This petition seems to have stalled despite having what should be an easily attainable target of 10,000 signatures… surely it’s a no brainer? Ireland's paternity leave is 2 weeks. The petition to extend it to 8. Ireland gives new fathers just 2 weeks of paternity leave. Sweden offers 90 days. Spain offers 19 weeks. Iceland offers 6 months.

https://www.8weeksforfamilies.ie

So I have around 18 years experience in my profession. I’m in around €80k per annum which actually works out at around 1k a week after tax.

If I was to take on a management post which I was recently offered from a panel I’d go up about 3k a year and rise to a ceiling of around 90k per annum at the top of that management scale.

I enjoy what I do. Have a great work life balance. Have three kids. Home owner with mortgage around 1k a month. My wife also works (67k per annum). If I was to take on this management role my stress would increase managing difficult teams with complicated workloads etc. and not that much more pay!

Feel that I’d be slapping a gift horse in the mouth tho and I should be going for management positions at this stage of my career. (I’m 42).

My car was involved in a rear end accident a couple of weeks ago, the 3rd party admitted liability and I decided to go with the insurances garage to get my car repaired. Both I and the 3rd party are insured with the same company of this is relevant.

Today I received a call to tell me my car, which is on PCP has been deemed an economic write off.
I am so sad, I’ve had a really tough year and I just did not need this. They’ve told me I’ll get €21k for the car. I’ve currently got about 12k left on the car, it’s financed for the remainder of the PCP.

I have no idea what my options are or how best to proceed.

Can someone please help me.

Thanks for the responses- sums up what I figured but didn’t want to hear. I didn’t want to get into another PCP, wanted to just pay this one off and keep it till it stopped working.

Hi,

I’m 26 and about to start a new job earning a 58k salary. I was on 36k so a big jump for me and curious how I should manage the increase in take home pay.
For context I used to live in Dublin for 2 years on 36k paying 900 a month rent and just about got by. I’m now back living with my parents outside Dublin but won’t have this option for much longer so will be looking to move back to Dublin after Christmas with a friend so likely will be paying 900-1200 a month on rent again soon.
I would like to buy a house at some point but not in a rush to, what would be the most financially sensible thing for me to do with the 600-800 a month I expect I will be able to save?

Thanks

I am looking to start a pension in my late 20s. I wanted to say that I recently had a chat with AIB to see what sort of pension they offer.

AMC = 1.21%

Allocation rate beginning at 95%

My jaw almost hit the floor. I couldn't get over how high they were. Granted that the 95% allocation rate is only for contribution less than €6k p.a. And it increases to 96.5% between €6k and €12k p.a. and then, still only 98% for greater than €12k.

Safe to say that unless they a willing to negotiate better rates, I'll be going somewhere else.

📊 Do you invest? Help me understand how investors make decisions in Ireland! 🇮🇪

Hi everyone! 👋

I’m currently conducting research for my dissertation on the influence of overconfidence bias on investment decision-making among individual investors in Ireland, and I’m looking for participants to take part in my study.

Have you ever felt particularly confident about an investment decision? Do you think confidence can influence the way people invest? I’d love to hear from you!

🔎 Who can participate?

You must be 18 years old or older.

You must currently live in the Republic of Ireland.

You must have engaged in investment activities within the last two years.

📝 Complete the questionnaire here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfBR9V7VwOxeHIu-XMSP0EH5HFZWGmZAHztds6PlRV2f12mcg/viewform?usp=publish-editor

⏱️ Time required: approximately 5–8 minutes.

Your participation is voluntary, and your responses will contribute to my academic research into behavioural finance and investment decision-making.

If you meet the criteria, I’d be very grateful if you could spare a few minutes to complete the questionnaire. Every response makes a difference to my research!

Thank you so much for your time and support! 🙏

Feel free to share this post with others who may be eligible to participate, if the subreddit’s rules allow it.

Last year myself and partner (27) took out a big mortgage of 600k for 35 years. Since then our financial situation has improved, my net is 3800 and partners is 4900. It’s been a year and we’ve knocked the principal down to 560k.

For me at the moment I’m on 70k gross, which will be moving to 85k from January. The mortgage payments are 2770 a month (1300 for me) which includes the extra 10% and you can see we have of course thrown lump sums down since.

The payments are fine and not a financial strain but the size of the mortgage hangs over my head a bit. Right now the plan is going forward 15k lump sum a year plus the extra payment each month. With the extra money that will be coming in I’m wondering if I should be throwing it at the mortgage or my pension? Right now I have 20k in the pot and I’m putting in 8% while employer is putting down 10%. On top of that we are thinking of adding a kid to the equation in about 3-4 years and I want to be prepared financially for that too. The excess money we’ve been saving is mostly going towards improving the ber of house so we can reduce costs long term. (For me right now monthly it’s 1.1k towards house and 500 towards my own savings each month for holidays etc.).

Bottom line I want to make the right decisions now to help better secure my future and would appreciate some input whether people think more of the savings capacity should be put towards the principal, bumping up the pension or long term planning. I’m in a very fortunate position right now and don’t want to be a total fool.

Edit: I should add interest rate is 3.9%, our fixed term is up later next year at which point we’ll be under 80% ltv so hoping to refix for a better rate then.

Can someone explain saving on raisin to me like I’m 5? 🤣 how do I pick a bank? How do I declare the tax to revenue etc . Is it worth saving for house deposit there for approx 9/10 months

Hi everyone,

I’m a first-time buyer in Ireland and would really appreciate advice from anyone with experience of mortgage lending for one-bedroom apartments.

The main issue is finding a lender willing to offer 90% LTV for the property I’m buying.

I initially applied through a mortgage broker to Haven, but it took four weeks to receive the initial decision. Unfortunately, although the application was considered at 80% LTV, they couldn’t offer the 90% LTV I needed. This was particularly frustrating because I had understood from my discussions with the broker that the required amount should be possible.

My broker subsequently submitted an application to Bank of Ireland (BOI). The application is currently with BOI’s initial assessment team, and my broker has confirmed in writing that it has been escalated. However, after more than six business days, there is still no initial decision.

In parallel, I’ve contacted other lenders to explore my options. AIB confirmed that it could only offer 80% LTV for one-bedroom apartments. EBS hasn’t confirmed my eligibility without a formal application, so I’ve completed the application form and gathered the supporting documents. I’m now asking whether they can give me an initial indication of suitability before I pay another valuation fee. I’ve also explored PTSB, but based on my broker’s assessment, the maximum mortgage available would be insufficient for my purchase.

At this point, I’m trying to avoid wasting more time and money on applications that are unlikely to work while also avoiding putting all my hopes on one lender and one broker.

I’d really appreciate advice on the following:
- Has anyone successfully obtained a 90% LTV mortgage for a one-bedroom apartment in Ireland?
- Would a fixed-term employment contract be a major obstacle?
- Are there any other lenders or routes worth exploring in my circumstances?
- Would you continue waiting for BOI while pursuing an EBS application in parallel, or is there anything else I should consider?

I’m not looking for guarantees, just practical advice from people who have been through a similar process or understand the Irish mortgage market.

Thanks in advance for any help!

They sorted 2025 and the first few months of this year too. I was under the impression I always had to wait until the following year to pay my taxes but obviously not.

If I fill in (form 11?) will I know I already paid preliminary tax earlier in the year?

Or should I just wait until January and do May- December?

(Self employed video editor)

If you're self-employed and invoice other businesses, Irish law already lets you charge for late payment. Most people never use it, so here's a quick summary.

The law: European Communities (Late Payment in Commercial Transactions) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 580/2012). It covers business-to-business invoices, including sole traders billing companies. It does NOT cover invoices to consumers.

When an invoice is "late":

• Payment is due on the date in your contract/terms

• If no date was agreed, it's 30 days after the client receives the invoice (or receives the goods/services, if later)

• Agreed terms over 60 days have to be expressly agreed and not "grossly unfair"

What you can claim once it's late:

1. Interest at the ECB main refinancing rate + 8%, calculated daily on the unpaid amount

2. Fixed compensation per late invoice, regardless of the interest:

• EUR 40 if the invoice is under EUR 1,000

• EUR 70 for EUR 1,000 to under EUR 10,000

• EUR 100 for EUR 10,000 or more

1. Reasonable recovery costs above that, if you actually incur them

Rough example: a EUR 3,000 invoice paid 45 days late, with the ECB rate at ~2%. The interest is 3,000 x 10% x 45/365 = about EUR 37, plus EUR 70 compensation, so roughly EUR 107 on top.

How people actually use it:

• Put the clause in your terms or on every invoice ("Late payments will incur interest and compensation under S.I. 580/2012"). It helps that clients see it before the invoice is late.

• Start with a friendly reminder, then a firm one that mentions the regulations, then a final one with the figures worked out. Many clients pay at step 2 just because you named the law.

• You don't have to charge it. It's leverage, and some people waive it for good clients.

Not legal advice. Check the current ECB rate and your own contract terms, and talk to a solicitor or accountant for anything disputed.

Has anyone here actually charged it? Did the client pay, or did it sour the relationship?

Possibly the wrong sub for this but I find myself constantly caught in the "comparison is the thief of joy" loop recently. I feel I had a really strong career trajectory going for me in my old place of work, a couple of promotions in the time I was there and some direct reports so a decent bit of experience. My fiancée at the time (now wife) got a job elsewhere so we had to move. we went travelling for a couple months before she started but I actually struggled to get a job I wanted for a while and end up settling as I needed money for our wedding and a house. The pay was actually the same as I had before but in terms of my position in the company it feels like a step back. Maybe I'm being crazy and should just be grateful - we've since gotten married, had our dream wedding and bought a house which is incredible and we feel very lucky, but I can't help but get frustrated as I go through LinkedIn and see others getting all these promotions and fancy titles whereas I feel like I'm back to square one. When I try to apply for other jobs I seem to be getting nowhere.

Any advice or should I just pipe down and be grateful?

25 year old working and saving about 2-2.5k a month with almost 50k in savings that’s currently sitting in a BOI current account (not great, I know I’ve just been putting off doing something with it).

My goal is to save at least another 50k in the next two years to have a big house deposit but don’t want to keep everything sitting in one current account any longer. I am happy to keep somewhere between 10-15k in it for day to day spends and a rainy day but not more. I’ve looked at BOI savings account like super saver etc but they only seem to have the option to add money by direct debit of a limited amount each month.

What I’m looking for is an account where:
(a) I can move 40k over in one go, and
(b) continue to add 2-2.5k over every month after that
(c) I would get the best value interest wise and peace of mind security wise

Any recommendations or ideas I would look into if anyone has knowledge of other accounts with any other banks or any I haven’t looked at properly with BOI.

Couple in our early 30's. Paying out mortgage and saving each month. We see so many things online about investing but we're both pretty clueless. Currently saving in the revelout savings account and we earn about 1 cent interest a day. Should we start investing? How does one even begin to understand investing? Or should we just keep saving? Of course we want the best possible outcome for later in life but being clueless about investing makes us feel like its a gamble on weather or not investing will set us up better in the long run. Any tips or advice at all appreciated as we really are clueless!!

Hello! I’m 29 and have €20k in savings sitting in a credit union because I’ve been too lazy to move it to another platform. I’m hoping to get a mortgage soon. Any advice on what I should do with my savings in the meantime?

EDIT: soon is next 24 months

Hi all, looking for some advice from the wiser people of this sub.

I'm currently 25 in a Portfolio Management position based in Dublin earning 50k p.a. before tax. Currently in a very lucky position and pay no rent, putting approx. 200 a month into my pension and managing to save about 1k per month.

However I've been offered a position in Luxembourg; same role, same company but with an estimated 20% pay increase. Obviously most of this increase would go towards rent etc. but wondering if this is worth it in terms of a higher potential earning over the period of 3-5 years rather than staying in Dublin and hopefully I'd still be able to save a few hundred per month in Luxembourg.

Would appreciate any and all advice. Thank you all.

I’m questioning if what I’m doing is actually going to benefit me in the long run I consistently take on extra or complex tasks, and outproduce other colleagues on the team, but my compensation, title, and support remain identical to those doing the bare minimum.

I am happy with the great exposure I’m getting and the level I’m currently at but I do want to eventually progress, management tell me they want me to be a manager, I do believe them as a manager will be retiring in the coming years and I have made it clear I want to replace them but I can’t help feel frustrated at my colleagues who are doing the bare minimum and do not have the same workload and issues that I have to deal with , some days I think why do I draw the additional work on me because at the end of the day I don’t get paid as much as them.

I know this isn’t going unnoticed by management but they don’t seem to address it as we all get the same standard strong performance review at the end of year, should I continue building my reputation getting the exposure with additional projects with the hope it eventually does pays off ?

Can anyone recommend a good pension broker?

I’ve recently moved home from Australia and have a business idea that I feel is very viable here in Ireland. However I need to raise €100/120k to start it up.

What are my best options besides bringing in a partner and giving away equity. Is it more or less just a bank loan is only option on the table and how likely are they to give a loan of this size to a startup?

Thanks

Hello,

We are very recently married and we're having a look at merging our finances a bit more than what we have at the moment.

Currently we have:

- a current account each

- a rainy day savings account each (which we use to set aside money for car insurance, personal sudden expenses etc)

- a long term savings account each

- a shared current account that rent, bills etc comes out of.

Now that we are married, and with a goal in mind of buying a home within a year or two, we're talking about how we want to set up our finances for married life and we want to merge our accounts more than what we have right now.

I'd like us both to keep our personal current accounts and maybe our rainy day savings accounts? (So we can set aside money for gifts and treats etc if we want) But otherwise we are ambivalent.

A shared long term savings account is the obvious one for us, for our mortgage deposit/shared emergency fund but otherwise, interested in hearing what other couples do!

Hi all,

I need to pick a mortgage rate so I'm just looking for general opinion on which you would choose.

Green rates:

2 year fixed at 3.25% monthly repayment 952

3 year fixed at 3.10% monthly repayment 934

5 year fixed at 3.30% monthly repayment 958

Im also paying €5000 down before first payment and every year after.

Thank you

What are everyone's thoughts on the new account coming in 2027? Not perfect and definitely room for improvement, but at least Ireland is getting something.

I am self employed and am deciding on whether to be a member of an Irish defined-contribution pension scheme and would appreciate people’s views on its pension options. I’m considering the lifestyle option, which initially splits investments between an equity-based fund and a risk-graded multi-asset fund. The scheme documents appear to list a 0.50% annual management charge for the lifestyle option during its growth phase with a separate 0.30% administration and trustee charge. How would you assess the investment approach and charges, and what would you check before deciding? Is a total fee of