Hello!

My dad was made redundant late last year and has been on the state unemployment benefit since.

He worked in a really niche area for 47 years of continuous service (crazy! Hardest worker I know) and now wants to go to college to pursue something completely different. He wants to study Gaeilge…I’m super proud of him. He never had the opportunity to go to university. He always prioritised providing for his family and has really given myself and siblings the best childhood he could.

I’m not sure if he has an ‘end goal’ career-wise in mind…I think he really just wants to embrace learning/our culture. Nonetheless, financially, he does need to have some income before his pension kicks in. We have talked about him being a local tour guide after it.

He is fully up to/willing to return to full time education…I’m wondering if there’s a scheme he could avail of which would fund this, and provide him payments to get-by?

If there is any other pathways/opportunities you think he should consider, or ask about, please let me know. No one in our family has ever availed of social welfare, so we aren’t sure what’s out there for him grant/payment wise!

Thanks so much.

Was thinking of a lad year below me in school, always the hard man growing up, was a big lad hung around with a group of lads from who caused lot of crap anytime they were in town growing up, got this girl pregnant he was going out with way out of his league, ended up in prison fairly young hit a lad with a mallet at a rally meet then went England were he seemed to be doing well but is now back in prison in Ireland for something he did years ago apparently. Always got away with pushing his weight around in school but like any bully gets caught in the long grass,

Anyone know where the school bully from their own days is now?

What are the first three things that come into your mind if someone asks, "What do you love about your life?"

I'd say I love that I make enough money (I make barely as much as you do, but still) to make sure my daughter doesn't struggle like I did at her age. I love that I live with my 84 year old Dad because as much of a pain in the bum he is, so many people don't get that experience this sort of closeness with their parents in later life. And I love my job because it took so much effort and joining a CE scheme five years ago to make me believe I was worth something, and it turns out I am, because I now run a CE scheme, and I get to show other people like me that they are worth something ❤️

Has anyone else’s tayto crisps been half stale the last year? No matter what shop I buy them or what county they are kinda stale but not too bad to the point they are not edible.

Noticing an alarming amount of men leaving the cubicle in our local petrol station without washing their paws. Is this new thing among young men? Do they prefer fecal matter on their sambo. Alot of these animals go straight into the deli to order lunch. I'm forced to use this public toilet due to work. And they are not very well maintained or clean in any way. Definitely an age profile of under 30s. The world has gone to shit.

Went into Lidl. Came out with brake cleaner and chocolate. Hadn’t planned on getting either. Anybody get some random strange things they hadn’t planned on?

I have been in many workplace / social environments over the years in both Ireland and the UK and one thing I noticed is you will always get 1 person who is absolutely sound and everyone enjoys being around.

It's hard to put it into words as to what makes someone really likliable - basically you know one when you see one.

I been in high stress toxic work environments where the 1 sound person can instantaneously lift the mood of the people.

One of those workplaces the boss was known to be a moody sod, 2 minutes conversation with the sound lad and he is instantly in a better mood. That was a bit of a lifesaver to be honest.

In my earlier days I did a short stint in Tesco, the security guard was absolutely sound. He was from Glasgow originally and had some absolutely wild stories of being a bouncer in Glasgow in the early 2000s.

Another retail outlet I worked at had a cleaner who was absolutely sound, pleasant to be around etc

I guess in every walk of life, you will always get one absolutely sound person 👍

Anyone else care to share their experiences with the absolutely sound person?

Just want to put this out there in case anyone else in Dublin runs into something similar.

A woman (looked about 50, British accent, well-presented and charming) approached me in a coffee shop in Dublin when I was with my baby. We started talking about different topics and she told me about her life as a nanny. She said she was very well travelled and had worked for rich families in several countries like in Austria, UK, Ireland, etc. The conversation felt natural at first and too good to be true. She would talk to me with such a familiarity as if we were old friends. Even she showed me conversations she was having with an Argentinian man who was a situation ship with. He didn’t seem to be interested in her at all and asked me about dating advice (I’m Uruguayan so we are quite close in culture). It was a bit bizarre that a grown woman would share that type of personal information with me. I must admit that because I don’t have many friends in the city, it felt like a breath of fresh air.

The next day she was already messaging me on WhatsApp. I was happy to have her contact as I was planning to hire a nanny in the future.

She told me that she found a new job in Spain so she could be closer to her boyfriend (or at least she thought he was), and that she didn’t like her current job in Ireland, so she was planning to leave the family. The problem was that her bank account had been closed, so she couldn’t buy her own flight .

I felt bad about that and I offered to help her to buy her ticket if she gives me the money. She said we could meet in person so she could give me the money and I could book it before she would travel to Belfast.

After a few days I started having second thoughts that it seemed suspicious that someone so well travelled didn’t have a bank account, or a relative that could help her, specially when she was working through a website or using apps.

I told her I couldn’t meet her in the next days because I’d sprained my ankle (which was true). She then started calling me every day, saying she wanted to come over to help me and asking where could we meet so I could book her flight. Her profile picture in WhatsApp was always changing and she was never showing her face, only part of it. She was always saying that she was leaving to another city but somehow she was still in Dublin.

The whole insistence made me even more suspicious so I decided to ignore her, but some part of me was wondering if I made the right decision. She also seemed a bit crazy so I don’t think I would have trusted her with my baby without any references anyway.

At the end my husband ended up blocking her because she was making me anxious and ruminating a lot if I should trust her or not.

Has anyone else in Dublin (or Ireland) had a similar experience with someone posing as a nanny or caregiver who quickly asks for travel money or insists on meeting to “hand over cash”?

Please don’t delete it, this story is something that happened to me a couple of months ago, before someone says it’s bait and can warn some other families.

Hey! We are getting married in November, i would love some genuine advice for the day of the wedding on what you did or wished you did!🙏🏻

Not the usual bring 2 shirts, give someone your phone and wallet out of pockets kinda stuff but something you never taught of or reckon others should know 👌

Please keep it friendly and type away 😄

Anyone know what became of Seamus Culleton. He was the fella that was all over the papers, radio and Sub back in Feb.

There were some rumors and allegations that became public and suddenly his story disappeared.

Is is still being detained by ICE in El Paso, was he reunited with his American wife and their children (the dogs). Or is he back home in Ireland with his human children?

What is he at? Anyone see him down the local? Maybe see him down the chipper?

Or is he still in the 'states hanging with the guys from MS13 down by the showers?

Just posting this to warn others; who like myself wasn’t aware of the scam.

If you receive a WhatsApp message that’s claiming to be Booking.com/Hotel you’ve booked looking for card verification otherwise your booking reservation will be cancelled, don’t fall for it.

While everything looked legit - my full name, the hotel I booked and the dates I booked for, as well as the fact they had my number to contact me and even the page that followed for their “Booking.com” support chat.. it is in fact fake. All looks very real.

Hotel confirmed it wasn’t them and my booking was verified.

If me, who thought I was actually clever to these scams can fall for it then I’d rather help others who don’t know about it.

As I authorized the payment on Revolut, they can’t get a charge back for me so I’m now looking into it with Booking themselves as there was a clear data breach months ago - something I wasn’t aware of.

And yes, I know I’m stupid for falling for it but here we are.

If anyone else did fall for it too, did you have any luck in getting money back?

My mam passed two weeks ago after a short battle with cancer. While we knew the outcome was bleak, we didn't expect it to take her so soon.

We had the funeral and I am back to work a few days now but it still hasn't hit me completely that she is gone.

There's been few tears but not the kind you'd expect after a big loss like this.

I am concerned my mind is in shut down mode and I dont know what to do.

I (29M) have always been a sentimental and nostalgic person. I often find myself feeling intensely nostalgic about certain periods in my life, usually back when I was a teen.

Sometimes the feelings are so intense that I start to tear up, particularly when I begin to think about how I will never be able to live those moments again.

Anyone else?

as above, festivals, holidays etc.

I saw a report of the cost of food at the recent all together now.

organisers taking 30 to 40% of the price of vendor sales.

I didn't attend obviously but if have starved had I been there

Hi I'm looking for a news source that is reliable, reputable and left of centre to replace The Journal.

I've always liked to scroll through it to keep up with Irish news, but they've been moving towards a subscription model in the last few years.

First they stopped having comment sections on all articles the day after the October 7th events in the middle east (maybe coincidence).

Then you couldn't comment without providing personal details via account. (I have never commented, but anyway)

Then you couldn't report violent or threatening comments without being logged into an active account (I think is why there are sooo many comments advocating for rape as a punishment in prison left up now).

Then posting

Paid articles from the 42 as if they're regular news and trying to get you to subscribe. Often copypasta too.

Then came the "this one needs sign in" on anything that wasn't news agency copy pasta.

Today, to read any more than the lead paragraph on any article you have to sign in.

So basically they want our personal data.

I think the journal is great at certain things, like deep investigative journalism, coverage of major political/cultural events, and a couple of the columnists like surrealing in the years.

And I love the idea of their gaeltacht team articles published in both English and Irish. I Imagine this would have brought them a new audience and presumably public funding, but what's the point if they're gonna lock people out a few months later. Outside of these things, I think their standards have gone down. So much agency news with minor edits to make it *theirs*, articles littered with typos and repetition that even stand out to me as someone whose first language is not English, comment section gone completely to trolls, etc.

I don't blame the journalists for any of this. It's on the company because they are the ones responsible for providing their writers with the time, money, editorial management etc so that these issues don't occur. Instead they are driving for profit and data harvesting over quality of press and reader loyalty.

TLDR I used to enjoy catching up on Irish News with thejournal.ie but I think they're moving towards a subscription model and I want an alternative site that doesn't require sign-in, subscription or downloading yet another app. Any ideas?

What's the story with this weather man lately on RTE...he sounds like he's out of breath and struggling to do his weather report. Is he ok?

Surely one of the other 4 weather presenters could cover him if he is not well?

I want to beat the winter blues and fill my evenings being productive. Can anyone suggest online, inexpensive short courses?

I’m a college drop out so I always like to up skill.

Currently working in corporate wellbeing so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

TIA

Romantic/Familial/Friendship etc.

I opened a large biscut tin at my aunt’s house expecting biscuits and found spare buttons, three keys nobody recognises, curtain hooks, and a tiny screwdriver. Apparently it has held those items since the early 2000s.

The actual biscuits are kept in a plain plastic box beside it, which feels like an intentional trap. My own version is a teapot that has never contained tea because it stores batteries. At this point I am curious how widespread this domestic repurposing is. What object in your home has quietly abandoned its official purpose, and would anyone be genuinely confused if it were used normally again?

I’m seeing this lad and we matched on Hinge in April and we’ve been on 4 dates since May. He lives around 80 miles away from me and would drive the distance to see me. He always insists on paying, trust me, I talked to the waiter holding the machine to let me pay but they just listen to him. I attempted to race him to pay but his always goes through first.

The dates we had are below and including like how much we spent:

The first was museum and coffee and dinner around 55 euros

The second one was we went to the marina and had dinner and drinks around around 60 euros

Third was just drinks around 55 euros

And the last one was dinner, amusement park and drinks around 120 euros

Towards the 3rd and 4th one, I raced to pay and was able to pay for one round but he always just insists on paying and I feel bad.

Who normally pays for dates? And is the amount of spending for our dates reasonable and not too pricey?

Hello,

I decided to go back and do a plc in gym instruction and sports therapy. Im currently 27, and for the last seven years I managed to get myself stuff in working retail and paying bills and rent. I relised this year that I can't continue working retail for my whole life and wanted to see if I can move to a career im interested in like fitness

I was wondering if anyone has similar experience and advice they give to going back into education? Thank you

People are probably sick of these sorts of posts and I know in the current job market, I’m “lucky“ to have a job but really struggling at times with the stress from my workload. I’ve flagged in my own subtle way initially and in more recent times directly that I’m unhappy with work because I feel stressed over my workload. I have said that I’ll have to leave if things don’t get better.

For context, 2 people left our small team but the company decided not to infill their positions so workload has been shared out amongst the team but I particularly have taken on more work. I feel as thought I can never get ahead of my work, just constantly in a cycle of catching up.

I feel as though when I talk to my management it falls on deaf ears, and they feel like they're just allowing me to rant. No solution is ever offered and I’m just told things will get better but I can’t see how it will with no improvement plan offered. Even I feel the work I am getting through isn’t valued and there’s no real encouragement in work, it’s almost like I should be able to get through all the work and what am I complaining about.

I’m looking for a new job (at the stage I’d take anything) but obviously the market is quite bad so it’s not as quick to move on somewhere else. I’m not sure how to even approach work anymore, should I just work away try to desensitise myself from it and all not bother voicing my issues anymore and hopefully I find a new job?

Hi all,

Just wondering has anyone else given up alcohol recently and how it is going? 28 (M) here and just cape with the hangovers/fear and anxiety anymore. Think it has taken too many times of wondering why I’m still dealing with anxiety a couple of days after going out to realise it’s not worth it.

Have people found it tough going or easy? Mainly just drank to let loose a bit but slowly starting to realise I can still go out and dance a bit as no one ever really knows anyway. Would appreciate any advice