Has urban Ireland finally a voice?

John_Rambo · 27-04-2026 09:27AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424182#Comment_124424182

You see, it’s this sort of reply that annoys people. A valid point gets made, like the fact that large parts of rural Ireland now resemble one big scattered housing estate, and instead of engaging with it you get “do you even know rural Ireland?” as if that ends the discussion. Of course we do. And we also understand the basics. Patchy phone signal isn’t some gotcha, it’s exactly what you’d expect in low density areas. The same goes for public transport, post, broadband, all of it. It costs more to deliver, so, in some cases you get less of it. That’s not controversial, it’s just reality. That's the trade off, you get cheaper and larger houses.

You even hear it yourself all the time, “you’re in the country now”, usually said to urban people when they make a casual observation. Fine, but that cuts both ways. You can’t lean into that idea when it suits and then act shocked when someone points out the trade offs.

Living in the countryside comes with upsides, but limited services are part of the deal. That’s not an insult, it’s just the reality of how infrastructure works throughout the world. New York has good phone signal, rural Alaska doesn't.

fly_agaric · 27-04-2026 09:52AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124423732#Comment_124423732

Would agree with this to an extent, however they (the kind of people who created blockades with their big machines) do help "keep the country afloat".

We all (or most of us) do our bit for that.

They are no more representing the "real Ireland" or deserving of more special favours from govt. than a city dweller such as myself however, and the bully boy tactics during the fuel protests (to get what the govt. would likely have given them anyway) were pretty disgraceful and disgusting.

John_Rambo · 27-04-2026 10:12AM

Here’s a graph of who actually keeps the country afloat. Not the mouthy ones, not the ones blocking roads and causing chaos. The ones quietly putting their shoulder to the wheel and keeping the country running.

yagan · 27-04-2026 10:13AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424648#Comment_124424648

I can't ever see the sons of the soil being let bring their toys into Dublin to protest again. They're too immature.

magicbastarder · 27-04-2026 10:21AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424712#Comment_124424712

remove where the corporates are headquartered - where money is funnelled into ireland - and it won't be nearly as extreme.

BlueSkyDreams · 27-04-2026 10:36AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424731#Comment_124424731

Its income tax based on where people live. Nothing to do with corporates.

The residents of Dublin pay more income tax than the residents of the rest of Ireland put together.

magicbastarder · 27-04-2026 10:38AM

that wasn't clear from the graph - 'overall' suggested the total tax take?

Sleepy · 27-04-2026 10:43AM

I do think a lot of the "real workers" stuff comes from the disdain with which many who do physical work hold for those who do office based work. They've been raised in a culture that only sees work to be hard if you're physically exhausted by it. It also explains why the protesters were referred to as "ignorant" by so many on social media, it's the traditional response to anti-intellectualism.

BlueSkyDreams · 27-04-2026 10:45AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424791#Comment_124424791

Dublin residents paid 16B income tax in 2024.

55% of the total 29B raised in the country.

kowloonkev · 27-04-2026 10:46AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424712#Comment_124424712

I don't see the USA in your chart.

timmyntc · 27-04-2026 10:46AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424791#Comment_124424791

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424778#Comment_124424778

Sceptical of this. Galway county has more income tax paid than kildare, meath or wicklow?

Mayo more income tax paid than Wicklow? Doesnt seem to map with dub commuter numbers - Id wager that graph includes corporate taxes, or else income tax based on employer location

L1011 · 27-04-2026 10:48AM

That's definitely not an income tax chart. Galway does have a lot of high earners in the medtech industry though.

magicbastarder · 27-04-2026 10:49AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424817#Comment_124424817

so cork, which has a population double that of galway, raises over eleven times as much tax revenue?

magicbastarder · 27-04-2026 10:52AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424778#Comment_124424778

i've just found a table which confirms it's not income tax. well, it's all taxes. it very explicitly does include corporation tax. i wonder where apple is paying their tax…

from the revenue website:

https://www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/documents/statistics/receipts/net-receipts-by-county.pdf

for example - cork raised €26.5bn in 2024. 21.3bn of that was corporation tax - less than 10% (!) of their tax take was income tax and USC.

magicbastarder · 27-04-2026 10:54AM

however, dublin is still very much an outlier by the figures above; 37% of the total tax take in dublin was income tax and USC, but the income tax take for dublin is more than half of the entire income tax take for the country.

Sleepy · 27-04-2026 10:57AM

@ILoveYourVibes are you really that sure that urban Ireland couldn't get by without rural Ireland?

As has been mentioned many times on this thread, most of the food we eat in this country is imported. The docks are in the urban areas and the money is there to pay to import it. Interestingly, Fingal, which would be considered an "urban" county, also produces 55% of the country's fresh produce (47% of national field vegetables, 37% of protected fruits, vegetables, and nursery plants, and 15% of national potato output). I'm sure Cork, Limerick and Galway also have quite respectable food production stats but only know the Fingal ones as it's where I live myself.

That rural Ireland couldn't get by without the wealth distribution from urban areas is self evident. If public spending was ring-fenced to the counties in which the taxation to fund it were raised, Dublin wouldn't know what to do with it's surplus while much of rural Ireland would look like rural Russia within a decade or two as it's public infrastructure degraded and collapsed. We're not just talkin roads here either: schools, public transport, emergency services, utilities. It would be utterly dystopian.

I'm not arguing for this. There's a definite, but intangible value, to the food security that rural Ireland provides: in a world war or other apocalyptic scenario the Irish diet (and likely our farming practices) would have to change dramatically but, aside from a need to move away from fossil fuels in our food production, rural Ireland provides the nation with the capability to feed itself.

BlueSkyDreams · 27-04-2026 10:57AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424822#Comment_124424822

Thats not income tax in the graph.

Tornaedo · 27-04-2026 10:57AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424778#Comment_124424778

It is NOT just income tax, it's overall tax which includes corporation tax, VAT etc. Dublin certainly pays the most of any county but not more than the rest of the country (44 vs 50).

As for income tax, Dublin residents pay exactly the same rates as everyone else, if someone pays more tax it's because they earn a higher income or if a region pays more income tax it's because it's got more tax payers or higher income tax payers.

magicbastarder · 27-04-2026 11:00AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424871#Comment_124424871

the table on the revenue PDF i posted does prove that the income tax and USC take in dublin is more than the rest of the country combined - it's €16.2bn out of €29.7bn.

though it's worth remarking on that the corporation tax take in cork is 50% higher than in dublin.

Tornaedo · 27-04-2026 11:00AM

Deleted

Cluedo Monopoly · 27-04-2026 11:03AM

I don't get this thread. What are people expecting to change? Leo wasn't advocating for anything to change, was he? I live in a rural part of Galway and I know services cost more to provide etc and urban areas pay more tax but that's just life, isn't it? I could move to an urban area if I wanted and vice versa. I lived in Dublin for several years but chose to come back home. So what.

BlueSkyDreams · 27-04-2026 11:03AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424871#Comment_124424871

I am not referencing the graph.

My point is Dublin pays more income tax than the rest of the country combined.

30% of the population (Dublin) pays 55%, or the majority, of all income tax raised in the state.

kowloonkev · 27-04-2026 11:04AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424868#Comment_124424868

It's not by accident that rural Ireland has depended on/depends on the USA/EU via Dublin to maintain a certain lifestyle. That's the way it's designed to be.

Tornaedo · 27-04-2026 11:04AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424791#Comment_124424791

You were right, it is overall tax. Income tax would be less than 40Bn for the entire country let alone one county.

Sleepy · 27-04-2026 11:07AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424907#Comment_124424907

Go on, tell us all your conspiracy theory rather than just obliquely referencing it…

magicbastarder · 27-04-2026 11:07AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424900#Comment_124424900

I am not referencing the graph.

if you were not referencing the graph, you confused matters by correcting me on my question which was explicitly about the graph. i questioned the figures, you stated 'it's income tax and nothing to do with corporates'

anyway, that's cleared up now.

BlueSkyDreams · 27-04-2026 11:17AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424921#Comment_124424921

Its quite telling that 70% of the population live outside Dublin and yet that 70% contribute less income tax than the 30% that live in Dublin.

Tornaedo · 27-04-2026 11:21AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424900#Comment_124424900

You absolutely were referencing the graph, maybe mistakenly but from the sequence of posts you were, that's obvious to anyone that reads them.

However, my second point in reference to income tax still stands.

27-04-2026 11:25AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424712#Comment_124424712

Thats all well and good but look at what tax spend was in Ireland. Dublin recieving the lions share. Social protection is the highest spend in the country not something specific to country or city.

The divide and conquer is not going to help this country at all, it shouldnt even make headline news that the biggest population center makes the most and costs the most and it shouldnt be a shock to anyone that protests have the biggest impact in the capital city.

BlueSkyDreams · 27-04-2026 11:31AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124424967#Comment_124424967

I'm not sure what your second point is.

Yes everyone has the same income tax thresholds, but its still quite staggering that Dublin, with just 30% of the population, pays more income tax than the other 70% put together.

Has urban Ireland finally a voice?

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