Has Ireland lost its way despite an orgy of self congratulation since the recession e

NoteAgent

NoteAgent wrote: »

You have the correct attitude and outlook - unfortunately you're in the minority.

People prefer to whinge about homelessness and house prices when in reality these problems were always here (even in peak Celtic Tiger there were homeless people on the streets)

Imagine complaining about mortgage payments now when they're at all time lows. Lets see how they would fair paying 20% interest on their mortgage like in the 80's.

Reeling in the years on RTE is always a good watch. They had 1975 last night.

We had the highest unemployment in the EEC and people were queued up for rationed petrol.

lawred2

Topgear on Dave wrote: »

Reeling in the years on RTE is always a good watch. They had 1975 last night.

We had the highest unemployment in the EEC and people were queued up for rationed petrol.

That was the Suez crisis no? Rationing was not limited to Ireland.

But yeah Ireland was a backwards kip.

One I saw recently from the same era was to remove the notion of illegitimate children from the statute books. Room full of nuns and clerics against any such changes.

Such basic civil rights hard fought for against a dictatorial church are taken so much for granted now.

InTheShadows

Sunny Disposition wrote: »

Lot of self congratulation about what a progressive society we are, but has Ireland largely lost its way?
Health service is disastrous. Two years ago a woman got knocked down by a bus at the Cliffs of Moher and waited over an hour on the road for an ambulance. Dozens of people on trolleys every day at the Regional Hospital in Limerick particularly.
House prices are out of control. Just far too expensive. Homelessness has risen and those who can rent are broke from it. Only people who bought in the recession, or pre Celtic Tiger are okay.
Schools bursting at the seams, many towns where parents can’t get a place, teenagers making long commutes.
Garda corruption very serious, loads of instances in the last few years, Martin Callinan Was actually the commissioner at one point.
Bit of a generalization, but rural Ireland is dying of depopulation while the cities are choking due to growing too quickly since the 90s.
In summary this is not nearly as successful a society as some say, and governments have failed to introduce the required policies in health, education, policing and regional development.

We've never had a proper functioning society in this country. We are world leaders at spin and bluster and i guarantee you FF will get in the next election cycle, followed by FG rinse and repeat. The cold hard reality is that we are all to blame because we all will not break the cycle as an electorate. Unless you are part of the solution you are part of the problem.

nthclare

The op is an observer that's for sure, I used to observe a lot of what's going wrong around me instead of what's right.
It's a lonely sometimes observation of the dark side of Ireland.

Anyhow I think Ireland has a lot to offer when you sit back and take stock.

Get out of the rat race get a few hobbies, head into the wilderness and bring a backpack flask and make your own lunch, bring fruit and yogurt's in a cool bag.
Find a nice place to sit down with a good view take a deep breath and be grateful you have the ability to be where you are.

There's people employed to fix our problems and I see them going around sometimes with brief cases and laptops and phone's full of problems.
Thankfully getting away from the rat race is the way for anyone who finds themselves getting tired of every day mundane things.

ToddyDoody

When was the Irish Golden period?

Tell me how

InTheShadows wrote: »

We've never had a proper functioning society in this country. We are world leaders at spin and bluster and i guarantee you FF will get in the next election cycle, followed by FG rinse and repeat. The cold hard reality is that we are all to blame because we all will not break the cycle as an electorate. Unless you are part of the solution you are part of the problem.

How would a proper functioning society look compared to ours?

We have virtually zero effective unemployment, we have access to high quality education, we have access to decent (but not exceptional) healthcare. We have low levels of homeless comparatively speaking.

We have local, national and EU elections at least every 5 years.
We have frequent referenda on questions if national interest.

I'm not saying this is Utopia by any stretch but to say we do not have a functioning society is ignorant.

blinding

ToddyDoody wrote: »

When was the Irish Golden period?

Irish Hooker with Trump in Moscow Allegedly !

JohnnyFlash

Tell me how wrote: »

How would a proper functioning society look compared to ours?

We have virtually zero effective unemployment, we have access to high quality education, we have access to decent (but not exceptional) healthcare. We have low levels of homeless comparatively speaking.

We have local, national and EU elections at least every 5 years.
We have frequent referenda on questions if national interest.

I'm not saying this is Utopia by any stretch but to say we do not have a functioning society is ignorant.

The internet is crawling with ineffectual losers who endlessly moan and crib about how bad they have it. It’s a form of self-indulgence.

ToddyDoody

blinding wrote: »

Irish Hooker with Trump in Moscow Allegedly !

I'll say the 70s just for the craic.

Mad_maxx

NoteAgent wrote: »

You have the correct attitude and outlook - unfortunately you're in the minority.

People prefer to whinge about homelessness and house prices when in reality these problems were always here (even in peak Celtic Tiger there were homeless people on the streets)

Imagine complaining about mortgage payments now when they're at all time lows. Lets see how they would fair paying 20% interest on their mortgage like in the 80's.

It was way cheaper to buy a house back then even with 15% plus interest rates, most houses were no more than four times a persons wage.

Mad_maxx

Mad_maxx wrote: »

It was way cheaper to buy a house back then even with 15% plus interest rates, most houses were no more than four times a persons wage.

Emigration does not put upward forces on house prices.

Tea drinker

One of the most indebted nations in the developed world.
No reduction in debt since it's peak
Wasting money building a hospoital in the wrong location
Wasted money by buying overpriced land to build a prosin, which was never built, yet there is no prison places, and it's not unusual to have serious and violent criminals with 100's of convictions costing money to citizens while the state saves cash on costs.
Political class are cowards and incapable of delivering any solutions requiring thought.

lola85 wrote: »

Love how Irish people blame one person because their lives are so miserable.

Pathetic way to live.

You make you’re own luck, there is opportunities passing every minute in life but people are too lazy to see it and will blame “Leo” for all their failings.

You seem to be continously picking on either posters or racist ramblings about Irish in general.
Criticism of Ireland is needed, ignoring the problems, watching love island etc, is a scientifically unproven manner of improving either your own lot or the national one. Whinging is equally ineffectual, but *will* make you miserable.
You seem to prefer covering your ears and blaming Irish rather than having an actual discussion but that's just me being moronic, pathetic and failing.
You are right about one thing, being open to luck

Wanderer78

Tea drinker wrote: »

One of the most indebted nations in the developed world.
No reduction in debt since it's peak
Wasting money building a hospoital in the wrong location
Wasted money by buying overpriced land to build a prosin, which was never built, yet there is no prison places, and it's not unusual to have serious and violent criminals with 100's of convictions costing money to citizens while the state saves cash on costs.
Political class are cowards and incapable of delivering any solutions requiring thought.

again, one of the main causes of the previous crash was in fact the rapid rise of private debt, not public debt, largely due to the deregulation of the financial sector, which in turn flooded the planet with cheap credit, hence resulting in a credit crisis. public debt was largely in decline leading up to the crash, as we were regularly running a surplus.

Tea drinker

Wanderer78 wrote: »

again, one of the main causes of the previous crash was in fact the rapid rise of private debt, not public debt, largely due to the deregulation of the financial sector, which in turn flooded the planet with cheap credit, hence resulting in a credit crisis. public debt was largely in decline leading up to the crash, as we were regularly running a surplus.

True, but "we are where we are" now.
We've had several massive tax windfalls from the MNC's none of which has made any headway in the public finances. The period where we can rely on MNC windfall is perhaps coming to and end, and having done nothing to fix the debt we will be crippled by it. It's an extremely serious situation, we are still in "the emergency" but no one feels it on their skin.
Looking at the government throwing away jobs in Bord Na Mona this week doesn't fill me with confidence.