Balbriggan

squawker

jim-mcdee wrote: »

I see that soup kitchen, the guy who is running it has a chequered past where it comes to running such things. probably the money was only resting in his account. it is not even a registered charity.

jasus, that's an awful remark about someone

did you hear that over the garden fence?

All Seeing Eye

So we are basically back to full employment and a soup kitchen is opening in Balbriggan. Just goes to show how far the town has gone downhill if someone feels there is a market for this service. Even in the poorest of times during the 70s and 80s no one ever set up a soup kitchen in Balbriggan.

jim-mcdee

All Seeing Eye wrote: »

So we are basically back to full employment and a soup kitchen is opening in Balbriggan. Just goes to show how far the town has gone downhill if someone feels there is a market for this service. Even in the poorest of times during the 70s and 80s no one ever set up a soup kitchen in Balbriggan.

the sad fact is, there is money to be made everywhere, even in homelessness or quasi homelessness. some of these places are being run as a business. if you are giving out something for free, there will always be a market. something for nothing never helped anyone. there are soup kitchens in Navan and Drogheda also FYI. go find a forum post and take cheap shots at them too.

All Seeing Eye

jim-mcdee wrote: »

the sad fact is, there is money to be made everywhere, even in homelessness or quasi homelessness. some of these places are being run as a business. if you are giving out something for free, there will always be a market. something for nothing never helped anyone. there are soup kitchens in Navan and Drogheda also FYI. go find a forum post and take cheap shots at them too.

Mixed message here what are you trying say?

Wheeliebin30

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Who actually takes him seriously? I've lived in the town since 2011 and wouldn't have any hesitation in recommending it to someone. Sure it's not the most desirable place to live but that's reflected in its house prices.

It seems fashionable to knock it, often with very generic reasons that could apply to any town/suburb in Dublin but it also has a lot going for it.

It’s not the most desirable place to live but that’s reflected in its house prices..

I’m not been smart but what does that even mean???

Slanty

House prices shouldn’t reflect where to live.

I work and lived in Balbriggan, I certainly would not recommend it to anybody. Do not buy in this town. The whole infrastructure is terrible. The town center is none existent and don’t get me started on the night life. It’s going backwards while skerries is thriving and only 10 mins drive.

Balbriggan used to be the center of all Fingal but it’s nearly a ghost town now

Kintarō Hattori

Wheeliebin30 wrote: »

It’s not the most desirable place to live but that’s reflected in its house prices..

I’m not been smart but what does that even mean???

Skerries- eminently desirable hence house prices are through the roof.
Balbriggan - not as desirable a price to live which is reflected in the house prices, which are substantially less than Skerries which is just 10 minutes down the road.

I'm really not being smart but I thought it would have been pretty clear?

All Seeing Eye

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Skerries- eminently desirable hence house prices are through the roof.
Balbriggan - not as desirable a price to live which is reflected in the house prices, which are substantially less than Skerries which is just 10 minutes down the road.

I'm really not being smart but I thought it would have been pretty clear?

So to summarise the advice is don’t waste your hard earned cash/mortgage on a house in Balbriggan. Try and get a house somewhere else. Even if your estate is alright most of the town looks like a scene from benefits street or a refugee camp. To those not from NCD who moved out to Balbriggan since the mid-late 2000’s you don’t really know the town as it was. The current state of the town is your normal so you don’t have anything to compare it against. Hope that clears things up.

Kintarō Hattori

All Seeing Eye wrote: »

So to summarise the advice is don’t waste your hard earned cash/mortgage on a house in Balbriggan. Try and get a house somewhere else. Even if your estate is alright most of the town looks like a scene from benefits street or a refugee camp. To those not from NCD who moved out to Balbriggan since the mid-late 2000’s you don’t really know the town as it was. The current state of the town is your normal so you don’t have anything to compare it against. Hope that clears things up.

So to summarise, it was great when it was just a town for the locals. Now that all you lot moved in, you've driven the quality of the town down and changed it beyond what I remember it being. Is that what you're saying?

Again I'm not arguing with you but you seem to have a chip on your shoulder in regards to the town. It may not be the town that you recall from times gone by, but for me, a blow-in, it's a fine place to put down roots. I can afford a nice modern home without a massive mortgage. I'm not too far from Dublin city and I can go shopping in Swords or Drogheda if I don't want to go into town. Only a few minutes from my doorstep I can be in rural north county Dublin, Louth or Meath.
Before settling in Balbriggan my partner and I looked at other areas. We visited a house or two in Blanchardstown, the city centre and more. We didn't feel at home in the places we looked at. As soon as she turned the corner and saw our current house, she knew it was the one she wanted.

If you grew up in the town, yes I'm sure it's irrevocably changed from what you once knew. For anyone looking to put down roots, I highly recommend it.

PawneeRanger

All Seeing Eye wrote: »

So to summarise the advice is don’t waste your hard earned cash/mortgage on a house in Balbriggan. Try and get a house somewhere else. Even if your estate is alright most of the town looks like a scene from benefits street or a refugee camp. To those not from NCD who moved out to Balbriggan since the mid-late 2000’s you don’t really know the town as it was. The current state of the town is your normal so you don’t have anything to compare it against. Hope that clears things up.

I'm from Balbriggan. Born and reared. So were my parents, my grandparents and my great grandparents.

You do not speak for me.

Your dog-whistling is ridiculously transparent.

All Seeing Eye

PawneeRanger wrote: »

I'm from Balbriggan. Born and reared. So were my parents, my grandparents and my great grandparents.

You do not speak for me.

Your dog-whistling is ridiculously transparent.

I never claimed to speak for you. The whole “move on nothing to see here” is a partial or full denial of the problems the town has. Just as well Fingal County Council are not applying this approach. They have finally copped on and have a “Balbriggan Strategy” in place to address the social, physical and economic decline of the town. The terminology there might be “dog whistling” according to your rationale. Maybe you should have a read of it and maybe contact the council to say it’s waste of time and money as everything is great in Balbriggan.

minikin

Balbriggan is a town with massive potential.
To think of Balbriggan as a dump because of the main street is to ignore all the economic activity elsewhere in the town.
Where the average Joe might see empty shops as a sign of decline - entrepreneurs see opportunity for profitable investment.
The success of an area is cyclical... It has enough of a population to be quite an economic centre in the coming decade.

Some might say other towns in fingal are all 'fur coat and no knickers' when the amount of rates generated is compared to Balbriggan, and yet Balbriggan does not get the pro-rata expenditure back from Fingal County Council that it might expect if it had better representation.

PawneeRanger

All Seeing Eye wrote: »

I never claimed to speak for you. The whole “move on nothing to see here” is a partial or full denial of the problems the town has. Just as well Fingal County Council are not applying this approach. They have finally copped on and have a “Balbriggan Strategy” in place to address the social, physical and economic decline of the town. The terminology there might be “dog whistling” according to your rationale. Maybe you should have a read of it and maybe contact the council to say it’s waste of time and money as everything is great in Balbriggan.

You are effectively telling someone who has lived in Balbriggan for 7 years that their view of the town is incorrect because they haven't been there as long as others. You are not the authority on Balbriggan and you don't get to tell anyone that their opinion on where they live is wrong because they "don’t really know the town as it was."

Nobody is denying that there are plenty of things that could be improved in the town. And there were plenty of things that could have been improved back in your rose-tinted good aul days before all them foreigners arrived and ruined it, right. :rolleyes:

Even if your estate is alright most of the town looks like a scene from benefits street or a refugee camp.

Dog whistling.

Like moving to Detroit in the 60s or 70s

Dog whistling.

The gang problem is getting worse. The Guards spend a lot of time up around Dunnes stores breaking up fights and dispersing mobs of teenagers. When I say mob I’m talking about 40-60.

Dog whistling.

He is only saying what a lot of people in Balbriggan are thinking. Balbriggan has gone from being arguably Fingal’s County town to the social housing capital of Fingal. A dumping ground for social housing quotas from other towns and also anti social elements forced out of other parts of Dublin.

Amazing. You're holding up Kevin Sharkey as someone speaking for people in the town. Dog. Whistling.

Eoineo

Coming from the point of view of somebody who doesn't give a jot about nightlife, the town is where I want to be. I've lived here for the past 16 years and have a family.

There are a wide range of schools to offer families - single denomination, educate together, multi denominational, and Irish language. The secondary schools in the town regularly score towards the top of the league tables. All of the schools are within walking distance of most areas within the town - if not walking distance, certainly cycling distance or accessible via the town bus service.

I don't have to leave the town for essential services. I can access a number of supermarkets, healthcare, social welfare, dentist, and community facilities without having to venture beyond the town boundaries. If I do want to go beyond the town I am in Dublin city centre in 50 mins by the train. We are well serviced by the 101 and the 33 bus services.

The town has high speed broadband which enables me to work remotely if I decide not to commute to work.

The sense of community is second to none if you participate in the community in the town. There are a wealth of clubs on offer to anybody interested from sports to scouts and beyond.

What I have found though is that those who say the town has 'gone to the dogs' or expressed disappointment in what they find in Balbriggan is from those who are not engaged within the community. The town is what you make of it. Yes, sometimes anti social behaviour can be an issue but I moved here from an area with a far higher and more violent level of anti social behaviour. The difference is marked. You will find anti social behaviour, theft, burglaries etc no matter where you live.

All Seeing Eye

PawneeRanger wrote: »

You are effectively telling someone who has lived in Balbriggan for 7 years that their view of the town is incorrect because they haven't been there as long as others. You are not the authority on Balbriggan and you don't get to tell anyone that their opinion on where they live is wrong because they "don’t really know the town as it was."

Nobody is denying that there are plenty of things that could be improved in the town. And there were plenty of things that could have been improved back in your rose-tinted good aul days before all them foreigners arrived and ruined it, right. :rolleyes:



Dog whistling.



Dog whistling.



Dog whistling.



Amazing. You're holding up Kevin Sharkey as someone speaking for people in the town. Dog. Whistling.

So you agree that the town has problems. The problems are of such a magnitude that Fingal county council is implementing a plan to deal with the social, physical and economic decline of the town. There is no other area in NCD where a similar plan has been put in place so this would indicate to a logical person that Balbriggan is an outlier and not in a good way. I would say for anyone thinking purchasing a house in Balbriggan it’s a case of buyer beware. So tell me why are you dismissing Kevin Sharkeys opinion, you haven’t given any solid reason.

jim-mcdee

All Seeing Eye wrote: »

So you agree that the town has problems. The problems are of such a magnitude that Fingal county council is implementing a plan to deal with the social, physical and economic decline of the town. There is no other area in NCD where a similar plan has been put in place so this would indicate to a logical person that Balbriggan is an outlier and not in a good way. I would say for anyone thinking purchasing a house in Balbriggan it’s a case of buyer beware. So tell me why are you dismissing Kevin Sharkeys opinion, you haven’t given any solid reason.

dont feed the trolls

All Seeing Eye

jim-mcdee wrote: »

dont feed the trolls

Not nice to say that. I was just offering some advice to prospective purchasers. So in future when people do a google search on buying a house in Balbriggan they might see this and heed my advice.