Well in the early 80's in Ireland most people either backed Garrett Fitzgerald (FG leader) or Haughey, my father was a Fianna Fail voter so maybe thats where I got my naive admiration for Haughey from when I was a young lad...lol
Okay I was a teenager by the end of the 1980's but what can people remember about the 80's, was it all bad or good?
What I can remember myself?
1) Been dragged along to mass each Sunday by my mother with the church packed to the rafters even in a supposedly liberal, middle class part of Dublin. 2) Crappy clothes compared to today. 3) Dan bars, red lemonade etc. 4) No internet etc.
Any form of industrial action by public sector workers should be outlawed, it should be illegal for ps workers to go on strike and the government should have the right to de certify any public sector trade union that engages in any form of industrial action that is an inconvenience to the general public. Public sector trade union leaders should also be interned if ps workers go on strike, it makes logical sense to ban anyone who works in essential services to be forbidden from taking any form of industrial action.
Saturday and Sunday should be treated as a normal working day in the HSE, why the hell should people be getting double time for working a Sunday in this day and age, its not the 1950's.
The normal working week should be increased to 43 hourse per week, allowance should be cut by 50%.
I was referring to economic development, I was referring to the ability to live within your means and lets be honest here a number of mainly catholic societies in the EU went mad financially during the good times and as a result now find themselves in deeper economic difficulties as a result. For instance the German culture is to be frugal with money and save for a rainy day, the irish culture is generally to go mad on their wages and not put aside money for a rainy day.
i also reckon religion has a part to play in people's spending habits as well as governments and public spending. Look at which countries are in a bailout programme ireland (mainly catholic) ditto with portugal, spain and italy are teetering on the brink. Okay i know greece is mainly orthodox, france is a very high debt to gdp ratio as well and hasn't run a budget since before world war 2. Mainly protestant countries part from britain aren't in as much economic difficulty because they didn't go mad during the good times eg sweden, finland, germany (although religiously mixed), holland (although it has a strong catholic minority), denmark etc. Same with australia and new zealand. Okay there are exceptions eg iceland and america but generally mainly protestant societies in the western world aren't in as much financial difficulty as predominantly catholic societies. Now before people go mad look at the spending that occurs for kids holy communions and confirmations in ireland?
The thick Irish Paddy likes nothing better then to flip houses to each other at grossly overinflated prices. Paddy will never get over his/her demented obsession with property, it is pointless trying to reason with PADDY when it comes to property because PADDY is inacpable of rational thinking when it comes to property.
Big bloody deal so child benefit may be cut to €130 per month, compared to what it was in the 80's and mid 90's its still unbelievably generous even after taking into account inflation. People survived on a lot less in the 70's and 80's, is it any wonder why the older generation regard younger people as soft and full of entitlement when it comes to welfare benefits.
The single parent family is now the normal family in a lot of working class areas in Ireland, your right the state needs to stop giving subsidized housing to young single mothers just for for spreading her legs in Ireland you get a subsidized council house when a baby pops out 9 months later.
Chile benefit should be limited to 3 kids and reduced to €100 for the 1st chid and €80 per month for the 2nd and 3rd kids, I always wonder if Fianna Fail had only increased child benefit in line with inflation from 97 till 2008 would the birth rate have increased so much in Ireland in those years especially in working class areas? My guess is no.
I'll wait till all the facts come out before reaching a conclusion, there are vested interests who are playing politics with the tragic death of Savita.
TV is non essential not needed, people aren't going to be traumatised by not having the TV, economise agree repayment plans with utility companies for gas and electricity, shop in aldi or lidl etc. Also pre payment meters for gas as well. People need to use their brain.
As for your rent comment a single person living in shared accomodation normally paying €430 per month could claim the max rent allowance of €300 per month with the tenant paying the rest.
I could quite comfortably survive on €188 per week, BTW the maimum rent allowance for a single person living in shared accomodation in Dublin is €300 per month.
I welcome the charitable work that the SVdP do on behalf of the poorest people in Irish society especially the elderly, my point is there are a minority who took the piss when it comes to charitable assistance and if they learnt how to be financially prudent they wouldn't require the SDvP for assistance.
Okay fair enough there are people who were prudent during the false celtic tiger but who now find themselves in serious financial difficulty, I'll grant you that and secondly people in rural Ireland are probably more sensible with money when compared to their urban cousins especially farmers.
kennyfromdublin Forum Posts (531)
Ireland in the 1980's
Also I won't forget the old workers party from the 80's, my parents were convinced if they ever got into government Ireland would become communist