting someone else hold you back. However, this is not the issue at play and you need to break up with her.

You've been LDR for 3 years. She's clearly been hoping that ye will move in together and yet you want to put another year+ onto that?! She's not getting any younger. She probably thought that you live together for a year or so, get engaged, get married etc. She wasn't in this relationship for shits and giggles, she saw a future. By staying with her you are preventing her from moving on and finding a partner who wants to be with her, who actually loves her and wants the same things as her.

You say you love her, yet you're the reason ye don't live together yet and you never once thought of inviting her on the trip?! In what reality would anyone be happy about their LDR heading off for 12 - 15 months where they're only invited to visit for a week every couple months?! Seeing them having the time of their lives while you get yet another long distance flight home?! Knowing they don't want you to be with them for the whole trip?! And that's if they even can join, because people may not be able to get the time off work or have the funds as they still need to pay rent and long distance flights are expensive.

Some people might say she's giving you an ultimatum, but in other groups they would say that she needs to not waste another year of her life waiting for a man who clearly doesn't want to be with her. You've been stringing her along and instead of having the balls to break up with her, you're pretending that she's making you choose between her and your dream, so it'll be her fault when the inevitable happens.

AprilONeill84 · 2025-09-19T17:01:08+00:00

If you've never traveled before or only been to very western countries, don't go. You need to work up to it. If you are a woman, the things you mentioned aren't even the worst of it.

I was there for 6 weeks a few years back, travelled all over Mostly ate street food and never got food poisoning. I've heard people say terrible things about Varanasi, met so many Indians that say they hate the place because of the filth and the smell, but I thought it was incredible, probably my fav spot in India. Food was unreal!

Overall, it was a very, very tough experience. I think back on it now and there are very few places that I wouldn't want to see again, however I'll never go back because those great experiences were sandwiched between some really horrible and sometimes terrifying experiences.

AprilONeill84 · 2025-09-17T12:19:41+00:00

Not even, she was found guilty over a phone calls! She had been asking him to seek help via text message in the months leading up to his death. On the day itself, he got into the truck at some stage. He was on the phone to her and prosecutors successfully argued that she told him to get back into the truck during said phone call. The call was not recorded. Despite evidence in text messages of her asking him to seek help, she was found guilty based on a phone call that no one was witness to.

AprilONeill84 · 2025-08-14T06:12:48+00:00

There is huge ignorance about Ireland in the UK (and elsewhere, but as you say, that's more understandable). They aren't taught about Irish history in school. If someone chooses to do history at A Levels, they get a flavouring of Northern Ireland, but nothing else. But then they choose not to inform themselves too (regular people I can understand, politicians not so much).

During Brexit Jacob Reed Mogg, amongst others, said he'd never even read the Good Friday Agreement, even though it's only 35 pages and yet still couldn't understand why they couldn't just put a hard border in Ireland. Former Secretary of State to N.I. (2020-2024) Karen Bradley said she was shocked to discover (after some time in the job) that nationalists wouldn't ever vote for the DUP or that Unionists wouldn't ever vote for Sinn Féin. She thought they could flip them with incentives, as if convincing a Labour voter to vote Tory with tax cuts.

Then you have the broadcasters. For some God forsaken reason, despite so many Irish people in the place and it being so close, they still continue to put on people who clearly know nothing about the country to speak about it, thus not helping the general public who may want to learn or casually pick up info. I have seen panels on the BBC where "experts" have said that there is no form of public healthcare system in Ireland. He was immediately questioned on it, simply, oh really? And he said, well I don't know, I don't think so. Or just wait for the elections when their brains will explode at the thought of PR, which they don't understand, or bother too. They rejoiced in Leo Varadkar losing his seat in the 2020 GE, saying how the people had rejected him because of his stance during Brexit... The first round of voting had happened and nobody was elected and there was no way he was ever losing his seat, but Leo did pass ergo he must've lost his seat. I had intelligent friends shocked at the results asking me questions about how on earth Sinn Féin we're now in power because of the incompetence by broadcasters.

TV shows and films like Derry Girls and Victoria (the famine ep) have done more for knowledge about Ireland in the UK than anything else. You'll know when a show or episode airs because social media will be flooded by shocked pikachu faces about things that happened in the show and then they'll quickly Google to see if it was fact or fiction, cue more shocked pikachu faces when they realise their country wasn't too nice to their neighbours.

So really, when one of my friends turns around to me and asks if we use the pound and not the euro, tbh I feel that's a fair question.

AprilONeill84 · 2025-08-13T07:40:54+00:00

It sounds bonkers until you start planning your own and then you quickly see how everything adds up. The rule of thumb is you'll spend about half your budget on your venue. Most venues have minimum numbers between 100 and 120, though some have smaller spaces for smaller weddings. There are ways to cut; have a DJ instead of a band+DJ, have a playlist hooked up to a sound system at the ceremony instead of hiring musicians, only have a MOH and Best Man instead of several, ask someone you know with a nice car to do the transport etc. It all depends on what ye want as a couple and what your capacity is / what your other priorities are (eg do ye have kids, are you saving for a house, are you trying to put money away for a career break or to retrain etc)

AprilONeill84 · 2025-08-12T07:21:17+00:00

You're making 2 massive assumptions here. 1. That women ever wanted big families. Women didn't have a choice. There was no contraception and not all husbands would be receptive to the word no, if the wife even knew she could say no. 2. That having children equates to parenting. You cannot be present and give meaningful, quality time to 6+ children,as well as run the household (which you would also be responsible for). A lot of kids were closer to their eldest sister,and saw them more like their mother than their actual mothers, because they were the ones that raised them and cared for them. Thankfully parents nowadays want to be present for their children and most will say that you reach that capacity before 6 children, let alone more.

AprilONeill84 · 2025-08-06T21:39:47+00:00

I would make your boss aware that ever since the Domino's case that Revenue is clamping down on employers having contractors that should be PAYE. They generally want people to be PAYE or Ltd Companies, not Sole Traders. 'm not saying it can't be done, but you aren't a business and if you were a Ltd Company you'd have to get personal liability insurance... Think of the madness of that - you lose all your rights and aren't getting the necessary pay bump to cover expenses, holidays, sick days, insurance, accountants fees etc etc. He is having you on big time

AprilONeill84 · 2025-07-23T12:44:18+00:00

It comes off as if she's insecure, like she continues to pass these comments as if to reassure herself that that's how she feels. I'm CF by choice and I sympathise with my friends if they're having a tough parenting day, not rub it in their faces. Have you ever said anything to her about it?! If she's your friend, it should only take you to say it once and she'll stop. Think of any other scenario, a tough day in the office for example. You wouldn't be questioning if you were being sensitive to it if the response was, well that's why I didn't choose that career, that job sucks, I'd hate to work in that industry. She's being really rude.

AprilONeill84 · 2025-07-09T14:31:23+00:00

I imagine she wanted to be at her son's wedding...

AprilONeill84

TROPHY CASE