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Ulster Farmers' Union A5 Road Information Meeting - Friday 18th October at 10am in the Silverbirch Hotel, Omagh

Was Omagh Orange Hall booked up?

There are better refreshments available in the hotel, traybakes and tea are not quite enough.

Patricia Ryan SF TD for South Kildare resigns and is now an Independent.

Mé féin?

Very frustrated renewing this year


Bit of background - previous policy, 24yo male, 3 penalty points, 1L Ford Focus (petrol) with 3 years no claims bonus (along with 2 Years named experience with no claims), including my sister and girlfriend as learners (about +€120 for the first learner to be added, then €40 for herself) for €630 for the year.

Fast forward to my renewal process now and getting quoted for 950-1100 for the same set up, despite now being 25, penalty points expired, with an additional years no claims

On phone and getting told that the price they have to pay mechanics has "doubled" over the past year - have they not considered shopping around themselves as we are encouraged to do?

Given my "risk profile" is decreasing year on year (and I've paid probably the guts of €4k-€5k so far in premiums which have never been used), I'm finding it very difficult to justify paying an increased premium

It's encouraging to see the likes of Revolut entering the market (albeit underwritten by AIG and using the blackboxes) which can hopefully cause a shake up in the next few years from the status quo as the banks are seeing now but the legislative issue of not being able to access european insurers is reducing competition within the industry and allowing them to set the price as they see fit

And don't get me started on the 2% levy..

European insurers are not going to help much, you are still driving in Ireland with little law enforcement and high costs.

I am paying less than 30 years ago.

I think the 2% will finish shortly though.

What's  the deal with qualifying for  All Ireland final tickets with the Season Ticket?

Can you only miss  one county game?

You can elect not to buy one championship game. Of course, you do not have to go them.

These are now on sale @ €150.
Poor value and probably not worth buying unless your County has a chance of reaching the AI Final.

Mind you more in the running now than 12 months ago when it was thought only Dublin, Derry or Kerry had a realistic chance.

Still includes Senior Club Finals and Football League Finals.

Used to include any football League game, 1st Provincial Championship game and €5 off subsequent (except Provincial Finals).

The season ticket is useful for things like provincial finals where tickets might be short supply, especially if you live outside the county. In Armagh's case tickets could be short supply for a first round game depending on the draw.

However, it does include the league finals and some teams are more likely than others to be in these. For instance, it was no surprise to see Armagh and Donegal in the Div 2 final last year. I's say the Rossies have a fair chance of getting to the Div 2 final this year.

I don't know the ins and outs of Armagh TV nor the Tech behind it, but there seemed to be a change just near the end of the league, a new provider/platform of some sort. I'm guessing there were teething problems or maybe sold a pup, I dunno.

I thought that I saw Vimeo, a very reputable provider, mentioned somewhere at the weekend.

MON usually more capable than this.

She has things to be doing without having to sort out this kind of thing, she been badly let down by the team.

How senior was this McMonagle lad? By the talk it's as if MON would have knew him personally, is she still denying that?

Mary-Lou on the radio now, MON definitely knew McMonagle as he worked with her for 3 months.
She apparently did not notice him when he turned up at the event with his SF pass after he was supposed to have been discontinued.
I'd say that Mary-Lou is a bit p***d off with the northern branch.

I saw a few comments online about streaming services being too expensive. Armagh was £10 a game at the  weekend. Are costs becoming too much?

You could have bought the month of October for £20 and got multiple games, including the semi-finals and finals.

Would there not be considered to be too many clubs for an area that size?

I definitely think west belfast suffers from having far too many clubs.

If two of these clubs can play in the senior final and another in the intermediate final, then the simple answer is no there are not too many clubs, they can all raise a team.

I think they're the biggest club in the county by membership.

They won this year's minor championship, they're in the SFC final, their second string reached the IFC semifinals, their ladies are LGFA SFC champions, their junior ladies reached the final as well. They also won the LGFA minor championship.

How does having their affairs in order and seemingly being a well run club to achieve that make them a super club like in Dublin? Are they getting on outside players, big managers etc?

They are "super" as in superlative. They are not like a Dublin club, many of whom have a population equivalent to that of Lurgan altogether, although in Lurgan 40% (?) of the population is anti Irish and there are multiple clubs.

Clann Eireann just beat Crossmaglen in Armagh

When Armagh people said to bet on Clann Éireann and not Cross we weren't joking.
Barry McCambridge showing his class.

It should be good for Armagh GAA. The GAA is to the fore in Lurgan , which is not true of many towns like it, look at the likes of Newry. But the kids in Lurgan are following both their many clubs and their county. The likes of Cross and Cullyhanna will continue to be strong.

Wesley Johnson's site is very informative on this

Section 2, from south of Strabane to south of Omagh, including the Omagh Bypass, will commence in spring 2025. Part of Section 3 from south of Omagh to Ballygawley will commence a year later, in spring 2026.

The Strabane bypass northwards needs some examination of the flooding implications.
The section to Aughnacloy will be near the end, when the new N2 bypassing Monaghan and Emyvale is at least designed.

That wheel spinning is about as random as a Louth draw for All Ireland tickets.

Missing the point here, that Casement even being built to 'GAA' spec would still be a very attractive venue for large scale events and concerts etc. So the powers that be should be getting heads together now and determining how to deliver this on a scale and budget that works.

Pretty sure the final planning granted for Casement said that only 3 concerts/large scale events per year could be held there which would seriously limit this as a revenue stream.

Pairc Ui Chaoimh and Croker have similar restrictions on the number of concerts.

Pairc Ui Chaoimh have only managed to have the maximum number of concerts for one of the years since it reopened and I'm sure there are loads of years that Croke Park hasn't managed to hold their maximum number of concerts.

So while Casement would possibly get some concerts, it definitely wouldn't be all that reliable an ongoing revenue stream.

The could have the 12th of July there, that would be every year.