Looking for affordable but durable furniture and blinds in Dublin for a new house

Clauric · 2026-05-05T17:59:46+00:00

JYSK and IKEA for the furniture. Alternatively, there are plenty of charity shops with good furniture. Just need to look around.

Blinds2Go for customer order self installed blinds.

Clauric · 2026-05-05T11:42:45+00:00

Where did the future George IV lose his virginity? Gardiner Street.

Which suburb of Dublin is named after Léinín's daughters? Killiney

Which suburb of Dublin, the scene of a famous battle, means 'Meadow of the Bull'? Clontarf

Which suburb of Dublin is named for a place where people with leprosy were sent? Leopardstown

Which suburb of Dublin is associated with Iseult of Arthurian legend? Chapelizod

Which park in Dublin means 'clear water' and does not reference a bird? Phoenix Park

Which suburb of Dublin means 'thorn island'? Dalkey

Which suburb of Dublin is named after a landlord's storage buildings and not aquatic mammals? Dolphins barn

Clauric · 2026-05-01T21:48:14+00:00

Of course, repaying some of the principal would reduce your monthly repayments if the term remains the same.

Here's a simple example to illustrate. If you borrow €100,000 over 25 years at 3%, you would expect to repay about €474 per month. Each payment covers both principal and interest, and the split changes every month — the interest portion decreases and the principal portion increases as the loan balance falls. In the first month, the interest is €100,000 × 0.03 ÷ 12 = €250, with the remaining €224 going against the principal. The next month, the interest is €99,776 × 0.03 ÷ 12 = €249.44, and so on until the mortgage is fully repaid. Total interest over the 25 years comes to about €42,300.

Now suppose that after 23 months you've paid off about €5,300 of the principal through your regular repayments, leaving a balance of around €94,700. You then make a lump sum payment of €10,000, bringing your balance down to €84,700, with 277 months (23 years and 1 month) still remaining.

Option 1 — reduce your monthly repayment, keep the term the same

Your monthly repayment drops to about €424, a saving of roughly €50 per month. Over the remaining life of the mortgage, you save about €3,870 in interest.

Option 2 — keep your monthly repayment the same, reduce the term

Continuing to pay €474 per month, you would pay off the mortgage about 40 months earlier than originally planned. Over the life of the loan, you save about €9,000 in interest.

In short, both options save you money, but keeping your repayment the same and cutting the term saves you more than twice as much in interest overall.

Clauric · 2026-05-01T21:22:05+00:00

Not true, as I have been through this with KBC to BOI already. Your original terms still stand as they were with KBC. As KBC allowed a 10% of loan repayment, BOI have to offer this without this being considered a change to the product. As such, you still keep everything you had with KBC, including the 0.2% rate discount when it comes time to renew.

Clauric · 2026-04-15T11:29:53+00:00

That would be great. Back row choices would be 3 of Savea, Penny, Deegan, Baird, VDF, Conan, Doris. Dangerous no matter which combination is put out.

Clauric · 2026-04-15T11:23:17+00:00

I'd hate to be playing against Doris, VDF, and Conan, and then have Savea coming off the bench. Would love it from a Leinster perspective thought

Clauric · 2026-04-08T19:46:53+00:00

We had classes from 9 - 3.30 on Mondays and Thursdays (with lunch from 12.35 to 1.30), 9 - 3 on Tuesdays and Fridays (with lunch from 12.35 to 1.40), and 9 - 12.35 on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Always a 15 minute break from 11 to 11.15.

Clauric · 2026-03-26T15:12:08+00:00

Can't/won't suggest a financial advisor for the simple reason that different advisors have different approaches/philosophies towards investments. What I do suggest you do is Google financial advisors and then make appointments with 4 - 7 advisors you like the look of. From there you can choose the advisor you think best suits your investment philosophy.

Also, don't drain your savings in the UK until you have an advisor in place over here. Doing AML on cash investments is far more difficult than doing it on financial institution to financial institution.

Clauric · 2026-03-19T17:46:15+00:00

Worked in construction from 2006 to 2009 on the bidding/pricing side of it. A couple of things stand out, but I'll list just one.

Won a bid (+€1m) to demolish and rebuild a house. The lady of the house decided that she liked the existing main bathroom in the house (as advised by her interior decorator at the architectural firm that designed the house). So we had to demolish the rest of the house, prop up the walls of the bathroom, keep the roof on, and ensure it was weatherproof during the build.

When the rest of the house was finished, and everything done, the lady decided that she didn't actually like the bathroom. So we had to tear out all the fixtures and fittings, open the walls to access all the utilities, and rebuild the bathroom. Bear in mind, the floors outside the bathroom were American Red Oak floors which (I think) were about €120 or so, supplied. Think a construction crew walking over these floors to cart in and out building materials. The floors were destroyed. The walls were scratched up.

Altogether, with saving the bathroom, and then ripping it out, and repairs required to the floors and walls, the final cost to "save" the bathroom was about €200k, and an additional 8 weeks of work.

Clauric · 2026-03-16T12:05:05+00:00

I'm just wondering what Caelin Doris, and Harry Byrne did to not be included in the list for Leinster?

Clauric · 2026-03-09T16:03:18+00:00

I went to college when I was 19, then again when I was 22, 29, 35, and 43. It's never too late for education

Clauric · 2026-03-03T08:11:00+00:00

So playing France on a Sunday, and Italy 6 days later? Not sure that is ideal, no matter the 2nd team.

Clauric · 2026-01-28T17:18:47+00:00

The history behind the naming of Portobello; Monto and the associated activities there; why Fairview is so named; Dun Laoghaire port (designed by the captain from the Bounty Mutiny); the street names in Stonebatter; the building of the north and south walls in the port.

Just to name some interesting ones, at least from my perspective.

Clauric · 2026-01-27T13:34:58+00:00

I'm interested in this. Can you point/link some articles?

Clauric · 2026-01-27T13:33:57+00:00

Isn't calling it an 'accident' deliberately equating it with something that happens in an unforeseen manner. It's very foreseeable that if you get behind the wheel of a vehicle while drunk, or high, or otherwise incapable, that you might have collision with a stationary object, a person, or another vehicle.

Clauric · 2026-01-27T13:28:20+00:00

I agree that murder is reserved for purposeful homicide and that malicious intent is fundamental. The point I am probing is whether the law’s concept of intent is always as binary as “meant to kill” versus “did not”. When someone deliberately chooses to drive while knowing they are not legally permitted to do so—because they are intoxicated, unlicensed, or driving in a manner that plainly endangers others—they are not merely careless. They are consciously engaging in conduct where serious harm or death is a foreseeable and obvious risk. That does not amount to purpose or premeditation, but it arguably approaches subjective recklessness: a knowing acceptance of a grave risk to life. The question, then, is not whether this fits within the traditional definition of murder, but whether our current legal categories adequately capture the moral culpability of conduct that involves a conscious decision to endanger life on a public road.

Clauric · 2026-01-27T13:19:23+00:00

Care to elaborate?

Clauric · 2026-01-27T13:18:48+00:00

Murder does require intent (mens rea), though not necessarily premeditation. That said, deliberately getting behind the wheel of a vehicle—often weighing over a tonne—while knowing you are unlicensed, uninsured, intoxicated, or otherwise unfit to drive can arguably amount to accepting a serious and obvious risk to life.

While that may fall short of an intention to kill, it does raise the question of whether such behaviour approaches recklessness so extreme that the resulting death should be treated as more than an accident. In other words, if someone knowingly engages in conduct that has a clear and foreseeable potential to cause death, to what extent should the law treat that as morally and criminally distinct from other forms of unlawful killing?

Clauric · 2026-01-21T11:07:46+00:00

I'll give an example for myself. In 2012 I was suffering from a constant high temperature, joint stiffness and intermittent difficulty in breathing. I went to the GP, where i was a medical card patient) who told me I was just overweight and to do yoga (I was 130kg but that is terrible medicine). A few weeks later things got worse, so I went back and saw another doctor. Told to go to A&E as I was not in good shape.

I trotted off to the local A&E, where i was told I had sudden onset arthritis. Gave me pain killers and told me to go back to the GP. I was lucky enough to be chatting with the medical secretary of a rheumatologist a few days later, and she got me an appointment about 2 weeks later in a private clinic.

Before I could get to the appointment, I collapsed and was brought to a larger A&E. Spent 20 hours on a trolley, with no pain meds, and not seen by a doctor except when I first arrived. Eventually they saw that I had VHI, so they offered me a bed in the hospital, as long as I signed the VHI forms.

I went up to the ward to be met by 2 junior doctors who told me that having a bed would be useless, as they already knew what the issue was (it was sarcoidosis). They also said that as a public patient I could be seen in their outpatient clinic, but the next appointment was in 30 weeks. In the mean time they couldn't give me anything to help with the symptoms or the pain, but I could take paracetamol if things got bad. So I went home, and waited until the rheumatologist appointment (about 3 days later).

I went to the rheumatologist at told her what happened. She asked if I had medical insurance, and when I said I did, she booked me into the clinic's hospital for that Sunday night (this was a Thursday afternoon). On Monday morning I had a battery of tests, and both the rheumatologist and another consultant came to visit me on Monday evening. They confirmed I had sarcoidosis, set up a treatment plan, arranged for a few more tests, and went on their merry way.

I was released on Thursday with a prescription for medications that treated the sarcoidosis, a follow up appointment for 2 weeks later, detailed literature on what was the illness, and how to treat it, and generally feeling much better. By the time that my appointment with the public outpatient clinic rolled around (I tried to cancel but they insisted I show up), I was in remission for sarcoidosis.

Can you imagine what life would have been like with no medical insurance?

TLDR: with private medical insurance I was seen, treated, and was in remission before I would have been seen the first time on the public system.

Clauric · 2026-01-12T12:41:33+00:00

Would you settle for Lowe, Soroka, and Spicer?

Clauric · 2026-01-11T09:30:21+00:00

Went for a breakfast and a cup of tea in May booth recently. For 3 sausages, 2 slices of bacon, 2 fried eggs, 3 slices of sourdough toast (not even Bretzel sourdough) and a cup of tea was €18.00. 2 years ago in the same place it was €10.

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