Apollo house

the grubby landlord class will be upset.the more people getting even sub standard roofs over there heads might cause the rents to increase less rapidly.cant be having there investments ruined by people having access to social housing.how those bastids sleep at night is beyond me.

We are back to the late nineteenth century but instead of British landlords evicting the Irish its now vulture funds and Irish banks evicting the Irish.

Pity the Dail didn't fook off for their xmas recess.
Fair play to replies on thread.
Coveney hadn't a lot to say about Le Niamh except it was a "difficult rescue".
Nationwide last night was well briefed with the approaching from two sides,
too well documented in the programme.
He wsn't so smart then.

Gant is a member of the political class, he was brought up in a political house where they were handed public money on tap, and seems full of snide remarks of the Irish working people. I find his silence is deafening on this matter.

The sight of Glen Hansard breaking down outside Apollo House has kind of soured me.

That opportunist Brendan Ogle has only increased my scepticism.

These two upstanding hypocrites would drop these lads like a stone if the word refugee or migrant was mentioned.

The Hansard part was bloody cringe in fairness, needs to go back to Billy Barry and learn to break down properly!

All you had to do was see the name Brendan Ogle to see it was yet another self publicity exercise.

People can hate on the government (and past governments) all they want and they would be fully justified in many cases but not in this imho.

I don't see a "Homeless Crisis" in this country. You can say there is a Housing crisis alright but the 2 are different.
Citizens information detail the extraordinary benefits available to homeless people to help them get back on their feet. Its not the governments fault if people fail to engage with these services for whatever reason (Drugs, Alcohol etc...)

This is just a political football used by "communists" like PBP, AAA and SF to kick the government. Once the ball is worn out, they'll move on to some other "hobby horse" of theirs. The comical irony is these same parties are open borders advocates. You simply can't reconcile that point of view.

I bet Rocketfingers hero and former owner of the building is having a right laugh. It's the like of him that caused all this grief around the City Centre and walked away.

I agree the Glen Hansard breakdown was cringe inducing and I would have preferred not to see Mr Ogle involved but I am happy to see some homeless people off the streets if only more could be done. The most infuriating thing about the whole episode IMO was the statement that the building was unsuitable for human habitation???? Oh, Yeah and the streets are?

I'd say the building is fine, it was spin put out by receivers so they can flog it to try recoup some of the money Rockefingers hero owes the people of Ireland.

I don't see a homeless crisis either: I see a generous system that can save those that need saving and still hundreds fall between the "cracks" (forgive the pun).

Case in point and single examples make bad policy admittedly, however......

How much should the State spend on housing those who cannot or will not afford their own homes? If I work and pay my taxes and strangle myself with mortgage repayments for 25 years is it not "unfair" that the bone idle and over fecund are housed by a system that encourages the handout as a way of living? In my neighbourhood upwards of €300,000 spent on a new bungalow for a couple who never worked a day in their lives and allowed the previous home to become a rat-infested tip? New three bedroom home rather than a solution that could have housed 3-4 similar couples for the same cost.

The usual suspects here will conflate this issue with refugees because they need to blame someone else for our own problems. This is a thread about homelessness yet it cannot be allowed to pass without the hunt for the scapegoat:
wonks:If you were a refugee.........
pa: Coveney hadn't a lot to say about Le Niamh except it was a "difficult rescue".
dan: These two upstanding hypocrites would drop these lads like a stone if the word refugee or migrant was mentioned.
queen: The comical irony is these same parties are open borders advocates.
(I agree with most of what you say bar this prejudice)

Completely and utterly non-germane to the problem at hand. I interviewed a farmer earlier today who in the space of 10 years has 100% Easterm European labour because the Irish will no longer do tough, manual labour for a reasonable pay-he has 7 full-time employees. That is the nation we have and its why the "unwelcome" are so badly needed here. Why do we need to demonise refugees rather that condemn our own system that has produced hundreds of thousands of non-productive citizens?

Odious Ogle has found a new respectability cheer led by the usual suspects in RTE...............just shut off the oxygen but that's unlikely to happen in the present febrile atmosphere where every jackass has his soap box and no-one brave enough to call it what it is.

Did the farmer state if he was exploiting the Eastern European worker, No, he trotted out the usual lazy Irish story.

But I do agree with the jackass on the soapbox bit and the media will never say it as it is. Agenda, agenda after agenda and pass the gravy my friend.

Gant, I don't need to fabricate stories about how the Irish will not work nowadays-it may have passed you by that legislation in Ireland today protecting workers from exploitation is very strong and very difficult to defend if you find yourself in court. You simply assume that it couldn't be true? Why is that? We have moved on a long way from potato-picking in Scotland.

The system is rotten Royal Academy,plenty of Irish work and are lucky to clear 4-500 euroa week, are the banks going to entertain them for a mortgage? Not a chance and for considerably more also. Some chance if a couple are going it together,a single young person have to almost rely on their parents generosity these days,rents are high.
Of course they are a fair percentage that play the welfare state but a lot of them aren't Irish and never paid a pennys tax.
Surely they should be housing available for lowerpaid people,they have done nothing wrong only worked,their position on counncil/corporation is continually being lost to people who have more"points" on waiting lists.

Royal Academy accuses others of conflating homelessness and the refugee crisis and then immediately conflates refugees with legal migrants.

Eastern Europeans may drive down wages but they are not a problem.

Those generous farmers Royal Academy interviewed wont be employing Roma Gypsies or religion of peace members.

Royal Academy like Ozymandius,Peter Sutherland,Bono and Bob Geldof all have this love of the strange and hatred of their own.
The Irish are lazy and feckless,the newcomers are industrious,this is the liberal mantra.

In every population there are people incapable of working,people who are permanently unwell.
These people are given no succour by Royal Academy and his ilk,they are deemed unworthy but someone swans in from some exotic land and they want all sorts of monies bestowed on them.
One of the reasons for this is the visceral hatred these people have of the Catholic Church,this is so warped that it gives them this soft spot for Islam.

Its not confined to Ireland,German women are now paying the price for the German version of this syndrome.

These cases we are suffering in Europe at the moment are relatively rare yet that will not allow for any sense of perspective where prejudice is involved.

Wildman preaches as if from the pulpit addressing my motivations to his legion of followers as if he were the Monsignor talking down to his parishioners. You steadfastly refuse to allow the problems we have created for ourselves here in Ireland are mostly self-inflicted first world wounds - as if acknowledging them would be some form of unpatriotic treason. No amount of my protestations regarding "hate" are heeded by you as your debating does not allow such motivations. This new found love you have for all Europeans is truly the stuff of a fluid and twisted mind. I remind you that jihadists in Ireland are about as rare as the pints you have bought for wonks.

One from James St in Cork City centre running around with dark robes and a copy of the koran threatning to behead all the Zionists he comes across(better chance than Limerick but slim all the same) He was hauled the 50 yards to the district court in Washington St, no idea what happened,a nutjob but theres one for ya anyway.

Royal Academy you would be king in the preaching department,you parade your goodness here and have all the ride on views.
You still keep letting your mask slip,your idea of an insult is to call me a Monsignor and your posts drip with intolerance.
You are part of a liberal elite and you look down on the ordinary Irishmen ( feckless wont work )
That is not my experience,all I see is people working incredibly hard either crippled by mortgage debt or forced to pay outrageous rents to some vulture funds.
I see people making long commutes working harder for less than my generation did.
I've long argued that the transfer of wealth in Ireland from the relatively young to the old was bad for us morally,socially and economically.

I'm under no illusion about my failings and consider myself incredibly lucky,my worries for Europe and Ireland are unselfish ones as I won't be around for the disaster we are sleepwalking into.

I also think there is a slight chance I'm on my way to a better place

Another classic from the ABI A.Hole,help everyone bar the Irish .

Id say theres a great chance you are on your way to a better place Dan.
What date are you flying to Thailand ?

Its simply not realistic to pretend immigration is not linked to rough sleepers on the street. The Santa Maria hostel near Harcourt st used to cater specifically for foreign nationals who found themselves on the streets.

http://www.ibtimes.com/tragic-death-henryk-piotrowski-homeless-migrant-streets-dublin-1399541
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/when-i-came-to-ireland-i-trusted-people-not-any-more-1.483718

The 2 links above show the foreign face of homelessness and rough sleeping. The majority of these are not eligible for welfare according to the IT article.

This is the consequence of an open borders policy with no long term planning. Cheap labour, then dumped on the streets when your past your sell by date.....Maybe Peter Sutherland could give them a job?

Don't get me wrong, I am not against immigration or even taking in refugees, but its irresponsible to do so with no long term view as to the social consequences and proper economic budgeting to deal with unforeseen circumstances such as the person losing their job etc....

PS: When you read the story of Ladislav, you realise why few Irish would waste their time working on a farm anymore.

Anyone else think Hansard might have been crying because he had to keep up the charade for another 3 weeks ?  .

The judge should have told them he would grant them an open stay for as long as they insured it and the current volenteers kept up their commitment and level of attendance.

That might have created a bit of a moral dilemma among the stars.


Im not making light of the current predicement of these poor souls but this is not the way to deal with it imo.

Borneo,

The Eastern Europeans are not a patch on the world class Brazilians, if I am honest.  If you get a chance, consider replacing your Polish maid, or better yet, bring in a Brazilian in tandem.  If you are, as you seem to be,  swamped with Muslims in Birr, I am sure you must also have some Brazilians.

On a less serious note, what effect do you think wage inflation would have on the wider economy, if Farmers were to pay what you consider Irish workers deserve and should receive?  Also what effect would it have on our export compeditiveness?  Thanks.

There are no Muslims living near me but that's hardly relevant.
There are plenty of Poles though and they are delightful,Royal Academy will be aghast to hear they are boosting mass attendances

Farmers don't employ people anymore,its pretty much automated now.
Stuff like silage and harvesting is now done by contractors.
I actually lament that as growing up I loved the camaraderie on farms,its now pretty much a place of solitude.

I'm not sure what effect it would have but would be prepared to chance it as more money into ordinary people's pockets tends to swirl around the local economy.

In a spirit of glasnost I just deleted my latest rant before posting and probably resolve not to engage here again in politics. Happy Christmas to one and all.

The farmer story was a bit hairy to be fair. Some of us live in rural Ireland.

Royal Academy an original snowflake.
.

Borneo,

I found your removed rebuke of RA to be particularly distasteful.  I had nothing to do with its removal, I might add, not my style no matter how many times that you assert that it is.

He is an excellent, balanced, well-informed, articulate contributor on current affairs and on topics you like to bombard us with.  You may not agree with his views but you should be able to appreciate the quality of his argument.

Rather than celebrate his decision not to post on current affairs, you should lament it.   Tyrannical, simplistic, bombastic jingoistic untruths, regurgitated on a thrice daily basis, such as;

* Love of the foreign
* Hatrid of his own
* Intolerance of the working class, etc.

appeal tremendously to the likes of Wonks, who at times reminds me of a lapdog laying happily on the floor, only to throw up a inane smile when he hears one of his masters favourite stock- phrases.  Perhaps it is that slavish recognition that you seek, rather than the genuine debate that RA provides.

When you are asked to delve beyond the soundbite and consider essential economic repurcussions, you are left floundering. You are in many ways an Arch Populist

Populists are defined by their claim that they alone represent the people, and that all others are illegitimate.

They tend to offer up a “thin ideology”, one that merely sets up a framework: that of a pure, native people versus a corrupt elite They alone represent the people (conveniently ignoring small majorities) and all opposing views, such as RAs, are illegitimate.  Brexiteers, for example, of which you are one, denounce experts, refer to themselves as “the people” and boast of having “smashed the elite”.

Populism sells well, as Trump has proven, yet typically would be a disaster if implemented.  Your suggestion that increasing wages is "worth a go", with no consideration or grasp of wage inflation or potential decline in export compeditveness, is a classical example of a thin, populist ideology.

Forums and social media are increasingly populist Echo Chamber-esque in nature and all the worse for it.  RA's independent views offer an essential and valuable antidote and should be admired and encouraged.

Ozy, give it up for Gods sake , if the EGO that ye both share could be divided into multiples, that slavish recognition you speak about be fought for tooth and nail . A.Hole has a concept that fits his own agenda ,a little like yourself,and woe betide anyone who differs . The sad thing is NEITHER of you can see that.
Oh btw a happy Christmas to you and yours.

Great to see issues of moment being disgust in a spirit of open-mindedness and commitment to truth.
The Irish forum at its glorious sin-titillating best imhaho.

It was removed at Royal Academy's behest
I hate to see a man lay down his hand so easily,I always encourage debate.

The fact is Royal Academy was so used to his own view prevailing that he was genuinely shocked when he heard a differing view.
So shocked he first didnt believe it,then when he realised it was consistent and had some support on here he couldn't hack.
He started to talk about the oxygen of publicity and certain views shouldn't be allowed.

For decades your side have won the argument,my viewpoint was never aired.
Trump is a good case in point.
I personally don't like him,he's not unlike yourself,constant boasting of his wealth,engaging in locker room talk,he's not even a good speaker.
He is a brash loutish New Yorker but its is views I like.
That man read Adios America ( a book I recommended when it first came out ) and took on board what it said.
Finally we had someone saying what the people have been saying for years but were being ignored.
People like borders,they like their own countries.

Even you must concede the media were incredibly biased against Trump.
Every newspaper,every radio station,every TV station against.
RTE discussion panels could have 5 or 6 panellists all trying to outdo each other in their condemnation,when they finally had a Republican on he was a NeverTrumper.

I've never claimed to be an expert and so its natural that I will struggle with economics,that doesn't disqualify me from commenting.

Its ironic that you who have all the media on your side object to me expressing my view here.
Its a small forum because its a gambling one and occupied by generally older types I have some support,that's what got to Royal Academy.
Its also ironic that I have had more opening posts and posts removed than anyone,I'm used to it.

Tis you should welcome the odd dissenting voice.

With one exception, and that arose a number of years ago and the instigator has long since disappeared, I would never curtail a debate through censorship. It is ungracious and disingenuous (and worse) of you wild man to suggest fiction as fact but that's how debate is carried on by you here.

If you choose to see a small level of seasonal goodwill as capitulation, so be it. Populism is a particularly pernicious form of rhetoric that doesn't allow for any lowering of the guard. i hope that those languishing many thousands of miles from home - in what ever circumstances - will enjoy this occasion.

I don't like the man but I like his message.

Without a touch of irony. The emblem for 2016 and the dark years ahead.

zzzzzzzz its christmas day,get a life.r u sure you're not ozy in disguise?

These homesless should link in with pavee point be their best bet, free houses , loads of welfare, names of a few good compo solicitors, bobs your uncle!