Sinn Fein? They have gone away, you know.

[Milltown Row2]

Daft move all round to be raising any type of rates or taxes at the minute, given the extortionate amounts we already pay and the ridiculous state of silly little things like hospitals and roads..

Where do you think the money for hospitals and roads will come from?

Ok, so with nothing more coming in, presumably you think everything can and should be funded through spending cuts?

I'd fully sign up to public sector reform, but we all know it'll never happen.

Welfare reform? Good luck with that.

Perhaps you disapprove of how so many of your fellow county men (as openly discussed on this forum) readily avoid paying VAT and insist on cash. You'd advocate a real clamp down on this, yeah?

Where on earth is the money going? The ordinary man is paying more than his fair share of VAT, tax and rates. Start by taxing the 1% of earners a lot more.

Not too bothered by John up the road saving a few quid by doing cash jobs, a drop in the ocean compared to the top earners

We all want the benefits of the public sector, education, hospitals, infrastructure, social housing and so on, but when asked to pay for it lets just hit the big earners for it, shouldn't have to work like that as they are actually paying more anyways

The money coming in is being wasted one court case after another, there are enquiries every week, there is bickering over street names in Irish, why the f**k should there be street names in Irish in Loyalist areas, neutral maybe, Catholic yes but ffs cop on..

Wasting money on too many other shite things, too many to mention

why shouldnt there be Irish street signs anywhere in Ireland? It is the language of the country. And really, breaking it into catholic v protestant?

This is a personal view, but I see absolutely no benefit of having it in Loyalist areas, it works well in Wales as they are a patriotic country, albeit still want to be part of the UK  but they have no history of what we have.

It's not a deal breaker, all it does is provide ammunition for the likes of the TUV to fire bullets

[GTP]

As much as people will/would complain about it, water charges need to come in. It should obviously be metered, although initially will probably be a charge per dwelling. That said a reform of NIW is badly needed.

This is AI generated but the estimate of fitting water meters is £300 million, the time and money it would take followed by administration and "water tax" strikes or whatever protests people come up with would make it very difficult. Sticking a charge on rates is the simplest way of doing it. Then we would just have to trust that someone can spend the money on sorting out the mess.

[playwiththewind1st]

I shelled out £1,485 in rates for 2025-2026 & we can't even get those morons at Bryson House to empty the kerbie bins on a Friday for that amount of money ffs.

[tonto1888]

Daft move all round to be raising any type of rates or taxes at the minute, given the extortionate amounts we already pay and the ridiculous state of silly little things like hospitals and roads..

Where do you think the money for hospitals and roads will come from?

Ok, so with nothing more coming in, presumably you think everything can and should be funded through spending cuts?

I'd fully sign up to public sector reform, but we all know it'll never happen.

Welfare reform? Good luck with that.

Perhaps you disapprove of how so many of your fellow county men (as openly discussed on this forum) readily avoid paying VAT and insist on cash. You'd advocate a real clamp down on this, yeah?

Where on earth is the money going? The ordinary man is paying more than his fair share of VAT, tax and rates. Start by taxing the 1% of earners a lot more.

Not too bothered by John up the road saving a few quid by doing cash jobs, a drop in the ocean compared to the top earners

We all want the benefits of the public sector, education, hospitals, infrastructure, social housing and so on, but when asked to pay for it lets just hit the big earners for it, shouldn't have to work like that as they are actually paying more anyways

The money coming in is being wasted one court case after another, there are enquiries every week, there is bickering over street names in Irish, why the f**k should there be street names in Irish in Loyalist areas, neutral maybe, Catholic yes but ffs cop on..

Wasting money on too many other shite things, too many to mention

why shouldnt there be Irish street signs anywhere in Ireland? It is the language of the country. And really, breaking it into catholic v protestant?

This is a personal view, but I see absolutely no benefit of having it in Loyalist areas, it works well in Wales as they are a patriotic country, albeit still want to be part of the UK  but they have no history of what we have.

It's not a deal breaker, all it does is provide ammunition for the likes of the TUV to fire bullets

the likes of the TUV cant be allowed to control things or turn the Irish language, our language, into something controversial. I may be wrong but I would say there are people in those areas/communities would like, or at least not mind, Irish street signs. There are people form those communities who learn the language after all

[Tony Baloney]

Daft move all round to be raising any type of rates or taxes at the minute, given the extortionate amounts we already pay and the ridiculous state of silly little things like hospitals and roads..

Where do you think the money for hospitals and roads will come from?

Ok, so with nothing more coming in, presumably you think everything can and should be funded through spending cuts?

I'd fully sign up to public sector reform, but we all know it'll never happen.

Welfare reform? Good luck with that.

Perhaps you disapprove of how so many of your fellow county men (as openly discussed on this forum) readily avoid paying VAT and insist on cash. You'd advocate a real clamp down on this, yeah?

Where on earth is the money going? The ordinary man is paying more than his fair share of VAT, tax and rates. Start by taxing the 1% of earners a lot more.

Not too bothered by John up the road saving a few quid by doing cash jobs, a drop in the ocean compared to the top earners

We all want the benefits of the public sector, education, hospitals, infrastructure, social housing and so on, but when asked to pay for it lets just hit the big earners for it, shouldn't have to work like that as they are actually paying more anyways

The money coming in is being wasted one court case after another, there are enquiries every week, there is bickering over street names in Irish, why the f**k should there be street names in Irish in Loyalist areas, neutral maybe, Catholic yes but ffs cop on..

Wasting money on too many other shite things, too many to mention

why shouldnt there be Irish street signs anywhere in Ireland? It is the language of the country. And really, breaking it into catholic v protestant?

This is a personal view, but I see absolutely no benefit of having it in Loyalist areas, it works well in Wales as they are a patriotic country, albeit still want to be part of the UK  but they have no history of what we have.

It's not a deal breaker, all it does is provide ammunition for the likes of the TUV to fire bullets

the likes of the TUV cant be allowed to control things or turn the Irish language, our language, into something controversial. I may be wrong but I would say there are people in those areas/communities would like, or at least not mind, Irish street signs. There are people form those communities who learn the language after all

The people who are against something are 1000x louder here than the people who are pro something. If 9 houses in a culture de sac didn't mind Irish signs and one Loyalist mouthpiece was vehemently opposed to them you know who'd get their way.

[Milltown Row2]

And that's ok. We, the Irish have harped on about XY and Z and slowly but surely we are getting there. But whether an Irish sign goes up the highfield estate or not, I personally ain't bothered.

I'm more bothered about a hundred other things that affect me and my family.

I learnt one thing that I've tried to listen to over the years that works, Chose your battles

[DaleCooper]

"Culture de sac"

Inadvertently created a genius term!

[gallsman]

If 9 houses in a culture de sac didn't mind Irish signs and one Loyalist mouthpiece was vehemently opposed to them you know who'd get their way.

In fairness, at least in Belfast that's not what happens.

Forget the "it's the language of the country" guff from people who can barely speak a word of it. It doesn't make you any more of a republican to come out with lines like that. Especially when it's demonstrably false.

For years the the accusation has been that nationalists politicise the Irish language, and that we want to force it on "themmuns". Pushing Irish signs in where they're not particularly wanted or actively unwanted only gives ammo to that argument. It achieves nothing other than wasting money. Some people don't speak and don't want to speak Irish. And that's fine.

[thewobbler]

I've said it before and I'll say again.

The purpose of signage is to inform people where they are and to help direct them to where they're going.

The moment a sign becomes bilingual, its very purpose is diminished. And if we can can all agree that scanning your phone notifications when driving is dangerous behaviour, then I would suggest that bilingual road signs, especially for visitors on fast moving routes, is also dangerous. Not to the same level as texting, but still an unnecessary distraction. And the need for road safety should always outrank anyone's cultural persuasions.

[Truthsayer]

I've said it before and I'll say again.

The purpose of signage is to inform people where they are and to help direct them to where they're going.

The moment a sign becomes bilingual, its very purpose is diminished. And if we can can all agree that scanning your phone notifications when driving is dangerous behaviour, then I would suggest that bilingual road signs, especially for visitors on fast moving routes, is also dangerous. Not to the same level as texting, but still an unnecessary distraction. And the need for road safety should always outrank anyone's cultural persuasions.

      that's a new one. I've never heard of a road traffic collision caused by a bilingual sign... correct me if I'm wrong.

[thewobbler]

You may laugh Truthsayer. But it is completely and utterly daft to make road signage more complicated than it needs to be. Drivers are too easily distracted.

[Truthsayer]

You may laugh Truthsayer. But it is completely and utterly daft to make road signage more complicated than it needs to be. Drivers are too easily distracted.

So tell me a case of a bilingual sign causing a road accident. It would definitely have been reported. There are bilingual signs in Wales and in the Republic. Its not the clever theory you think it is.

[AustinPowers]

You may laugh Truthsayer. But it is completely and utterly daft to make road signage more complicated than it needs to be. Drivers are too easily distracted.

So tell me a case of a bilingual sign causing a road accident. It would definitely have been reported. There are bilingual signs in Wales and in the Republic. Its not the clever theory you think it is.

It can't be safe  putting  that  place on  a road sign . 

Look dear, look at the length of that pla.... CRASH!!

[thewobbler]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulhsieh/2022/04/26/traffic-safety-signs-may-be-hazardous-to-your-health/

Make if it what you will but I guess  your mind is already made up. Why would anyone willingly improve road safety?

[Truthsayer]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulhsieh/2022/04/26/traffic-safety-signs-may-be-hazardous-to-your-health/

Make if it what you will but I guess  your mind is already made up. Why would anyone willingly improve road safety?

I've read thousands of local and provincial news reports and not once of an accident caused by a bilingual sign. They've been about for a long time.
If there was such a case the papers would have been all over it, so again, tell me one case. The TUV haven't even come up with that argument!