Do you believe that we in Ireland are now richer than those in the UK?

…and if you think younger generations are gonna be able to provide older generations with critical needs such as their old age health care needs, you ve another thing coming!

I have been living in Canada for 11 years now, been back and forth throughout.

If you want to see real poverty, go to places like Vancouver where there are people strung out block after block, and see what poor services look like. Try living in the pacific north west where it can rain for 50 days straight, or even venture out a little bit where it can be -35 at times. Vancouver is also home to the richest and poorest postal codes in Canada, it has a massive housing issue with foreign buyers buying up property to launder money, and there are no real services for mental health. There is also gang violence, and it is quite common, a gang member of The Brothers Keepers was assassinated 2 blocks from my house a few years back, and that brought with it more and more escalation. Then there are the Hells Angels who run guns, drugs and human traffic.

Here you will see some of the grimmest, poorest and broken people on earth.

Or try buy a house in Vancouver, or Toronto where the average runs close to 1.5million for a pretty standard house.

(This would be a candidate for being torn down once it is bought)

(Same with this)

(Of if you didn't want the hassle of tearing something down, you can just go for something like this)

Healthcare is a mix of public and private, if you don't have good coverage through work then you will pay through the teeth for care.

Grocery prices, again, are more expensive over there, you pay a lot more for a lot less and the quality is maybe a half step above the garbage you get in the states.

It gives me a giggle when posters/people like this think Ireland is some sort of cesspit with no running water, harsh weather systems and just crime all over the place. By many metrics, Ireland is safe and prosperous, the trend mainly being that those who moan have probably been so Spain in the summer for 2 weeks, get some sun and think "I could live here", when it is just a holiday.

You probably just don't like Ireland, fair enough, but it is not the shithole you think it is, not even by the longest of shots.

A rich country for decades, with appalling infrastructure... their taxes on mid to high earners is far more palatable than here... you also have political choice there... in ireland, of the bigger parties your choice is the left, the left and oh.... the left...

and again, ffg arent actually left parties, theyre broad spectrum centrists, with more right leaning economic policies, with a sprinkle of leftism to boot, this is particularly evident in major policies such as housing!

Do we not have a larger household wealth than the UK, per capita?

Ah, we will just piss the money up against wall while it's available and the greedy people will get exceedingly rich. We will not contribute to the betterment of human endeavor. It's just party time

If you compare the south to the north on this island its gives you a pretty good snap shot of where things are at.

Everything is being cut to shreds up here in the north agriculture, healthcare, infrastructure etc. all I haven't had a pay rise in 5 years and now with the latest increase in employers national Insurance contribution coming in this April I wont have a hope of getting one next year.

I look to the south and feel that you are progressing more as a society than us here up in the north, we are most certainly being stifled by Westminster on every front.

The UK is heading in a bad direction and it wont take much to ignite the fire.

if you were a FFG voter, primarily home owners, why would you want to lower the value of your primary asset by seeing more homes built? its only a crisis for some, its not a crisis for the politicians or home owners, particularly older ones, who got their houses for nothing…

Also FFG, we have the worlds largest welfare state and a marginal rate of tax that kicks in at a low income, they are right on housing, but they are left on other issues, they are left on any woke agenda…

Ah another "let's shît on the Brits" schadenfreude thread, how original.

We are a rich country, but it doesn't feel like it. Maybe get our own show in order before clapping ourselves on the back too hard.

All to be wasted by our government.

I'm just back from the UK twice in a month, you see serious high end cars there frequently... our middle class, would be deemed working class in the UK...

FFG are hardly right leaning economically. They're more or less right in the middle of the road. Yes, we rely on MNCs and investment sectors quite heavily, but we don't have many options in that regard. Ireland is small economy off the North Western shore of Europe. And Ireland has next to zero valuable natural resources such as oil, coal, gas, steel, precious metals etc. that shore up the internal economy like in regions such as the Nordic countries. So we have to be attractive to inward investment. Otherwise we go back to subsistence farming. That's what the physical geography of our island is good for, farming and horticulture. And we've deforested most of the island to maximise our farming exports.

You're well off the mark labelling FFG as economically right. We have a very wide social welfare net, a progressive income tax system, inheritance taxes, property taxes, excise duties on fuel, carbon taxes etc. That balances with some of the more economically right policies in our country. Therefore, a middle of the road economic approach. One which the people voted for the continuation of in the most recent election.

That misses the point.

If a voter feels FFG are more likely to build 300k homes by 2030 vs SF, they will vote FFG, to try fix the housing crisis.

Plenty of FFG voters I know are more than happy for their house price to drop, if it means their kids can get on the housing ladder.

They decided that FFG will deliver more homes than SF, and so voted for FFG; to improve the housing situation.

Its pointless comparing FFG with a perfect housing output. In the real world, no govt is going to build 100k homes from 2025 onwards.

The relevant question is which of the 2 government choices will build the most homes, FFG or SF.

Given the improvement in housing output in recent years and the expected delivery of over 40k homes next year, the first time for decades, the safe money is on FFG.

I'd take a slightly different view on the "are we richer" question. I'd frame it as where would you rather be poor. In Britain? Or here? I know which my preference would be and it certainly wouldn't be Britain. Living standards & life expectancy on the slide and poverty, particularly childhood poverty on the rise.

The UK has serious issues around taxation, equity and equality to address. It has to do that in an economic morass entirely of its own making. Ireland has similar structural problems but is approaching them now with budget surpluses and a well performing economy. Housing is a prime example, the UK is in as bad a predicament as we are but is even more beholden to private equity to finance any interventions.

Standards in Education, health and public services such as foster care and social care are plummeting. They are yet to actually implement portions of the withdrawal agreement because inbound checks will cripple their supply chains.

If the UK were a lifeboat? It's one that is sinking, taking on water by the gallon yet being bailed out by a clown with an egg cup.