why is Ireland so expensive?

dd972

When you think of the infrastructure and jobs situation it rates somewhere about the level of Burnley.

If we were a country on a par with Canada or Australia even that would be understandable.

Look at the sort of nation Germany is as regards infrastructure, jobs, services, health, transport, the list goes on......and it's cheaper over there !!:eek:

ScumLord

We're a small island.

Casillas

dd972 wrote: »

When you think of the infrastructure and jobs situation it rates somewhere about the level of Burnley.

If we were a country on a par with Canada or Australia even that would be understandable.

Look at the sort of nation Germany is as regards infrastructure, jobs, services, health, transport, the list goes on......and it's cheaper over there !!:eek:

They have more tax-payers, industry etc.

Also councils have pushed up rates on business.

Things like electricity/heating etc. keep going up in price, driving down profit margins, which is rectified by increasing price.

Also we're an island so ships/planes are needed increasing transport costs, which isn't helped by high tax on fuel for trucking about the products when they arrive.

It's a mix of low populace/bad governance.

Washington Irving

How much do we cost?

marketty

Because you touch yourself at night

Jellicoe

Simple. An exceptional appetite for greed at the top, and the attitude that those in the middle and bottom should always continue pay for this greed, no matter what.

Fishooks12

Simplifying complex economics with lazy comparisons to other countries

Well done sir

mikemac1

You should head over to politics forum OP

Plenty of others over there always running down this country and portraying Germany as some sort of paradise

374 euro for dole money per month may be one reason OP
It would have to be cheaper if you expect people to live on that

Dockington

marketty wrote: »

Because you touch yourself at night

you made me choke on my tea

Helix

Jellicoe wrote: »

Simple. An exceptional appetite for greed at the top, and the attitude that those in the middle and bottom should always continue pay for this greed, no matter what.

there's no more appetite for greed at the top in ireland than there is anywhere else. ireland is expensive because the wages are high, it's an island, and the people are happy to accept mediocrity because it requires less effort than doing something to demand better

ejmaztec

dd972 wrote: »

When you think of the infrastructure and jobs situation it rates somewhere about the level of Burnley.

If we were a country on a par with Canada or Australia even that would be understandable.

Look at the sort of nation Germany is as regards infrastructure, jobs, services, health, transport, the list goes on......and it's cheaper over there !!:eek:

Chalk and cheese.

squod

In before durka durr

We are not very good at standing up for ourselves, and tend to take what we get

Jellicoe

helix wrote:

ireland is expensive because the wages are high

There are quite a few thinly veiled shills on boards.ie that are desperate to prevent any cuts to the top or taxes for the rich.

Ordinary wages are higher, because the cost of living, after the golden circle and their crorrupt cronies get their fat cut, is much higher.

Jellicoe

"There's no appitite for greed at the top of Ireland"

ROFL at the complete barefaced lies being spun here.

Helix

Jellicoe wrote: »

Ordinary wages are higher, because the cost of living, after the golden circle and their crorrupt cronies get their fat cut, is much higher.

explain that one to us, in detail, if you please

how many of those "corrupt cronies" do you reckon there are? must be hundreds of thousands of them to drive up the cost of living in the country so much. then many more hundreds of thousands of people who have no issue with it happening

Helix

Jellicoe wrote: »

"There's no appitite for greed at the top of Ireland"

ROFL at the complete barefaced lies being spun here.

you need to learn how to read. it said:

there's no more appetite for greed at the top in ireland than there is anywhere else

Jellicoe

Read it and weep

http://www.tascnet.ie/upload/file/MtGC%20ISSU.pdf

Helix

Jellicoe wrote: »

Read it and weep

http://www.tascnet.ie/upload/file/MtGC%20ISSU.pdf

why would i weep? i dont live in ireland

so based on what that report says, you're claiming that 39 people are causing the inflated cost of living in ireland? 39 people? really?

and the irish public is letting those 39 people do it? well done, you should all be proud of yourselves

Jellicoe

So where's your counter report ?

Helix

Jellicoe wrote: »

So where's your counter report ?

i wasn't aware i was required to have one

are we taking all reports to be true now? is that how it's working? they're infallible?

stink of conspiracy theorist off you

yes, ireland is corrupt, but like i said there's no more greed at the top in ireland than there is anywhere else. the difference is not those running the show, the difference is those being run. irish people won't do anything about corruption and bad governance beyond moaning a bit to their mates

Jellicoe

You're quick enough to ask other people for detail yet typically fail to provide anything of your own.

Deny this : Are you yet another fat parasite tax exile who made his money on the backs of people in Ireland, and then fcked off before he had to pay anything ?

admiralofthefleet

In a business sense:

wages are high
rent is high
waste charges are high
insurance prices are high
water rates are high
gas and electricity prices are high

the list goes on

Hidalgo

OP compared Ireland to Australia and Canada.

One advantage both of those possess over Ireland is that both are rich in natural resources. Not much of a mining industry here compared to both of those.
These minerals/natural resources help create employment as well as bring in taxes etc which leaves both less vulnerable to what happens internationally. While the prices may rise and fall that they get for their resources,
they still got em

Helix

Jellicoe wrote: »

You're quick enough to ask other people for detail yet typically fail to provide anything of your own.

Deny this : Are you yet another fat parasite tax exile who made his money on the backs of people in Ireland, and then fcked off before he had to pay anything ?

bit of a leading question that isnt it? no im someone who left ireland at 26 after getting fed up with the lack of action by the irish people to actually do anything constructive to fix the country. i wasn't going to be raising my kids there, nor did i see any kind of future for productivity or creativity in the country. while i was in ireland i was never unemployed a day, never took anything from the state in terms of benefits, paid my taxes, saved until i could get out, and left like anyone with any common sense

shame on me for not buying a house there during the boom i suppose?

Jellicoe

Still waiting for your detailed counter report on the golden cirlce . . . looks like we'll be waiting

Duggys Housemate

Jellicoe wrote: »

Still waiting for your detailed counter report on the golden cirlce . . . looks like we'll be waiting

You have to prove they push up prices? Are they buying all the food. I find Ireland about the same cost as the UK

Jellicoe

Some of us would rather expose the failings and corruption in Ireland so that they can be dealt with rather than slink off to another country and take smug pot shots from there.

Ted_YNWA

SaulGoode9 wrote: »

How much do we cost?

bout three fiddy

Logical Fallacy

dd972 wrote: »

When you think of the infrastructure and jobs situation it rates somewhere about the level of Burnley.

If we were a country on a par with Canada or Australia even that would be understandable.

Look at the sort of nation Germany is as regards infrastructure, jobs, services, health, transport, the list goes on......and it's cheaper over there !!:eek:

Economics of scale.

Helix

Jellicoe wrote: »

Some of us would rather expose the failings and corruption in Ireland so that they can be dealt with rather than slink off to another country and take smug pot shots from there.

posting a pdf someone else wrote isn't exposing anything. it's posting a bloody link. im terribly sorry if i don't have the time to compile an in depth analysis of the country's problems, but having lived there for 26 years im fairly well versed in the "ah sure it'll do" attitude that greatly magnifies any governance issues. if something is too expensive, don't buy it. if it doesn't sell, prices will drop. the 39 fat cats in that report you hold so dear are able to make so much money because people will pay whatever they're told to in ireland. they'll complain about it, they'll bitch and moan, but they'll do absolutely nothing to actually stop people who are overcharging making money

Jellicoe

So other than your posts, you can posting nothing to support your views about the golden circle, after demanding other do so. Quel Surprise. You bluffers are all the same.

Father Damo

dd972 wrote: »

Look at the sort of nation Germany is as regards infrastructure, jobs, services, health, transport, the list goes on......and it's cheaper over there !!:eek:

The reason, quite simply, is that we are sheep. If the typical German nightclub tried to charge 6 euro for a bottle of beer, or 8 euro for a double vodka and splash, like they do in Dublin, they would simply boycott it. They would stay out of their city centres until the price was brought down to an acceptable level.

An email campaign went around about 8 years ago urging us to do the same for a month. A national boycott weekend after weekend until the pubs brought down drink prices to a comparable European level.

Did we boycott?

Did we fcuk. We grumbled about the price and proceeded to spend a quarter of our weeks wages in the space of five hours on a Saturday night getting wrecked.

The funniest is when Irish people in Australia moan about how expensive Australia is. Give or take, Oz is, generally, just slightly less expensive than Celtic Tiger Ireland. Albeit a country where a manual unskilled worker can, if they play their cards right, earn more than alot of management positions do/ did back home. You get more bang for your buck. For the cost of a CT era terraced house in Dublin with walls so thin you can hear your neighbour farting, in Sydney you would get a detatched four bedder with a swimming pool and a quarter football pitch garden out the back. Australia is by no means cheap but in terms of wage vs what you can buy with your money, it is years ahead.

andrew

The price level in a country (how much things cost in general) is usually correlated with how developed/underdeveloped it is, but it's caused by the level of development, but the rate of development. Ireland's an expensive country because it had, up until recently-ish, a high level of economic growth. This pushed up prices across the board (in a relatively short period of time) compared to our neighbours, making us more expensive than them. ie. led to inflation.

Helix

Jellicoe wrote: »

So other than your posts, you can posting nothing to support your views about the golden circle, after demanding other do so. Quel Surprise. You bluffers are all the same.

again, i think you need reading classes. you said

Jellicoe wrote: »

Ordinary wages are higher, because the cost of living, after the golden circle and their crorrupt cronies get their fat cut, is much higher.

and i asked you to explain it. you didn't do that. you posted a pdf that talks about 39 people and their roles as high level execs with major companies. that doesn't explain why the cost of living is higher because of them getting their cut. they get the cut of their businesses income. i fail to see how that increases the cost of living. if they didnt get a cut of it, would anything be different? would those companies charge less? of course not. it's the same as any other country in the world, companies will charge what people will pay. if people will pay more, companies will charge more

homerjay2005

one word answer - greed.

wages are higher, thus the cost of everything is higher.

UCDVet

homerjay2005 wrote: »

one word answer - greed.

wages are higher, thus the cost of everything is higher.

I don't think that makes sense.

Other countries have greed.
Other countries have higher wages with lower cost of living.

I think there has to be more to it.

Geuze

Many reasons.


(1) Lack of competition / cartels

(2) Irish people's willingness to pay more

(3) Higher operating costs, e.g.

commercial rents
LA rates
waste costs
energy costs

(4) Higher profit margins

Higher gross margins are required to cover the higher costs / overheads

Higher net margins due to greed, etc.

(5) In some sectors, higher indirect taxes, e.g.

new cars
alcohol
tobacco

keithclancy

Tax is lower than here (The Netherlands)

http://energy.eu/

Petrol is cheaper - 1.88 / liter vs Irelands € 1.698

Cars are cheaper, BPM Tax is higher than VRT.

Electricity and Gas is cheaper

Gas
€ 0.0727 per kWh of Gas vs Irelands € 0.0506

Electricity
€ 0.2208 per kWh of Electric vs Irelands € 0.1920

Health Insurance is between 1100-1200 euros / year per working person and its mandatory.

My motor tax on a 2 liter diesel Volvo is 1286 euros / year.

About the only thing cheaper here is tulips, beer and fags. (and maybe weed)

Emeraldy Pebbles

Helix wrote: »

bit of a leading question that isnt it? no im someone who left ireland at 26 after getting fed up with the lack of action by the irish people to actually do anything constructive to fix the country.

What action did you take to fix the country before you left? You must have done something, right? Or were you waiting for someone else to?

Helix wrote: »

saved until i could get out, and left like anyone with any common sense

Soooo, you didn't try to fix anything. But expected others to?

ejmaztec

Emeraldy Pebbles wrote: »

Soooo, you didn't try to fix anything. But expected others to?

Nothing gets fixed here, which is where there are 70 million in the Irish diaspora worldwide.

Emeraldy Pebbles

ejmaztec wrote: »

Nothing gets fixed here, which is where there are 70 million in the Irish diaspora worldwide.

That's fine but bitching about nobody moving to try and fix anything whilst not attempting to yourself is hypocritical.

Helix

Emeraldy Pebbles wrote: »

That's fine but bitching about nobody moving to try and fix anything whilst not attempting to yourself is hypocritical.

all you can do is what you can do. i didnt buy anything that was overpriced. i didnt spend money with companies i didn't agree with the values or ethos' of. i spent my earned money on reasonably and fairly priced items only. that may sound like absolutely nothing, but if every single person in ireland did it, you can be your arse that the country wouldn't be half as expensive as it is right now

this thing with "ah sure jaysus i've no money sure" spoken by someone sitting in a house with sky hd, a couple of flat screen tvs, a couple of cars out the front, high end phones, overpriced broadband and designer labels in the wardrobe played as much a part in getting me out of ireland as the inept, corrupt governance of the country

priorities and principles. get them sorted in terms of spending money and the irish people will be grand

bending either will just continue things the way they are. i don't think people realise the power that consumers have in ireland and the uk. it's a very noticeable thing elsewhere, where service and keeping the customer happy is the single most important thing in business - because if you can do that you WILL make more money

homerjay2005

homerjay2005 wrote: »

one word answer - greed.

wages are higher, thus the cost of everything is higher.

What's with all the terrible posts around AH these days? I mean seriously.. An entire cycle of boom and inflation reduced to the word greed.

Pottler

Ireland is so expensive beacuse we pawned it back in the '70s. Everyone knows how much interest them feckers charge and someone has to pay the man. How cheap do you want it to be OP?

Eden3

Ireland isn't expensive - the big LOAN Enda borrowed from Europe IS ...! Great example we've been set:rolleyes:

We used to be a nation known for our hard working tradesmen/women - with simple lifestyles, saving our fortune under our mattresses!

Bertie opened the flood gates with the Celtic Tiger, people got greedy, some people opted to languish on excellent benefits, others borrowed big to get "really rich", extra houses, extra cars, overseas properties ..etc. etc. YAWN

Now it's time to pay the price ... ! No time for moaning and groaning

hyperborean

Its not expensive?

jester77

Germany is not really cheaper. It might seem cheaper if you are here for a weekend and just drinking beer. Electricity, gas, water, health insurance, petrol are all more expensive here than in Ireland and rent in the big cities is high (apart from Berlin). Groceries are a little cheaper. Cigarettes and booze are a lot cheaper, but thats about it.

Eden3

hyperborean wrote: »

Its not expensive?

You're missing the point - it is expensive to live in Ireland now as a result of the debt our Country is in. If the debt wasn't there .... it would not be. The Country is not the problem, it is the administration of it that is ....

It's time for a general election - anyone agree?

hyperborean

Eden3 wrote: »

You're missing the point - it is expensive to live in Ireland now as a result of the debt our Country is in. If the debt wasn't there .... it would not be. The Country is not the problem, it is the administration of it that is ....

It's time for a general election - anyone agree?

The link between the current government and the cost of living is non existent, so effectively your argument is non existent, rabble rabble rabble

the real problem with this country is that the population have been molly coddled too long, spiolt brats with no clue

Dwellingdweller

Emeraldy Pebbles wrote: »

That's fine but bitching about nobody moving to try and fix anything whilst not attempting to yourself is hypocritical.

It takes more than one person 'doing something' to radically change the perspective of the population of Ireland. The Irish perspective on things is what drives so many Irish people away from Ireland.

They (the Irish) are lazy unmotivated feckers who'll plonk themselves down on a bar stool and complain about that 'state of affairs' with their mates over an overpriced pint, go home to sleep in their overpriced Celtic Tiger-era shíthole apartment, then get up the next morning and forget entirely about their gripes.

They never stay pissed off for long. This wouldn't be a problem if Ireland was a massively productive nation or something where everyone is super-ambitious and wants to get somewhere with their lives, but when you couple this laxidaisical philosophy at the bar with even more laxidaisical attitude to life in general, then you have a problem.

That's why people move away - like my uncle, who worked for MS in the mid '90s in Dublin.

He was on an interview panel assessing new applicants for a position in software engineering. The other 2 lads with him on the panel were from Cork and knew the people applying for the job. Obviously the lad who was friendly with the Cork fellas got the job - the same lad who had no qualification in computer science and graduated with a degree in Classics.

Shortly after, my uncle applied for a work transfer to the States, because he knew his career progression would be stunted by the backwards attitude that's prevalent in Ireland. To make a long story short, my uncle's now earning $110k+ a year, writing driver software for Windows 8 and is one of the lead software engineers for MS. Would this have been possible for him in Ireland? He says no. I'm inclined to agree.