I do not think so yet, but do think it is going that way and the British have only themselves to blame after leaving the EU with Brexit and that sad little Farage fellow who conned them all as well as a former British Prine Minister or 2 who took them that way.
Only the drug dealers atm
The effort goes into Xmas and Patrick’s Day stuff here.
The lack of focus on NYE is just cultural. Christmas in France for example is rather a letdown but they go into a big deal NYE display in a lot of cities.
different places are just different on that topic.
I’m not really sure what ppl expect from RTE either. It’s not a big broadcaster. We tend to compare it with BBC. It’s more comparable to one of the Scandinavian scale public tv channels— they’re ok, but they’re not BBC either.
Don't take my word for it. The market is giving judgement now.
Borrowing costs are rising.
The pound sterling is falling like stone.
They are going to either have to cut spending or tax even more!
Their chancellor is taxing them so heavily she now has the deserved nickname Rachel thieves.
Mark my words - they are on course to go cap in hand to the IMF.
Agree with this. Ireland is expensive but poor value when compared to European countries other than the UK. It really doesn’t feel like a wealthy country especially when you go outside of Dublin (though Dublin city centre - not the Docklands - actually indicates the city is poverty stricken in contrast to many other European capitals in their city centres).
One of the noticeable things about comparable European countries like Denmark, Germany and Switzerland in terms of individual spending power is that you can still see there is money in the country in the small villages; well maintained roads and pavements, clean, small businesses in the little villages, well serviced by public transport. In Ireland, like the UK, a lot of the small towns have terrible roads, no reliable public transport and are littered with discount stores and alcohol problems.
Seeing towns go mad over a new Pennys or a Lidl is not what wealthy countries do. Also, cramming all the designer clothes into one department store (Brown Thomas) as opposed to having stand alone Chanel, Gucci etc stores is another indicator that the place is not that rich.
I'll believe it when I see it. Stupid nicknames are not an argument.
Feels don't count. We can see the stark difference in terms of Ireland s surplus against the UK deficit.
UK deficit 2024- £3.72 billion
Irish surplus 2024- €9.9 billion
Ireland increased it's exported products by over 20%.
The difference is staggering.
Is the money well spent in Ireland - absolutely not but that's besides the point.
Ireland in terms of wealth is way ahead.
Long term Ireland will unify in all probability because economically is doing so much better.
In the UK there really is no hope for improvement
Interesting that you compare Ireland to Germany when the Iidl/Aldi discount model emerged from Germany. Plus Pennys/Primark is expanding in Europe.
We do have a massive road network of boreens and backroads to maintain that many other European countries don't have. Outside of the cities and coastal resort strips Spain is mostly empty.
Personally I think Dublin is a mess simply because we were primarily an agrarian nation with a politics set up to spread representation across all the land, rural TDs again becoming linchpins in government formation talks. Up til we joined the EEC, which was in my lifetime, 40% of the population lived in or worked in an agricultural setting, whereas now agri only directly employs round 4%.
We never had a city mentality and are unlikely to ever have. We treat cities now as dumping grounds. Comparing us to nations that industrialised in the 19th and 20th centuries will always show how we prefer town over city.
The South city area around Grafton St looks wealthy, the North area around O'Connell St looks like a different city altogether and is not in keeping at all with the overall wealth of Dublin.
Plenty of coastal and southside suburbs look and feel wealthy and clean, but agree a lot of rural areas look rundown across the country.
The absence of large stand alone shops like Chanel etc is more to do with our small population and available retail units in the city centre.
Our surplus could turn to a deficit very quickly, if the corporation tax receipts dry up.
Unifying with the north would be very costly economically, as there is little private industry there.
Replacing all the public sector jobs, that London pushes to NI to try and keep them in someway financially stable, is not possible for us to replicate.
That would seem somewhat unlikely. True Trump may possibly try to entice some multinationals back to the US but most economic commentators that I have read argue he will not be successful.
The pull factors are still in Ireland's favour - low corporation tax, educated work force and access to the EU.
Most persuasive in my view is the investment already made in Ireland. It would be absurd for the FDI to abandon all that.
Ireland is a hub for high tech, IT, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, financial services and engineering.
Ireland continues to attract FDI and projections going forward are very good. Ireland is on course for very, very healthy and growing economy.
The Brits chose to leave the EU with the idea sold to them that it would be good for their economy and reduce immigration.
On both those fronts Brexit has proved to be ineffective.
As I say the mood in the UK is extremely pessimistic. As I write this sterling is falling like a stone. Their debt servicing costs is spiking.
They are very likely to need the assistance of the IMF within the next five or so years.
They are heading into the abyss and there is absolutely no hope for them.
Deep cuts and painful tax rises are the only things the Brits can look forward to.
They are only going to continue their long, long inexorable decline
Well the Irish republic is not any wealthier than my area of Northern Ireland. You just have to drive through the countryside to look at the houses nowadays. Irish Catholics were historically viewed as inferior yet many are wealthier than the modern English and Catholic schools outperform Protestant schools. The people who came to civilise Ulster. As always the problem with stats is that our small population in Northern Ireland is always lumped in with the mass urban poverty of England.
Not a single fact in your last few points. Tell me how does the UK differ from any other large Eurozone economy at the moment.
This thread was opened to contrast the economic performance of the UK versus Ireland.
That's what I am just after doing
London is a fabulous city and extremely wealthy the rest of the UK is very mixed.
Income inequality is much less here.
Its very hard to get a handle on what's going on Ireland and Dublin seems very American to me short term obsession with what's trendy be it economics culture or development.
Increased wealth in Ireland hasn't made us more self reliant the opposite in fact culture has become very whiney here, it's a crescendo of blame the government for everything.
Watching the UK reporting of the floods and extreme weather verses how it's reported here really brings this home.
the UK must look at our network of nuclear power stations and wind farms, our high speed rail lines and underground transport network and wish they had similar. The fools still haven’t worked out that printing off bits of paper and sticking them to the windscreen of your car is the surest way to prove you have tax and a valid nct.
At least they can rely on our air force to protect their skies and rescue their citizens if they suddenly find themselves in a conflict zone.
NI is one of the poorest regions of the UK overall and has the lowest disposable income of all regions there.
Of course there are some wealthy areas, as with any country, but overall it is a heavily subsidised economy with very low economic productivity.
Even in the wealthy areas, the house prices won't be on par with Dublin, for instance.
True enough, our modern air force and navy are the envy of the world. I'm sure Russia shuddered all those years ago when the Skibbereen Eagle said they were watching them, and they should still shudder. Our engineering expertise is known around the world, ever since back in the day when the Dun Laoghaire (Kingstown) to Dublin railway was the first suburban railway in the world. Now look at out metro systems, our Children's hospital, our bike shed outside the Dail. What other nation in the world could afford to build the the most expensive hospital in the world. Double the price per bed of any other hospital in the world. What other parliament could afford a 300k bike shed which is hardly used?
Lets hope Apple and Co. keep bringing the worldwide profits to Ireland.
They can also marvel at our understanding of economies of scale which would conclude there is no point duplicating air force equipment and personnel who spend the majority of the time on standby anyway to protect what is essentially the same air space.
Ireland pays the RAF for the service they provide. The RAF need every penny they can get since their government is so broke.
Why would a small island need high speed rail when we're a country that can afford decent road infrastructure and who's peoples can afford decent cars.
lol. we don’t have an airforce, navy or an army worth speaking of because we can’t afford it.
I would say the UK and Ireland are equal if you compare middle class lifestyles. Its when you compare the people on social welfare that you see huge differences.
A lot of ex mining towns in the north of England like Hartlepool and Huddersfield are like war zones with feral youths roaming the streets ready to rip your head off. Every seaside town has huge unemployment now. The UK has very serious social issues in 2025.
Are you denying that the RAF is receiving payments from the Irish for the services they are providing? Why would we need to have our own when there's already well established air force at our doorstep?
Is the concept of paying for services received in return unknown to you?
The UK has serious financial issues now immigration is out of control the pound is falling in value Brexit has been a disaster the government is desperately looking around to increase taxs and reduce welfare payments the education system is mediocre with grade inflation . The UK would last a few weeks if attacked by Russia . London is wealthy but it is not enough to support the rest of the economy .the BBC and sky itv can still produce world class tv and films that are exported around the world
That's legacy.
Yes. They have good infrastructure from the time they had a good economy.
The London underground was the first built in the world.
They had an empire then. They don't have one now.
The good times are long in past. Going forward there's no hope for the UK.
Ireland's infrastructure is still lacking because of gross mismanagement rather a want of money and the fact that the gain in wealth is relatively recent.
Ireland has been a rich country for only about 35 years.
Our economy depends to a large extent to American corporations unfortunately Americans are under threat by climate change house prices are high but America is being hit by extreme weather droughts fires flooding extreme heat insurance companies are going out of business the latest fires in California cost 60 billion 10000 buildings destroyed in some of the most high class parts of California and Hollywood.
People in America are facing insurance costs as expensive as mortgage payments
Climate change could cause a recession in America our economy depends on the health of the American economy
Large parts of California has been reduced to rubble no fire department can deal with high winds and fires of that scale they can only hope the weather will change to tackle the fires
can you demonstrate that payments are being made, or is it an assumption?
Walk down the high street in most English cities people are dressed a lot worse than those on Irish streets , they even look poorer and sader …..many many English have zero disposable income and losing a tenner would be a major tragedy for them ….. the rich have hoovered all the money out of the system
What's really noticeable is the lack of £50 notes. I had one that I got from an Irish bank but I ended up having to change it in an English bank because no shop there would change, even the big supermarkets. I got into the habit of reducing cash to 5s and 10s, as even with a £20 you'd easily get short changed.
No Irish minister has ever said we pay the British to protect our airspace, do not be stupid.
https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/irish-airspace-and-waters-remain-europes-open-flank
Russia has made little enough progress in overcoming Ukraine in almost 3 years, and it is right next door. Their chances of overcoming the UK isn't great, although I suppose they could vaporise some of it.
I am anyways. Sure I'm a billionaire. Can't speak for the rest of ye plebs.
