The Ballybunion thread

Frank165

Sunday World did two pages on the Monday Night Madness, saying what lunacy it is to leave such an earner for the town go when so many are struggling for the sake of a few killjoys. Great piece take a look if you can find a copy.

lalbrowne

Beach still fab, best place ever for swimming - never changes...:)

Tragedy

Frank165 wrote: »

Sunday World did two pages on the Monday Night Madness, saying what lunacy it is to leave such an earner for the town go when so many are struggling for the sake of a few killjoys. Great piece take a look if you can find a copy.

It's only an earner for the handful of people who own the nightclubs and the below minimum wage teenage bar staff.
**** all use to everyone else, other than getting to clean vomit up and fix broken windows if you're into that kinda thing.

Frank165

Tragedy wrote: »

It's only an earner for the handful of people who own the nightclubs and the below minimum wage teenage bar staff.
**** all use to everyone else, other than getting to clean vomit up and fix broken windows if you're into that kinda thing.

Actually your right is pretty much an earner for the bars which employ the bulk of people in Ballybunion, near 50 in Jds alone. Nobody pays below minimum wage anywhere in Ireland. Most of the staff are in their 20s & choose to work in the bars & probably enjoy it. Also a huge earner for the shops & cafes with breakfasts & rolls the next morning, local b&bs, taxis etc etc. Yes people do get sick & yes windows have been broken but why always focus on the negatives. Two to Three thousand people mainly young but also some old enjoy the night & the town comes alive. I am into that kinda thing, seeing people enjoy themselves.

Tragedy

Frank165 wrote: »

Actually your right is pretty much an earner for the bars which employ the bulk of people in Ballybunion

Why do they employ the bulk? Because the holiday industry is near non-existant now and what else is going to attract people to Ballyb.

near 50 in Jds alone

50 full time? or 50 for 10 hours a week? Or what?

Nobody pays below minimum wage anywhere in Ireland.

I thought bar staff were under an REA, my mistake. Plenty of places legally pay under the minimum wage btw!

Most of the staff are in their 20s & choose to work in the bars & probably enjoy it.

Most of the staff are in their late teens and very early 20's and at college, you don't get to choose to work in bars in BallyB - if you don't get into SuperValu, it's off to the bars you go.

Also a huge earner for the shops & cafes with breakfasts & rolls the next morning, local b&bs, taxis etc etc.

The shops and cafes don't seem particularly busy on a tuesday morning, most people seem to arrive in ballyb by minibus/coach and depart the same way late at night.

Yes people do get sick & yes windows have been broken but why always focus on the negatives.

Because I certainly don't make any money from Monday Night Madness, I don't enjoy Madness, and it means I can't go out on a Monday night because the town is a joke.

Two to Three thousand people mainly young but also some old enjoy the night & the town comes alive. I am into that kinda thing, seeing people enjoy themselves.

The town comes alive with several hundred people milling outside JD's spilling out onto the road making it impossible for cars to pass through the town?
Alive with people knacker drinking absolutely everywhere?
Alive with the general craic of piss drunk scumbags everywhere?

BallyB is a fairly nice town, in a great location with great natural resources and it still has a reputation outside kerry/limerick as a holdiay destination(because people don't know better yet!), it's a shame to see it slowly dying.

Frank165

Fair enough you don't make money from it but others do & need it. As you have said the bars & supervalu employ the bulk of the people & Monday is their busiest night by far. People do go home by bus but some also stay in cars or b&bs in the town or even book houses. You don't have to go out on a Monday its only 10 or so nights in a year so you have 350 other nights to choose from.
Calling all the young people scangers is extremely ignorant.
When was Ballybunion or for that matter any of the seaside resorts in Ireland or Britain busy, around the 70s I suspect before cheap flights abroad. Ballybs reputation as a holiday destination has been dead with 30 years aside from the golf club. Personally I love to see people spilling out onto the streets it gives a festival atmosphere to the town & the only people driving down after 12 on a Monday night are looking for something to give out about.
Its extremely unlikely that 3000 people on a night out don't have an economic benefit.
Jd's employ 42 people on a Monday night & a handful more throughout the week. Another 20 in the Exchange, 10/15 in the Cashen & about 50 in the chippers, taxis etc. No I doubt there full time, but the 12 weeks of summer at least is a bonus. Of course its a choice to work somewhere & there not bad jobs why put people down, bar jobs & supervalu aren't demeaning, fair play to them for getting jobs.
You said it yourself just read your quotes, nowhere else to work, the holiday trade is near non existent & you don't like it because you don't make money from it, that's kinda a shallow reason, don't you think?
People from Kerry & Limerick know its a great town & the only thing people outside of Kerry & Limerick have ever heard about Ballyb is Monday Night Madness. Who else has come to ballyb in the last three decades except to play a round of golf & head for Killarney.
In short Monday night or nights like it, busy nights are an absolute necessity and the best thing to come to Ballybunion in years. True there were some regrettable incidents but this is going to happen with any busy night & indeed without. Most young people are normal & decent just like every other generation that went before them & why shouldn't they have a night out. As for the drinking outside, what choice do they have when they can't afford it.

Tragedy

Frank165 wrote: »

Fair enough you don't make money from it but others do & need it.

Half your reasoning for Monday Night Madness being a good thing is that it makes people money and it's just other people begrudging it.
Very few people make much money out of it.

As you have said the bars & supervalu employ the bulk of the people & Monday is their busiest night by far. People do go home by bus but some also stay in cars or b&bs in the town or even book houses.

A small minority, they come to BallyB because it's a cheap night out - so they don't generally book b&bs or hotels. For people my age - cheap = good, no matter where it is.

Calling all the young people scangers is extremely ignorant.

In my opinion, the majority of people out on Monday Night Madness are scangers judging by how they talk, dress, act and where they come from.

When was Ballybunion or for that matter any of the seaside resorts in Ireland or Britain busy, around the 70s I suspect before cheap flights abroad.

I was holidaying in Kerry(three times), wexford(three times) and donegal as a kid in the mid to late 90's. My girlfriend from the area says even a few years ago the town used to be a lot busier than it is now.

Ballybs reputation as a holiday destination has been dead with 30 years aside from the golf club.

Anyone in Dublin I've mentioned BallyB to has heard of it as a nice seaside resort town, obviously out of date info as it isn't anymore - but they still know of it. Not bad when it gets zero marketing and local businesses aren't interested in promoting tourism.

Personally I love to see people spilling out onto the streets it gives a festival atmosphere to the town

How does drunk teenagers acting like mentally retarded people give a festival atmosphere? Festivals have nothing to do with drink.

the only people driving down after 12 on a Monday night are looking for something to give out about.

Or they could be going home. Or looking for a take away. Or picking someone up from work in the casinos or suprvalu. Or a myriad of reasons.

Its extremely unlikely that 3000 people on a night out don't have an economic benefit.

Like hell it's 3,000, 1,000 would be pushing it. And who's the economic benefit going to? A handful of bar owners.

Jd's employ 42 people on a Monday night & a handful more throughout the week.

So more like the equivalent of 8 full time low paid jobs spread among 50 people. What an amazing boon to the town!

Of course its a choice to work somewhere

When the choice is nothing or bar work, the only choice is bar work!

& there not bad jobs why put people down, bar jobs & supervalu aren't demeaning, fair play to them for getting jobs.

Who said they were demeaning?

You said it yourself just read your quotes, nowhere else to work, the holiday trade is near non existent

I wouldn't recommend BallyB as a tourist destination to families. Would you? Would any family who wandered out on a Monday evening for a bite to eat in a local pub and a drink or two?
Nah, didn't think so!

you don't like it because you don't make money from it, that's kinda a shallow reason, don't you think?

I do think it's shallow, that would be why I didn't say it.

People from Kerry & Limerick know its a great town

No they don't. People from Kerry & Limerick know it's a great town for a cheap night out. That's not the same thing as a great town.
Toomevara is known as a great town for dogging, doesn't mean it's known as a great town.

the only thing people outside of Kerry & Limerick have ever heard about Ballyb is Monday Night Madness.

Very few people outside the south east have ever heard of Monday Night Madness.

Who else has come to ballyb in the last three decades except to play a round of golf & head for Killarney.

Perhaps you should ask the thousands of people thronging the beaches any time we have a nice day on a weekend? Because they aren't getting piss drunk and making a nuisance of themselves.

busy nights are an absolute necessity and the best thing to come to Ballybunion in years.

Madness is a fad. Like any fad, it will pass and BallyB will be left with a terrible reputation and absolutely nothing but a couple of nice beaches that people will only daytrip to because they don't want to stay in the town.

Fair enough if you disagree, but hundreds of small towns in ireland/UK which experienced a boom as a party destination and faded quietly out of view a few years later would suggest I'm right.
Kilkenny being the latest, after locals got sick of stags and hens and just general drunken antics.

True there were some regrettable incidents but this is going to happen with any busy night & indeed without.

Of course it's going to happen when you attract the type of people Madness attracts.

Most young people are normal & decent just like every other generation that went before them & why shouldn't they have a night out.

Whats that got to do with Madness?

As for the drinking outside, what choice do they have when they can't afford it.

Not drink outside? Not drink at all if they can't afford it?

PS: Out of curiousity, you wouldn't have had a vested interest in the Madness would you?

TargetWidow

Sick of trying to keep my little daughter from walking on all the broken bottles strewn across the beach on Tuesday mornings after Monday nights, sick of the smell of piss around the town, sick of the playpark equipment being broken because of the skobies from the Madness riding on it and breaking it. Sick of listening to people I know complain of the town being "taken over" by these people, and kept awake half the night by them.

Sorry Frank, but they ARE scangers. Maybe not all of them. But enough of them. Too many of them in fact.

Holidays abroad were down last year by 17% and pundits had predicted that between the worsening economic climate and the threat of renewed bouts of volcanic ash that figure would be as high as 25% this year...... Ballybunion NEVER had a year with so much potential, sadly its being pissed up against the side wall of every alleyway in Ballybunion. I have never seen signs on windows in Ballybunion before that I saw this year "House to let, week beginning next Monday, only €300" (A big 4 bed house on Church Road that would normally command between 500 and 600 a week.) Sure what decent hardworking family would spend their hard earned cash to rent a house in Ballyb this Summer, unless it is a glimpse of the Armed Response Unit they are after for their money.

In fairness, accommodation food and drink are overpriced and the quality is variable. They will go elsewhere in Ireland if its an Irish holiday they are after. At least then if they have to pay overinflated prices, they wont be knee deep in binge drinkers puke, and standing barefoot on broken glass on the beach for the pleasure, or watching a Ban-Garda's head get kicked in as happenned a few weeks ago. The Madness is not really actually "generating" any new revenue for the town. It merely "re-distributes" revenue that would have been spent over the course of one and two week holidays booked by families, who this year are avoiding Ballyb like the plague because of Monday Night Madness and all that goes with it, and gives it to a small handful of publicans, nightclubs, and takeaways and bus-drivers. No new money here. In fact I would argue that the overall wage output is down because of it. One extra night's work per week could not possibly make up for the decrease in staffing due to the lack of bookings across the rest of the season this year.And Im with Tragedy here, minimum wage is a joke in the tourist industry! I worked in several places where you didn't dare even mention minimum wage. The alternative was to go caddying if you wanted to make some serious dosh because we didn't have the supermarket back then.

As to when Ballyb was ever busy since the 70s... I lived and worked there up until 10 years ago, and it was flying all through the 80s, and the first half of the 90s. I worked in one establishment where the owner would do a little dance every time the till had a grand in it. Many the summer he was dancing all night.

Are we really marketing the place as a binge-drinking destination now? Is this what we have come to? That this kind of night out is the norm and something that should be done once a week, preferably the night after a weekend of probably more heavy drinking? Seriously? And it's being actively encouraged by people with vested interests who will sell the town up the swanny to keep their bank manager from re-possessing. Ballyb is being sold a pup as if this is all we really have to offer! Ballyb is so much better than this. We have had glimpses of it... great new little businesses popping up around town, a surf school, the leisure centre, a Chinese takeaway, an Indian takeaway, 2 pizza places and an ice-cream parlor and Coast Cafe, beauty parlors and hairdressers. Then we have the Coastal Rocks Music Festival and this year the Blast from the Past. We have a theatre, we could hold Comedy Festivals.... so many family oriented events are possible here. The simple fact remains that the good people of Ballyb DESERVE better than Monday Night Madness. And they ARE better than this. If the Madness had been allowed to continue the damage to the reputation of the town would have been irreparable.

TargetWidow

Tragedy wrote: »

No they don't. People from Kerry & Limerick know it's a great town for a cheap night out. That's not the same thing as a great town.
Toomevara is known as a great town for dogging, doesn't mean it's known as a great town.

Is Toomevara really known for dogging? Janey! Someone should get the newspapers onto that;).

And I agree about the drinking outside. They aren't exactly sitting nicely under parasols at tables by moonlight, they are rotten drunk, staggering dangerously around the road like imbeciles. :rolleyes: No one of any decent background would be seen dead at MNM.Look as hard as you like. There are no future Presidents of Ireland, or future senior politicians there. It's an alcoholic training ground. Thats all. Maybe you could get Talbot Grove and a few more Rehab places to sponsor Wednesday night mayhem.... get to know their future clientele.

And you are right. I don't go anywhere near the place BEFORE or AFTER 12 on a Monday night anymore since these morons started running the town. It's not safe. I resent the idea that I have no business there unless I am pissing in someone's letterbox or kicking the wingmirror off their car. I used to go and eat out there, go for a drink and a stroll along the beach with the hubby and then let him drive us home. If it's the kind of scenes you get at MNM I was after I'd rather go to Fota Wildlife Park, the animals are better behaved.

Frank165

Targetwidow, nice & measured response, thank you.Tragedy. No, not half, my main reason for liking Monday Night Madness is that people make money out of it just as it seems its your reason for not liking it. People need money. For many young people,cheap = necessity, for every generation at the moment cheap = necessity. We are in a massive massive recession & have just barred Ballyb's biggest earner. Eagle lodge b&b was lamenting the collapse of MNM in the Sunday world this week.
How could the biggest employers in town employ a small minority, that just nonsensical.
You holidayed here, I live here. Town was busy in the 90s with young people drinking in the Atlantic. Was busy before that with people drinking in the pubs & dance halls. The pubs haven't been here all the time hoping for Monday Nights but have stayed open because of them. Pubs are shutting all over the country. Restaurants are shutting all over the country, things were opening here,were.
People in Dublin haven't heard of MnM, come on every paper, every major radio station. Where were these masses of Dubs, we have never ever had many Dubs here.
Local bushinesses which rely on tourism aren't interested in promoting tourism, come on. Promotion costs money. Everyone's an expert when its just talk. How many festivals have failed in the last ten years trying to attract people to Balllyb.
Festivals everywhere have everything to do with drink, that's why there's exemptions, have you ever-heard of a tee-totalling festival in Ireland.
Nobody picks anyone up from supervalu at midnight or anywhere else in a town centre at midnight, they are there looking for something to give out about, hell some of them even park there for an hour or two.
Jd's capacity is over the 1,200 mark & it was impossible to get into after 11.30 because of crowds. So 1,200 plus two other nightclubs, hell its probably over 1,000 people.
Its like the equivalent of work, full stop. There are not many full time jobs in any summer town & young people trying to get a few bucks for college can't work in them full time anyway. They have to go to college, this is real basic.
Your equating jobs in bars & supermarkets to being only better than no job, why?
Families have the whole town to choose from all day and plenty quiet pubs to choose from after that, but who brings their kids uptown at midnight?
People from Limerick & Kerry are the only people we have got for the last thirty years, do you live or holiday here, again basic knowledge on Ballyb.
Again Dublin people and even people from as far far away as the South East have heard of & attended MnM, its the 2nd thing up on Google.ie if you type Monday night.
Limerick & Kerry people throng the beaches & huge crowds on the one nice bank holiday Sunday we get every second year, then they pack up their coolboxes & go home. Spain/Portugal is where people go for sun holidays, cheaper & sunnier than here.
Again what seaside resort in Ireland or Britain has boomed since the 1st World War. Ballybunion has for about 7 years.
Incidents happen any night, in every destination, with any crowd.
You consistently refer to the young people of Ballyb & Limerick as scangers, most of them have a few drinks & a dance & that's it same as every other generation.
You not liking an event because you don't make money from it is very shallow.
Not drink outside because they can't afford inside, from the man whose giving out that he can't go out on ten nights of the year
Targetwidow.
Yes I've heard locals complain, mainly on Joe Duffy. Talking to the bulk of locals they think that it brings money & fun to the town.
I purposely went down the men's and ladies at 8.30 on four Tuesday mornings the most I saw was 8 bottles. That's pretty respectful, we'd have to bar everyone from using the beach because more is left any sunny day.
A considerable number of the crowd are from Ballyb & I know many of the Limerick people, they are not scangers. They are young people having a few drinks & enjoying themselves just like older people. A few have ruined it & many more have latched onto the stories.
July was an absolute washout, we haven't had a sunny day this month. The Blast from the Past was a great idea but guess what it poured, everyone went home.
Holidays everywhere are down. You can get an apartment & pool for €350 in Spain any week you like, a 5 star hotel in Egypt for €500 for two weeks. Of course houses aren't going to command anywhere near the price they used to, there are too many of them & they are at best worth half what they were 3 years ago. I had a friend who wanted to rent a 3 bedroomed house down here for a year, he could find just two options. Ballyb is bucking the trend for letting. I know the house on Church road & for an old house or any house €300 a WEEK is excellent.
Town was busy enough but nowhere near now & a lot of that was down to the Atlantic, another place that was given out about in its time, as I'm sure the dance halls of the Central, East End were a generation before.
Your list of businesses have all opened since Monday night began. Are people really going to come here because we have take-aways etc. I attended Coastal Rocks both years & quite a lot of drink was consumed at each, I even saw a fight this year, should we shut it down? No, because the odd fight or drunk is part of any crowd.
I couldn't tell you if there are any future Politicians in the group, bit early to tell but judging by the absolute mess the last generation made of it, I think we should hand the country over to them.
You could have gone for a walk anyway, I have & never have I experienced anything negative just saw a group of people having a few drinks on the beach like Australia, Thailand & many other countries. Many of the towns older crowd go for a drink/meal on a Monday night, pissing & kicking is not obligatory or even common. A local man whom I'm sure you know turned 100 recently & still attended the busiest pub on the busiest MnM nights of the year.
Yes, I have a vested interest I like to see people enjoy themselves & the town do well & resent the fact that a few killjoys have ended one great night.

Surfsmurf

Hi Guys,
Interesting debate, it seems to me that there are big benifits to Ballybunion from the madness and a high price to pay for some local residents. The issue is not so much the crowds or the drinking, this has always been a feature of festivals in ireland, it is a matter of indiividual choice whether to drink to excess, i have no problem with this as long as it doesent impact negitivly on me or mine. The issue is wheter there is effective public order management and whether the individuals making the money are prepared to pay to insure that thier money making ( No problem with this either) does not impact negitivly on the public. The concerts in bally bunion reciently were well managed and I personally witnessed trouble makers being dealt with swiftly and effectivly on two occasions in one vening. The concert could not have been staged without a plan to manage the crowds...toilets, security, traffic management extra gardi and so on. This is what is missing from MNM. Properly managed MNM could be a positive rather than a negitive, a little ore thought and a little less Joe duffy style polarized positions. Dont ban it reclaim it. :rolleyes:

Tragedy

TargetWidow wrote: »

Is Toomevara really known for dogging? Janey! Someone should get the newspapers onto that;).

It actually is! In national news papers and everything.

Tragedy

Frank165 wrote: »

Tragedy. No, not half, my main reason for liking Monday Night Madness is that people make money out of it

That's grand, but a tiny percentage of people living in ballyb make money out of it. A tiny tiny percentage. And yet everyone else has to live with it.

just as it seems its your reason for not liking it.

My reason for disliking it is it turns the town into a mess, and the next day it looks like a bomb hit town. If a bomb consists of vomit, broken windows and broken glass everywhere.

People need money.

How many people employed by all the bars and clubs are earning over €10 an hour? Those kinds of jobs have no future for people, they're teenager/college students jobs. Which is exactly the people who are doing them, since I know a lot of them

For many young people,cheap = necessity, for every generation at the moment cheap = necessity.

Young people are no worse off now than they were 3 years ago. The recession has hit people in full time jobs in construction/manufacturing/banking, people with mortgages and debt. Not people who work part time during the summer or are on the dole.

We are in a massive massive recession & have just barred Ballyb's biggest earner. Eagle lodge b&b was lamenting the collapse of MNM in the Sunday world this week.

A recession opens up as many opportunities as it closes. Look at the increase in homegrown holidaying in the last year, and bord failte and the tourism industrys work in promoting this and showing that there is finally starting to be some value in Ireland.

How could the biggest employers in town employ a small minority, that just nonsensical.

Ever heard of people commuting to Tralee/Listowel/Abbeyfeale? Also, I seriously doubt nightclubs employ more people than farming.

You holidayed here, I live here. Town was busy in the 90s with young people drinking in the Atlantic. Was busy before that with people drinking in the pubs & dance halls.

None of which was the madness, promoting BallyB solely as the ryanair of nights out.

The pubs haven't been here all the time hoping for Monday Nights but have stayed open because of them.

12 nights a year(your words) doesn't keep any business open.

Pubs are shutting all over the country.

Pubs have been shutting all over the country ever since the smoking ban, and since random alcohol breath testing - nothing whatsoever to do with the recession.
Statistically, people drink more during a recession.

Restaurants are shutting all over the country

Restaurants weren't shutting all over the country, the overpriced ones in big towns/cities are as people start to actually have a clue of what the word value means.

PS: Are you seriously trying to same people going to Madness go out for dinner to a restaurant in BallyB first?

People in Dublin haven't heard of MnM, come on every paper, every major radio station.

I go out in Dublin any night of the week and I'll see as many people who are out in the Madness in just one of 20-30 clubs around Dublin.
The first time I went into JD's, I thought people were joking when they called it a club. It's not, it's a small pub with a tiny dancefloor.
Don't be thinking MNM is some kind of amazing phenomenon known across Ireland, it isn't a drop in the ocean and it only got press in the last few weeks in rabble rousing trashy newspapers/radio shows.

Where were these masses of Dubs, we have never ever had many Dubs here.

Strange, I heard 'dubs' own/run McMunns and JD's at the very least.
Any time I'm in Killarney or Dingle I see and hear lots of Dubs. Cork/Kerry are still the most popular holiday destination for people from Dublin, you just don't see them in BallyB as local businesses don't seem particularly interested in tourism.

Festivals everywhere have everything to do with drink, that's why there's exemptions, have you ever-heard of a tee-totalling festival in Ireland.

There's a comedy festival in Dublin on over the last weekend where drunk people are summarily ejected.
There's a festival of world cultures on just down the road from me where there's no drinking at all and it will attract twice as many people as who live in kerry over 3 days.

Go to any big town or city and you'll find plenty of successful festivals that aren't about drinking.

Nobody picks anyone up from supervalu at midnight or anywhere else in a town centre at midnight

Because staff in supervalu don't work after close, and the casinos don't finish at between 11 and 12.
No sirree.

Jd's capacity is over the 1,200 mark & it was impossible to get into after 11.30 because of crowds. So 1,200 plus two other nightclubs, hell its probably over 1,000 people.

Club's never reach max capacity. If you are who I think you are, you'll know the stated max capacity is purely for insurance/planning reasons and is pretty much unfeasible and unworkable. You literally couldn't move if 1,200 people were sandwiched inside JD's.

Its like the equivalent of work, full stop. There are not many full time jobs in any summer town & young people trying to get a few bucks for college can't work in them full time anyway. They have to go to college, this is real basic.

Free fee's, grants and the fact that most of them go to tralee so have feck all living expenses.

Your equating jobs in bars & supermarkets to being only better than no job, why?

I did no such thing. I stated that if the choice is between a job in a bar, or no job - then the only choice is a job in a bar.

I could have stated that if the choice was between being a hairdresser or no job, the only choice was being a hairdresser.
It's not a judgement.

Families have the whole town to choose from all day and plenty quiet pubs to choose from after that, but who brings their kids uptown at midnight?

Midnight? Town starts filling up with cretins from 7pm on unfortunately.

People from Limerick & Kerry are the only people we have got for the last thirty years, do you live or holiday here, again basic knowledge on Ballyb.

I've met a good few people from Dublin working/holidaying in BallyB.
Isn't JD's/McMunns ran(or owned) by dubliners now?

Again Dublin people and even people from as far far away as the South East have heard of & attended MnM, its the 2nd thing up on Google.ie if you type Monday night.

No, it isn't. The first 10 things are about American Football, Monday Night Soccer on RTE and wrestling.
The first mention of madness was 69th, and yes - this was on google.ie

Limerick & Kerry people throng the beaches & huge crowds on the one nice bank holiday Sunday we get every second year

Even in March, when it was a sunny weekend town was packed. Whichever weekend was the Limerick - Kerry match, town again was absolutely packed as it was a lovely day.

then they pack up their coolboxes & go home.

Because there's nothing to keep them here!

Spain/Portugal is where people go for sun holidays, cheaper & sunnier than here.

It's only cheaper because prices got out of control and people got greedy.

Again what seaside resort in Ireland or Britain has boomed since the 1st World War. Ballybunion has for about 7 years.

Are you for real? No seaside resort has boomed in 90 years?
Courtown in wexford(sadly a kip now though), tramore in waterford, bundoran/ballyshannon in Donegal. And that's only places I went as a teenager.

Incidents happen any night, in every destination, with any crowd.

They seem to mostly happen on a Monday in BallyB though. strange.

You consistently refer to the young people of Ballyb & Limerick as scangers, most of them have a few drinks & a dance & that's it same as every other generation.

Are you mad? No-one from ballyb has been going to Madness this year, even they've been put off.

You not liking an event because you don't make money from it is very shallow.

I never said that even though you keep saying I did.

Not drink outside because they can't afford inside, from the man whose giving out that he can't go out on ten nights of the year

What? Is that meant to make sense?

A considerable number of the crowd are from Ballyb

BallyB only has a population of 1,000-1,200. Of that, not more than 100 or 150 can be between 17 and 25, and yet you're saying 2,000+ people are going to madness. Even if every single young person in BallyB went out on Monday, they'd still not be a considerable number of the crowd.

I know many of the Limerick people, they are not scangers.

Everytime I see a van pull up and 10 people scramble from the backdoors I laugh. Scangers!

They are young people having a few drinks & enjoying themselves just like older people.

You keep saying this generation isn't any worse than previous generations.
Anyone with a clue knows that's total bollocks and that many european countries are suffering serious societal problems with anti social behaviour and a knew underclass.

Holidays everywhere are down. You can get an apartment & pool for €350 in Spain any week you like, a 5 star hotel in Egypt for €500 for two weeks.

Many of my friends and family are taking weekend breaks in 4* hotels in places like Galway, Kilkenny, Killarney, Kenmare, Waterford etc etc. Because they're offering actual real value, without the hassle of leaving the country. They might get a week in Spain for the same money as 3 nights in one of these hotels, but time is money, and you get an awful lot of pampering in those three nights.

Ballybunion businesses have known for years that the lack of a high class hotel and high class restaurants was leading to people visiting the golf course completely bypassing the town. Great business opportunity, no-one did anything.

Of course houses aren't going to command anywhere near the price they used to, there are too many of them & they are at best worth half what they were 3 years ago. I had a friend who wanted to rent a 3 bedroomed house down here for a year, he could find just two options. Ballyb is bucking the trend for letting. I know the house on Church road & for an old house or any house €300 a WEEK is excellent.

There's always a couple on the noticeboard of suprvalu for rent. Not seen one asking for anywhere near €300 a week either.

If you are over 18 it is illegal for you to be paid any less than the mininum wage or to work nights so if your on less, your on cash.

Brush up on your REA's and ERO's.

Your list of businesses have all opened since Monday night began.

The surf school, coast cafe, leisure centre, indian take away(which closes at 12) all opened because of madness? The hairdressers and beauty salons opened because of Madness?

Are people really going to come here because we have take-aways etc.

No. People come because you have fantastics beaches with fabulous scenery. People don't stay because you literally don't have anything else. Pitch & Putt? Crazy Golf? Comedy Clubs on in the Tintean? Punch and Judy for the kids during the day? Even bumper cars are gone.

I attended Coastal Rocks both years & quite a lot of drink was consumed at each, I even saw a fight this year, should we shut it down? No, because the odd fight or drunk is part of any crowd.

Just up the road from me there's regularly concerts with 80,000 people.
They close down the roads, run special busses, and pay for several hundred Gardai and private security to police the concert to make sure no-one, no-one is a drunken mess.
Able to drink? Sure! Able to make a drunken nuisance of yourself and ruin other people's enjoyment? **** no.
It's called responsibility, something people making money off of events/drinking understand in most places. Just not BallyB.

Yes, I have a vested interest I like to see people enjoy themselves & the town do well & resent the fact that a few killjoys have ended one great night.

I have an idea who you are, and if you are - It'd explain a lot.

I'm not from Ballybunion. My girlfriend is, and I've been down there every second week for the better part of the last 18months. She knows that when she finishes college she'll need to leave ballyb and never return, as there is literally no future there for her or 99% of people her age if they want to make a better life for themselves.

I look at Ballyb and I see what it could be if even just a couple of people with vision, ingenuity and a bitta entrepreneuring spirit decided they were going to do something about the towns future.

Unfortunately, it all seems to be people like you and other pub/clubs owners who are only too happy to make a quick buck and **** the future of the town and people living in it.
BallyB has no future, especially with less and less jobs within commuting distance in places like Tralee/Listowel/Abbeyfeale.

Frank165

Well this could go on for ever & everyone is entitled to their opinion. However if you don't like the place & see so much wrong why not go somewhere else? Why try to mould a town to what your image of it should be. Why the need to interfere in others lives?
Surfsmurf, great piece.

Tragedy

The local club owners are trying to mould the town to what their image of it should be.
Madness!
Hypocritical much?

If you see the car in my signature flashing you, I do know who you are, and I do know why you're so vociferous in your defense of Madness and local pubs/clubs.
It fits

Frank165

Again, I have nothing to do, well apart from having a few pints, with any of the pubs or clubs. I do not make a penny from nights out. The local clubs & pubs are only trying to make a few pounds its a short season. If you've a few ideas for down here, why not give them a go? Any business that attracts a few would be more than welcome.

Surfsmurf

Unfortunately, it all seems to be people like you and other pub/clubs owners who are only too happy to make a quick buck and **** the future of the town and people living in it.

:eek: Ooooh Frank you never said you had a pub.... this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship;)

Frank165

No Surfsmurf, I don't own a pub, I work just outside Tralee. I do know many of the owners & staff having lived here all my life & like everyone else they have families, mortagages etc. The town has been absolutely crowded for the last three or four years on a Monday night. Guards done a great job on Mondays. There were about 12 on duty most MnM so trouble in the town centre was near non existent, but a Garda was assaulted & some idiots drove a stolen jeep into a tombstone, but locals restored it last week. But Mondays exemptions are a thing of the past now unfortunately. I'm all for the family resort but don't believe family seaside holidays will ever happen again in sufficient numbers to support the town. Hopefully they do but I believe that we should have hung onto something that brought in excess of 2,000 people to the town every week for 12 nights. Good few bucks for in my opinion little trouble. You probably know the town, still plenty of good nights down here so still worth a visit. Sean O' Dowd & Hanora draw a great crowd in the Badgers on a Wednesday. Have you surfed down here? Do a small bit myself.

Surfsmurf

Too bad about the pub, Yeah, I surf Ballyb from time to time. I live not far away so well aware of the controversy , never attended though; too old in the bones but passed through plenty of times. I always thought with some thought and planning this could have been developed into something more original than just a party night, more a rolling summer festival, most of the infrastructure is there already pubs, restaurants b&b/ hotel etc. Close the main street from 5pm. Cater for families and kiddies till 9 or 10 then the party crowd later, wouldn't take much similar to the recent concerts but include the whole street.

And for the nay Sayers, some of the families that frequent ballyb are nothing to write home about, ask anyone who works in the casinos or fast food restaurants, or check out the state of the beach after a sunny Sunday in August.

These situations are accepted as part of life during a short season in a resort town, as long as things are managed there is no problem. Me I head for Brandon bay when things get too crazy in ballyb. The year is long and the locals have the place for all of it.

Frank165

Bang on, closing the street makes sense. Never too old, you heard of the fella who turned 100 he's still out having the crack. Has even been spotted at the madness a few times.
Love the crowds in town myself, good time in winter too but nice to see a few new faces around. Gets a bit crowded off the point alright, I go to Castlegregory a bit but not much further usually. One of the busiest summers in the water so far, huge numbers of teenagers taking it up, some fairly handy.

RiderOnTheStorm

gone quiet in here lately, eh?

Not much news from me.

Sunday was a cracking day in Ballyb, weather wise. Lots of folk around and on the beach. If we got 2 weeks of this every year, folk would not have to go abroad !

topper75

Never saw the point in Ballyb. I didn't rate it alongside the other resorts on the west coast.

That all changed last Saturday (4th Sept 2010). Glorious sunshine when rain was forecast. Great for swimming. Clean invigorating water. Got parking easy enough. Cliffs protect from breeze and make a stunning backdrop. On its day, it matches California or Portugal. Shame that day only comes once in a blue moon.

Hasschu

I got a kick out of the newspaper article that blames the Weather Forecast Office for the poor business at Ballybunion this year. Reminds me of experiences I had off the coast of Portugal where a force 5 gale was under way and the marine forecast was for "gentle breezes". Thats what happens when the Tourist Bureau controls the weather forecasting. The joke was that gentle Jesus was working in the Portuguese weather office and we had to rely on the US Weather Service for reliable forecasts. I hope nobody gets the wrong ideas here and gets on the phone to their TD to rectify the weather forecasts.

TargetWidow

Great summer weather in Ballyb this year.(except for the few stormy days lately), my first year in ages getting a good tan!

Bloody weaver fish tho! So there IS a downside to global warming! We all wear our crocs in swimming at low tide because of them. I first heard of them when the hubby got stung badly by one a few years ago when he stood on one, and a little bit of the spine came off and stayed in his foot. Poor man his foot came up like a pot and he couldn't walk on it or anything. I thought he had only been stung by a jellyfish and was (shamefacedly now) telling him to cop on and offering to pee on it if it was that bad! One of the lifeguards told him what it was and had to explain them to us. Having grown up there I thought I knew it all. But as happens all the time in Ballyb, the fine weather brings all sorts of new residents to the town. Hopefully these ones are only temporary!

snow scorpion

Good Lord! This thread has become quieter than a ghost town. (Not a good thing for a village that depends on tourism! ) Maybe everyone is out with Target Widow enjoying the good weather.

Anyway, I found a great Ballybunion video at YouTube. If you've ever wondered what it would be like to surf at Ballyb, you're about to find out.

Thanks to marko34ify for posting it (and hopefully not objecting to me posting it here.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjVZ6oMe29A

Surfsmurf

Great movie, hi to mark brendan and co; nice work.:cool::cool::cool:

ballybunionlad

Well the Listowel races are over for another year..... It could be a long winter.

On another note I see that they are once again refurbishing the community centre. The stage has been removed from the main hall and they're putting down a new floor.....The the poor old bingo ladies have been relocated upstairs for the time being.

The reason I'm told for the renovations is to bring the basketball court up to official standards.

stephen112

Anyone have a contact number for the Tintean theatre or know how I could get in touch with them?
There's a number on the website (068 28003) but it's never working

Cheers

snow scorpion

You've got to be kidding!

It looks like Google Maps Street View has been up and down almost every road in Ireland.

I've been spending most of the day "wandering" around Ballybunion, Listowel, Tralee, Shannon Airport, Dublin and Longford!



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snow scorpion

150,000 views!



We average about 130 per day, so we should hit 200,000 somewhere around



22 October 2011.