I was born abroad, but I have an Irish parent and came to live here since I was young. I’m an Irish citizen. Let me start by saying I loved my childhood here. Honestly best place ever to grow up is rural Ireland in my opinion. Loved primary and secondary school.
Then I grew up, and it’s like the older I became the more I came to resent Ireland. I went to college, moved to a city that has become way rougher than it was when I came here at 18. Everything is just getting dirtier, more dangerous, and rent is absolutely insane. Poor garda presence and rampant drug use has made town feel unsafe. What is the point in paying exorbitant rent to live in a city is that horrible to be in? And the job market is so poor. I am currently re-training for another field. We’re constantly told what a wealthy nation we are yet everyone I know is struggling.

This hopelessness in regards to money and security has leaked into my resenting aspects of Irish culture I find toxic.
I hate how gossipy and fake so many Irish people are. I thought it was just a secondary school symptom, but no, that’s how many Irish adults operate. (I’m not saying all Irish people are gossips and that gossip is limited to Irish people, but I feel like we are very bad for it.)
And the drinking culture. I am so sick of drinking. I am so sick of people getting absolutely destroyed every night out. Why do we do this?
I think we’re a very lonely people as well. At least, I’m very lonely. The last few years I’ve realized how hard it is to make friends in this country as an adult - if you’re past secondary school and didn’t make friends in college, well, enjoy never being invited to anything. Why are we such an embarrassed people? Why can’t we just talk without double meanings and why can’t we say what we really mean?

Long story short, I looked at jobs abroad today and felt like crying, because the salaries were so much better. Broader range of jobs. Better rent to salary ratio. Better standard of living. Many people I grew up with have gone. It makes me want to cry. I think I’m going to join them. I don’t want to leave but I want to earn decent money. I want to be able to own a house someday. I just want to live well and I’m realizing I can’t really do that in the country i truly loved growing up in and envisioned spending my life here.

Hi everyone,

I’m wondering if anyone who receives Jobseeker’s Allowance in Ireland can clarify the payment arrangements during a bank-holiday week.

I normally receive my JA directly into my bank account, and my usual payment is €107. The Department of Social Protection’s website says that normal payment arrangements resume on Tuesday after the October bank holiday, but I’ve also been told that payments can arrive on Wednesday during a bank-holiday week.

I remember receiving my payment on St Patrick’s Day, Tuesday 17 March, but the MyWelfare notification didn’t appear until the following day.

I submitted my latest declaration successfully, but I’m unsure whether I should expect the money on Tuesday or Wednesday, and whether the MyWelfare notification can appear after the money reaches the bank account.

For anyone receiving JA into their bank account, what has your experience been when a bank holiday falls on a Monday? Does your payment arrive on Tuesday as normal, or on Wednesday?

Thanks!

Hi everyone, my partner is due in November with our firstborn and we have already started ringing around for crèches starting September 2027 - Jan 2028 and we can’t find a single one. We have rung 10 crèches around our area in South Dublin and every single one is booked up, one was booked up till the end of 2028.

How did people secure a place? Thinking back we probably should have rang them when we first found out my partner was pregnant but we honestly had no clue about the lack of places.

MJ Kane from Galway had a fine set of balls on him, sure isn't his grandson the best ball player in the world!

Sure he might be a bit English for his sins, but I think it's only fair that we claim him given the amount of people the UK claimed from us.

So here's to Harry Kane 🍻🇮🇪

*Lads, it's a joke about how the English always try to claim every successful Irish person, a bunch of wet wipes getting serious and bitter is a bit much FFS 🙄

Can't all be misery, Ireland must be doing something worth being proud of in the world?

Hi folks,

I hope all is well.

I was looking to buy coal earlier and notice it is so much cheaper in the North (carbon tax obviously) and was thinking of going up across the border and buying a load.

But do any coal merchants typically deliver to the south? If you buy in the North presume you can't get it delivered in the south, can you?

Thanks for the steer.

Hi guys,

I recently contracted genital herpes and considering going back to dating. I don't know anyone that has it and it's not something people talk about often. Hence why I'm asking you, do you know anyone with it and would you consider dating someone with it? Why or why not? Thanks

Did anyone hear the strange whistling of the jets flying overhead around the Navan area and surrounding regions? 2 bombardier challenger 300 followed the exact same flight paths, would love to know if anyone else heard them or if anyone knows exactly what they were! I always find things like this very cool haha.

One departed Detroit and another departed near Newfoundland, just some sort of training or something?

Thanks!

I understand that adopting is obviously the first shout, but the application process takes a good while. I’m just wondering where are people getting their puppies these days?

Heard not so good things about dogs.ie, if it is true then what platform do everyone use 😅

Noticing an increase lately. I’ve nearly been in close to 5 accidents in the last two weeks mainly on roundabouts due drivers with no Indicators. It drives me absolutely mad.

Saturday's lotto was 3.5 million; it wasn't won but two people got 5 and the bonus, and a tidy 77k each.

Tonight's lotto is just shy of 3.7million and the sole player who got 5 and the bonus "only" gets 15 grand.

Is there any sense to be made of this at all?

Hey everyone so I'm after starting an apprenticeship recently with metal fabrication and I won't lie I'm loving it, the boss is paying me more than minimum wage because I've experience with other types of labour, roofing, resin flooring, groundwork etc and made an agreement with me he will keep paying me this if he gets me to train the other lads in every now and then and or do other jobs for him (he will still pay me during those times) and honestly I dont mind it at all because above minimum is a hell of a lot better then 7.9. But the question comes in where I want to make more on the side, fuel and food is a killer and I have a holiday coming up and I want to clear my debt fully before saving for a house. I've tried around offering to do jobs here and there for neighbours but haven't gotten anything yet, I know welding is a massive thing needed for boy racers but I'm only new and I don't think my boss would be very happy for me to show up with a golf or a rusted up is200 to do body panel work on. So does anyone recommend any way to get little side gigs for cleaning, labour, Jesus even cutting grass 😂😂

Hi. I’ve searched but the posts I’ve found are 2yrs old. I managed to get cut off. I got a new card and forgot to give them the details of the new card, put it on the long finger etc etc. They sent a message asking me to give them a call to chat about it (after other messages about payment). Now they’ve sent an envelope for me to post back the SKY box.

The thing is I want to keep the service! How much are people paying now? I was paying €67 for Sky Signature and Sky Kids. I’m going to try and haggle with them on the phone tomorrow.

Any tips? I don’t really need the Sky Kids anymore. Thanks!

Hi. I had posted many times since last June about my precious dad.

My sister died suddenly at the start of this year, my dad struggled enormously, he became physically unwell in June (heart failure), and subsequently started to decline cognitively and ever reducing mobility.

I was at his side when he drew his final breath.

Heaps of you took time to respond to my many, many posts. They were very dark days of fear and panic. This was a man that had been the most remarkable dad to my sister and I.

I want to say thanks. Thanks to everyone that took the time to answer, to advise, to just wish us well. I really needed and appreciated that empathy and compassion. I felt less alone. I have friends, but just being able to come on to Reddit and talk felt different, the way that talking to strangers helps.

So, he left... He passed. He died. I don't know how to accept it. I hadn't yet come to terms with my sister's death.

Now, I'm mainly numb. I cried, I howled at first, and now each time my mind goes there, my brain diverts course to avoid the tsunami. And strangely for me, I'm able to do this.

I'm wondering if I am finding peace that both dad and my sister are gone, and have both left a fairly hellish existence here behind them.

Thank you again to those of you that helped me. I am in your debt.

My husband was injured from a surgery and has been left quadriplegic and in intensive care for the past 7.5 months as a result.

He will soon go to the NRH for recovery. (If you have experiences I would love to hear)
Afterwards he will move home and likely have a rota of public health nurses as they predict he will need 24/7 care.

Can anyone share their experiences?
Have you managed well with state funded carers? Did you opt to hire private help? All insight is helpful.

Thank you

Hello everyone,

I am waiting for the results on my Business Major Award that were supposed to come out on October 16th.

Is anyone in the same situation as me? I spoke with the school where I’m currently enrolled and they told me I would be informed of the results the latest last Friday but no 🎲 !!

I sent a new email this weekend but as I don’t have any news I do get concerned and I overthink.

Thank you

All, I have had a dream all my life and I feel it would be impossible without unlimited money/winning the lotto. And it got me thinking.. what would others in Ireland*** do if money was no object (up to say, €50M) to spend your years from age 30 to whenever your time is called.

Me personally, buy a large industrial space and fit it out with garage equipment, hire mechanic etc and build classic kit cars and document it, to post on YouTube so I can look back on it when I'm dying off.

What would you do?

***you have to stay in Ireland, no retiring to Dubai.

Irish M37 from Dublin, engineer

Looking for a recommendation tbh, have been to 2 physio's with fluid on my knee , both were gentle , all very nice ..I had a brilliant physio, a romanian lad , but he moved away , I have found the old school physio better for me, I am hoping for a spring marathon and want to get training again , Dublin 8/12 area, any recommendations ?

Hi everyone!

I’m moving to Ireland soon from Portugal, where we have a milk called Mimosa Protein that contains 100g of protein per litre, with only around 2,500 kJ (600 calories).

I’ve been looking for something similar in Ireland, but most of the protein milks I’ve found at Tesco, Lidl, Aldi, etc. seem to contain only around 50–60g per litre.

Does anyone know of a brand available in Ireland that offers around 100g of protein per litre?

I’m also open to ordering online or buying in bulk if anyone knows a supplier.

Thanks!

For context I have 4 years no claims bonus and evidence of 14 months claims free as a named driver.

Got a quote from AXA and payed my insurance in full. However only noticed after that I it had my no claims bonus down as 3 years and my named driver no claims down as 3 years on the policy, what can I do now?

I am going to call them in the morning however my job means im in areas where i tend to get no signal so it can be awkward to obtain, is this grounds for cancellation (I know its yes)?, how likely is this problem to be resolved? and if it isnt resolved and my insurance is cancelled, how does that effect my car insurance for the future?

any help would be greatly appreciated

Family member works in a supermarket. A man we know has been coming in for a few weeks buying apple gift cards, €250 twice a week at least.

She's also noticed a number of other men coming in doing the same. Is there a current scam on the go that all these lads are getting into? They range in ages, and also two women come in, on seperate occasions but buy €100 ones.

I'm imagining it's a romantic scam of some kind, but I'm surprised the kind of people that are buying them are getting fooled like that. Any ideas what's going on?

I’m going to be 8 days till I’m able to pay for my car insurance, I rang Allianz and asked for an extension and was told since it’s already in collections for the month she won’t be able to change my payment date and my insurance would be cancelled if I don’t pay. My account will be credited tomorrow and I really cant lose my insurance. Anything I can do to stop my policy being cancelled?

As of this year we've been without water for over two months. And that's not me exaggerating, it's actually an underestimate based on the normal of responses I've gotten from Uisce Eireann this year (over 60 automated messages from logging an issue) and you're limited to one every 24hrs. Obviously some days I missed some or didn't bother. Currently I lost water last thursday. I notified them on thursday, they said I was mistaken and we had water but they made a ticket anyway after I forced them to. On friday I referenced the ticket, they said it didn't exist. They also said we should have water and to double check our taps... I forced them to make a new ticket. No water Saturday. No water Sunday. Called them again today, they said the same thing. A reference number didn't exist and they had no record of issues in our area...

On a completely separate line I also have a vulnerable person (my grandmother in her late 80s) who has had no water for around four months of the year. She has had no access to running water for over two months straight at this stage. Not on and off, she lost water last in early August. Have a relative staying with her to try and help her out.

My current go to has been to notify local councillors/politicians and they talk the talk but don't seem to bring back much results either. Nial Gleeson, the Chief Executive of Irish Water has given himself a 118k bonus btw.

Anyways what I'm looking for is if anyone has found a solution to this. Anyone to contact to actually get some solid information or to escalate these things. Calling them goes nowhere, they don't record any information and don't tell anyone about what you're experiencing. Can't find any decent emails to contact. Just wondering if anyone has had terrible experiences with Irish water and has found a way to actually get anywhere with them?