Anti social behavior Balbriggan?

lightspeed

Hi

im currently living with the folks still in balbriggan in an estate called westbrook.

im looking to move out on my own with the girlfriend and looking at apartments within my price range generally up to €175k.

i see some at decent prices but heard some rumors of anti social behavior in estates up near dunnes stores/castlemill area. Id like to know if such are just rumors or if there is merit to them?

Balbriggan in generally seems to get a lot of bad presss in media but im leaving here years and find the town in general to be fine.

Would anybody with first hand experience be able to comment on what living in below estates is like at present?

Castlemill
Hamlet lane
Trimilstown
Chieftans Way
Clonuske

Cardy rock is also an estate that seems quite affordable.

I have stopped by the off licence the odd saturday night in castlemill and whilst sometimes see groups of youths hanging around to be fair i didnt see them causing any harm.

Fr. Pat Noise

My advice would be don’t buy in Balbriggan and there is a reason why prices are low. The place is getting worse and you’ll feel bad when you realise the amount of people in the neighbourhood who live for free in the same type of house or apartment as you!

Hoboo

Fr. Pat Noise wrote: »

My advice would be don’t buy in Balbriggan and there is a reason why prices are low. The place is getting worse and you’ll feel bad when you realise the amount of people in the neighbourhood who live for free in the same type of house or apartment as you!

What part of balbriggan are you living in?

pablo128

Fr. Pat Noise wrote: »

My advice would be don’t buy in Balbriggan and there is a reason why prices are low. The place is getting worse and you’ll feel bad when you realise the amount of people in the neighbourhood who live for free in the same type of house or apartment as you!

Free, as in they pay no rent? Really?

Fr. Pat Noise

I know what goes on in the town I have a good information network and I observe the streets

Hoboo

Fr. Pat Noise wrote: »

I know what goes on in the town I have a good information network and I observe the streets

So you don't live in balbriggan?

Wesser

Balbriggan aside, i would advise you to live with your girlfriend first in a rental fir at least 6 momths to test your relationship before you dive into taking on a mortgage etc.

Fr. Pat Noise

I do and many generations of my family have come from here too. just saying it as I see it. From my information, observations and analysis i have concluded that Balbriggan is now not a place to purchase a house/apartment.

lightspeed

Fr. Pat Noise wrote: »

I do and many generations of my family have come from here too. just saying it as I see it. From my information, observations and analysis i have concluded that Balbriggan is now not a place to purchase a house/apartment.

what observations in particular? i have been living in balbriggan 20 years and grew up here since i was a teenager. I cant say i notice there to be much problems in the town. I do see some groups of youths around mcdonalds, tesco, train station but i dont see them causing much trouble. I probably would have been standing around in a group of teenagers in my younger years and wasnt causing any bother.

Are you taking about about actual anti social behaviour or is it just you see the likes of the above and think its become a kip?

Id genuinely like to know as where i live in westbrook it has generally always been quite quite without issues.

lightspeed

Wesser wrote: »

Balbriggan aside, i would advise you to live with your girlfriend first in a rental fir at least 6 momths to test your relationship before you dive into taking on a mortgage etc.

Thanks but ive been saving a while now and no in a decent paying job so planning to get a mortgage in my own name. If i can save hard abd clear mortgage in a few years we would probably then get a joint mortgage together down the line.

Fr. Pat Noise

lightspeed wrote: »

what observations in particular? i have been living in balbriggan 20 years and grew up here since i was a teenager. I cant say i notice there to be much problems in the town. I do see some groups of youths around mcdonalds, tesco, train station but i dont see them causing much trouble. I probably would have been standing around in a group of teenagers in my younger years and wasnt causing any bother.

Are you taking about about actual anti social behaviour or is it just you see the likes of the above and think its become a kip?

Id genuinely like to know as where i live in westbrook it has generally always been quite quite without issues.

If you genuinely live in the town you should know the story. A lot of people feel bad that they are stuck here so they go into denial and say all is well in the Brig to make themselves feel better. It’s okay I understand and genuinely feel for people in your situation.

lightspeed

Fr. Pat Noise wrote: »

If you genuinely live in the town you should know the story. A lot of people feel bad that they are stuck here so they go into denial and say all is well in the Brig to make themselves feel better. It’s okay I understand and genuinely feel for people in your situation.

No i dont know the story and the fact that you are unwilling or uncapable of giving any examples to warrant your opinion suggests you are not genuinely living in the town.

Im not in denial, ive not personally experienced any issues or seen much to conclude all is not well.

Some estates are always going to be worse than others and im trying specifically to identify the ones with higher risk of anti social behaviour. Hence i listed a number of estates im looking at in my price range.

Fr. Pat Noise

lightspeed wrote: »

No i dont know the story and the fact that you are unwilling or uncapable of giving any examples to warrant your opinion suggests you are not genuinely living in the town.

Im not in denial, ive not personally experienced any issues or seen much to conclude all is not well.

Some estates are always going to be worse than others and im trying specifically to identify the ones with higher risk of anti social behaviour. Hence i listed a number of estates im looking at in my price range.

All the estates you mention have problems car break ins, drug dealing, anti social gatherings. To me it sounds like you have worked hard to get a deposit and get your finances right for mortgage approval so good to make an informed decision. Join the Balbriggan Connect Facebook to get some more information

squawker

Fr. Pat Noise wrote: »

I have a good information network and I observe the streets

Fr. Pat Noise

squawker wrote: »

Kintarō Hattori

Just to chip in, I'm living in Dun Saithne 9 years come March next year and thankfully haven't experienced any anti-social nehaviour. I love my little part of it. The neighbours (apart from one awkward one) are friendly and stay out chatting during the summer evenings. The kids have a great area to play in as there's no through traffic and you'll always see them out- which is great.
In regards to Balbriggan itself, I'm quite happy living here. The town is great to commute from and having the beach is fantastic, plus there's great countryside not too far from your door.

As someone who lives here and bought a very reasonably priced house in one of the newer estates, it's fine. Every village, town, city across the country has wonderful estates to live in and the odd one or two you wouldn't want to. This town is no different to any of them.

I'll also add that I grew up in a council estate as a kid. It was full of lovely people who were ordinary decent folk who all had jobs and raised families. As council tenants (before buying their home when the opportunity arose) my parents both had jobs and worked hard and didn't take anything from the state. Having a council tenant as a neighbour doesn't necessarily mean they are a lazy good for nothing looking to live off of the state.

Best advice I would give you OP is to go to the estates you're looking at, talk to the people there, tell them you are considering buying there and let that guide you.

Sleeper12

There is a group of teenagers that seem to get a lot of press. They have caused some anti social behaviour but they aren't responsible for a tenth of what boards members make out. There are several groups of teenagers causing problems on the DART line. These groups come from blanchardstown, malahide, lusk, balbriggan and many other places. When ever there is trouble the balbriggan group get blamed. This makes it difficult to know exactly how bad they are or not.

I think you will be better off asking locals in different parts of balbriggan. It is the fastest growing town in Ireland and has just about every nationality living there. The "foreigners" would be enough to put off some people living there. Different nationality doesn't bother me. I live in Dublin and work in Dublin. I think around 20 percent of Dubs are originally from outside of Ireland. The only difficulty I've had with some are their accents. Im autistic and genuinely struggle with Pakistan /Indian accent. I have never encountered anti social behaviour from non Irish but plenty from true dubs.

In short, ask locals. Go to different pubs and ask there. You'll hear stories if there are any to be heard.

Sleeper12

Kintar&#197 wrote: »

I'll also add that I grew up in a council estate as a kid. It was full of lovely people who were ordinary decent folk who all had jobs and raised families. As council tenants (before buying their home when the opportunity arose) my parents both had jobs and worked hard and didn't take anything from the state. Having a council tenant as a neighbour doesn't necessarily mean they are a lazy good for nothing looking to live off of the state.

Isn't it funny. Thread after thread talk about the lazy unemployed who make up 100 percent of social housing. My experience of social housing is like yours. Hard working families trying to get on in life. Obviously there are some exceptions but park your car at the entrance to any council estate at 6am & you'll see a steady flow of people leaving for work.

Fr. Pat Noise

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Just to chip in, I'm living in Dun Saithne 9 years come March next year and thankfully haven't experienced any anti-social nehaviour. I love my little part of it. The neighbours (apart from one awkward one) are friendly and stay out chatting during the summer evenings. The kids have a great area to play in as there's no through traffic and you'll always see them out- which is great.
In regards to Balbriggan itself, I'm quite happy living here. The town is great to commute from and having the beach is fantastic, plus there's great countryside not too far from your door.

As someone who lives here and bought a very reasonably priced house in one of the newer estates, it's fine. Every village, town, city across the country has wonderful estates to live in and the odd one or two you wouldn't want to. This town is no different to any of them.

I'll also add that I grew up in a council estate as a kid. It was full of lovely people who were ordinary decent folk who all had jobs and raised families. As council tenants (before buying their home when the opportunity arose) my parents both had jobs and worked hard and didn't take anything from the state. Having a council tenant as a neighbour doesn't necessarily mean they are a lazy good for nothing looking to live off of the state.

Best advice I would give you OP is to go to the estates you're looking at, talk to the people there, tell them you are considering buying there and let that guide you.

Plenty of anti social behaviour up there and some people associated with criminality living there aswell. Don’t be trying to sucker the poor lad into buying a house in Balbriggan with his hard earned deposit and mortgage. A recent example I heard is houses on sale in Taylor’s hill for over 450k while some property fund bought up loads of the houses there and then renting them to the council for 1800 per month on a long term basis. So it’s likely someone there paying a big mortgage could end up living beside someone who is getting a similar house for free. There is no equality in that situation.

Sleeper12

Fr. Pat Noise wrote:

Plenty of anti social behaviour up there and some people associated with criminality living there aswell. Don’t be trying to sucker the poor lad into buying a house in Balbriggan with his hard earned deposit and mortgage. A recent example I heard is houses on sale in Taylor’s hill for over 450k while some property fund bought up loads of the houses there and then renting them to the council for 1800 per month on a long term basis. So it’s likely someone there paying a big mortgage could end up living beside someone who is getting a similar house for free. There is no equality in that situation.

I've never heard of anyone getting a house for free. I've never met anyone in a council house not paying rent.

How would I go about getting a house for free?

jim-mcdee

Fr. Pat Noise wrote: »

I do and many generations of my family have come from here too. just saying it as I see it. From my information, observations and analysis i have concluded that Balbriggan is now not a place to purchase a house/apartment.

Dude is talking crap like so many before him. Balbriggan has improved greatly in the last 5 years.

lola85

Sleeper12 wrote: »

I've never heard of anyone getting a house for free. I've never met anyone in a council house not paying rent.

How would I go about getting a house for free?

If you’re on social welfare and using that money to pay a small rent in a council house you are in fact getting a free house

You are doing nothing to earn that money and thus receiving the house for free.

I’m not saying it’s right or wrong just pointing out the truth.

Hoboo

Fr. Pat Noise wrote: »

Plenty of anti social behaviour up there and some people associated with criminality living there aswell. Don’t be trying to sucker the poor lad into buying a house in Balbriggan with his hard earned deposit and mortgage. A recent example I heard is houses on sale in Taylor’s hill for over 450k while some property fund bought up loads of the houses there and then renting them to the council for 1800 per month on a long term basis. So it’s likely someone there paying a big mortgage could end up living beside someone who is getting a similar house for free. There is no equality in that situation.

You're disagreeing with someone who has lived there for 9 years. And then giving examples from "what you've heard". From who, someone buying pudding in browns butchers?

Love a bit of hearsay.

Every single estate in the country has elements of criminality.

Diceicle

Sleeper12 wrote: »

I've never heard of anyone getting a house for free. I've never met anyone in a council house not paying rent.

How would I go about getting a house for free?

1. Go on the dole. Don't have to exchange time or effort for money. Money is given free.
2. Get council house and receive below market rent for the rest of your life even if you get a job.
3. Give small portion of monies to council.
4. Profit.

Despite you not meeting any, there seems to be a few not paying their rent.

Arrears by social housing tenants have doubled in the last eight years, leaving councils owed a staggering €65m in unpaid rent.

But while thousands of households are under repeated default warnings every year, only a tiny number of cases are pursued to court and just a handful of evictions are sought as councils are also responsible for housing people if they become homeless.

A leading expert on housing policy says it may now be time to provide rent-free social housing in certain areas.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/council-tenants-owe-65m-in-unpaid-rent-437052.html

Even those that do pay pay a pittence relative to their neighbour. An acquaintance of mine - older lady - probably pushing 60, pays €80 a month for a house on Cork St in Dublin. Average rent for workers is €2000. This lady wouldn't be bone idle though - she does do some work - but its cash in hand. Enables her a couple of holidays etc.

Being real here - thats not to say she's minted - but by not working (officially) and basically paying nothing in rent - she can live a life well beyond what her 'income' on paper would suggest.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/average-monthly-cost-of-renting-dublin-home-passes-2-000-1.3991197

Sleeper12

lola85 wrote:

If you’re on social welfare and using that money to pay a small rent in a council house you are in fact getting a free house

You pay rent yet its free???

You either pay rent or its free it can't be both. They must have thought you this in school?

Sleeper12

Diceicle wrote:

1. Go on the dole. Don't have to exchange time or effort for money. Money is given free. 2. Get council house and receive below market rent for the rest of your life even if you get a job. 3. Give small portion of monies to council. 4. Profit.

So everyone in social housing is on the dole? You do realise that the vast majority of people in social housing actually are in full time education or work? A tiny minority of people who live in social housing aren't working.

If you think before you post your posts won't look so foolish.

lola85

Sleeper12 wrote: »

You pay rent yet its free???

You either pay rent or its free it can't be both. They must have thought you this in school?

Look your receive that money for free.

Stop trying to spin it any other way.

Actually you’re right nothing is free as someone else has to pay for it thought taxation.

lola85

Sleeper12 wrote: »

So everyone in social housing is on the dole? You do realise that the vast majority of people in social housing actually are in full time education or work? A tiny minority of people who live in social housing aren't working.

If you think before you post your posts won't look so foolish.

That’s not what you claimed though.

You said no one gets a free house.

No one said everyone is social housing is on the dole.

Nice try though.

splinter65

Sleeper12 wrote: »

You pay rent yet its free???

You either pay rent or its free it can't be both. They must have thought you this in school?

It’s more honest to say that families who are entirely/partially reliant on the state to house them have their SW allowances and benefits adjusted accordingly in order to meet that cost.

Sleeper12

lola85 wrote:

You said no one gets a free house.

No one gets a free house in this country. Your warped explanation speaks volumes about your tunnel vision

The more you post it makes it easier for op to decide not to listen to you or take your posts seriously. I believe OP is looking for genuine advice and not made up Trump like "facts"

splinter65

Sleeper12 wrote: »

No one gets a free house in this country. Your warped explanation speaks volumes about your tunnel vision

The more you post it makes it easier for op to decide not to listen to you or take your posts seriously. I believe OP is looking for genuine advice and not made up Trump like "facts"

Families who don’t generate “any” income to house themselves from their own endeavors for any reason, be it illness or disability or laziness or old age, and who are thus entirely reliant on state handouts, are not “paying” rent.
Their SW payments are adjusted appropriately to account for their housing.
Families who don’t generate “enough” income themselves through not being in enough hours or well paid enough employment to meet their families needs are subsidized in their housing by the state.
That’s the most honest way to frame it.

lola85

Sleeper12 wrote: »

No one gets a free house in this country. Your warped explanation speaks volumes about your tunnel vision

The more you post it makes it easier for op to decide not to listen to you or take your posts seriously. I believe OP is looking for genuine advice and not made up Trump like "facts"

You’re actually making a fool of yourself here and most can see it but yeah it’s me who has tunnel vision.

anewme

Know of a couple of people living in Balbriggan and are there a good few years now.They would love to move, but can’t. They said the area is not great overall and it’s clear they are living in a poor area. Not sure what Estate, but they are tall houses, modern style.

They did say the town is slowly improving too.

Sleeper12

lola85 wrote: »

You’re actually making a fool of yourself here and most can see it but yeah it’s me who has tunnel vision.

Really??


I don't come in making false claims about people getting "free" homes because this does NOT happen in Ireland.

OP asked for advise about Balbriggan. The bigoted nonsense posted about social housing isn't helping OP in the slightest. Others are claiming to have great knowledge about the area despite not actually living there. They actually have the neck to tell locals that they are wrong about what the see or don't see.


I don't know what it is about Balbriggan that makes people NOT living there want to knock the area time & again. I've been on many threads on boards where "Balbriggan Gangs" get blamed for everything, all over North Dublin yet Gardai our resident group have been involved in repeatedly state that teenage gangs from Blanchardstown, Ballymun to Malahide are also responsible. I just don't understand the hatred of Balbriggan when the crime rate of lets say Blanchardstown is far higher.

Fr. Pat Noise

Free house or heavily subsidised not much difference when you are living next door paying a full mortgage for the same house.

Augme

Fr. Pat Noise wrote: »

Free house or heavily subsidised not much difference when you are living next door paying a full mortgage for the same house.

What difference does it make though? I mean, apart from providing someone with the potential to be bitter about it.

minikin

It could be simple begrudgery. How dare someone have a family home for less than I paid for mine... must knock them or the area they live in. Might make them feel better about their own indebtedness. Sad state of affairs when you only feel better about your own life by denigrating others.

Free house or heavily subsidised not much difference when you are living next door paying a full mortgage for the same house.

At the end of the mortgage you have an asset worth several hundred thousand, they do not.

Will I Am Not

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Just to chip in, I'm living in Dun Saithne 9 years come March next year and thankfully haven't experienced any anti-social nehaviour. I love my little part of it. The neighbours (apart from one awkward one) are friendly and stay out chatting during the summer evenings. The kids have a great area to play in as there's no through traffic and you'll always see them out- which is great.
In regards to Balbriggan itself, I'm quite happy living here. The town is great to commute from and having the beach is fantastic, plus there's great countryside not too far from your door.

As someone who lives here and bought a very reasonably priced house in one of the newer estates, it's fine. Every village, town, city across the country has wonderful estates to live in and the odd one or two you wouldn't want to. This town is no different to any of them.

I'll also add that I grew up in a council estate as a kid. It was full of lovely people who were ordinary decent folk who all had jobs and raised families. As council tenants (before buying their home when the opportunity arose) my parents both had jobs and worked hard and didn't take anything from the state. Having a council tenant as a neighbour doesn't necessarily mean they are a lazy good for nothing looking to live off of the state.

Best advice I would give you OP is to go to the estates you're looking at, talk to the people there, tell them you are considering buying there and let that guide you.

Just off the top of my head.

I was sent a video last year of a fleet of Garda vehicles pulling up to a house in Dun Saithne and dragging 2 people out in a drug raid.

There a few years back a Garda was badly injured by a guy who crushed him between the car he was driving and the squad car.

There was also that scumbag that kicked a small dog to death in the middle of the day in front of kids.

Sleeper12

Fr. Pat Noise wrote:

Free house or heavily subsidised not much difference when you are living next door paying a full mortgage for the same house.

The people in the "free house" may well be working full time low paid jobs. I don't see the issue with neighbours being on HAP, or being social housing. They still pay rent.

This "free money" that some posters talk about, do their wives not get "free money" on maternity leave? Do they not get "free money" in children's allowance for 18 years? When out sick from work do they not get "free money" from the state? It always seems to be someone else getting "free money". People never seem to realise or admit that they also get free money too. There is a cycle to work scheme where you can get up to 1000 euros in free money just to buy a bike. You can get 4k in free money to insulate your home. Another few k in free money to install solar panels. Buy an EV and you get free money. When we eventually retire we all get free money

Fr. Pat Noise

minikin wrote: »

It could be simple begrudgery. How dare someone have a family home for less than I paid for mine... must knock them or the area they live in. Might make them feel better about their own indebtedness. Sad state of affairs when you only feel better about your own life by denigrating others.



At the end of the mortgage you have an asset worth several hundred thousand, they do not.

I’m just just providing the OP with some information about the town so he can make an informed decision.

lola85

Sleeper12 wrote: »

The people in the "free house" may well be working full time low paid jobs. I don't see the issue with neighbours being on HAP, or being social housing. They still pay rent.

This "free money" that some posters talk about, do their wives not get "free money" on maternity leave? Do they not get "free money" in children's allowance for 18 years? When out sick from work do they not get "free money" from the state? It always seems to be someone else getting "free money". People never seem to realise or admit that they also get free money too. There is a cycle to work scheme where you can get up to 1000 euros in free money just to buy a bike. You can get 4k in free money to insulate your home. Another few k in free money to install solar panels. Buy an EV and you get free money. When we eventually retire we all get free money

So there is free money?

This free houses.

Weldone.

pablo128

Fr. Pat Noise wrote: »

I’m just just providing the OP with some information about the town so he can make an informed decision.

What if the house next door was inherited? Would it eat you up inside to think they got the house for 'free'?

minikin

Fr. Pat Noise wrote: »

I’m just just providing the OP with some information about the town so he can make an informed decision.

No you’re not, what information have you given about the town? A town can’t be antisocial, a town isn’t good or bad. Conflating the actions of people with an area is nonsensical. But it’s nice to disparage and devalue places you don’t live in as it feels like your place increases in value by contrast.

enricoh

Sleeper12 wrote: »

The people in the "free house" may well be working full time low paid jobs. I don't see the issue with neighbours being on HAP, or being social housing. They still pay rent.

This "free money" that some posters talk about, do their wives not get "free money" on maternity leave? Do they not get "free money" in children's allowance for 18 years? When out sick from work do they not get "free money" from the state? It always seems to be someone else getting "free money". People never seem to realise or admit that they also get free money too. There is a cycle to work scheme where you can get up to 1000 euros in free money just to buy a bike. You can get 4k in free money to insulate your home. Another few k in free money to install solar panels. Buy an EV and you get free money. When we eventually retire we all get free money

Op
We're on to the bike scheme now, jesus wept.
I dated a girl for a few months in an apartment past dunnes 7 or 8 year ago op. I emptied the van everytime before i went up.
Noise proofing was nonexistent in the apartment, dogs barking all night etc. Paddies were fairly thin on the ground in the complex she was in. The management fee was high too iirc.

Theres nicer area in balbriggan. Not for me, but horses for courses.

splinter65

Sleeper12 wrote: »

The people in the "free house" may well be working full time low paid jobs. I don't see the issue with neighbours being on HAP, or being social housing. They still pay rent.

This "free money" that some posters talk about, do their wives not get "free money" on maternity leave? Do they not get "free money" in children's allowance for 18 years? When out sick from work do they not get "free money" from the state? It always seems to be someone else getting "free money". People never seem to realise or admit that they also get free money too. There is a cycle to work scheme where you can get up to 1000 euros in free money just to buy a bike. You can get 4k in free money to insulate your home. Another few k in free money to install solar panels. Buy an EV and you get free money. When we eventually retire we all get free money

Wrong. Maternity BENEFIT. Illness BENEFIT. Child BENEFIT. Carers BENEFIT.
Benefit is the operative word. People who work and then take time out to have a baby care for a loved one or because they’re sick get the BENEFIT of the PRSI contributions they made into the Social insurance fund.
If you’ve never worked then your getting the benefit from something you made no contribution to.
Next.

anewme

Not really helpful to the OP, who is looking for advice on specific areas within Balbriggan.

OP, with your budget being low, you are more likely to be at risk from social problems and anti social behaviour.

So, you really need to take a look at each individual property and judge it on its own merits now.

For example, could you get a 2 bed townhouse (own entrance), rather than an apartment. Be careful buying beside open space as gangs could congregate there.

It's hard enough to do as renters bring a transiency - you could be fine with a lovely tenant next door, but they move on and the next ones are a disaster.

Sleeper12

splinter65 wrote:

Wrong. Maternity BENEFIT. Illness BENEFIT. Child BENEFIT. Carers BENEFIT. Benefit is the operative word. People who work and then take time out to have a baby care for a loved one or because they’re sick get the BENEFIT of the PRSI contributions they made into the Social insurance fund. If you’ve never worked then your getting the benefit from something you made no contribution to. Next.

Above All free money & not all related to working. Child benefit is a welfare payment.

Just to put the record straight here every man, woman & child gets free money in Ireland. Children's allowance not means tested and not related to working or not working. So you yourself splinter have gotten "free money" from the state.


You keep referring to the tiny minority of people living in socal housing that aren't working or in full time employment at the moment. These are a fraction of the total number of people actually living in socal housing. You say "if you've never worked" but you DON'T know who has worked in the past and who hasn't. You are making groundless assumptions.

I state yet again, park at the entrance to any large social housing estate at 6am and hang around till 9am. You will be stunned to see swarms of people coming out of their socal homes and heading off to work.

The vast majority of people on the housing list are in full time education or work in low paid jobs.

It is a myth that most people in social housing don't work. They aren't all "Margaret Cash" you know. I've spent all my life in Dublin and we've always had plenty of social housing estates and the vast majority work. Even Ballymun at its worst the vast majority worked. The people who had to endure those flats mostly worked.

splinter65

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Above All free money & not all related to working. Child benefit is a welfare payment.

.

Wrong again. Sleeper you really need to educate yourself on the rules surrounding benefits and allowances before making statements about them.
Only people who have worked can get “benefits”.
Everyone else is getting an allowance which is basically a handout.
Below is the basic conditions for 3 benefits.
PRSI is deducted each payday from the pay checks of employees along with tax and USC both of which are used to pay for all the services that we all enjoy.
If you do not work the you cannot get
Carers Benefit
Maternity benefit
Illness benefit
Jobseekers benefit.
So they are not “free money”.
Disability Allowance Jobseekers Allowance and OPF are example of free money.

Conditions for Carers Benefit:


You may be eligible for Carer's Benefit if:

You are aged 16 or over and under 66.
You have been employed for at least 8 weeks, whether consecutive or not, in the previous 26 week period. You must be in employment for a minimum of 16 hours per week or 32 hours per fortnight. You don't have to meet this condition if you were getting Carer's Benefit in the previous 26 weeks.
You give up work in order to be a full-time carer. Being a full-time carer means you must be living with or in a position to provide full-time care and attention to a person in need of care who is not living in an institution.
You are not living in a hospital, convalescent home or other similar institution. However, you may continue to be regarded as providing full-time care and attention, if you or the person being cared for is having medical or other treatment in a hospital or other institution for a period not longer than 13 weeks.
You meet the PRSI contribution conditions.
The person being cared for is so incapacitated as to require full-time care and attention and is not normally living in an institution. Medical certification is required unless the person being cared for is a child who is getting Domiciliary Care Allowance. The carer of a child on a Domiciliary Care Allowance does not need to be the person who receives that allowance on the child's behalf.
You must not take part in employment, self-employment, training or education courses outside the home for more than 15 hours a week. The maximum amount you can earn is €332.50 per week. (€332.50 is your net income after you have deducted income tax and Universal Social Charge, PRSI, superannuation (pension payments), pension levy, union dues, subscriptions to Friendly Societies and any health insurance contract premium from your total wage.)
PRSI contribution conditions
You must have at least 156 contributions paid at any time between your entry into insurance and the time you make your claim for Carer's Benefit and:

39 contributions paid in the Relevant Tax Year or
39 contributions paid in the 12-month period before the start of Carer's Benefit or
26 contributions paid in the Relevant Tax Year and 26 contributions paid in the year before that.
Only contributions at Class A, B, C, D, H and E can be counted towards Carer's Benefit. Class S (self-employed contributions) do not count. The Relevant Tax Year is the second last complete tax year before the year in which you make your claim. So, for claims made in 2017, the Relevant Tax Year is 2015.

Periods of insurance in another EU member state may be taken into account to meet the PRSI contribution conditions. The last week of insurance must be paid in Ireland.

You are awarded credited contributions or credits automatically when you are getting Carer's Benefit. Credits are awarded at the same rate as your last paid contribution. These credits help protect your future entitlement to social welfare benefits and pensions.

Conditions for Illness Benefit:

You must apply for Illness Benefit within 6 weeks of becoming ill. No payment is made for the first 6 days of illness, which are known as waiting days. (Note that Sunday is not counted as a waiting day.) The only time that the 6 waiting days are not applied is if you were getting certain other social welfare payments within 3 days of the start of your illness.

Whether you qualify for payment or not, you should always submit a claim for Illness Benefit when you are certified unfit for work. You may be entitled to PRSI credited contributions for each week you are ill, and these could help you qualify for future social welfare payments.

Social insurance (PRSI) contributions
To qualify for payment of Illness Benefit you must satisfy the following two conditions:

You must have at least 104 weeks of PRSI contributions paid since you first started work
and either

39 weeks of PRSI contributions paid or credited in the relevant tax year, of which 13 must be paid contributions. If you do not have 13 paid contributions in the relevant tax year, then 13 paid contributions in one of the following tax years can be used instead:
Either of the two tax years before the relevant tax year
The last complete tax year (before the year in which your claim for Illness Benefit begins)
The current tax year
or

26 weeks of PRSI contributions paid in the relevant tax year, and 26 weeks of PRSI contributions paid in the tax year immediately before the relevant tax year.

The relevant tax year is the second-last complete tax year before the year in which your claim for Illness Benefit begins. For example:

Relevant tax year
If your claim begins in: The relevant tax year is:
2018 2016
2019 2017
Only PRSI contributions paid at class A, E, H and P count towards Illness Benefit.
If you were getting long-term Jobseeker's Allowance, Pre-Retirement Allowance, Invalidity Pension, Carer's Allowance or Carer's Benefit immediately before applying for Illness Benefit, you do not need to have 13 paid contributions.
If you were getting Occupational Injury Benefit (OIB) immediately before applying for Illness Benefit you may use the tax year that applied to your OIB claim or the tax year that applies to your Illness Benefit claim, whichever is more beneficial.
To help you qualify for Illness Benefit, you may combine your Irish PRSI contributions with social insurance contributions from a country covered by EU Regulations (and the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, which are covered under a bilateral agreement).

Conditions for Maternity Benefit:

Maternity Benefit is paid by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to women who have a certain number of paid PRSI contributions on their social insurance record and who are in insurable employment up to the first day of their maternity leave.

The PRSI contributions can be from both employment or self-employment - the PRSI classes that count for Maternity Benefit are A, E, H and S (self-employed). Members of the Defence Forces who pay PRSI at Class H are insured for Maternity Benefit but it is not payable while they are in service.

If you are employed you must have:

At least 39 weeks of PRSI paid in the 12-month period before the first day of your maternity leave
Or

At least 39 weeks of PRSI paid since first starting work and at least 39 weeks of PRSI paid or credited in the relevant tax year or in the tax year immediately following the relevant tax year. For example, if you are going on maternity leave in 2019, the relevant tax year is 2017 and the year following that is 2018.
Or

At least 26 weeks of PRSI paid in the relevant tax year and at least 26 weeks PRSI paid in the tax year immediately before the relevant tax year. For example, if you are going on maternity leave in 2019, the relevant tax year is 2017 and the year before that is 2016.
If you do not meet these PRSI conditions and you were self-employed before starting work as an employee, you can use your Class S contributions to qualify for Maternity Benefit - see PRSI conditions for self-employed people below.

If you are self-employed you must be in insurable employment and have:

52 weeks of PRSI contributions paid at Class S in the relevant tax year. For example, if you are going on maternity leave in 2019, the relevant tax year is 2017.
Or

52 weeks of PRSI contributions paid at Class S in the tax year immediately before the relevant tax year. For example, if you are going on maternity leave in 2019, the tax year immediately before the relevant tax year is 2016.
Or

52 weeks of PRSI contributions paid at Class S in the tax year immediately following the relevant tax year. For example, if you are going on maternity leave in 2019, the tax year immediately following the relevant tax year is 2018.
PRSI Class S contributions for a particular year are not awarded until you have paid tax due for that year. To qualify for Maternity Benefit, your income tax and PRSI liabilities (primarily for the relevant tax year) must be paid.

If you do not meet these PRSI conditions and you were in insurable employment before becoming self-employed, you can use your PRSI contributions (Class A, E and H) in that employment to qualify for Maternity Benefit – see PRSI conditions for employed people above.

holliehobbie

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Just to chip in, I'm living in Dun Saithne 9 years come March next year and thankfully haven't experienced any anti-social nehaviour. I love my little part of it. The neighbours (apart from one awkward one) are friendly and stay out chatting during the summer evenings. The kids have a great area to play in as there's no through traffic and you'll always see them out- which is great.
In regards to Balbriggan itself, I'm quite happy living here. The town is great to commute from and having the beach is fantastic, plus there's great countryside not too far from your door.

As someone who lives here and bought a very reasonably priced house in one of the newer estates, it's fine. Every village, town, city across the country has wonderful estates to live in and the odd one or two you wouldn't want to. This town is no different to any of them.

I'll also add that I grew up in a council estate as a kid. It was full of lovely people who were ordinary decent folk who all had jobs and raised families. As council tenants (before buying their home when the opportunity arose) my parents both had jobs and worked hard and didn't take anything from the state. Having a council tenant as a neighbour doesn't necessarily mean they are a lazy good for nothing looking to live off of the state.

Best advice I would give you OP is to go to the estates you're looking at, talk to the people there, tell them you are considering buying there and let that guide you.

Just one point I would like to correct you on there. Your parents took a council house from the state. They would also have got a massive discount off the market value of the house depending on how long they were in council housing. People who rent or rented privately do not get discounts of 40 or 30% off the price of the house they will or did buy.

Sleeper12

splinter65 wrote: »

Wrong again. Sleeper you really need to educate yourself on the rules surrounding benefits and allowances before making statements about them.
Only people who have worked can get “benefits”.
Everyone else is getting an allowance which is basically a handout.
Below is the basic conditions for 3 benefits.
PRSI is deducted each payday from the pay checks of employees along with tax and USC both of which are used to pay for all the services that we all enjoy.
If you do not work the you cannot get
Carers Benefit
Maternity benefit
Illness benefit
Jobseekers benefit.
So they are not “free money”.
Disability Allowance Jobseekers Allowance and OPF are example of free money.

A few points here. In your original post you included Child Benefit. I see you left it off this list to try twist what I said. I correctly stated that not ALL of those you listed were related to working. I actually named child benefit as the one I was talking about.

Child Benefit is a monthly payment to the parents or guardians of children under 16 years of age. It is paid for children under 18 years of age if they are in full-time education, full-time training or have a disability and cannot support themselves

http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/273_Child-Benefit.aspx


This is a welfare payment. It is "Free money" & every Irish person has received it as a child growing up in Ireland. Sticking the word benifit doesn't mean you have earned it or it's linked to working, prsi etc.

Disability Allowance Jobseekers Allowance and OPF are example of free money.

This is very insulting to people on Disability & Job Seekers. Job Seekers IS linked to your PRSI. When your PRSI has run out you no longer get Job Seekers

Jobseeker's Benefit is a weekly payment made by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to unemployed jobseeker's who are out of work, meet the general qualification criteria, as outlined below , and have enough PRSI contributions to qualify for this social insurance payment

https://www.inou.ie/welfarerights/unemployedjobseeker/jobseekersbenef.html


People on Disability can & do work. Up to 20 hours per week if memory serves. To suggest that these get free money is insulting to say the least


You are gonna keep up with this rubbish trying to prove that people in social homes all get "free money" & "free homes". There is no such thing as a free home & only a tiny minority of people living in social housing aren't working or in education. You can't change facts.

Fr. Pat Noise

If you don’t work or never have worked it’s actually quite easy to qualify for all the benefits no means test needed. I know of 2 families within a few doors of me that fall within that category. Then maybe do a bit of child minding and move a partner in who officially doesn’t live with you and you are sorted. Loads of this going on in Balbriggan easy to spot if you are looking out for it. Usually 50/50 chance these families will be anti social as well. All paid for by tax payers some of them paying mortgages in the same estate too. Doesn’t seem fair to me.