Thatched roofs

Gurgle

Thatched roofs are on the decline

And thats all the minister for the environment has to worry about today :rolleyes:

The report probably cost €50m to produce.
Maybe rat infestations and lethal fires are part of the reason ?

And next week - Where did all the donkeys go ?

Gurgle

Gurgle wrote:

And thats all the minister for the environment has to worry about today

Why, does Breaking News capture every single thing he does every day? Do you assume that if it aint in the media, nothing's done and that they should carry reports on his full 9 to 5 routine?

bonkey

Gurgle wrote:

The report probably cost €50m to produce.

Good stuff. never let facts get in the way.

And next week - Where did all the donkeys go ?

I know this one. Its...no...wait...you said donkeys.

Gurgle

Deleted User wrote:

Do you assume that if it aint in the media, nothing's done and that they should carry reports on his full 9 to 5 routine?

No, I think that if the man is spending any of his time worrying about crap like this then he's a useless dosser.

bonkey wrote:

Good stuff. never let facts get in the way.

Unfortunately the actual cost of the report wasn't published, so I made a conservative estimate.

You're right though, it probably cost a lot more.

Gurgle

Gurgle wrote:

No, I think that if the man is spending any of his time worrying about crap like this then he's a useless dosser.

Yeah. Screw that whole heritage idea - God forbid that a minister might think of it for 'any of his time'. That Book of Kells must cost a fortune to maintain every year too and should be burned...

Nevyn

It is a probem with insurance.
There is a tatched roof owners collective and they have had trouble getting
proper house insurance for the roofs be they straw or reed tatch.

Gurgle

Deleted User wrote:

Yeah. Screw that whole heritage idea - God forbid that a minister might think of it for 'any of his time'. That Book of Kells must cost a fortune to maintain every year too and should be burned...

And todays word is....facetious.

The Book of Kells is a major historical and cultural artifact.
Thatched rooves are of historical interest and fine examples are kept in museums and folk parks.

What apparently concerns the minister is that the poorest of the rural Irish poor are not replacing the thatch on their cottage every 10 to 15 years anymore, as they were up to the 80s at least.

They are opting instead to put proper roofs on their homes that will avoid the risk of burning to death burried in flaming straw, while simultaneously reducing the occurance of rat-sh`it in their food.

Or to put it another way, the man doesn't know wtf he is talking about. Maybe he goes on holidays to the wilds of Leitrim and says 'Ah, a thatched cottage, how quaint', 'Ah, a 90 year old man carrying turf on a donkey, how quaint', etc etc, but is absolutely blind to the absolute poverty these people have lived in all their lives.

godtabh

Gurgle wrote:

They are opting instead to put proper roofs on their homes that will avoid the risk of burning to death burried in flaming straw, while simultaneously reducing the occurance of rat-sh`it in their food.

A wooden truss roof will burn just like a thatched one.

Traditions like these are important to keep but the only way to keep them is get more craftmen would make these roofs so that the tradition doesnt die out.

Who cares how much they cost to insure if you cant find any one to make them

Gurgle

Gurgle wrote:

And thats all the minister for the environment has to worry about today :rolleyes:

And next week - Where did all the donkeys go ?

Gurgle wrote:

No, I think that if the man is spending any of his time worrying about crap like this then he's a useless dosser.

Unfortunately the actual cost of the report wasn't published, so I made a conservative estimate.

You're right though, it probably cost a lot more.

Gurgle wrote:

Or to put it another way, the man doesn't know wtf he is talking about. Maybe he goes on holidays to the wilds of Leitrim and says 'Ah, a thatched cottage, how quaint', 'Ah, a 90 year old man carrying turf on a donkey, how quaint', etc etc, but is absolutely blind to the absolute poverty these people have lived in all their lives.

And today's message is don't worry about the facts or issues; if you really hate Dick Roche just cobble any old hotchpotch of ideas and presumptions together as the basis for a thread.

Hmm, the £50 million report that MIGHT exist, what he MIGHT say on holidays in Leitrim ,whether he's clueless or a dosser in your opinion, whether he thinks about anything but straw roofs...

So much coloured opinion and hatred, so little fact...

civdef

A wooden truss roof will burn just like a thatched one.

Indeed, if the fire gets into the roof, you're in trouble no matter what the construction.

Gurgle

Deleted User wrote:

if you really hate Dick Roche just cobble any old hotchpotch of ideas and presumptions together as the basis for a thread...
So much coloured opinion and hatred, so little fact...

I have no objection to Dick Roche.

Here's my point, as plainly as I can make it:
A thatched roof was used in previous centuries because it kept the rain off and it made use of materials which were a) free and b) otherwise useless.

This is part of our history and cultural heritage and its important to keep these memories alive in museums / folk parks etc.

If a person chooses to have a thatched roof on their house as a novelty, that is to be applauded. They're nice, they're historical. I am quite confident that a middle class history buff with a thatched roof on his country cottage will have it treated with flame retardants and whatever other safety measures are available. I would like to think that the 2000 or so thatched roofs left in the country fall into this category.

For many of the people who had thatched roofs even 20-30 years ago this was not the case. They could not afford to replace it with a proper roof. It was not treated with flame retardants or anything else. They did not have a ceiling in the house, they did not have oil central heating, they had an open turf-burning fireplace.

Straw burns.
Really really fast.
A spark or cinder from said open fire could turn a thatched roof into a descending fireball in seconds.
People risked dying horribly every day.

Thankfully this type of dwelling is now a thing of the past.

This report bemoans this loss to our heritage.

The donkey comment was in a similar vein.
When you see an elderly man walking down from the bog with a donkey laden with hand cut turf, would you think 'ah, how quaint' or 'that poor old man can't afford a tractor' ?

Again its lost heritage but indicative of an improving standard of living.
Which is not to be regretted.

CJhaughey

Indeed would the aforentioned minister actually do something about Irelands reverse Carbon Tax on Renewable energy.
Unique amongst EU countries.
Renewables, solar panels, wind turbines etc =21%vat
Oil and Gas = 13.5%
The minister is a puppet of the multinationals.