What have the EU ever done for us?

junkyard

What really are the advantages of the EU? Ok, the farmers got loads once upon a time and we got roads (in some places) but are we really any better off? It just seems to be rules and regulations all over the place, stelth taxes on everything and impossible to make any money here any more.

Captain Darling

Roads, aquaducts, currency etc etc.

Économiste Monétaire

What stealth taxes are you referring to? Also, how is it impossible to make money here? That's a pretty silly statement--deferring the lunacy of said statement: how is this the EU's fault?

Smart Bug

OP, look up the Python "What have the Romans ever done for us" sketch for some clues.

Turd Ferguson

Captain Darling wrote: »

Roads, aquaducts, currency etc etc.

Yeah, but apart from all that...what have they done?

Plug

Turd Ferguson wrote: »

Yeah, but apart from all that...what have they done?

Bailed us out from the sh!t we were living in.

mike65

If we were not in the EU we'd be like Iceland is at the moment.

Fupped.

Smart Bug

mike65 wrote: »

If we were not in the EU we'd be like Iceland is at the moment

Out in the cold?



:pac:Ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaa !!!:pac:

mike65

Worse, cleaned out by Chavs!

Tchaikovsky

Turd Ferguson wrote: »

Yeah, but apart from all that...what have they done?

Yeah, what have they done for us recently!? Oh yeah..

Tom65

Aside from everything everyone else has said, we'd be up the swanny when it comes to world trade negotiations without the EU.

Biggins

mike65 wrote: »

If we were not in the EU we'd be like Iceland is at the moment.

Fupped.

You mean we're not in dire straits already - and we in it!

I though the Romans and the Greeks gave us the idea for roads, aqueducts, currency!
Goodness! I didn't know it was the E.U.

"What stealth taxes?"

- O you mean the European introduced water charges? Like the ones they imposed on (among other places) our schools?

"We'd be up the swanny when it comes to world trade negotiations without the EU."

O' thats right. They are going to help us out again because their economies are going so well!

"Bailed us out from the sh!t we were living in."

- O' yes, I remember now. What and when was the last (help) "NO" we got from them? By jove - it was this week!

Tom65

Biggins wrote: »

O' thats right. They are going to help us out again because their economies are going so well!

Eh...what? That's not what I said. Trade talks and "bail outs" are separate issues.

The EU has common trading policies. These benefit us. If we went to WTO talks on our own with these policies, we wouldn't get very far (we're a very small country, you see). If we go as part of the EU, we get places.

Stephen

This place is bad enough with corruption and gombeenery from the gob5hites in charge - imagine what they'd be like without the EU to keep them in check.

Mark200

The EU has done amazing things for us. Apart from including us in the Single European Market (meaning free trade), they've practically paid for the majority of our infrastructure for the last 15 years.

bmurphy4ireland

i read that irish people are the most 'grateful' to the eu, and scandanavians hate it. any truth in this?

Biggins

bmurphy4ireland wrote: »

i read that irish people are the most 'grateful' to the eu, and Scandinavians hate it. any truth in this?

:eek: Where'd ya read that?

Biggins

Biggins wrote: »

I though the Romans and the Greeks gave us the idea for roads, aqueducts, currency!
Goodness! I didn't know it was the E.U.

Pssst
monty python

smellslikeshoes

Billions of Euro, favourable trade conditions.

jhegarty

They took our fish.

DO0GLE

1)EU grants for 3rd level education in the 90s which meant third level was accessable to everyone, which meant more graduates, which meant more multinational companies being attracted to Ireland, which meant more jobs, which meant more taxes for Fiana Fail to squander.

2)EU money built our infrastructure in the 90s

3)Being in the EU means we are a gateway for European markets which also attracts multinationals setting up here.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

bmurphy4ireland wrote: »

i read that irish people are the most 'grateful' to the eu, and scandanavians hate it. any truth in this?

Denmark probably - they're very narionalistic over there.

inforfun

junkyard wrote: »

What really are the advantages of the EU? Ok, the farmers got loads once upon a time and we got roads (in some places) but are we really any better off? It just seems to be rules and regulations all over the place, stelth taxes on everything and impossible to make any money here any more.

Read this and then ask yourself the same question again.

40 years Netto receiving, that is what the EU did for Ireland.

ejmaztec

If the EU delivered all of the hand-outs to every man woman and child, instead of giving them to the government to "deal with", we would all be multi-millionaires.

burgess1

Motorways, Employment, Education, Diversity, easy travel, people to do the jobs Irish people think they're too good for....

junkyard

inforfun wrote: »

Read this and then ask yourself the same question again.

40 years Netto receiving, that is what the EU did for Ireland.

I did and I'm still asking the question, I'm not a farmer and never made much out of them tbh, my own business is gone down the pan over taxes and overheads so I was looking around for another means of income and you know what? There isn't anything left to do that you can make a living out of. Fishings dead, farmings dead, driving a taxi, dead, retail, i.e. a shop, dead, selling cars, dead. All these bussinesses have been pushed to their limits with rules, regulations and taxes. The only job busy these days is repossession and tbh I wouldn't really fancy making a living out of other peoples misfortune. If anyone else says roads just have a look around the country in general, they might be good in Dublin but in other parts they're a mess.

stepbar

Damm, I thought this thread was something to do with that programme on RTE2 - Langerland or whatever it's called.....

ejmaztec

junkyard wrote: »

I did and I'm still asking the question, I'm not a farmer and never made much out of them tbh, my own business is gone down the pan over taxes and overheads so I was looking around for another means of income and you know what? There isn't anything left to do that you can make a living out of. Fishings dead, farmings dead, driving a taxi, dead, retail, i.e. a shop, dead, selling cars, dead. All these bussinesses have been pushed to their limits with rules, regulations and taxes. The only job busy these days is repossession and tbh I wouldn't really fancy making a living out of other peoples misfortune. If anyone else says roads just have a look around the country in general, they might be good in Dublin but in other parts they're a mess.

Everything in the world's pretty much dead at the moment.

junkyard

ejmaztec wrote: »

Everything in the world's pretty much dead at the moment.

But has it occured to anyone else why it's dead? Businesses can only take so much in taxes and overheads that's why the whole thing's come crashing down, high costs and inflated worth. We're top heavy with people telling us what to do and how we should pay for this, that and the other and this is the end result.

dlofnep

Ever see those pretty road signs with "Funded by EU Grant"?

There's a start. The EU has done alot for Ireland. I'm against the Lisbon Treaty btw, but I don't see the EU as a totally bad thing.

inforfun

junkyard wrote: »

I did and I'm still asking the question, I'm not a farmer and never made much out of them tbh, my own business is gone down the pan over taxes and overheads so I was looking around for another means of income and you know what? There isn't anything left to do that you can make a living out of. Fishings dead, farmings dead, driving a taxi, dead, retail, i.e. a shop, dead, selling cars, dead. All these bussinesses have been pushed to their limits with rules, regulations and taxes. The only job busy these days is repossession and tbh I wouldn't really fancy making a living out of other peoples misfortune. If anyone else says roads just have a look around the country in general, they might be good in Dublin but in other parts they're a mess.

It is not much different in other EU countries, it is not just Ireland where things arent going so great anymore.

I think your question needs some editing and should look more like:
What did the Irish government with the money they received from the EU.
It is not the EU who put €0.50 on a pack of cigarettes every year, it is not the EU who increased income tax with 1% in the last budget. And so on and so on.
I think most of the rules you are bothered with are not EU inventions.

And about the roads... imagine the state they would be in without the EU money.:eek:

I am not exactly a fan of the EU myself, it has gotten too big and they are on a powertrip.
The original 16 countries, that is where it should still be.
Make trade easier and stuff like that.

There is too much sentiment in order to get a effective central government.
I think there will be quite a few countries not too happy with the idea of a German President of the united nations of Europe.

ejmaztec

junkyard wrote: »

But has it occured to anyone else why it's dead? Businesses can only take so much in taxes and overheads that's why the whole thing's come crashing down, high costs and inflated worth. We're top heavy with people telling us what to do and how we should pay for this, that and the other and this is the end result.

It's dead worldwide, even in places where overheads are minimal. The worldwide system has gone down the crapper. Ireland isn't the only place in the sh1t.

Run_to_da_hills

The EU has let in hundreds of thousands of unregulated Foreign Nationals with resident work visas into Ireland which in turn created a huge demand on the property market to house these thus pushing up property prices for all of us.

Now they are leaving in their droves leaving a huge mess of Negative Equity behind them.

I don't blame the Foreign Nationals at all but I do blame the EU for allowing such a high volume of unregulated migrants into the country.

genericgoon

junkyard wrote: »

I did and I'm still asking the question, I'm not a farmer and never made much out of them tbh, my own business is gone down the pan over taxes and overheads so I was looking around for another means of income and you know what? There isn't anything left to do that you can make a living out of. Fishings dead, farmings dead, driving a taxi, dead, retail, i.e. a shop, dead, selling cars, dead. All these bussinesses have been pushed to their limits with rules, regulations and taxes. The only job busy these days is repossession and tbh I wouldn't really fancy making a living out of other peoples misfortune. If anyone else says roads just have a look around the country in general, they might be good in Dublin but in other parts they're a mess.

Because the Irish economy was such a powerhouse before we joined the EU eh? :pac:

mike65

mike65 wrote: »

If we were not in the EU we'd be like Iceland is at the moment.

Fupped.

We'd have a fat drunken mess of a woman as our mascot?

ChocolateSauce

Equal pay for women?

A vast free market?

Billions and billions of free monies?

26 holiday destinations where you don't need a visa?

You serious? The EU has done more for us than I could write in an hour.

ChocolateSauce

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

The EU has let in hundreds of thousands of unregulated Foreign Nationals with resident work visas into Ireland which in turn created a huge demand on the property market to house these thus pushing up property prices for all of us.

Now they are leaving in their droves leaving a huge mess of Negative Equity behind them.

I don't blame the Foreign Nationals at all but I do blame the EU for allowing such a high volume of unregulated migrants into the country.

We knew it would come to this when we signed up in 1973, blame people over 50.

Run_to_da_hills

mike65 wrote: »

If we were not in the EU we'd be like Iceland is at the moment.

At least Iceland doesn't have to be forced into taking a second "undemocratic" Lisbon vote. :pac:

anonymous_joe

Dear God I hope the OP's a troll...

All of our economic growth over the past few years was because our being an EU country made us the perfect gateway country for lots of foreign companies, mainly American. Without that they'd have gone elsewhere, and we'd still be poor.

Infrastructure improved massively because of them.

World influence.

Less backwards laws, etc.

Ability to travel to other countries easily.

This country would be a shíthole without the EU - and none of us would be on boards.ie because we'd all have been forced to emigrate.

embee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaE3EaQte78

rossie1977

people mentioning infrastructure are having a laugh surely, you guys need to travel to donegal, galway, roscommon, leitrim, cavan and other counties like that, many of the main roads in those counties were built by the english, look at galway city a jewel in the crown of ireland and the fine infrastructure that exists there :eek:

M50 was proposed well before joining the EU, only in the last 5 years have we seen any real progress in infrastructure in this country

ejmaztec

If it weren't for the EU, people here would be livin' in paper bags at the side of a road rutted track.

OPENROAD

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

The EU has let in hundreds of thousands of unregulated Foreign Nationals with resident work visas into Ireland which in turn created a huge demand on the property market to house these thus pushing up property prices for all of us.

Now they are leaving in their droves leaving a huge mess of Negative Equity behind them.

I don't blame the Foreign Nationals at all but I do blame the EU for allowing such a high volume of unregulated migrants into the country.

Sorry bit confused here, unregulated foreign nationals? are we talking about people from other EU member states?

OPENROAD

rossie1977 wrote: »

M50 was proposed well before joining the EU, only in the last 5 years have we seen any real progress in infrastructure in this country

M50 was built mainly using German, French, British money. Re improvement in infrastructure, we need to look closer to home for that one. M50 being a great example, a two lane motorway, you're having a laugh

ejmaztec

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

The EU has let in hundreds of thousands of unregulated Foreign Nationals with resident work visas into Ireland which in turn created a huge demand on the property market to house these thus pushing up property prices for all of us.

Now they are leaving in their droves leaving a huge mess of Negative Equity behind them.

I don't blame the Foreign Nationals at all but I do blame the EU for allowing such a high volume of unregulated migrants into the country.

I think that the large number of negative equity properties resulted from a lot of people getting involved in buy-to-let, so that they could rent out to immigrants. Unfortunately, as many of them have had to return to their home countries, the nouveau-land-lords have been stuck with no tenants and no hope of selling the property, leading to inevitable re-possession.

I would say that most of the influx of foreign nationals wouldn't have been able to buy properties here, so the vast majority had to rent.

pablomakaveli

there can be no doubt that membership of the EU has been a massive benefit for Ireland but over the years the EU has gone from being an economic organization to being a precursor for a european government.

I think EU demands for another referendum are insulting to the irish people and i really think the EU needs to go back to being a purely economic organization rather than what it is now.

I also think the EU has gotten too big too fast and should stop taking new members for the next 10 - 15 years at least.

WooPeeA

Of course the EU, as previous speakers have said made lots of good for Ireland..


But, I wonder why people still ask that question. What Europe have done for us?


I'm waiting for the time when majority of people start asking 'What can we do for Europe and other people?'

Why for so many they still have to do something for us?

jester77

They dropped the borders and made it easy to work in different countries without having to worry about visas and permits. I'm thankful for that!


... otherwise I'd probably be sitting in a mansion, wallowing in negative equity, complaining about the weather and having to queue up every Thursday to get me dole :P

ejmaztec

WooPeeA wrote: »

Of course the EU, as previous speakers have said made lots of good for Ireland..


But, I wonder why people still ask that question. What Europe have done for us?


I'm waiting for the time when majority of people start asking 'What can we do for Europe and other people?'

Why for so many they still have to do something for us?

You and me both.

Unfortunately, some people don't want to, or are too apathetic to bring themselves to see the bigger picture of Europe. For these people, it's all one way traffic.

inforfun

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

The EU has let in hundreds of thousands of unregulated Foreign Nationals with resident work visas into Ireland which in turn created a huge demand on the property market to house these thus pushing up property prices for all of us.

Now they are leaving in their droves leaving a huge mess of Negative Equity behind them.

I don't blame the Foreign Nationals at all but I do blame the EU for allowing such a high volume of unregulated migrants into the country.

Yeah, i think it was Johnny Foreigner who put a gun on the head of the Irish and forced them to buy homes at inflated prices.

What about the Irish who rented out houses to these foreigners?

Lots of foreigners who came to work in Ireland got jobs the Irish could not do. And only because the Irish, apart from some, dont speak German, French, Dutch and so on.
The arrival of these foreigners even created jobs for Irish people.
It was a requirement for multinationals to hire at least 40% Irish staff.

It was the Irish government who gave these multinationals great deals on tax.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

junkyard wrote: »

What really are the advantages of the EU? Ok, the farmers got loads once upon a time and we got roads (in some places) but are we really any better off? It just seems to be rules and regulations all over the place, stelth taxes on everything and impossible to make any money here any more.

You're joking, right? You know you wouldn't have that 22" lcd monitor if you weren't in the EU, you would still be looking at some 15" TFT...

They only done a LOT for us. Without the EU we wouldn't have what we have today. There may be a lot of regulations and rules, but it comes with the package. Anyway, most of them are there for your safety and that of the states. I have no problem with most of them.

pablomakaveli wrote: »

there can be no doubt that membership of the EU has been a massive benefit for Ireland but over the years the EU has gone from being an economic organization to being a precursor for a european government.

I think EU demands for another referendum are insulting to the irish people and i really think the EU needs to go back to being a purely economic organization rather than what it is now.

I also think the EU has gotten too big too fast and should stop taking new members for the next 10 - 15 years at least.

Well the next step is a political union, it is the last step too. Basically making the EU a big country, simply speaking. It will be more difficult for the Irish to come to terms with it as we have not been an independant country that long.