NAMA NAMA NAMA

[Camroc2]

I see the mayor of Lisbon intends to ban AirBnB from the city after the Covid crisis is over.

Meaningless piffle.

The issue (everywhere) is poor enforcement of planning regimes.

AirBnB offers a good service but everywhere you go there are local governments failing to react quickly enough to its existence.

I'd mostly agree. A lot of ABnB properties are such that locals don't want to live in them, for one reason or another, size or location, anyway. ANd wouldn't have an economic use without tourist lets.

[CM11]

Don't really agree. Airbnb pushes rent up doubly. First by reducing stock and then when landlords realise how much more money they can get with airbnb. The measures here should help both of those issues.

Certainly the rentals that I know of near me wouldn't be classified as houses no one else would want.

[Uncle fester]

Any downside to what we're doing?

The irony is that the weight and responsibility of the extended debt will fall on the 18-35 yr olds of today, who are most vociferous about big government and massive social spending.

While that generation call for universal basic income, housing as a human right, 4-day weeks, free medical cards for all etc etc, they are the same ones whose state pensions will be revoked by the IMF/EU in 30 years time, if all this “extend and pretend” activity goes badly wrong.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t do it...... I am worried however that the electorate has zero clue about the potential implications.

Who knows ..... economic growth and inflation might take care of the issue over the coming decades?

I’m just worried about the increasing frequency (and amplitude) of all these economic shocks we’ve been experiencing over the last 30 years.

As am I....very good point.

Is it a case that trying to stave off a recession just kicks the can down the road and creates a bigger problem?

Debt is the problem and the answer seems to be more credit every time.

[Camroc2]

Don't really agree. Airbnb pushes rent up doubly. First by reducing stock and then when landlords realise how much more money they can get with airbnb. The measures here should help both of those issues.

Certainly the rentals that I know of near me wouldn't be classified as houses no one else would want.

Most rentals near me, and there are lots, have fúck all to do with ABnB.

I'm not sure ABnB's business model will survive post covid, in any event.

[Duff Paddy]

Don't really agree. Airbnb pushes rent up doubly. First by reducing stock and then when landlords realise how much more money they can get with airbnb. The measures here should help both of those issues.

Certainly the rentals that I know of near me wouldn't be classified as houses no one else would want.

Most rentals near me, and there are lots, have fúck all to do with ABnB.

I'm not sure ABnB's business model will survive post covid, in any event.

Haha they’ve over 300 properties listed for Ranelagh - you’re not an Airbnb user you don’t get it, the younger generation love it

[Camroc2]

Don't really agree. Airbnb pushes rent up doubly. First by reducing stock and then when landlords realise how much more money they can get with airbnb. The measures here should help both of those issues.

Certainly the rentals that I know of near me wouldn't be classified as houses no one else would want.

Most rentals near me, and there are lots, have fúck all to do with ABnB.

I'm not sure ABnB's business model will survive post covid, in any event.

Haha they’ve over 300 properties listed for Ranelagh - you’re not an Airbnb user you don’t get it, the younger generation love it

How many rental properties do you think there are in Ranelagh ?

[anonymous_joe]

Don't really agree. Airbnb pushes rent up doubly. First by reducing stock and then when landlords realise how much more money they can get with airbnb. The measures here should help both of those issues.

Certainly the rentals that I know of near me wouldn't be classified as houses no one else would want.

Most rentals near me, and there are lots, have fúck all to do with ABnB.

I'm not sure ABnB's business model will survive post covid, in any event.

Haha they’ve over 300 properties listed for Ranelagh - you’re not an Airbnb user you don’t get it, the younger generation love it

How many of those are full apartments?

How many of them would be affordable at Ranelagh prices? The "premium" apartments that end up on AirBnB aren't that likely to be in demand from ordinary punters.

[iarmhí]

Downloaded new Covid Ap.

Pretty slick in fairness.

[Camroc2]

Most rentals near me, and there are lots, have fúck all to do with ABnB.

I'm not sure ABnB's business model will survive post covid, in any event.

Haha they’ve over 300 properties listed for Ranelagh - you’re not an Airbnb user you don’t get it, the younger generation love it

How many of those are full apartments?

How many of them would be affordable at Ranelagh prices? The "premium" apartments that end up on AirBnB aren't that likely to be in demand from ordinary punters.

Also, what's the population of Ranelagh ? 30k ? 40k ?
300 ABnB properties is hardly a scratch in the surface.
Our housing problem is not enough supply, something that, covid willing, should be addressed in the next couple of years,given the number of SHD permissions that have issued.

[Gav]

Downloaded new Covid Ap.

Pretty slick in fairness.

Ditto.

[CM11]

Saying airbnb is a problem does not equate to it being the only problem. It is a factor. I'm not sure what your point was, cam, about most airbnb's not being suitable for rental. I just don't see that at all.

[HighKingLeinster]

yep, downloaded but havent really looked at it, and hope i never have to

[Nols]

Been keeping an eye on daft for the last few months. Prices have come down noticeably since Covid. Seeing properties appear in search criteria that wouldn't have appeared before. They're now coming in under whatever maximum rent search parameters that previously they were above.
Have seen a few advertised which look suspiciously like ex-AirBnB.

I've been in a couple mover the years when visiting friends rented in Dublin for a weekend and so on, and there absolutely are properties missing from the long term rental market. Sure a handful in various locations isn't causing the shortage, but it's absolutely a factor.

[The sun god]

So...let me see have I got this right. Young BIFFO junior has been driving around the hinterlands of Offaly and the rest of the country , byroads and motorways, for donkey's years on a learner permit !!...
OK...not the end of the world but shows he is a lazy cunt with very little regards for the rules but then he expects the people of Ireland to believe that he was caught the very first time he drove under the influence.....!!! Now i call bullshit on that.

Any 50 year old man in Ireland, who drives a car and likes a pint, particularly someone who would have gone to every funeral in the county, and says they have never driven with a drink on them is a liar.

[CM11]

So...let me see have I got this right. Young BIFFO junior has been driving around the hinterlands of Offaly and the rest of the country , byroads and motorways, for donkey's years on a learner permit !!...
OK...not the end of the world but shows he is a lazy cunt with very little regards for the rules but then he expects the people of Ireland to believe that he was caught the very first time he drove under the influence.....!!! Now i call bullshit on that.

Any 50 year old man in Ireland, who drives a car and likes a pint, particularly someone who would have gone to every funeral in the county, and says they have never driven with a drink on them is a liar.

As per PR, it seems he tested positive for the lower limit for learner drivers and may have not hit the higher limit for full license holders.

But to your point, he's saying that's the first day in his life he has had a drink, that day, and driven? Yeah, nah!

[The sun god]

Am I right that some Shinner idiot has put his hands up for the same offence ?....... I was wondering why they were so quiet on this.

[CM11]

Am I right that some Shinner idiot has put his hands up for the same offence ?....... I was wondering why they were so quiet on this.

And not a 'would have been under the full license limit' offence either. 3 times over the limit. Suspended license for 3 years. But he said sorry at the time, so that's OK. He was also very sorry for being abusive towards the Gardai some years later so again, nothing to see here.

[Hobo Hooker]

Am I right that some Shinner idiot has put his hands up for the same offence ?....... I was wondering why they were so quiet on this.

you would hope that being the main opposition party for the next few years will allow some of the skeletons to come out of the closet/bodies to come out of the bog (delete as applicable)

[PornDog]

Why isn't the Sinn Fein lads posing with an AK-47 after Bobby Storey's funeral making the news anywhere. I would have thought the DUP at least would have been all over it?

Spoiler

Show

Spoiler

Show

Spoiler

Show

[The sun god]

Bond auction results.....

TABLE-Ireland raises 1.5 billion euros via triple bond sale - Reuters News


DUBLIN, July 9 (Reuters) - Ireland sold 1.5 billion euros of
7-, 10- and 30-year debt at yields ranging from -0.257% to
0.602%, hitting the lower range of its target for the year to
shore up government finances drained by the coronavirus
pandemic.
Ireland has raised 20 billion euros ($22.65 billion) from
bond issuance so far this year from a 20 to 24 billion euro
funding range, a target it increased after the pandemic turned a
budget surplus in 2019 into a projected large deficit for this
year.

BONDS MATURING MAY 15, 2027
09/07/2020 07/04/2020
SALE AMOUNT 500 mln eur 6 bln eur
BID-TO-COVER 2.85 5.5
AVERAGE YIELD -0.257% 0.242%
BONDS MATURING OCT 18, 2030
09/07/2020 09/06/2020
SALE AMOUNT 700 mln eur 6 bln eur
BID-TO-COVER 1.72 11.0
AVERAGE YIELD -0.025% 0.285%
BONDS MATURING May 15, 2050
09/07/2020 14/05/2020
SALE AMOUNT 300 mln eur 650 mln eur
BID-TO-COVER 2.86 1.7
AVERAGE YIELD 0.602 pct 0.792%
* Compares to last occasion bonds were sold, 2027 and 2030 bonds
previously sold via syndication

[Flametop]

Why isn't the Sinn Fein lads posing with an AK-47 after Bobby Storey's funeral making the news anywhere. I would have thought the DUP at least would have been all over it?

Spoiler

Show

Spoiler

Show

Spoiler

Show

I used to have no respect for Michael but he’s a cute hoor alright.

(Where is his other hand BTW?)

[iarmhí]

Pascal Donohoe elected head of finance Eurogroup

[Gav]

Why isn't the Sinn Fein lads posing with an AK-47 after Bobby Storey's funeral making the news anywhere. I would have thought the DUP at least would have been all over it?

Spoiler

Show

Spoiler

Show

Spoiler

Show

I used to have no respect for Michael but he’s a cute hoor alright.

(Where is his other hand BTW?)

He’s clearly gay

[Gav]

Good article on cancel culture from the Economist

The new ideology of race
America’s problem with racism can be divided into two parts. One contains all the myriad injustices that still blight African-American lives a century and a half after the end of slavery. The other is the way that factions on the right exploit racial division as a political tool. An example of the first occurred on May 25th on a shabby street corner in Minneapolis, when George Floyd was killed by a white policeman. An example of the second occurred on July 3rd, at Mount Rushmore, against the monumental backdrop of the country’s greatest presidents, when Donald Trump sought to inflame a culture war centred on race to boost his chances of a second term. To be successful, a campaign for racial justice needs to deal with both.
Leaders like Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King used vigorous protest and relentless argument to push society towards their vision of equality of opportunity and equality before the law. Most Americans still hew to that classical liberal ideal as do many of those who marched with justified anger over the killing of Mr Floyd. But a dangerous rival approach has emerged from American universities (see article). It rejects the liberal notion of progress. It defines everyone by their race, and every action as racist or anti-racist. It is not yet dominant, but it is dynamic and it is spreading out of the academy into everyday life. If it supplants liberal values, then intimidation will chill open debate and sow division to the disadvantage of all, black and white.
The premise underpinning this ideology is correct: that racial inequality is shockingly persistent. Even though attitudes to race have improved, the quality of African-American lives has not kept pace. A third of black boys born in 2001 will probably spend time locked up, compared with one in 17 white boys. In 1968 black households earned around 60% as much as white households, and owned assets that were less than 10% of those of a typical white family. They still do.
This ideology also has some valid insights. Racism is sustained by unjust institutions and practices. Sometimes, as in policing, this is overt. More often, in countless small put-downs and biases, it is subtle but widespread and harmful.
But then the ideology takes a wrong turn, by seeking to impose itself through intimidation and power. Not the power that comes from persuasion and elections, but from silencing your critics, insisting that those who are not with you are against you, and shutting out those who are deemed privileged or disloyal to their race. It is a worldview where everything and everyone is seen through the prism of ideology—who is published, who gets jobs, who can say what to whom; one in which in-groups obsess over orthodoxy in education, culture and heritage; one that enforces absolute equality of outcome, policy by policy, paragraph by paragraph, if society is to count as just.
It is tempting to see such ideas as nothing more than overheated campus radicalism. And, true enough, they have not yet taken over a political party. When people speak of ending white privilege, most of them have good things in mind like inclusion and justice. But ideas are important, and the spread of campus terminology into newsrooms and boardrooms invites in ideologues. Their approach is already taking a toll. In universities research agendas are being warped. Outside them, public shaming and intimidation have been curbing debate.
The pity is that these ideas will not solve America’s problems with race. They will not eliminate inequality because they are a poor way to bring about beneficial change. Unless you can freely analyse causes and question orthodoxies you will not be able to solve problems. And unless you can criticise people and practices without fear of being called out, you will not be able to design effective policies and then go on to refine them.
The new race theory blocks progress in another way, too. The barriers to racism can be dismantled only when they are exposed—and so they must be, however painful. But the false idea that ingrained racism will forever block African-Americans at every turn is a barrier in its own right.
And, by focusing on power and division, this ideology only creates more space for some on the right to exploit race as a tool. A fundamental belief in power above persuasion frustrates coalition-building. Essential allies are not carried along, but forced along. When every transaction at work, at home, or at the school gate is seen through a prism of racial power, no encounter between different races can be innocent.
The new ideology of race is not just wrong and dangerous, it is also unnecessary. Liberalism can offer a fairer, more promising route to reform. It asserts the dignity of the individual and the legal, civil and moral equality of all people, whatever the colour of their skin. It believes in progress through argument and debate, in which reason and empathy lift truthful ideas and marginalise bigotry and falsehood.
Liberalism thrives on a marketplace of ideas, so diversity has a vital role. New voices and experiences enrich the debate. Liberalism does not fight power with power, which risks replacing one abusive regime with another. Instead it uses facts and evidence, tested in debate, to help the weak take on the strong.
Liberalism is all about progress, including about putting right its mistakes—and there have been many, especially over race, including finding reasons to accommodate imperialism and slavery. That is one reason why, in the 250 years in which it has been influential, humanity has seen unprecedented material, scientific and political gains, as well as a vast extension of social and political rights. Progress on racial inequities has been part of this—as in South Africa, where liberals joined forces with the trade unions and communists to sink apartheid.
Liberals can help in America, too. Much of the material gulf between African-Americans and whites can be bridged with economic policies that improve opportunity. You do not need to build a state based on identity. Nor do you need tools like reparations, which come with practical difficulties and have unintended consequences. Economic policies that are race-neutral, which people qualify for because of poverty, not the colour of their skin, can make a big difference. They have a chance of uniting Americans, not dividing them. If the mood now really is for change, they would be politically sellable and socially cohesive.
Our Briefing lays out what some of these policies might look like. Top of the list is tackling the housing segregation that is central to America’s racial economic inequality. The reform of zoning laws and the grant of rent-assistance vouchers are the chief ingredients. That would bring many benefits, improving public services and lessening violence. More integrated housing would integrate schools too and, given America’s locally financed education, mean that more would be spent on black children. Affordable measures, including advice and modest cash grants, have been shown to boost graduation from college. A third tool is the tax system. The earned-income tax credit tops up wages of working adults. A child allowance would cut poverty. A baby bond would help shrink the wealth gap.
In the past liberals have helped bring about change when society faced a challenge to the status quo, as when reforms limited child labour and won women the vote. If America has reached such a moment today, it must not resort to identity politics—and suffer intolerance, intimidation and division. Instead, for reform on race that works, it must look to liberalism.

[Jim Lahey]

Listened to that article this morning while running.

I normally take issue with the Economist’s cultural elitism (despite being a subscriber, as I like to hear varying opinions), highlighted by them frequently wanking themselves silly over Macron, but they are spot on in that article.

Social media has unleashed a tsunami of intolerance and intimidation in the public domain, on all sides of the political spectrum. It can’t be healthy for modern democracy.

[Hellraiser]

The North Quays development in Waterford has been granted planning permission. Game changer for the city.

[Nols]

The North Quays development in Waterford has been granted planning permission. Game changer for the city.

Is that the one that was held up for ages by one dickhead?

[Hobo Hooker]

Good article on cancel culture from the Economist

The new ideology of race
America’s problem with racism can be divided into two parts. One contains all the myriad injustices that still blight African-American lives a century and a half after the end of slavery. The other is the way that factions on the right exploit racial division as a political tool. An example of the first occurred on May 25th on a shabby street corner in Minneapolis, when George Floyd was killed by a white policeman. An example of the second occurred on July 3rd, at Mount Rushmore, against the monumental backdrop of the country’s greatest presidents, when Donald Trump sought to inflame a culture war centred on race to boost his chances of a second term. To be successful, a campaign for racial justice needs to deal with both.
Leaders like Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King used vigorous protest and relentless argument to push society towards their vision of equality of opportunity and equality before the law. Most Americans still hew to that classical liberal ideal as do many of those who marched with justified anger over the killing of Mr Floyd. But a dangerous rival approach has emerged from American universities (see article). It rejects the liberal notion of progress. It defines everyone by their race, and every action as racist or anti-racist. It is not yet dominant, but it is dynamic and it is spreading out of the academy into everyday life. If it supplants liberal values, then intimidation will chill open debate and sow division to the disadvantage of all, black and white.
The premise underpinning this ideology is correct: that racial inequality is shockingly persistent. Even though attitudes to race have improved, the quality of African-American lives has not kept pace. A third of black boys born in 2001 will probably spend time locked up, compared with one in 17 white boys. In 1968 black households earned around 60% as much as white households, and owned assets that were less than 10% of those of a typical white family. They still do.
This ideology also has some valid insights. Racism is sustained by unjust institutions and practices. Sometimes, as in policing, this is overt. More often, in countless small put-downs and biases, it is subtle but widespread and harmful.
But then the ideology takes a wrong turn, by seeking to impose itself through intimidation and power. Not the power that comes from persuasion and elections, but from silencing your critics, insisting that those who are not with you are against you, and shutting out those who are deemed privileged or disloyal to their race. It is a worldview where everything and everyone is seen through the prism of ideology—who is published, who gets jobs, who can say what to whom; one in which in-groups obsess over orthodoxy in education, culture and heritage; one that enforces absolute equality of outcome, policy by policy, paragraph by paragraph, if society is to count as just.
It is tempting to see such ideas as nothing more than overheated campus radicalism. And, true enough, they have not yet taken over a political party. When people speak of ending white privilege, most of them have good things in mind like inclusion and justice. But ideas are important, and the spread of campus terminology into newsrooms and boardrooms invites in ideologues. Their approach is already taking a toll. In universities research agendas are being warped. Outside them, public shaming and intimidation have been curbing debate.
The pity is that these ideas will not solve America’s problems with race. They will not eliminate inequality because they are a poor way to bring about beneficial change. Unless you can freely analyse causes and question orthodoxies you will not be able to solve problems. And unless you can criticise people and practices without fear of being called out, you will not be able to design effective policies and then go on to refine them.
The new race theory blocks progress in another way, too. The barriers to racism can be dismantled only when they are exposed—and so they must be, however painful. But the false idea that ingrained racism will forever block African-Americans at every turn is a barrier in its own right.
And, by focusing on power and division, this ideology only creates more space for some on the right to exploit race as a tool. A fundamental belief in power above persuasion frustrates coalition-building. Essential allies are not carried along, but forced along. When every transaction at work, at home, or at the school gate is seen through a prism of racial power, no encounter between different races can be innocent.
The new ideology of race is not just wrong and dangerous, it is also unnecessary. Liberalism can offer a fairer, more promising route to reform. It asserts the dignity of the individual and the legal, civil and moral equality of all people, whatever the colour of their skin. It believes in progress through argument and debate, in which reason and empathy lift truthful ideas and marginalise bigotry and falsehood.
Liberalism thrives on a marketplace of ideas, so diversity has a vital role. New voices and experiences enrich the debate. Liberalism does not fight power with power, which risks replacing one abusive regime with another. Instead it uses facts and evidence, tested in debate, to help the weak take on the strong.
Liberalism is all about progress, including about putting right its mistakes—and there have been many, especially over race, including finding reasons to accommodate imperialism and slavery. That is one reason why, in the 250 years in which it has been influential, humanity has seen unprecedented material, scientific and political gains, as well as a vast extension of social and political rights. Progress on racial inequities has been part of this—as in South Africa, where liberals joined forces with the trade unions and communists to sink apartheid.
Liberals can help in America, too. Much of the material gulf between African-Americans and whites can be bridged with economic policies that improve opportunity. You do not need to build a state based on identity. Nor do you need tools like reparations, which come with practical difficulties and have unintended consequences. Economic policies that are race-neutral, which people qualify for because of poverty, not the colour of their skin, can make a big difference. They have a chance of uniting Americans, not dividing them. If the mood now really is for change, they would be politically sellable and socially cohesive.
Our Briefing lays out what some of these policies might look like. Top of the list is tackling the housing segregation that is central to America’s racial economic inequality. The reform of zoning laws and the grant of rent-assistance vouchers are the chief ingredients. That would bring many benefits, improving public services and lessening violence. More integrated housing would integrate schools too and, given America’s locally financed education, mean that more would be spent on black children. Affordable measures, including advice and modest cash grants, have been shown to boost graduation from college. A third tool is the tax system. The earned-income tax credit tops up wages of working adults. A child allowance would cut poverty. A baby bond would help shrink the wealth gap.
In the past liberals have helped bring about change when society faced a challenge to the status quo, as when reforms limited child labour and won women the vote. If America has reached such a moment today, it must not resort to identity politics—and suffer intolerance, intimidation and division. Instead, for reform on race that works, it must look to liberalism.

interesting article, thanks for posting

[fishfoodie]

Biffo Jr Gooooooooooe


Mehole only took a week longer than he should have, to do the necessary. He should be raging.

It's one thing to stand by your TD; but when the TD have been an absolute cretin, & made his Party Leader look just the same, he's no reason to feel hard done by.

[PornDog]

Why in Dev's name did he not just resign? He was obviously asked to and refused!!!!

That's his career done now, whereas if he had given a "this story is taking away from the business of government" type statement and stepped down he could easily be in a future cabinet without much issue. He's done now though - maybe not full Michael Lowry leave the party done, but he'll be a pariah.

One would assume that the alleged disgruntled fucking idiot Thomas Byrne will be done too.

[CM11]

Are we watching the death of FF in slow motion?

At least they got this out of the way at the beginning but unlikely to be the last controversy.

[iarmhí]

Ireland wins Apple tax case.

Expect an appeal from Vestiger

[iarmhí]

Are we watching the death of FF in slow motion?

At least they got this out of the way at the beginning but unlikely to be the last controversy.

They're imploding. With the rise of the shinners and a growing far right, it's time to merge

[The sun god]

Ireland wins Apple tax case.

Expect an appeal from Vestiger

She can appeal all she wants.. I actually don't think they will let her appeal as politically they don't want to piss off Ireland anymore than they already have. How to turn a good European into a pissed off European..... keep needling them unnecessarily.
There are bigger issues in the EU at the moment so I think she will be told to fuck off.

[iarmhí]

Ireland wins Apple tax case.

Expect an appeal from Vestiger

She can appeal all she wants.. I actually don't think they will let her appeal as politically they don't want to piss off Ireland anymore than they already have. How to turn a good European into a pissed off European..... keep needling them unnecessarily.
There are bigger issues in the EU at the moment so I think she will be told to fuck off.

She's pretty arrogant. I think she will appeal

[The sun god]

Ireland wins Apple tax case.

Expect an appeal from Vestiger

She can appeal all she wants.. I actually don't think they will let her appeal as politically they don't want to piss off Ireland anymore than they already have. How to turn a good European into a pissed off European..... keep needling them unnecessarily.
There are bigger issues in the EU at the moment so I think she will be told to fuck off.

She's pretty arrogant. I think she will appeal

She will be out of the portfolio soon enough..... her successor will have to take up the baton.

[Crouchy]

Are we watching the death of FF in slow motion?

At least they got this out of the way at the beginning but unlikely to be the last controversy.

This is surely their last hurrah and it's certainly not off to a good start.

[iarmhí]

Do you think Thomas Byrne leaked that Cowen debacle? If so he won't have too many friends in the party and Cowen being a BIFFO will get his revenge at a later stage.

[The sun god]

Do you think Thomas Byrne leaked that Cowen debacle? If so he won't have too many friends in the party and Cowen being a BIFFO will get his revenge at a later stage.

Of course he did. You got to remember that Cowen is about as popular as a bad dose of syphilis in Leinster house , particularly within FF.

[HighKingLeinster]

what was Thomas Byrnes angle? Pissed at not getting a ministry?