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Part of our problem with the health services is the refusal of local communities to allow their mim-hospitals be rationalised into larger centres. So here people were wrongly on the streets
No people were not wrongly on the streets. It is a basic human right to expect hospital services without having to travel miles..I am sure there is many other examples but I will use the Sligo Galway one. The Government got rid of fantastic cancer services in Sligo, they told the people there they would have to travel for treatment to Galway instead, that it would be a better system and better care would be provided, they promised cancer patients of the west and north west that they would pay out for a bus service to transport the patients. THE REALITY. Excelent cancer services removed from Sligo to Galway where at present they are NOT Able to cope with the extra patients, This so Called center of Excellence does NOT Exist, the private bus for the cancer patiens was not and WILL Not be provided. People YES PEOPLE, Mothers, brothers, fathers, daughters, sons People with CANCER..have to sit for 4 hours on a bus to Galway. Last week a women endured that journey to Galway only to wait 48 hours on a trolley to be sent home again because there was no bed for her. This is the reality of the Irish Health care system. The people of Sligo and those in surrounding counties are STILL Marching in protest and have a right to do so. Cork (and I will track down the official figures) treated 100 less cancer patients in 2008 than Sligo. They get to keep there cancer services but Sligo must lose theirs.. DEATH By GEOGRAPHY or is it that the Government still supports Cromwells "To Hell or To Connaught" moto..... How is this right and why the hell should we not protest. The case to retain Cancer services in Sligo is now being looked into by Europe because it is clearly wrong and new evidence has come to light to show that these Centers of Excellence do NOT work.Service cuts and tax raises have to happen now, people may hate those but they have to happen.
No they don't not to the extreme that they are. the only people being punished by this are the people that never caused it. Middle class income earners are being extremely badly hit, Why should we except the tax raises? As always middle income earners are some of the worse hit. Just Above the cut off line to be concidered for recieving the dole, above the line to be concidered for recieving grants to send their kids to college but after morgages have been paid, College fees and the crippling accomodation costs ect ect they will be living below the breadline. And so the polerisation between rich and poor will contnue to expand.
The Governmnet WASTED the Boom..Look around what exactly did they do with it. Where are the excellent infrastructural services, the great schools, the great healthcare system. I would be more than willing to pay increased taxes if I had actually benefited from the boom, if the Government had actually done something with the money..But the simple hard truth is THEY DIDNT DO A THING.0 -
McCruiskeen wrote: »I
If we vote in Labour and FG now, they will do the same thing FF are doing now, which is to increase taxes and cut spending. If they did not we would 100% be bankrupt in a few years.
FG though appear to want to tackle cuts in spending to a greater degree than FF or Labour come to think of it. Their is a danger that FF have concentrated too much on taxation,you can't tax your way out of a recession which it appears what they are trying to do, hoping they will readdress this come December but doubt they will which I think might be a big mistake.
Danger of too much tax increases is that too much money is taken out of the economy which will suffer as result, people have less to spend= business suffers= more unemploymeny =less tax revenue. As previous poster pointed out, their was a terrible amount of waste in the economy and the govt imo let costs get out of control. This needs to be adressed now.0 -
Heineken Helen wrote: »Anyone planning on upping ship make sure you've enough money to do you a couple of months... and never EVER dip into your money for your flight home.
Canada crying out for jobs at the mo is a MYTH! I think they're doing ok compared to the rest of us but they're certainly not booming... and I have Canadian friends struggling to find work.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/stephanieflanders/2009/03/the_best_prepared_awar.html0 -
I love Ireland. I don't want to have to leave it. Sure it's definitely not perfect and we badly need a change of government.
I think the grass is greener in other places. Like I would love Germany's infrastructure or Canada's economy but I would not like to live in either over and above here...0 -
you might think different after a few more budgets. No point in being well educated, have several years professional experience and living in your home country that you love, but having to live month to month because all your disposable income is taken up in taxes, not to mention the act that you might not even have a job in a few months.I love Ireland. I don't want to have to leave it. Sure it's definitely not perfect and we badly need a change of government.
I think the grass is greener in other places. Like I would love Germany's infrastructure or Canada's economy but I would not like to live in either over and above here...
If you move abroad you know at least its not going to be as s**t as living here will be in 2 years time.0 -
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Because its an option, why struuggle when you can have a great life somewhere else. I have no loyalty to this island. Infact the more it goes ta hell the better, people still are in denial here. What will it take for the irish to wake up and revolt. Ill tell you..Nothing... people will just sit there and complain about it on a high stool.
But your idea about people qualified for the various cabinet postions is classic. Ireland does not need politicians, it needs "qualified people in their correct fields of expertise to run the various departments of this country"
and not politicians with "advisors".
"The more it goes to hell the better"? Well thanks a bunch! If you are this bitter then Ireland is better off without people with an attitude like that!
Every country has it's ups and downs, it's advantages and disadvantages. There is no such thing as the perfect place.0 -
I agree with him, the reason we're in this mess is greed, everyone trying to rip the next person off, Ireland wasnt like this in the 80's, i remember a great community spirit in everyone helping everyone else get by when i was growing up. Since the mid to late nineties its just 'you got conned buying a house' so 'con the next person' until all of a sudden houses are being sold for stupidly high prices because banks gave out the necessary credit required. Think about it, none of that money ever existed, its just went from one mortgage to another."The more it goes to hell the better"? Well thanks a bunch! If you are this bitter then Ireland is better off without you!
Every country has it's ups and downs, it's advantages and disadvantages. There is no such thing as the perfect place.
On top of that all the services and retailers saw all this stupid money being bandied about so they wanted a cut of the action, this resulted in all our services being stupidly expensive, a dole of 5.50 an hour, a minimum wage of 7.50 or whatever an hour based on a fictional internal economy of house prices rises funded by the banks. Now we have to bail out the banks while thousands are stuck with the crazy mortgages of that time, how stupid is that?
It needs to go to hell here, we need to reduce or costs and become competitive again, that wont and cant happen until everything becomes cheaper, the minimum wage is removed and social welfare is reduced in respect of deflation( proper deflation on goods etc. not the crap thats been bandied about of a 2.4% deflation, ive seen 0 retail price decreases ), in line with that the private sector can reduce wages and finally the timebomb public sector/union partnership can be delt with0 -
I agree with him, the reason we're in this mess is greed, everyone trying to rip the next person off, Ireland wasnt like this in the 80's, i remember a great community spirit in everyone helping everyone else get by when i was growing up. Since the mid to late nineties its just 'you got conned buying a house' so 'con the next person' until all of a sudden houses are being sold for stupidly high prices because banks gave out the necessary credit required. Think about it, none of that money ever existed, its just went from one mortgage to another.
On top of that all the services and retailers saw all this stupid money being bandied about so they wanted a cut of the action, this resulted in all our services being stupidly expensive, a dole of 5.50 an hour, a minimum wage of 7.50 or whatever an hour based on a fictional internal economy of house prices rises funded by the banks. Now we have to bail out the banks while thousands are stuck with the crazy mortgages of that time, how stupid is that?
It needs to go to hell here, we need to reduce or costs and become competitive again, that wont and cant happen until everything becomes cheaper, the minimum wage is removed and social welfare is reduced in respect of deflation( proper deflation on goods etc. not the crap thats been bandied about of a 2.4% deflation, ive seen 0 retail price decreases ), in line with that the private sector can reduce wages and finally the timebomb public sector/union partnership can be delt with
Don't give me this Bill Cullen type nonsense that we were poor but happy in the 80's! A lot of people look at the 70's and 80's in Ireland with rose tinted glasses. It was a terrible time economically.
I do agree with you on the Public Sector issue though. If we don't get a grip on it soon then it will really get out of control.
People also say we need a change of government as well, which I agree with but that new government would certainly have to include the Labour party and can you see the Labour party going against their public sector and union friends? I don't think so!0 -
Im not painting anything in the 80's with any rose tint, i grew up in donegal lower class, my mum used to go down to the fishermen a few times a week in the evening and they'd give her and other housewives some of the catch of the day, people used to help one another with no money changing hands. We grew spuds in land offered to my dad just for that purpose, no money changing hands. Those with money at the time contributed to the community through the church( im not advocating that, just saying that was the case back then, but all church expenditure could be reviewed by anyone who wanted to check it out )Don't give me this Bill Cullen type nonsense that we were poor but happy in the 80's! A lot of people look at the 70's and 80's in Ireland with rose tinted glasses. It was a terrible time economically.
I do agree with you on the Public Sector issue though. If we don't get a grip on it soon then it will really get out of control.
People also say we need a change of government as well, which I agree with but that new government would certainly have to include the Labour party and can you see the Labour party going against their public sector and union friends? I don't think so!
I wasn't a great time, it was tough, mega tough, but people did help others out. Hell even some kids i went to school with and their dad( who wasnt well ) was building a house for them which got destroyed in a storm were helped by both the community and the church to build them a house.
It was an absolutely horrible time, yet we all made the most of it, for me thats who we are as a people, not the money grabbers we've all become in the past decade or so.0 -
Im not painting anything in the 80's with any rose tint, i grew up in donegal lower class, my mum used to go down to the fishermen a few times a week in the evening and they'd give her and other housewives some of the catch of the day, people used to help one another with no money changing hands. We grew spuds in land offered to my dad just for that purpose, no money changing hands. Those with money at the time contributed to the community through the church( im not advocating that, just saying that was the case back then, but all church expenditure could be reviewed by anyone who wanted to check it out )
I wasn't a great time, it was tough, mega tough, but people did help others out. Hell even some kids i went to school with and their dad( who wasnt well ) was building a house for them which got destroyed in a storm were helped by both the community and the church to build them a house.
It was an absolutely horrible time, yet we all made the most of it, for me thats who we are as a people, not the money grabbers we've all become in the past decade or so.
I respect your post, honestly I do, but I don't want this country of ours to be defined as an almost peasant race of people who are defined by how tough it is to survive here. That's how the Americans might see us from a bygone age. It's not Angela's Ashes and there is no shame in wanting to better yourself financially.
True, too many people at the top were creaming it for years and they must be dealt with but to say if you have any ambition then you are some sort of a pariah is wrong.
Like it or not it is the wealthy entrepreneurs that will get us out of this by investing their money in the economy. You just have to get the balance right. We have swung too far one way and the danger is we will swing too far the other way. Too much fuel was put on the fire during the boom in terms of tax cuts and now the danger is too much fuel will be taken out in terms of tax hikes. There is a happy medium.0 -
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"The more it goes to hell the better"? Well thanks a bunch! If you are this bitter then Ireland is better off without people with an attitude like that!
Every country has it's ups and downs, it's advantages and disadvantages. There is no such thing as the perfect place.
Bitter!, friend, i,m pissed at this goverment. Why should you or i pay for there lack of control over the econmoy the last ten years.
You mean to tell me that you dont mind giving your money you make back in tax to these FOOLs.
If its a life off just making ends meet and a poor quailty of life at that. Have it.0 -
Kippure, I totally agree with your point about the kind of people who should be in Government. Being a "politician" doesn't actually qualify you to do anything except talk crap. I've watched the merry-go-round of ministers through their various depts for the last few years and wondered how on earth a person can go from say, dept of agri, to dept of education to dept of social welfare (for example, no names in particular) in the space of about 3 years or less, and be honestly qualified to know the first thing about any of the Departments other than where their offices are located. And these people are making huge decisions for every Department. Madness.
The only problem is that people who"should" be in Gov, such as teachers, engineers, social workers, doctors etc etc (random selection), are all far too busy working in their ordinary jobs trying to keep the bloody country going from day to day. It's always the same. What will it take for us to stand up and say we have just had enough? Increasing taxes - okay it had to be done to an extent. But we get absolutely nothing in return. I mean, I could handle paying extra tax if I knew that the train ticket prices would go down, that there'd be a European style bus and train service, that I didn't have to pay 60eur for every GP visit and approx 600eur a year for health insurance because I'd have to wait years if I ever needed an appointment in the public health system, that a proper metro system would be built without the endless talk of rubbish and vested interests...just fast-tracked and built.
I could go on. We all could. That's the whole point.We'd pay the extra tax...if we knew we were getting something for it. But we're not.It's funding the salaries of all the consultants in the HSE (don't get me started), of all the political "advisors", of all the middle management in the public and civil service and (again) in the HSE. It's being thrown into a beauraucratic black hole, and this time next year, nothing will have changed. Tax is NOT the solution. When will they cop on, grow a pair and realise they need to stand up to all the vested interest groups, and the unions and everyone else, and STOP SPENDING. How can you sit around a table considering where cuts need to be made, and NOT look straight at the salaries of the management/consultant/advisors etc? If you took even a third of their pay millions would be saved and they'd still be on more money than your average worker.
Needless to say it reall annoys me that with everything that's going on our Government are still pandering to the wealthy and the groups they perceive as having to be kept happy.And I'm paying for it.
Ironically, if things keep going the way they are, the aforementioned groups will have to take pay cuts. You can't give people what you don't have and we simply won't have the money in a year or so. Course it'll get that bad before we realise this.
Anyway rant over. It's just a very frustrating situation to find ourselves in and we shouldn't accept it.0 -
Kippure, I totally agree with your point about the kind of people who should be in Government. Being a "politician" doesn't actually qualify you to do anything except talk crap. I've watched the merry-go-round of ministers through their various depts for the last few years and wondered how on earth a person can go from say, dept of agri, to dept of education to dept of social welfare (for example, no names in particular) in the space of about 3 years or less, and be honestly qualified to know the first thing about any of the Departments other than where their offices are located. And these people are making huge decisions for every Department. Madness.
The only problem is that people who"should" be in Gov, such as teachers, engineers, social workers, doctors etc etc (random selection), are all far too busy working in their ordinary jobs trying to keep the bloody country going from day to day. It's always the same. What will it take for us to stand up and say we have just had enough? Increasing taxes - okay it had to be done to an extent. But we get absolutely nothing in return. I mean, I could handle paying extra tax if I knew that the train ticket prices would go down, that there'd be a European style bus and train service, that I didn't have to pay 60eur for every GP visit and approx 600eur a year for health insurance because I'd have to wait years if I ever needed an appointment in the public health system, that a proper metro system would be built without the endless talk of rubbish and vested interests...just fast-tracked and built.
I could go on. We all could. That's the whole point.We'd pay the extra tax...if we knew we were getting something for it. But we're not.It's funding the salaries of all the consultants in the HSE (don't get me started), of all the political "advisors", of all the middle management in the public and civil service and (again) in the HSE. It's being thrown into a beauraucratic black hole, and this time next year, nothing will have changed. Tax is NOT the solution. When will they cop on, grow a pair and realise they need to stand up to all the vested interest groups, and the unions and everyone else, and STOP SPENDING. How can you sit around a table considering where cuts need to be made, and NOT look straight at the salaries of the management/consultant/advisors etc? If you took even a third of their pay millions would be saved and they'd still be on more money than your average worker.
Needless to say it reall annoys me that with everything that's going on our Government are still pandering to the wealthy and the groups they perceive as having to be kept happy.And I'm paying for it.
Ironically, if things keep going the way they are, the aforementioned groups will have to take pay cuts. You can't give people what you don't have and we simply won't have the money in a year or so. Course it'll get that bad before we realise this.
Anyway rant over. It's just a very frustrating situation to find ourselves in and we shouldn't accept it.
Your damn right right we should not accept it. I started this thread as a open debate that we, right at this moment, have a choice in this country, stay and lead a poor quailty of life or leave ..using canada as an example on how we should live.
"Canada has not had to bail out any of its banks"
People dont realise that this is the first of many axe weilding budgets.
Alot of people have raised some very good and true points about this country, and its grim reading.
Me personally am getting out of this black hole. Im not spending the rest of my life as a slave to an incompenent goverment that even now, cant plan for the future.0 -
Me personally am getting out of this black hole. Im not spending the rest of my life as a slave to an incompenent goverment that even now, cant plan for the future.
Well, I think it may be a bit overly dramatic to project your entire life under such conditions, I think it's all about the next 2-5 years, as for after that we might very well be just fine. For these next few years, well, it's all about how you see yourself going through it. If you think you might struggle to keep a job and make ends meet here and that you can have it better in Canada I guess it's not a bad idea to move there while you wait for the **** storm to fade away. On the other hand if you have a plan to go through this whole ordeal right here fairly well, no matter what goes down you should be fine. I think I'm in the latter case so I'm just going to stay here and enjoy the fine country that it is.0 -
Im not painting anything in the 80's with any rose tint, i grew up in donegal lower class, my mum used to go down to the fishermen a few times a week in the evening and they'd give her and other housewives some of the catch of the day, people used to help one another with no money changing hands. We grew spuds in land offered to my dad just for that purpose, no money changing hands. Those with money at the time contributed to the community through the church( im not advocating that, just saying that was the case back then, but all church expenditure could be reviewed by anyone who wanted to check it out )
I wasn't a great time, it was tough, mega tough, but people did help others out. Hell even some kids i went to school with and their dad( who wasnt well ) was building a house for them which got destroyed in a storm were helped by both the community and the church to build them a house.
It was an absolutely horrible time, yet we all made the most of it, for me thats who we are as a people, not the money grabbers we've all become in the past decade or so.
All the above is very true. The problem now is that there's no such thing as community spirit any more. Everone and everything has become so materialistic and we all seem to be in competition with one another about who is more wealthy, who has the better job, the bigger house, the newer car, the latest gadgets. We've become so preocupied with the materialistic aspects of society we've forgotten that it's people who really matter.
And although things were beyond awful in the 80's in Ireland, I know from listning to other people talk that they were unaware of the fact they were so incredibly poor, nearly everybody was poor so you were't compairing yourself to the neighbour that could afford everything. The increase in media dominance ect has made us more aware of our wealth today.
The boom did not make Irish society as a whole richer. It just created a more dominant devide between the rich and the poor, something that is only going to continue to expand.0 -
All the above is very true. The problem now is that there's no such thing as community spirit any more. Everyone and everything has become so materialistic and we all seem to be in competition with one another about who is more wealthy, who has the better job, the bigger house, the newer car, the latest gadgets. We've become so preocupied with the materialistic aspects of society we've forgotten that it's people who really matter.
And although things were beyond awful in the 80's in Ireland, I know from listening to other people talk that they were unaware of the fact they were so incredibly poor, nearly everybody was poor so you were't compairing yourself to the neighbour that could afford everything. The increase in media dominance ect has made us more aware of our wealth today.
The boom did not make Irish society as a whole richer. It just created a more dominant devide between the rich and the poor, something that is only going to continue to expand.
so true.... when ya look at all those young women that are painted orange to look like umpa lumpas (that god awful fake tan) & make up caked on... all designer this n that outfits .... same even applies to some young men too... all they want is expensive game consoles and cars with big exhaust pipes to make them SOUND good (personally i think it sounds worse)... so much emphasis on personal image but little emphasis on much else.0 -
Nothingbetter2d wrote: »so true.... when ya look at all those young women that are painted orange to look like umpa lumpas (that god awful fake tan) & make up caked on... all designer this n that outfits .... same even applies to some young men too... all they want is expensive game consoles and cars with big exhaust pipes to make them SOUND good (personally i think it sounds worse)... so much emphasis on personal image but little emphasis on much else.
LOL....Yea the Umpa Lumpa thing is a disaster...nice to see a few other people share that view.
As a society we have completely lost sight of what truly matters, people today feel more isolated than ever...Look at the growing trend in social networking sites, we now rely on them so very much because we fear social isolation, the growth in suicide rates is also another example, Ireland having one of the highest suicide rates in Europe. More and more people are starting to feel as though they no longer belong and this is and will continue to have a detrimental effect on our society0 -
The evils of a globally uniformising civilisation driven by a dictatorship of materially measured success and forced quest for happiness, which translates into an empty shell built from false signifiers of success and achievement... A life made of pursuing false goals, where only the self matters but where the self is solely defined by the external judgement of others..
It's a global epidemic really, hopefully in a few generations people will grow out of it and start doing what they truly want to do with themselves and live a life worth living.0 -
No people were not wrongly on the streets. It is a basic human right to expect hospital services without having to travel miles..I am sure there is many other examples but I will use the Sligo Galway one. The Government got rid of fantastic cancer services in Sligo, they told the people there they would have to travel for treatment to Galway instead, that it would be a better system and better care would be provided, they promised cancer patients of the west and north west that they would pay out for a bus service to transport the patients. THE REALITY. Excelent cancer services removed from Sligo to Galway where at present they are NOT Able to cope with the extra patients, This so Called center of Excellence does NOT Exist, the private bus for the cancer patiens was not and WILL Not be provided. People YES PEOPLE, Mothers, brothers, fathers, daughters, sons People with CANCER..have to sit for 4 hours on a bus to Galway. Last week a women endured that journey to Galway only to wait 48 hours on a trolley to be sent home again because there was no bed for her. This is the reality of the Irish Health care system.
In principle there is nothing wrong with the idea of centres of excellence, the problem is that they are far from centres of excellence, and the transport and planning to back them up is not there. The woman you quote is due to having medics running the HSE instead of proper managers, who should have financial penalties and get fired with no pension when things like this happen. Our health service is a complete mess that no amount of money could fix - God help us now there's no money left.0 -
professore wrote: »In principle there is nothing wrong with the idea of centres of excellence, the problem is that they are far from centres of excellence, and the transport and planning to back them up is not there. The woman you quote is due to having medics running the HSE instead of proper managers, who should have financial penalties and get fired with no pension when things like this happen. Our health service is a complete mess that no amount of money could fix - God help us now there's no money left.
In principle most things sound great, In reality they never are but try telling that to the government. The family of the woman I quoted came out and said that the situation where she was left waiting on a trolley was no reflection on the efforts of the medics or staff at the hospital, the underlying problem is the Complete lack of funding by the government, and to fix it we need money and a proper governmental organisation that will provide hospitals with the money for improvement and it won't play god with people life’s by saying 'because you live in this part of Ireland your needs are less important to us and so we really don't care what happens to you
For the record the woman above died, what a 'lovely' way to spend the final weeks of your life, travelling for hours to an overcrowded hospital. This Government is a disgrace, I can't even bear to listen to any pointless, meaningless ***** they come out with. Nothing excuses the mess they have left this country in.0 -
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Wow..that budget was a surprise wasn't it..Not!!..Typical Irish Government, punish the people that never got us into this situation in the first place and bail out those that caused it..The more I think about it the more angry I get and the more I wanna just pack my bags and leave the country this instant..however I will stay to finish Uni.
What are you talking about student!
You don't pay tax you don't contribute to the poxy levy.0 -
What are you talking about student!
You don't pay tax you don't contribute to the poxy levy.
Right so because I'm a student that means I cant have an opinion then, wow I better shut up so! Thanks for that!
And correct me if I'm wrong but my parents pay taxes therefore this budget has a dramatic impact on them which in turn impacts me and dictates whether or not I will be able to continue my College education.
We're all intitled to our opinions so if you don't like it then you know what you can do.0 -
No! Silence! Be concerned with things that concern you only very immediately! :pac:Right so because I'm a student that means I cant have an opinion then, wow I better shut up so! Thanks for that!
And correct me if I'm wrong but my parents pay taxes therefore this budget has a dramatic impact on them which in turn impacts me and dictates whether or not I will be able to continue my College education.
We're all intitled to our opinions so if you don't like it then you know what you can do.0 -
No! Silence! Be concerned with things that concern you only very immediately! :pac:
Ha how great that would be so my future would be like this
Finishes College *looks at the world in a state of utter shock* *What the hell happenned here*
Yea Better spread the word to the students so..
NOTE: Do not show any interest in what is happening around you..Develop a narrow minded attitute to life and don't look above the college walls.0 -
LOL....Yea the Umpa Lumpa thing is a disaster...nice to see a few other people share that view.
As a society we have completely lost sight of what truly matters, people today feel more isolated than ever...Look at the growing trend in social networking sites, we now rely on them so very much because we fear social isolation, the growth in suicide rates is also another example, Ireland having one of the highest suicide rates in Europe. More and more people are starting to feel as though they no longer belong and this is and will continue to have a detrimental effect on our society
yer i know of 2 women that have killed themselves since last saturday... 1 was an old school friend's mum then other was a friend of my brother and his wife0 -
Nothingbetter2d wrote: »yer i know of 2 women that have killed themselves since last saturday... 1 was an old school friend's mum then other was a friend of my brother and his wife
I'm really sorry to hear that. It seems that nobody today doesn’t know of at least one person who has committed suicide..In the last year alone I can count seven that have effected my friends and family.
It makes you so angry though, with regards the statistics for male suicides alone, more young men kill themselves every year than die on our roads. But the Government are still doing nothing, they’ve cut the spending on mental health, this country is terrified of talking about anything mental health or depression related, even the media are abandoning their duty to the public by not really addressing the issue. What the hell is wrong with the country...We need to get rid of this taboo surrounding mental health and start addressing the problems instead of always ignoring them...They are not just going to disappear.0 -
Wow.. I'm from France and I never heard of anyone committing suicide in my whereabouts..I'm really sorry to hear that. It seems that nobody today doesn’t know of at least one person who has committed suicide..In the last year alone I can count seven that have effected my friends and family.
It makes you so angry though, with regards the statistics for male suicides alone, more young men kill themselves every year than die on our roads. But the Government are still doing nothing, they’ve cut the spending on mental health, this country is terrified of talking about anything mental health or depression related, even the media are abandoning their duty to the public by not really addressing the issue. What the hell is wrong with the country...We need to get rid of this taboo surrounding mental health and start addressing the problems instead of always ignoring them...They are not just going to disappear.
But yeah I think that's one problem with governments, they care about a whole bunch of figures, inflation, deflation, unemployment, growth, and they have global policies to make these figures go one way or another, but when it comes to death, there's figures, but no one tried to make them go anywhere in a coherent way. I don't know why, maybe it's because there's a taboo or some fatalism concerning death making us think that there's not much we can do, but you'll never hear a politician say "By the end of my term, I'll reduce the debt by 3 trillions, the unemployment will be down by two points and mortality will be down by 30% *cheers from the crowd*". Sure, sometimes they care about road accidents, or AIDS, but they never take any global action to look at where there's people dying (i.e. suicide, infections caught in hospitals, etc..) and what can be done about it.0 -
Give it a year. You'll be on your knees praying for a visa to Botswana.I love Ireland. I don't want to have to leave it. Sure it's definitely not perfect and we badly need a change of government.
I think the grass is greener in other places. Like I would love Germany's infrastructure or Canada's economy but I would not like to live in either over and above here...0 -
Please. I was in my 20s in Ireland in the 80s. Everyone was very much aware that most of us were poor, and that a small percentage were wealthy through corruption. Nothing changes much in Ireland.And although things were beyond awful in the 80's in Ireland, I know from listning to other people talk that they were unaware of the fact they were so incredibly poor, nearly everybody was poor so you were't compairing yourself to the neighbour that could afford everything. The increase in media dominance ect has made us more aware of our wealth today.
The boom did not make Irish society as a whole richer. It just created a more dominant devide between the rich and the poor, something that is only going to continue to expand.0 -
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Electric Sheep wrote: »Please. I was in my 20s in Ireland in the 80s. Everyone was very much aware that most of us were poor, and that a small percentage were wealthy through corruption. Nothing changes much in Ireland.
Yes but it didnt have the same impact as it does today..You knew you were poor but so were your neighbours. Our perception of what it means to be poor is completely distorted today Only A small percentage were rich. Did your neighbours own new cars and big house's ect??, thats the problem today, the boom made us all so aware of each others financial standing, It made us believe that we could all better ourselves, which there is nothing wrong with but the problem is the effect this has had on us.
People no longer care about people, we have become so selfish and greedy. You can't deny that people today are far more materialistic and self obsessed than ever before and this is having a detrimental effect on Irish society, all the facts are there as is the proof that there is a growing devide between the rich and the poor, a devide which is larger than it ever was before.0
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