What have the EU ever done for us?

ejmaztec · 11-12-2008 09:57PM

junkyard wrote: »

But has it occured to anyone else why it's dead? Businesses can only take so much in taxes and overheads that's why the whole thing's come crashing down, high costs and inflated worth. We're top heavy with people telling us what to do and how we should pay for this, that and the other and this is the end result.

It's dead worldwide, even in places where overheads are minimal. The worldwide system has gone down the crapper. Ireland isn't the only place in the sh1t.

Run_to_da_hills · 11-12-2008 10:02PM

The EU has let in hundreds of thousands of unregulated Foreign Nationals with resident work visas into Ireland which in turn created a huge demand on the property market to house these thus pushing up property prices for all of us.

Now they are leaving in their droves leaving a huge mess of Negative Equity behind them.

I don't blame the Foreign Nationals at all but I do blame the EU for allowing such a high volume of unregulated migrants into the country.

genericgoon · 11-12-2008 10:10PM

junkyard wrote: »

I did and I'm still asking the question, I'm not a farmer and never made much out of them tbh, my own business is gone down the pan over taxes and overheads so I was looking around for another means of income and you know what? There isn't anything left to do that you can make a living out of. Fishings dead, farmings dead, driving a taxi, dead, retail, i.e. a shop, dead, selling cars, dead. All these bussinesses have been pushed to their limits with rules, regulations and taxes. The only job busy these days is repossession and tbh I wouldn't really fancy making a living out of other peoples misfortune. If anyone else says roads just have a look around the country in general, they might be good in Dublin but in other parts they're a mess.

Because the Irish economy was such a powerhouse before we joined the EU eh? :pac:

11-12-2008 10:15PM

mike65 wrote: »

If we were not in the EU we'd be like Iceland is at the moment.

Fupped.

We'd have a fat drunken mess of a woman as our mascot?

ChocolateSauce · 11-12-2008 10:36PM

Equal pay for women?

A vast free market?

Billions and billions of free monies?

26 holiday destinations where you don't need a visa?

You serious? The EU has done more for us than I could write in an hour.

ChocolateSauce · 11-12-2008 10:38PM

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

The EU has let in hundreds of thousands of unregulated Foreign Nationals with resident work visas into Ireland which in turn created a huge demand on the property market to house these thus pushing up property prices for all of us.

Now they are leaving in their droves leaving a huge mess of Negative Equity behind them.

I don't blame the Foreign Nationals at all but I do blame the EU for allowing such a high volume of unregulated migrants into the country.

We knew it would come to this when we signed up in 1973, blame people over 50.

Run_to_da_hills · 11-12-2008 10:38PM

mike65 wrote: »

If we were not in the EU we'd be like Iceland is at the moment.

At least Iceland doesn't have to be forced into taking a second "undemocratic" Lisbon vote. :pac:

anonymous_joe · 11-12-2008 10:40PM

Dear God I hope the OP's a troll...

All of our economic growth over the past few years was because our being an EU country made us the perfect gateway country for lots of foreign companies, mainly American. Without that they'd have gone elsewhere, and we'd still be poor.

Infrastructure improved massively because of them.

World influence.

Less backwards laws, etc.

Ability to travel to other countries easily.

This country would be a shíthole without the EU - and none of us would be on boards.ie because we'd all have been forced to emigrate.

embee · 11-12-2008 10:41PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaE3EaQte78

rossie1977 · 11-12-2008 10:54PM

people mentioning infrastructure are having a laugh surely, you guys need to travel to donegal, galway, roscommon, leitrim, cavan and other counties like that, many of the main roads in those counties were built by the english, look at galway city a jewel in the crown of ireland and the fine infrastructure that exists there :eek:

M50 was proposed well before joining the EU, only in the last 5 years have we seen any real progress in infrastructure in this country

ejmaztec · 11-12-2008 11:23PM

If it weren't for the EU, people here would be livin' in paper bags at the side of a road rutted track.

OPENROAD · 11-12-2008 11:32PM

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

The EU has let in hundreds of thousands of unregulated Foreign Nationals with resident work visas into Ireland which in turn created a huge demand on the property market to house these thus pushing up property prices for all of us.

Now they are leaving in their droves leaving a huge mess of Negative Equity behind them.

I don't blame the Foreign Nationals at all but I do blame the EU for allowing such a high volume of unregulated migrants into the country.

Sorry bit confused here, unregulated foreign nationals? are we talking about people from other EU member states?

OPENROAD · 11-12-2008 11:35PM

rossie1977 wrote: »

M50 was proposed well before joining the EU, only in the last 5 years have we seen any real progress in infrastructure in this country

M50 was built mainly using German, French, British money. Re improvement in infrastructure, we need to look closer to home for that one. M50 being a great example, a two lane motorway, you're having a laugh

ejmaztec · 11-12-2008 11:44PM

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

The EU has let in hundreds of thousands of unregulated Foreign Nationals with resident work visas into Ireland which in turn created a huge demand on the property market to house these thus pushing up property prices for all of us.

Now they are leaving in their droves leaving a huge mess of Negative Equity behind them.

I don't blame the Foreign Nationals at all but I do blame the EU for allowing such a high volume of unregulated migrants into the country.

I think that the large number of negative equity properties resulted from a lot of people getting involved in buy-to-let, so that they could rent out to immigrants. Unfortunately, as many of them have had to return to their home countries, the nouveau-land-lords have been stuck with no tenants and no hope of selling the property, leading to inevitable re-possession.

I would say that most of the influx of foreign nationals wouldn't have been able to buy properties here, so the vast majority had to rent.

pablomakaveli · 11-12-2008 11:48PM

there can be no doubt that membership of the EU has been a massive benefit for Ireland but over the years the EU has gone from being an economic organization to being a precursor for a european government.

I think EU demands for another referendum are insulting to the irish people and i really think the EU needs to go back to being a purely economic organization rather than what it is now.

I also think the EU has gotten too big too fast and should stop taking new members for the next 10 - 15 years at least.

WooPeeA · 11-12-2008 11:49PM

Of course the EU, as previous speakers have said made lots of good for Ireland..

But, I wonder why people still ask that question. What Europe have done for us?

I'm waiting for the time when majority of people start asking 'What can we do for Europe and other people?'

Why for so many they still have to do something for us?

jester77 · 12-12-2008 12:04AM

They dropped the borders and made it easy to work in different countries without having to worry about visas and permits. I'm thankful for that!

... otherwise I'd probably be sitting in a mansion, wallowing in negative equity, complaining about the weather and having to queue up every Thursday to get me dole :P

ejmaztec · 12-12-2008 12:25AM

WooPeeA wrote: »

Of course the EU, as previous speakers have said made lots of good for Ireland..

But, I wonder why people still ask that question. What Europe have done for us?

I'm waiting for the time when majority of people start asking 'What can we do for Europe and other people?'

Why for so many they still have to do something for us?

You and me both.

Unfortunately, some people don't want to, or are too apathetic to bring themselves to see the bigger picture of Europe. For these people, it's all one way traffic.

inforfun · 12-12-2008 12:58AM

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

The EU has let in hundreds of thousands of unregulated Foreign Nationals with resident work visas into Ireland which in turn created a huge demand on the property market to house these thus pushing up property prices for all of us.

Now they are leaving in their droves leaving a huge mess of Negative Equity behind them.

I don't blame the Foreign Nationals at all but I do blame the EU for allowing such a high volume of unregulated migrants into the country.

Yeah, i think it was Johnny Foreigner who put a gun on the head of the Irish and forced them to buy homes at inflated prices.

What about the Irish who rented out houses to these foreigners?

Lots of foreigners who came to work in Ireland got jobs the Irish could not do. And only because the Irish, apart from some, dont speak German, French, Dutch and so on.
The arrival of these foreigners even created jobs for Irish people.
It was a requirement for multinationals to hire at least 40% Irish staff.

It was the Irish government who gave these multinationals great deals on tax.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i · 12-12-2008 02:17AM

junkyard wrote: »

What really are the advantages of the EU? Ok, the farmers got loads once upon a time and we got roads (in some places) but are we really any better off? It just seems to be rules and regulations all over the place, stelth taxes on everything and impossible to make any money here any more.

You're joking, right? You know you wouldn't have that 22" lcd monitor if you weren't in the EU, you would still be looking at some 15" TFT...

They only done a LOT for us. Without the EU we wouldn't have what we have today. There may be a lot of regulations and rules, but it comes with the package. Anyway, most of them are there for your safety and that of the states. I have no problem with most of them.

pablomakaveli wrote: »

there can be no doubt that membership of the EU has been a massive benefit for Ireland but over the years the EU has gone from being an economic organization to being a precursor for a european government.

I think EU demands for another referendum are insulting to the irish people and i really think the EU needs to go back to being a purely economic organization rather than what it is now.

I also think the EU has gotten too big too fast and should stop taking new members for the next 10 - 15 years at least.

Well the next step is a political union, it is the last step too. Basically making the EU a big country, simply speaking. It will be more difficult for the Irish to come to terms with it as we have not been an independant country that long.

WooPeeA · 12-12-2008 02:27AM

Youtube video about what EU has done for us in 2008:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4JYvzR1Avg

Donald-Duck · 12-12-2008 02:27AM

Piper Tight Fur wrote: »

You're joking, right? You know you wouldn't have that 22" lcd monitor if you weren't in the EU, you would still be looking at some 15" TFT...

TFT?
We'd only be moving onto coloured CRTs

BraziliaNZ · 12-12-2008 02:59AM

seriously with the MUPPETS in power in ireland who make a hash of everything and overspend on everything, I'd love if we could outsource our government to accenture or PWC or some kind of professionals, or if we were just ruled directly from brussels. You only need to go to germany or holland or somewhere like that to see proper roads, transport systems, healthcare, policing, etc. I mean some stadiums for the World Cup 2006 in Germany were built before time and UNDER budget. Outsourcing please. Just not to india.

Donald-Duck · 12-12-2008 03:02AM

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

seriously with the MUPPETS in power in ireland who make a hash of everything and overspend on everything, I'd love if we could outsource our government to accenture or PWC or some kind of professionals, or if we were just ruled directly from brussels. You only need to go to germany or holland or somewhere like that to see proper roads, transport systems, healthcare, policing, etc. I mean some stadiums for the World Cup 2006 in Germany were built before time and UNDER budget. Outsourcing please. Just not to india.

Or Greece. Definitely not Greece. Or England, or France actually. Or Spain. Or Italy. They all have crazy governments too

BraziliaNZ · 12-12-2008 03:07AM

Donald-Duck wrote: »

Or Greece. Definitely not Greece. Or England, or France actually. Or Spain. Or Italy. They all have crazy governments too

in fairness to france they've an excellent healthcare system, transport system, roads etc. But yeah they have their problems too.
Ok then I welcome a joint Benelux/Deutschland invasion.

OPENROAD · 12-12-2008 03:11AM

Donald-Duck wrote: »

Or Greece. Definitely not Greece. Or England, or France actually. Or Spain. Or Italy. They all have crazy governments too

I think his point was that this country has enjoyed huge Economic growth over the last ten years but really has little to show for it say in terms of infrastructure which the govt really got wrong, and lots of money was wasted in that time. Looking at how the UK and other EU countries have completed major infrastuture projects over the years, on the whole they have been far more efficient, of course their are exceptions.

Donald-Duck · 12-12-2008 03:15AM

OPENROAD wrote: »

I think his point was that this country has enjoyed huge Economic growth over the last ten years but really has little to show for it say in terms of infrastructure which the govt really got wrong, and lots of money was wasted in that time. Looking at how the UK and other EU countries have completed major infrastuture projects over the years, on the whole they have been far more efficient, of course their are exceptions.

We're the poster child for how NOT to use billions of euro

omgiluvxmas · 12-12-2008 03:30AM

you just have to laugh at people describing what the eu has done for this country as if it was bob kratchet minding tiny tim(ireland)

inforfun · 12-12-2008 10:42AM

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

You only need to go to germany or holland or somewhere like that to see proper roads, transport systems, healthcare, policing, etc. . Outsourcing please. Just not to india.

Similar job i do here will pay €6.000 more in Holland. Before tax.
After tax i keep €8.000 more in my wallet than i would have in Holland.

The avarage Dutch Joe (called Jan most likely)sees 50% of his salary being taken away every month.

It all comes with a price.....

Fratton Fred · 12-12-2008 11:09AM

Domo230 wrote: »

We milked the EU for every cent we could and were still winging that they do nothing for us even though they helped us become one of the highest earning nations per capita.

On Paper Ireland has a high GDP, but a lot of that is distorted by the vast amounts of money some of the companies make.

What the EU did was pay for the majority of capital spending which meant Ireland could model itself as a low tax economy and attract foreign investment, such as Dell, HP, Intel and th morass of Pharm companies here. What pisses me of is that a lot of these tax incentives were also given to horse breeders and artists, who make up a very small percentage of the population and yet have made a mint out of it, ie McManus and Magnier.

Ireland has priced itself out of the market though, the cost to manufacture here is one of the highest in Europe even though salaries here are not that high and tax is low. Poland, Hungary and the like are looking far more attractive.

What have the EU ever done for us?

Comments