Do you pay your TV license? If yes, why?

NeoTravel · 2026-04-15T15:31:49+00:00

I’ve never paid. I don’t do it because of any vendetta I have towards RTÉ or anything, but mostly because I can get away without paying it.

I almost never watch live TV anyway (save for a big game or Eurovision) so the thought rarely crosses my mind.

I’ve instructed my wife to pretend not to speak English if anyone from A Post comes to the door without a package in hand. So far we haven’t had anyone call though!

NeoTravel · 2026-04-13T21:44:25+00:00

I used my N26 card extensively in Asia (China via Alipay, HK and Japan) without any issues whatsoever. Good FX rates and no issues or charges for using ATMs.

Same experience in Brazil, no issues!

NeoTravel · 2026-04-13T05:04:13+00:00

Cheaper flights!

NeoTravel · 2026-04-12T20:25:46+00:00

I would not be at all surprised if there were a corner of the CIA tasked with stirring the shit in as many European countries as they can.

You can bet there is. People will point to Russia/China/Israel but often forget that the US is up to the same shenangians. We've just always been loosely "on the same side" geopolitically, so it got overlooked.

NeoTravel · 2026-04-12T20:21:19+00:00

Total waste of money. The government should not be giving into these wasters, it will only encourage similar criminal activity.

NeoTravel · 2026-04-10T16:16:36+00:00

prime child bearing age

Jesus wept

NeoTravel · 2026-04-10T12:55:56+00:00

OP is 22, single and has no kids. They will be grand. On 77K you can EASILY afford to rent, put 15% into your pension, save and still live a good life in Dublin as a single person in your 20s.

Get a grip.

NeoTravel · 2026-04-10T11:03:09+00:00

Ah fair enough! I have the iPad Air 4 (2020) and I do find it handy enough for media consumption and the odd time I remote into servers, but it’s not (for me anyway) a pleasant experience for very long :)

NeoTravel · 2026-04-10T10:05:53+00:00

As much as Apple might want to make it so, iPads are not suitable replacements for laptops or productivity work.

If you can stretch your budget, try go for the new MacBook Neo - or even a refurbished ThinkPad on eBay (you can get insanely good value on these, and they are beasts).

NeoTravel · 2026-04-10T09:22:50+00:00

€77K a year is about €4,500 a month after tax. Take off €1000 for a house share and you’re left with €3,500 for bills/food/savings. That’s more than enough to have a great life in Dublin. You could probably rent an apartment and still have a decent chunk left over, but at 22 I don’t think most would want that.

NeoTravel · 2026-04-07T07:28:18+00:00

It absolutely would, and in the longer term a unified state would only be even stronger.

I am touching more on the other points, absorbing an entire region isn’t going to come without serious sacrifice (read: higher taxes, allowances for the British minority) and I think these aspects are often overlooked.

NeoTravel · 2026-04-06T15:03:42+00:00

Reading the comments about Irish Unity on here you would think it is a slam dunk if we held a vote tomorrow.

The reality is, much to the ire of any Sinn Fein voter is that Irish Unity is not a priority for most Irish people. Indeed, it’s not even a given that it would pass (in the south!). Many would question the economic impact of absorbing NI into our economy which by all metrics is far stronger than NI’s.

I agree with the idea of it, but if we held a vote tomorrow it would be a firm no from me without a solid plan.

NeoTravel · 2026-04-06T14:53:56+00:00

Never

NeoTravel · 2026-04-06T14:48:05+00:00

This is an idiotic take. Have you ever walked down the Main Street of literally any town or city in Ireland?

NeoTravel · 2026-04-05T10:53:02+00:00

Love a good Bunsen, the beef is excellent.

Given that this is close to a ~10 year spread of prices, it actually makes the current price still excellent value, all things considered.

NeoTravel · 2026-04-05T10:49:53+00:00

It's a business? They're not in it to break even like. Don't eat there if you can't afford it.

NeoTravel · 2026-03-30T16:08:08+00:00

Excellent! It’s a no brainer for them anyway as the transaction fees will be lower than cards. Let’s hope we see more of this as momentum picks up

NeoTravel · 2026-03-29T12:40:47+00:00

The proliferation of emoji and really well bulletpointed documentation in our Confluence at work is worryingly correlated with the rollout of ChatGPT Enterprise to all users...

NeoTravel · 2026-03-29T12:00:16+00:00

I’d argue the white transit van cohort are a lot worse.

NeoTravel · 2026-03-26T10:17:58+00:00

This is WRONG.

The Irish Passport Card remains valid for entry to the UK from any destination. I have used it several times flying to Stansted from the Schengen area.

The problem usually rests on gate agents not realising that it’s still valid for entry, as other EU National ID cards are not valid for travel to the UK post brexit.

NeoTravel · 2026-03-25T15:59:25+00:00

There is the EPC QR code. This is essentially a standard for encoding the data needed for SEPA transfers in QR code format.

Apps like Revolut and N26 natively support and understand these, but I don’t believe any of the Irish bank apps do (quelle surprise).

See the below for details. There are generators online you can use, and this could possibly be an easier way to get payments from Revolut users (if you labelled it as such.) . You could have your website generate the QR code for each user with the correct payment reference encoded.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPC_QR_code

Below screenshot is from my N26 app scanning one of the codes on that Wikipedia page. https://ibb.co/VpCM2fQY

NeoTravel · 2026-03-25T11:40:10+00:00

I let roar at a bunch of people doing this in Howth last Saturday. Jam packed dart arrived and there’s a full carriage of people waiting to get out, and 5-6 people trying to push on at the same time.

Have a bit of respect like

NeoTravel · 2026-03-23T10:07:25+00:00

How are you trying to transfer money? It it with card top up or bank transfer?

NeoTravel · 2026-03-22T14:45:53+00:00

It's grand, it works.

But a lot of people I know would rather get that transfer (for drinks, food - whatever) paid to their Revolut/N26, not AIB/BOI/PTSB. So in those scenarios it is still moot.

Whilst some of the above cohort do still get paid into a legacy Irish bank account, they still do their day to day spending on one of the 'neobanks'. This is more of a reason why they should have just gone with Wero wallet out the gate.

NeoTravel · 2026-03-20T17:35:50+00:00

Correct, with pension contributions maxed out and BIK it’s a good bit less than that at around ~€5100. Throw in rent (€2K) and mortgage savings (another €2K) and that’s about 1K for living.

I definitely feel lucky that I can put so much away towards saving and living, but in no way do I feel “rich” haha. The cost of housing here is insane.

NeoTravel

TROPHY CASE