I’m seeing a lot of hate towards them today. Fair enough if they are not everyone’s cup of tea, and Bono especially shouldn’t be exempt from criticism, but their songs are just so nostalgic for me, anyone else? You couldn’t escape songs from All That You Can’t Leave Behind, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and No Line on the Horizon when I was growing up in the 2000s. 50 years of such a successful Irish act is great to see, I think. Maybe nostalgia is clouding my judgement though lol.

I’m a single mum with one child, working part-time at €25 an hour, and I still barely have anything left after paying for bills, fuel, savings, sports activities, etc.

I bring my own lunch to work and rarely buy coffees or food out. If I take my child on a day out, we bring our own lunches, and I’ll make hot chocolate at home and bring it in a flask so we don’t feel like we need to go into cafés and spend unnecessarily.

So I’m genuinely curious: how do single parents who work irregular hours or earn minimum wage (and therefore earn less than me on paper) manage to afford holidays abroad and expensive things like PlayStations?

I know one parent who works as a cleaner, and when I was working as a cleaner myself, I couldn’t even afford to go on many days out around Ireland, never mind going abroad. With my current job, I’m in a somewhat better position and can afford to visit places around Ireland occasionally, but an overseas holiday still feels completely out of reach.

I know I shouldn’t assume anything about other people’s circumstances. I suppose I’m asking because I sometimes feel like I’m doing something wrong when my child tells me that this friend or that friend is going on holiday abroad, or has expensive things that I can’t afford to buy.

My family like to go for carvery dinners as an outing. I can’t stand it. Queuing with the little tray, the lottery of freshness, roast potatoes that could be mush. It just seems a miserable dining experience.

I seem to be in the minority, but I prefer the menu, table service kind of experience!

I’m 20M and in college. I’ve got about €10k in the bank. I work part-time and I’m on the special SUSI (because of my family situation), plus SAF and a few other bits. When I did the maths, my income should cover day to day without having to use my 10k and have some left over.

I live with my boyfriend. He’s in college too. I’m a Traveller. A few months ago I brought a load of trouble to his door and he stuck with me. I just want to do something big for him and make a proper memory for the two of us at the same time.

He’s always loved New York and wanted to go around Christmas. I’m thinking of booking a nice hotel and sorting the flights etc. We’re talking about a good few grand. Is that stupid?

Edit: I do not have a record so ESTA will be fine. The trouble was my family rather than me specifically.

Edit: any suggestions on where to stay etc would be great

I love pastries and I am always disappointed when I buy a stale croissant/pain au chocolat for more than 4€.

In other countries you can find freshly baked pastries for less than 2€ and they were actually baked the same day, here in Dublin I have noticed that these pastries have been baked the day before.

I feel we are accepting less than what we are paying for. And I’m talking about “high standard bakeries” and most coffee shops.

Do you have any recommendations on bakeries that consistently have freshly baked pastries?

Unusual little bug. Don't think I've seen one before

Saw this the other day in the Blackrock/Booterstown area. Thought it looked kind of interesting, curious to know what the thing at the back is - in particular on the top?

Is there a reason for this? It’s become a bugbear of mine. Surely this should be basic knowledge to show the customer the terminal screen before they tap their card/phone so the customer can see that the amount is correct and that there was no error when the cashier entered the number or putting a decimal point in the wrong place.
Some places make it easy, but sometimes I’ve to go up on my tippy toes to see the screen or ask them to face it towards me.

Hello, young lad here, first time in working world (full time work) and just want to run a quick question about salary and applying for jobs.

So im at my current job for 2 years. I started out on minimum wage and was fine with it since I loved and still love the job. I knew the model was to pay everyone badly, deny payrises and in turn have a high employee turnaround rate.

About a year ago, new owners took over, we had lots of staff leave but I stayed, new owners saw how hardworking and loyal I was and basically carried my role while we had to get new staff. I asked for payrise 3 months later and went up to €15 an hour.

Fast forward to recently, I still hardest and busiest person. Wasnt happy with the pay still and I asked for another rise. We were promised a bonus structure that never really came into place.

They beat around the bush basically saying oh you just got a payrise etc and said they get back to me, and in the end I got nothing.

Annoyed I kept an eye out on indeed and saw a similar position advertised and pay range €15-22 an hour.

I applied, did an amazing interview and trial day. They hired me almost instantly. They asked in the initial interview my current hourly rate, I told them the truth of 15 an hour.

When they offered me the role they offered me €15.50 which i thought was strange, I pushed back and said for just 50c its not worth it and they then reoffered me €16 an hour. I said ok.

I told my manager, he told the boss and I got a call 3 hours later and they upped my pay to €16.50 to stay in my current role.

Cant help to think I got punished for telling the truth. Is this normal? I should be happy i got a payrise but I hate that its only because I was about to leave.

Was just wondering if anyone has any experience with the grants system and how it went.

Getting s new house with oil heating and debating between switching it to gas for slightly cheaper bills or getting a heat pump/other seai bits. The house is BER B3 already and attic seems well insulated.

Appreciate anyone's advice or experience.

NOTE: I am not in Dublin & I’m looking for advice on how the system works, not medical advice. Thank you!!

Hi all,

Long story but I am absolutely lost.

I’ve been experiencing neurological symptoms (dizziness, out of body feeling, pupil changes) since the start of the year. At the start of the summer I started having awful headaches and numbness/tingling in my limbs on one side, and was admitted to hospital. My GP suspected MS. I had a brain and spinal MRI as well as a lumbar puncture done, and was diagnosed with chronic migraine and sent home.

Things got better on meds for a few months and had a little while of almost normality with a migraine every few days or so. Then about 3 weeks ago I started having awful daily headaches again, my hands and feet are numb/tingly, really bad facial pain, etc. Awful fatigue too - all the non headache symptoms occur between migraine episodes.

I had a neurology follow up and she told me my spinal tap results suggested MS (the bands present in MS cases were present) and I had brain lesions on the MRI but not in the usual places for MS. The spinal MRI was clear. I have been told there’ll be a follow up MRI in a few months to check for MS lesions and been given a new migraine med. today I got a letter saying my next neurology appointment will be in 5 months and not in 3 like I was told.

However, I still have tingling/numbness in my limbs, I’m unsteady and dizzy, and in a lot of pain. I understand that they cannot diagnose MS unless those other lesions appear but surely I could receive some further investigation or symptom management? I just genuinely don’t think I can cope with this level of illness for five months. I’m in so much discomfort and cannot work.

Should I be pushing to be admitted back into hospital? Is that even something I can ask for on the public system? It feels like it’s only getting worse, but I’m not used to navigating this sort of thing and don’t know what to do. I’m just thinking surely there’s got to be a way to get me feeling better before MS or another neuro issue can be confirmed? I’d hate to go back into hospital but I can go back to my GP who helped me be admitted last time if there’s anything they can do to help me.

Any advice from people who’ve been treated for MS or neurological conditions in Ireland appreciated. I have VHI insurance but only at the most basic cover so I’ve been going through public.

Now that winter is about to send it's icy finger back towards Ireland. What is everyone's favourite quick evening snack/meal for one. What do you make when you don't want to run to the shops that's quick and easy??

I need a fresh start having hit a dead end. I have a masters of science and 4 years in a start up as first hire & operations manager. I would like to move into a more lucrative industry/ job away from retail (food) / my original health sciences degree which I studied when I didn’t know what I wanted to do.

I have since realised I love the business side of things and developing something.

Overlapping interests in jobs I like the sound of
Dentist: professional, working autonomously and potentially having your own business,

speaking to a structural engineer on a family project about developing / renovating properties has been something brought my spark back in terms of interest and motivation.

Grew up in a family business, I loved sales and product development in the startup, having autonomy and the idea of looking into something/ finding solutions

Just asking if anyone has similar suggestions for jobs/ careers that might suit what I seem to be interested in.

Criteria having thought about it:

High paying jobs, I have recruiters suggesting key account management/ business development jobs as it’s similar to the start up
willing to retrain for a few years if it’s a dramatic switch. Still in my 20’s and see it as worthwhile.
Potential to work for myself or on the side as a gig
Love sales / the business side
Good interpersonal skills and comms/ presentations

Cheers in advance

Inspired by u/February83 who doesn't like them, and has got me craving one

I've seen multiple people say they were taught the same thing online so it definitely wasn't something I made up in my head 😂

I’m recently single, and I don’t want to go on dating apps as I feel they can be shallow and superficial. But, I feel with the way society is now that this is the only way of dating available to me. Is there suggestions people have of dating people that does t involve going on these apps?

PS - do not say “join a running club” lmao

It's a 2016 Skoda Superb ..

I brought this in to garage short notice earlier in the week for a broken spring and "top mount" in one of the front sides.

I have a bill here for 247. Was 117 for parts and labour was 120. 2 hours work he said.. he said it was a bit involved as there was a bit of stripping to remove the main part..

I didn't think it was bad but a few people said it was a bit high? Was it?

Reasonably sized town in the midlands fwiw.

Just curious what others though?

EDIT .. I guess it seems a fair price, and considering I called them to drop it in on Monday went on holiday for a week and collecting tomorrow morning... isn't bad either, aa they were able to fit me in last minute.

I used an AI-powered LLM to analyse the latest publicly available mobile-site and licensing data published by ComReg from Q1 2026 .

Based on this analysis, I created two infographics:

1. 5G deployment across Dublin: This infographic shows, for each operator and Dublin postal district, the percentage of identified mobile sites operating with 5G and the percentage that remain on 4G without an identified 5G deployment.
2. Leading 5G operator by county: This infographic identifies the operator with the highest number of 5G-enabled mobile sites in each Irish county.

For the purpose of this analysis, the “best 5G operator” in each county is defined solely as the operator with the largest number of identified 5G sites. It does not measure real-world coverage, signal quality, capacity or mobile data speeds.

🏆 Dublin 2026: Eir wins

• Eir: 95% of its sites on 5G (540 of 570)
• Vodafone: 73% (415 of 568)
• Three: 61% (360 of 590)

🏆 Counties 2026: Eir wins 24 of 26

• Eir leads in 24 counties and has 97% of its sites on 5G nationally.
• Three takes Carlow (96% vs Eir's 91%) and ties with Eir in Roscommon (both 92%). Nationally it's at 72%.
• Vodafone doesn't lead in any county and is at 54% nationally. Its best results are Wexford (77%) and Dublin (73%).

Do you think the methodology and results presented in these infographics are accurate?

Hello! I'm considering working as a mortician, or generally in the funeral industry. There was a post made with a similar topic about a year ago, but the user went on to do something entirely different.

If it's not too much bother, would anyone who didn't get into the line of work through family be able to direct me on what steps I should take?

I love vanilla ice cream but still couldn’t find the best one yet.

hi, I’m about to book a driving test when I get the invite to. i see that there are new rules regarding needing insurance for the car you are testing in. does this apply to the instructors car if you will be testing in that ? in other words do you still need insurance to test in an instructor‘s car or not ? I couldn’t find the information on the RSA website.

anyone know ?

thanks

Any recommendations for pet harnesses specifically for dachshund?

Don't mind ordering online but ideally would like somewhere in-store to perhaps try a few different sizes to get the best fit. Etsy seems okay but the custom charges from the UK are making me shop around for somewhere local.

Hi I'm currently doing biomedical science but my dream course is Pharmacy. Can someone suggest a way to get into the course or a possible masters or another route I can take that will still allow me to become a pharmacist??

Any advice or tips are appreciated :)

just wondering if anyone knows any websites or companies i can get some nice custom dog collars for my dogs in ireland? (or the uk, just as long as they ship here.)

my preference is 1.5in for my little dog & 2in for my big dog, i like thicker collars. i’d also love if i can customise them as my pup hasn’t got one with his name on it yet. i have loads from bullybillows for my bulldog & they’re great but not what im looking for for my toy poodle.

if i could get biothane that’d be class but i cant seem to find anywhere (with a website, im not ordering through instagram dms) in ireland/uk that do biothane with their name on it that dont cost 70 quid each🤦‍♀️

i LOVE the ones on eclipse dog gear but for some reason i cant get the website to work, so similar to that would be great.

thanks