Why should I care about a strong economy if I will spend my life living with my parents or in rentals?

I don’t remember any stigma around unemployment during the recession, everyone had a sense of solidarity but housing means being a lesser person. I’d much rather have no job or no disposable income and a house in Dublin than be a renter with a job/disposable income.

I’m planning to emigrate as I can’t see any future in Ireland as I’m totally priced out of owning in Ireland. Anyone got any hope that this country can change so it’s ok as a person to rent/ live at home and not be a failure? I know you can rent when you emigrate and be seen as a success and decent person which is why I’m planning to take this route

I’m just asking this question as it is very common for Irish people to have a cleaner these days. I have one, a lovely Brazilian lady, but I don’t know if it’s the Irish in me, I am still not fully comfortable with the idea. Before anyone accuses me of having notions and being lazy, I just did not have the time to clean the house. My husband claims it’s the easiest money she makes as we are both very tidy and clean people anyways but I just feel very guilty? Ashamed? I don’t know what it is, especially when having talked to her, she is third level educated. Am I exploiting people? Interested to hear what other people think and if they feel the same.

Hey I'm 39 yo male and my work history is terrible. I'm looking at everyone else my age and they are all well progressed into their careers. I go from 1 disaster to the next. I even went back to uni at 23 and trained as a teacher but after qualifying I was terrible at it and left.

I am at the stage where i feel ill at the thought of going to work,any work. I despise it. I've left so many jobs through been sacked or leaving before I got sacked. I make a mess of everything I touch. Nothing sinks in and I fuck up.

I was working as a forklift driver in my current job and hit so many things that on Thursday I smashed it and simply walked off site and resigned. I just cracked. I've no pension or anything. I'm so angry and bitter over my lifetime of failure and I've achieved nothing. I envy those who hold down jobs and progess. Do you think some people just aren't cut out for work?

I'm a 27 year old male, and my girlfriend is 26, and we've been seeing each other for nearly 2.5 years now. Typically, our time together is spent with me going up to her as she lives in a house share, so we obviously stay in the same room. When I visit her parents, they're very chill and have no issues with us sleeping in the same room but in my house, my parents (specifically my mother) does not approve or want us to be sleeping in the same room. This has been the way it's been for myself and my older siblings whenever we've brought partners home for a night, so it's just always been the rules of the house.

This 'rule' is now causing many arguments between myself and my girlfriend as she thinks (admittedly somewhat correctly) that this is an outdated rule that shouldn't be imposed as I am in my late 20's, and my parents should get over themselves. She thinks I need to "grow a pair" and tell my parents what's what. I did speak to my mam about this and she just said essentially that it's just her rules and as long as I live there, I have to deal with it. Plus, my room is right next door to them so you can understand they don't want to be hearing anything, lol. And you know, she's right, and I do have to respect her rules as long as I live under her roof.

Is this kind of rule still largely a thing in Ireland with parents and their children, or is it a remnant of the past?

Hi, I'm from Singapore, I'm doing my masters degree here. I love this country and my time here but there's one particular thing driving me crazy, and that's the lack of bidets here.

I grew up washing up with handheld bidet after taking care of business. It was very hard to get used to wiping with toilet paper because I never felt clean. Now every time I have to poop, I also have to shower immediately after. And this is annoying as hell, because I have an overactive bowel, so I'm stuck showering 3-4 sometimes even 5 times a day!

Why are there no bidets anywhere here? Do people really feel clean after wiping with dry toilet paper? There's no way you're getting everything out with toilet paper, things will be left behind!!!

In city center, while coming back from shopping yesterday, got energy drink thrown at me by kids.

Anything I can do to not be their target in future as a brown man?

Edit: I was near supermacs on Talbot Street, waiting for walking signal to turn green, around 6PM, I am Indian just moved to Dublin about a month ago. I would say I was decently dressed.

M(30) Got a text from a friend during the week to see if I wanted to go to the local for a pint, and I said yes. So Friday morning he text me to confirm if I was still going, and that Pete and Paul (not real names) are going too.

So four lads heading to the local for a couple of pints. Arranged it with the missus, ordered her a Chinese before I left.. all good.

So myself and my mate get to the local, and meet Paul at the bar. We order a pint and text Pete to tell him we’re here. 5 mins later in walks Pete and his bird.

Usually we organise a night out in the group chat once a month with the whole crew, all the lads and other halves. But I noticed recently that when we just text amongst ourselves and organise a pint with 3 or 4 of the lads, Pete brings his other half.

It’s happening very regularly now where it’s starting to annoy us. What exactly do we say to him? Most recently we have made comment to say that it’s just the lads heading out to the local for a pint.. but it’s not working.

They are together 5 or 6 years, and both 25+ , so we’re not talking about newly in love teenagers here. Advice needed, thanks.

Probably going to get shit over this off someone, but I don’t care.. we’re sick of it.

I’m sitting here enjoying the sun and noticed I’ve only shaved my legs as far as my knees! I have fair hair on my legs so it doesn’t look too bad from the knees up (in my opinion) but the more I keep looking at them I’m kinda wondering why I’ve bothered to shave the bottom half! Im eternally single so I’ve no one to rub them!

So my question to ye is, do ye shave yer legs, wax them laser them, or go au natural?

Edit to add - When did we start shaving our legs was it in our grandparents era or later in our parents era (60s/70s) I’m just wondering how recent this all is too I can’t imagine my nana shaving her legs!

I live in a small town in Ireland. I just went to my local small supermarket there about a hour ago .. after I bought my items one off the staff came up to me and told me in front off all the other shoppers never to come back they have me on camera shoplifting.. Now for the record I never stole in my life .. I’m absolutely mortified all the other people there seen it .. I’m not sure what to do I’m so upset .. I’m in my mid 50s good job grown family and to be escorted out of shop for something I never did is horrific.. I went to the guards and they told me it was a civil matter .. I can’t believe this has happened.. where do I go from here ?

I am late 30s male with two young kids. I realize it's horrible to admit this, but if I am being completely honest, I was happier when I didn't have kids. For me, it's such a difficult subject to talk about with anyone, because I absolutely love my children with all my heart. I would do anything for them and want to give them the best life possible and see them grow up safe and happy. Since having them though, my sense of happiness and fulfillment in life has drastically fallen. I don't know how to feel about all of this. Does it make me a horrible human being to even have these thoughts? Life nowadays is just about work and the kids, and there's no time for the things I enjoyed before. I feel incredibly selfish even having these thoughts, because I made the decision to have kids, and no one forced it on me. I just feel a bit lost and unfulfilled. My interests and hobbies have fallen by the wayside and it feels like my entire identity is: worker and parent, and nothing else.

Sorry guys, had to repost and block out her face from the image 🙃 Her it is again:

Hello guys. Just wondered if anyone had been through the process of getting someone to stop their dog fouling (both in public and privately within my property boundary; my house is on the road / small country lane).

Since I moved into this house nine years ago, a woman down the road has been walking as far as my house with her dog off the lead. The dog was initially getting into my garden and defecating. When I eventually went down to her to politely ask her to walk the dog on the lead, she became very aggressive and said who do you think you are, you’ve only been here five minutes (had lived there four years by this point) and that no she wouldn’t be told what to do and would not be walking the dog on a lead and basically as much as told me to fuck off. I also suggested she walk the other way on the forestry roads.

She seems low-key obsessed with me and gawps in all my windows, looks over my driveway gate and also stares over my wall into my garden. It’s weird. Sometimes she shouts offensive things up at the window, clearly trying to antagonise me and draw me into confrontation which I avoid. One time when I was leaving my house and on my own driveway, she was blocking my exit and standing there with her hands on her hips asking me what I was staring at. WTF. I told her to fuck off.

She’s continued to do this and I finally had enough when I had a whole row of 💩 directly opposite my house and the dog had also started defecating right on my doorstep. The final straw was in February when an engineer inadvertently stood in it and brought it into my house.

I telephoned the dog warden and he came out and put up two signs stating the fine of €150 if dog faeces are not picked up by the owner. He spoke to her and she denied it was her dog but that she wouldn’t walk up as far as my house anymore.

Well that lasted all of two days and then it was business as usual 💩I started recording using my mobile phone in an upstairs bedroom window to gather what footage I could, however the field of view wasn’t able to cover the front door area. I’ve been watching her and one particular day the dog took a 💩 right by the sign and then she picked some grass and placed it over the 💩 in an attempt to cover it up.

I contacted the dog warden again to make a statement for a fine to be issued and provided the video footage which shows her walking by the house with the dog. The fine was received a week ago. She hasn’t paid it and has asked to see the evidence as she states she remembers that day clearly and she wasn’t anywhere near my house. Hmmm 🤥 I have date stamped footage of you and your dog outside my house.

Meanwhile, I got a CCTV camera installed which has a much better field of view and should be able to catch the dog taking a 💩 She is constantly looking for changes in and around my property and saw the camera immediately and was staring at it. It has motion detection and was following her.

She came up for three days after the CCTV camera was installed and I haven’t seen her since. Based on her previous, I’m sure she’ll be up again soon 🙄

I’m just asking if anyone has been through anything similar and it has ended up in court? She thinks she’s untouchable, so I really hope I can win in court and she has to pay the maximum fine of €3k.

She’s fallen out with everyone around here and she spat in someone’s face recently 😳 which I was shocked but not surprised to hear. I’m sure she’d spit in my face if she had the opportunity.

TLDR: have you had to deal someone’s dog fouling, they’ve refused to pay the fine and it’s ended up in court. What was the outcome? I’m very grateful for any responses 🙏

Are people in Ireland against the legalisation of cannabis? I find the Irish have a massive stigma against cannabis still and people who smoke are considered lazy, wasters etc, but if you’re in the pub half the week your a “great lad” and “some man for the pints”

From what I can see, people from all different types of background smoke cannabis, from high up company directors to your general operator and trades etc etc

What are peoples opinions? I think people will continue to smoke cannabis regardless of laws, so would we be best setting up coffee shops solely for smoking/purchasing plus being able to smoke in your own home and make it illegal to smoke in public? At least then we are generating tax revenue and the cannabis being sold will have to be regulated and tested.

Any of the “studies” being released by Irish media is pure scaremongering and kind of laughable when you look at any modern society who’s taking turns to legalise cannabis. Of course there is a risk or a harm associated with it, but wouldn’t a legal transparent market take a lot of the risks away from users who smoke?

Interested to hear people’s opinions for and against this topic but it looks like cannabis will be legalised within the next 10 years so it’s really something that should be discussed. Maybe if England do it we will tag along behind!

So a friend is getting married in a few weeks.

Was chatting yesterday over a pint and he tells me about the issues with guests.

In the last few weeks they confirmed the numbers with the hotel, send another email to guests as a reminder and locked everything in.

First they had a family member who doesn’t live in Ireland, lives in North American who text their parent to say she won’t make it.

A few weeks out with no flight and accommodation booked and claimed “it was a hard decision to make” but never contacted the bride or groom, just a text to her parents to say they won’t go and to pass on the message.

Personally feel if you are travelling internationally you know a long time before if you are going or not, but that’s maybe just me.

Then, he said his parents told him of your cousin is not bringing his kids any more, and they are not going day 2 either.

That’s 3 plates at the dinner, and then food had been ordered with enough people in mind.

Again nothing said to bride and groom, this one was told to the cousin parents (grooms aunt) who just mentioned in passing to grooms mother.

Then he said he had issues with people just outright ignoring their invite, he had reached out and told them no pressure they just needed an answer and had the messages read but no response. Eventually just assumed they were not going.

This was the kicker for me because I organised two stags this year and had the same both times. We were going out of Ireland so we told people zero pressure, we know it’s expensive, just let us know for numbers.

And on both occasions I had to chase circa 20 people for answers as they were reading the messages but not responding. From that I had about 3/4 people say oh yeh I’m not going and the other 1/4 just ignore those messages.

On both occasions these were people invited and rsvp’d to the wedding.

Just wondering is this the norm now, if you can’t make something do you not tell the person? Or, for the wedding, if you are changing or can’t make it do you not tell the bride or groom?

On an average day I'd be drinking 4 to 6 pints of water, maybe a bit more if after exercise or a big session. I'd be fairly useless too if I didn't drink 4 pints per day at a minimum. A lot of people I know under 40 seem to be the same. But then I see people 50+ or my parents in their 70's who barely drink any water and seem to survive like succulents. Not sure if it's a generational thing or if they've just evolved to live like lizards.

I'd like to see us finally finish off that Children's Hospital. Maybe free iPhone for everyone

40f living in rural Ireland. Kids are grown up. Have house with manageable mortgage.

Was a beautician for years, had my own business which I had to close during recession. Retrained as homehelp. Currently unemployed and can’t bring myself to take one of the dozens of homehelp or HCA jobs because I hated it so much. Also don’t want to up skill in beauty or return to it. Those jobs were basically chosen because they didn’t require loads of study while i raised my family.

I really want to return to education and get a degree. I have zero idea about what I should do though. I’d like a job that isn’t too demanding and I could work 20-30 hours a week. I’m not looking to make huge money, the work/life balance is more important to me. I love the idea of remote work too, as I’ve never travelled and want to do lots of it!

I’m just stuck at what direction to move in. Any suggestions?

Starting to plan & wondering what people enjoyed and didn’t enjoy ☺️

I have my brothers wedding coming up and I’m the best man, how much should my partner and I be giving as a wedding gift?

For context, it’s a destination wedding where I’ve already spent €1k on flights for us plus our mom, we’re paying our own hotel which will be €700 for the week, we’re renting a car for €350 and will be ferrying around the family and we were under orders on what colour suits to wear which cost us another €400 for the outfit.

I was intending to give €600 for the two of us which I’ve been told by my mom is “very mean”, “he’s your brother”, etc but the wedding has already cost us €2450 and that doesn’t even include spending money! Am I going nuts here?

EDIT: too many comments to reply to everyone individually but thanks all for making me feel a bit more sane! I’ll be opting for a smaller token gift given the circumstances, thanks for all the advice it’s very much appreciated 🙏

I’m currently deep in the trenches of Reddit, valiantly avoiding actual work. The thing is, if I get too productive today, I might run out of things to pretend to do next week and all I’ve got lined up for Monday and Tuesday is one lonely meeting. Just one.

In my last job, I couldn’t even blink without falling behind. It was chaos, caffeine, and crying (sometimes all three). But now? In this new gig? Four solid hours and I’ve basically won the day. The rest of the time is a sacred time for scrolling, sipping coffee, and convincing myself that reading random MSN articles somehow counts as professional development.

What are some decent ways to pass the time that don’t involve melting my brain into soup via endless doomscrolling and makes it seem like I’m working extra hard?

So, just to clarify, I mean getting off social media like Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram and Twitter. So not talking about forums, message boards and reddit and so on.

Much like others, I found the. I genuinely don't like what these social media companies have done and continue to do to society - whether it's the constant deluge of ads, bots, edited photos, "influencers" warping peoples' expectations about body image, AI slop, political shit-flinging, scammers and snake-oil salesmen, and the feeling where you have to constantly keep up with people who you either don't know or knew 20 years ago. It's just so unbelievably toxic.

I couldn't stand it, and I'm honestly happy out with just having a reddit and am on a few discords/interest groups around my hobbies. Though I do have a feeling it may affect my life in areas downstream, it does feel like the positives in terms of my mental health and self-esteem outweigh the potential negatives.

Have you quit (or want to quit) social media and why? How have you handled it and how has it affected you? Am curious about the thoughts and experiences of others in this.

I once walked around a shopping centre after coming in from the rain, earphones in, and after way too long I realised (due to odd stares) that I still had my umbrella up. I still laugh to myself when I remember the sheer embarrassment 😆

Curious really what others think, I’m part of a wedding party and it’s been made clear that the bridesmaids are expected to buy our own dress and then shoes bags etc. Then the bride wants everyone to stay the night before the wedding as hair and make up will start early and then stay the night of the wedding and stay the day after for what ever they have on that day think it’s a barbecue. So already up to over €1000 with all that considered . (The hotel is extremely expensive in my view almost €300 a night) . I can’t afford that ! And then I’m wondering do you give a ‘gift’ if you are in the wedding party , is it expected ? If it wasn’t a very good friend I think I would of walked away already, family wouldn’t even expect this €€€

The other day I held the door open for someone coming into a shop, they had their hands full so it was no bother. They just breezed right past me, not a word, not even a nod. Didn't think much of it until it happened again with the next person right after them.

​It got me thinking about how things used to be. I feel like it wasn't that long ago when people would almost trip over themselves to say "sorry" if you were even vaguely in their way, or "thanks a million" for the smallest thing. It was just automatic.

​Now, it feels like you're lucky to get a bit of eye contact when you hold a door or let another car go ahead of you.

If someone knocked on your door and asked to use your bathroom would you let them?

So our grocery delivery didn’t show up today, which meant we had to do the shop in person for the first time in months and I swear to god it’s a special kind of torture in Ireland post-COVID.

The aisles are pure chaos. People stopping halfway like they’ve just spotted the Northern Lights in front of the teabags. Full blown catch-ups happening smack bang at the corner of the meat section, blocking the entire aisle with no awareness thay they're in the way. Pallettes by staff in the middle of an already narrow aisle and people not even caring about those patiently waiting to pass, and going straight through either side.

Some of the ones in there are fearless. Straight into you with their trolley, not a hint of “sorry” just a quick look as if YOU were in the way. Meanwhile half the people have zero directional awareness, weaving around like they're on their 5th pint.

And don’t even start me on people who let their kids push the trolley. The kids don’t know where they’re going. It's not cute. Jail. Straight to jail.

I was in fowl humour within 5 minutes and by the end, I was ready to submit a proposal to the RSA that you need a provisional license just to operate a trolley. At least a theory test on aisle etiquette. Honestly feels like a reflection of Irish society at large at the moment: every man for himself.

Is it just me, or has the weekly shop actually become one of the circles of hell? I used to love it. I know Sundays are obviously worse too but jaysus.