strong opinions/views based on purely rage

beerguts

I had a strange encounter this week with a civil servant that has made me question how susceptible us Irish are to having strong opinions/views based on purely rage and what ****e this could get us into down the road.

Background: I was at the welfare office applying for a public service card (I am working, just think its handy to have) and was making small talk with the Woman behind the desk, weather, stretch in the day and so on, Usual ****e. Then it got on to the election results. Jesus she went off on a tangent, she told me that she voted Sinn Fein due to the state of the country. That's fine in my book at lot of people are angry and if they want to vote in that shower so be it, who knows they might get something done and there capacity to do something stupid will be tempered by the senior civil service.

Then she started on about the EU and how they were taking Irish funds for there own purposes and forcing the Government to raise the retirement age to 68 and possibly beyond to pay for this. That the state has no backbone and we will make people suffer more years working when they have paid enough in to the system and should be able to retire at 65. Now I only wanted to get my ****e done and leave so I nodded along and gave the usual Irish reply, "Aw sure it is what it is".

My own opinion is that I can see why we have to raise the retirement age to pay for all the oaps in the future without bankrupting the state but this is an Irish issue that cant be blamed on the EU, mainly due to our longer lives. As for the giving of funds to Europe, we took more out for long enough so I have no issue paying back in to the system to help other less well off countries up.

But Afterwards when I thought of her views I saw the danger in them being based on pure emotion only. If I had engaged with her and stated the above I dont think it would have made a blind bit of difference to what she thought and on the blame she attributed to the EU for raising the pension age. She was angry and no reasoning was going to change her mind. The EU were at fault and that was that. I don't know if many people would share her views and I would guess probably not.

But in my thinking if things were to go to ****e again and a politician with a bit of charisma and a talent for simplifying the blame down to the EU emerged like in England a lot of Irish voters would become Euro skeptics overnight.

Sky King

Im basing my opinion that its too much effort to read that post purely on the length of it.

If i come back and its got lots of thanks i might read it then.

Silentcorner

People are right to be skeptical of the EU...

But to think we could do a better job of governing ourselves independently is bat s##t crazy!!!

beerguts

Sky King wrote: »

Im basing my opinion that its too much effort to read that post purely on the length of it.

If i come back and its got lots of thanks i might read it then.

i'll take out all the spaces to amke it a nice solid block of text for ya:D

fryup

beerguts wrote: »

how susceptible us Irish are to having strong opinions/views based on purely rage

...the recent SF vote ?

beerguts wrote: »

and what ****e this could get us into down the road.

a corrupt government run by marxist/sectarian anarchists ?

Rufeo

Working in a welfare office would probably drive anyone up the wall.

uch

The IMF "requested" that we put the pension age to 68, and I don't think we had a choice at the time, but now we do cause we got rid of the fúckers, but I'm a firm believer that any retired person over the age of 65 shouldn't have to pay for anything because most of these people have paid their way all their lives, doctors, chemists, travel, you name it, if you've paid in for 45 years you deserve a bit of payback.

jaxxx

uch wrote: »

The IMF "requested" that we put the pension age to 68, and I don't think we had a choice at the time, but now we do cause we got rid of the fúckers, but I'm a firm believer that any retired person over the age of 65 shouldn't have to pay for anything because most of these people have paid their way all their lives, doctors, chemists, travel, you name it, if you've paid in for 45 years you deserve a bit of payback.

This. I think the same applies to inheritance tax too. If as you said, someone worked their whole life and then passes their assets (house/car/etc) onto someone close to them (whether direct descendant [son/daughter] or otherwise), why should they then have to pay tax on that? I just cannot see how it's in any way fair whatsoever. Don't know exactly how it works, or if transfer from parent - child requires any tax, but a friend of mine inherited a house from his grandparents and was left with a very hefty tax bill!

uch

jaxxx wrote: »

This. I think the same applies to inheritance tax too. If as you said, someone worked their whole life and then passes their assets (house/car/etc) onto someone close to them (whether direct descendant [son/daughter] or otherwise), why should they then have to pay tax on that? I just cannot see how it's in any way fair whatsoever. Don't know exactly how it works, or if transfer from parent - child requires any tax, but a friend of mine inherited a house from his grandparents and was left with a very hefty tax bill!

Agree totally, it's pure thatcher mentality, if the house was paid for by whoever then the tax at the time was paid, so why tax the lucky fecker who gets it as a present, I had to make my will recently, and my solicitor asked me if something happened to one of my kids would I like it to go to their children, I said no cause they would have to pay ridiculous tax on it, so leave it to one or the other and let them sort it out