What’s your most controversial opinion? **Read OP** **Mod Note in Post #3372**

We'd have been a Big Fella household to be fair but yes, Dev did get a lot of grief not all warranted.

inspired by another thread on the site, I have no issue at all with inheritance tax.

If you get left money by someone, it's free money, you have done nothing to earn it, paying some tax is nothing to complain about when receiving free money.

Read some of Collins' musings. If you didn't know any better you'd think it was a rip off of Dev's "comely maidens".

The person leaving it to you has paid tax on it already though - it is theirs and they are giving it to a person of their choosing. It is akin to someone paying for your lunch, but then you having to go in and pay again.

How about a compromise? the person who inherits pays the taxes and the one who gave gets the taxes back.

I think a United Ireland would be a disaster for those in the 26 counties and hope it doesnt come to pass.

We love to talk about how the Irish built England, but we fail to recognise that if it wasnt for English jobs, and the "Queen's pound" coming back to these shores, huge tracts of western Ireland would have been completely abandoned. On that note, the worst treatment many of those people faced came about when working for Irish people in England.

Rugby is not what it is cracked up to be and any parent encouraging their kids take it up would want to take a look at themselves. It is getting more and more dangerous.

Athletics and many top level sports are absolutely riddled with performance enhancing drug use. The tests simply cannot track it if done in the 'correct' manner. Elite level athletes are generally highly self-oriented people who will do just about anything to win, if they think they will get away with it. All you have to do is look at how TUI's were abused in cycling to recognise the culture that is out there.

On that note, lionel messi's medical application of human growth hormone was taken over by barcelona's doctors when he was a child. Around the same time, numerous spanish teams (barca included) were working with doctors who were found to have been running doping programmes. The spanish government took the decision to destroy all the evidence without disclosing any of it. I think messi was probably doped in a similar way they used TUI's in cycling, and that a pile of top spanish footballers were protected by their government.

Absolutely. We pay lip service to the idea of meritocracy, and inheritance is the exact opposite of that. It's inheriting someone else's merit.

We wouldn't accept someone saying their mother had a PhD, so they can inherit a masters degree. Or their dad worked for 40 years as a plumber so they can inherit 20 years plumbing experience.

Some people work 30 years to own a house and others just inherit a house. It's a bonkers distortion of meritocracy.

If you're enthusiastic about inheritance, that's fine, but you need to accept you're also opposed to actual meritocracy.

Collins could hardly have done worse than Dev with regard to the church??

Nobody should be allowed to stay in power as long as Dev (21 years as Taoiseach, 14 years as President). This is not good for any country as mistakes get multiplied over time.

It's more akin to having to pay for tax on the gifts at your own wedding.

Yip, that time of the year when we get media reports telling us the average cost to send a child back to school is something daft like €800 to €1000.

I have sent several kids back to school many times, and it costs a fraction of that.

But hey, why let the truth get in the way of a rant on Liveline or CB Today.

Ah it does, yeah. Once parental leave was over and sent the child to nursery, a 1,200 monthly bill would leave a big hole in anyone's finances. Big adjustment for anyone who doesn't have 1,200 a month to spare, wouldn't you think?

Obviously. And when a 1,200 a month fee kicks in, you'd obviously notice it.

It would be unusual to never talk about. You notice how much of your wage goes straight out on childcare so you can work. It also makes you wo for how a single parent could make it work unless they were on mega money.

It's not that big a deal but I'm amused that anyone would be cross about a parent mentioning a new 1,200 monthy cost.

I’d echo this. Went to All Together Now and they were all over the shop. I personally think a lot of it is a fashion statement. A bit like the REPEAL jumpers. For a while there it helped me avoid people I just wouldn’t like. And I strongly supported repealing the 8th.

I’m not sure many agree but I’m sickened that politics have become so overt in the modern day. Day-to-day I really couldn’t care about somebodies politics and I’ll happily keep it private to them.

Out of tolerance ( certainly not out of personal opinion ) I would find it acceptable if the Palestinian flag was flown on a protest in vicinity or near the Israeli embassy. But in Ireland having a Palestinian flag seems to be fashionable with anybody who thinks that they "care" and are on the "side of the good ones".

To me Palestinian flags symbolize terror, kidnapping, murder and repeated rape. Anybody flying a Palestinian flag would symbolize to me that they support all that injustice and inhumanity.

I have exactly the oposite opinion. Hamas and Hezbolah are terrorist in my view, and they terrorised Israel. Should that be tolerated by the Western world?

And historically it's been the Jews who were hunted town, ( Nazis, Reichskristallnacht, ) so naturally they have a right to fight back.

Also, our christian culture is closer alligned with Jewish, rather than with Arabs.

The Jewish faith is also way older than the Muslim faith.

But again, it's a controversial opinion.

I was just utterly shocked that so many Irish take sides with the Palestinians. Germans or Austrians would never dare to do that, at least not to that great extent, considering the history.

And, also, Ireland is always proud of neutrality. What about neutrality in this conflict? Apparently also a no go?

What about the thousands of innocent women and children that neither side seems to care about? Nobody in Ireland supports Hamas or Hezbolah but I'm sure you already know this. Irish people are proud of our neutrality which is why we are disgusted with everyone who kills innocent people. It's not ok for terrorists to murder children and its not ok for a countries army to kill children. Irish people simply want peace.

"Also, our christian culture is closer alligned with Jewish, rather than with Arabs.

The Jewish faith is also way older than the Muslim faith."

I don't see what that has to do with anything, esp as Christians have been hammering Jews for thousands of years for killing Jesus (also a Jew)

Funny that Christianity wasn't awfully pacifist though. Crusades were murdery enough.

Freudian slip?

The right to exist is one thing , the right to occupy and kill is another

I think they should , but Israel doesn’t get to launch a genocidal war because of one terrorist attack

When Israel targets schools with displaced people taking shelter , there’s only one answer

The difference is people are supporting Palestine (the country) and not supporting Hamas (the terrorist organisation) and they are against Israel (the country) so that's why they want to boycott all Israel. A terrorist organisation is attacking Israel, almost everyone agrees that's wrong, but they act within their own set of rules. Israel as a country is performing genocide on a neighbouring country, and as a country themselves they should be held to a higher standard than a terrorist organisation.

I also agree with isreals right to exist and defend itself.

The controversial question is: does Palestine have thd right to exist and who should defend it?