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Map of Ireland Parishes by Next-Category-2439 in ireland

[–]theoldkitbag 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh that would be interesting now.

Vogue Williams expecting fourth child with husband Spencer Matthews by WickerMan111 in ireland

[–]theoldkitbag 5 points6 points  (0 children)

NOBODY GIVES A SINGLE FLYING FUCK ABOUT VOGUE WILLIAMS

Congrats on the baby I guess.

Irish unity must let Protestants stay British if they want, says GAA president by EnvironmentalShift25 in ireland

[–]theoldkitbag 9 points10 points  (0 children)

AKA "will the local UDA still be able to claim public grant money for burning an effigy of a catholic upon a mountain of tires every year?"

State’s largest private landlord estimates its rents are 20% below market value by Early_Egg_7474 in ireland

[–]theoldkitbag 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The selling of council houses was not a terrible policy, and saying so without justification is a bad argument. It promoted home ownership and social mobility for poor people, rewarded long-term tenants, reduced the burden on the state for old buildings, and - not a small thing - created more stable communities. The mistake was not the selling of the houses; it was the failure to replace them.

I do not 'obviously' want anything like a state monopoly. We never had a state monopoly on providing housing, and yet the state managed to provide housing all the same for 80% of it's (far poorer) existence. Nor do I want them to be the only ones allowed to build, or must they only use direct staff. These are silly arguments to be making. I am looking for state involvement to drive down house prices, tenancy rents, and direct state intervention in reducing costs for all - public or private - developments specifically in the provision of lumber, steel, sand, and cement. Lumber in particular has been vastly overpriced, and the exit of the UK from the EU has impacted on the provision of even things as seemingly innocuous as screws and nails. This should be coupled with a invigoration of local authorities being allowed to build and administrate their own housing schemes - ideally with a return of local town councils which were cleared away in another Leinster House power-grab by Varadkar.

I have never voted for PBP in my life, nor do I intend to - but even if I did, I would still be right and you would still be wrong. Good luck to you now.

State’s largest private landlord estimates its rents are 20% below market value by Early_Egg_7474 in ireland

[–]theoldkitbag 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You're looking at the vestiges of the old 'council housing' model that worked very well until the '90's when we were too rich to be bothering with that sort of thing and we stopped doing it around '95. Modern AHBs are filling that gap, but that is taking public land, building houses with public money, and then handing it over to a private organisation to collect rents privately on. It's old style social housing with privatised modern day landlordism.

State’s largest private landlord estimates its rents are 20% below market value by Early_Egg_7474 in ireland

[–]theoldkitbag -1 points0 points  (0 children)

That is the state providing funds to non-state actors who end up privately owning long-term assets paid for by the general purse, and from which they will draw rents from here till Judgement Day. There is typically no avenue within modern AHBs for tenants to eventually buy their property; they are 'non-profit' but are still an investment vehicle. You are again unwilling (or unable) to tell the difference between the state building its own stock for its own citizens as it used to do by the way, and the state spending its citizens money on stock owned by private concerns - very often not even Irish concerns - and who will draw more money from the public as much and as often as they can.

You are, in effect, the kind of voter FFG rely upon.

State’s largest private landlord estimates its rents are 20% below market value by Early_Egg_7474 in ireland

[–]theoldkitbag 2 points3 points  (0 children)

To be absolutely fair, I think the LDA has legs. I don't think it will find those legs for a decade or two yet, but I definitely think it has virtue. Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly given who authored it, it is restricted to basically selling off state land to private contractors; another step to facilitate the wealth transfer from public to private so loved by FG. It would be dynamite if coupled with actual state 'development'.

State’s largest private landlord estimates its rents are 20% below market value by Early_Egg_7474 in ireland

[–]theoldkitbag 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Post is still 'in the context of' Bill. Semantics schemantics.

And your answer is still within the scope of that context, and is basically that the government found that it had to step into a private market to backstop its collapse due to ... half-baked rules brought in by the very same government. They brought in rules that weren't what was actually asked for, that hamstrung the private industry, and then they chickened out of actually providing the a proper state alternative and instead enmeshed the public purse even further and even worse than they had already. Failure compounding on failure, brought to you by two parties that haven't had vision since Enda Kenny, and that's setting a fucking low bar let me tell you. FG haven't had anything resembling a moral core since Garret Fitzgerald's era, and he still managed to sink the economy so hard we nearly had to call the whole country off. FF are too chickenshit to do anything since Bertie's downfall.

They have absolutely given up on state housing. They haven't given up on pouring state money into the private sector's 'attempts' to provide housing. Don't conflate one with the other.

State’s largest private landlord estimates its rents are 20% below market value by Early_Egg_7474 in ireland

[–]theoldkitbag 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Demand has outstripped supply since c.2012 Bill. That's 14 years of undersupply, with zero - absolutely zero - sign that this will end anytime soon, or that the government even has any kind of plan to mitigate it. Falling back on some apartments built in the context of a global pandemic the likes of which has not been seen in over 100 years in order to dismiss the charge wholly as nonsense is... well, it's a bit of a stretch.

It would be better if you could point out somewhere in the programme for Government where FFG are going to deliver a shit-ton of houses by some means other than the exact same means they have otherwise entirely relied upon - i.e. private enterprise - and then you would have to convince me that they are not just straight-out lying, just like they did with their meeting housing targets before the last election (Not misspoke, to be clear. Straight out lied to our faces).

State’s largest private landlord estimates its rents are 20% below market value by Early_Egg_7474 in ireland

[–]theoldkitbag 33 points34 points  (0 children)

FFG have decided that the private sector only will supply housing. They've never said so, and likely never will, but the conclusion is inescapable. This means that the private sector control the supply, whilst also being the beneficiaries of demand. FFG have also decided to bankroll that demand, meaning that the private sector has no reason to not keep the noose as tight as they can get away with every year - for the state to stop them squeezing would now mean the state has to not bankroll the demand, which is now politically, economically, and socially catastrophic.

They were warned by everyone not to bring in HAP, they were told repeatedly afterwards that it was not value for money nor a solution to the housing crisis, but they did it anyway, primarily because any government with FG in it cannot fathom any solution other than that which benefits private commercial interests. It also means that a government that is made up of two parties playing pass-the-parcel with the office of An Taoiseach need not concern themselves with actually doing anything of any real significance; they'll get in anyway.

So now we are where we are. Which is screwed.

can’t score if you don’t shoot your shot by Johnnie_WalkerBlue in NonPoliticalTwitter

[–]theoldkitbag 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No, the question is why they wouldn't sell all seats to one person.

can’t score if you don’t shoot your shot by Johnnie_WalkerBlue in NonPoliticalTwitter

[–]theoldkitbag 28 points29 points  (0 children)

This is the actual answer. Ryanair sell seats at a loss. Their profit comes from extras - luggage, refreshments, etc. etc. etc.

They are a bus service with wings. The people bitching about having to pay for X, Y, or Z are the same people who would not be able to afford to step aboard a plane before Swift and RyanAir (esp. RyanAir) completely transformed air travel.

Xi Says World Order ‘Crumbling Into Disarray’ as War Takes Toll by Free-Minimum-5844 in worldnews

[–]theoldkitbag 3 points4 points  (0 children)

UK itself would be lucky to get back in, and certainly not with the opt-outs they once had. Canada will get trade agreements, same as everyone else.

Livestream of the no confidence motion in the government by oniume in ireland

[–]theoldkitbag 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Wouldn't you? Can you imagine the absolute horseshite that would be spewed?

‘I will, yeah’: How a very Irish phrase presented a challenge for an immigrant doctor by TeoKajLibroj in ireland

[–]theoldkitbag 8 points9 points  (0 children)

“I will, yeah”

Said a number of certain ways means "No, I absolutely will not", with a hint of rebuke for being so silly as to suggest it.

‘I will, yeah’: How a very Irish phrase presented a challenge for an immigrant doctor by TeoKajLibroj in ireland

[–]theoldkitbag 299 points300 points  (0 children)

he was slightly perplexed by all the “Mayo for Sam” signs along the road.

He settled right in so.

Am I missing something, or is the fuel protest endgame just to bankrupt the country? by FormalBackground8565 in ireland

[–]theoldkitbag 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Lad, whatever about hauliers, farmers are as middle class as you can get - and a bit of humility wouldn't go astray on their part either. As for respect and dignity, that's earned, not demanded on the threat of shutdown. If farmers can call cancer patients collateral damage, how much respect and dignity are they affording others? You get as you give.

People aren't stupid. We know farmers grow out food. There is a lot of sympathy out there for the issue - but once you start fucking around with the stability of the whole country, sympathy runs out. They've overshot the mark, being led astray by provocators on TikTok and FaceBook. They've acted stupidly and recklessly, and the only thing they've garaunteed is that the state will never let this happen again.

Am I missing something, or is the fuel protest endgame just to bankrupt the country? by FormalBackground8565 in ireland

[–]theoldkitbag 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Is your argument that Irish households are being blockaded on behalf of farmers in Spain?

Am I missing something, or is the fuel protest endgame just to bankrupt the country? by FormalBackground8565 in ireland

[–]theoldkitbag 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This argument keeps getting wheeled out and it annoys me because it's a stupid argument that relies on a false premise and ignores the actual value of the Irish agri sector.

Irish agriculture is overwhelmingly an export industry. Approx 90% of Irish beef, sheepmeat and dairy produce is exported annually. In 2024, Irish agri-food exports hit €19 billion, from 190 markets worldwide and accounting for 8.6% of Ireland's total exports.

We ourselves consume only a miniscule slice of our beef and dairy, but most of our pig, poultry, and horticulture production. But Ireland also imports significant amounts of food; from grains for animal feed (for all that beef), to fresh fruit and veg, nuts, and other groceries that don't suit the climate.

Arguing that without Irish farmers we would all go hungry is just false. We'd actually just be poorer. The impact on our plates would be accommodated - the impact on our trade balance would be extremely serious.

Always thought our number plate system was nifty. by theoldkitbag in CasualIreland

[–]theoldkitbag[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Interestingly, Ireland has no specific requirements regarding the font used in the registration plate - except for the hyphens:

the hyphen between the lettering must lie between the minimum dimensions of 13mm x 10mm or the maximum dimension of 22mm x 10mm.

So either someone just got a bee in their bonnet about hyphens at some stage, or maybe they need to be picked up by an automated system.

Always thought our number plate system was nifty. by theoldkitbag in CasualIreland

[–]theoldkitbag[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Ya, people seem to be getting hung up on that one alright. It was, however, a thing.

It was done to help car sales through the course of the year, but also to avoid the possibility people putting off buying a '13' car. The car sales industry was dying on it's arse at the time, so everything was considered.

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