Londonuck

Tks Mick. Hope you get to Blackrock soon mate.

Joe-Soap

That's shocking they are getting dole. Many Brazilians are mixed race due to the nature of the country. So they have both EU and Brazilian passports anyway. I suppose many of them marry the Eastern Europeans for a paper marriage. Roscommon is full of them alright, its the same as Gort. I thought the Polish were tight until I saw how the Brazilians live. In Dublin I saw rooms for rent advertised on Rent.ie and Daft.ie
They weren't just rooms for rent, they were shared rooms! You would have four single beds in one room. Apparently in Brazil its nothing unusual to have four to a bedroom, very friendly indeed.
So they rent a room for 100 Euro a week and split it four ways, only 25 Euro per week rent. That's how they can survive selling the Evening Herald at traffic lights. Dublin is overrun with Brazilians now, due to them not needing a visa before coming here. I don't know why they love Ireland so much, as its broke; and life in Brazil isn't that bad in comparison.
I didn't even know about fuel allowance, but after 6 months on the dole I was offered it by the nice woman at the dole office. As far as I was aware one had to be on the dole for 350 days in a row. Apparently it depends on what type of dole you are on though. I get my 20 Euro per week extra from October to April. I wasn't going to query it anyway!

Joe-Soap

That's a dream job! Its true many Brazilians speak both Spanish and Portugese, especially of they live near the border areas. Its funny how the rest of South America speaks Spanish, Brazil is the only place to speak Portugese. On a positive note, if you move to Roscommon the houses are really cheap; and your garden would be looking immaculate for only 5 Euro per week. When you see the Polish laborers leaving a town, then you know things are bad! I can promise your white husky an Irish passport as long as he agrees to vote Sinn Fein in the next election.

michaleen oge

As Londonuck said earlier,he hoped I could get back to Blackrock soon, not on I am afraid. Have you seen the prices of houses in Blackrock? Even in these dubious times? Check out St. Annes Square,where I was dragged up. In my day,you couldn't give away one of those flatlets(?), now they are expensive like most other things in that area.
Roscommon is where I am pinning my hopes. The better half wants a big garden again,she loves her gardening,and for the money we will have,the West of Ireland is the only place we can afford. The husky,like me,doesn't vote any more. Too many broken promises(song there somewhere?). My brothers' and sisters' who all live in and around the Bray area,are all politically minded but it has passed me by. I am what I thought of as one of a dying breed,an Irishman who spent most of his life in England, but I have never forgotten my roots and was always in a mind to come "home" for my last years.
My parents',aunties and uncles(and a sister)are all buried in Deansgrange cemetary and I want to be able to visit whenever I want,to pay my respects. Last time I went there,I met an old school-friend of mine,who had a job keeping the grounds neat. He had to show me where my Dad's grave was because he had a habit of moving!!!! No matter where I travelled to in the World,I always came "home" for my holidays or a marriage or a death.
I don't have any grand illusions as to what has happened to the country,but to me the land will never change,Celtic tiger or not.
I am lucky in the respect that I have kept friends with the mates I had when growing up there and have never lost contact with any of those still living. So I don't wear rosy-tinted glasses about the problems Ireland still faces,with crime and drugs and immigrants but there are lots of worser(as my mates are prone to say) places on the planet.

Joe-Soap

Best of luck with the move. Daft.ie is the best Irish website to look for houses for sale. There is plenty of cheap housing for sale in Roscommon, as like Leitrim and Longford it was massively oversupplied in the Celtic Tiger boom years. There are bargains to be had now as prices have bottomed out.
There are many people of your generation in Carrick on Shannon who came back to retire here. Many people left in the 1950's and 1960's, then they came back once they retired. You hear lots of English accents here, but many of those people were Irish born and lost the accent due to emigrating young.
Roscommon is a lovely place to live, and the prices are more affordable than Blackrock for sure. The recession will pass in 5 years or so, so its not all bad. My parents reckon it was worse in the 1980's. All things considered, I think its better than living in London or Spain right now anyway.

Londonuck

All my lot are buried in Deansgrange as well Mick.

I'd have one of those big feckers between Monkstown Rd and Seapoint please

michaleen oge

Just wait til I am in Roscommon for about three months and you will hear the most authentic brogue that you can imagine!!! Thinking about the West,I remember during the late 50's and early 60's visiting my parents who were now living in Dun Laoghaire. I used to meet up with my old school mates for my two weeks leave(from the Navy). The Wimpy bar was the meeting place and it was staffed exclusively by girls' from "the country" and they were ribbed unmercifully. It wasn't cool in those days to be from the country(culchies!). None of my mates would think about going out with one of them,and they were lovely girls too. My mate,Noel, took a van-ful of cattle down to Cork around that time and he was set upon,called a Dublin Jackeen. Now it seems everyone wants to live in the West. How times have changed.
I know the Daft sites. I have been tracking about 160 houses on there these last few years,just in case. There are some great bargains,with a bit of land,but most of them are pretty remote. All my plans are in force and now all we need is someone to buy our house here. And Spain is in a right old state so that could take a while. We live in hope begorrah!!!

michaleen oge

Me too mate. My brother got married in Monkstown many years ago. I used to deliver newspapers all along Monkstown and up towards the Farm in the mid fifties or thereabouts. Our first house,when we got married in Sallynoggin,was down Alma Road(a flat really). Number 13 if I remember right. Seapoint is a great spot too and I used to go to the tennis club near the Martello tower(to create,not to play!!!). Do you know the Purty Kitchen at all? Used to be my Saturday night starting point. Nearly opposite the Purty was a coal merchants,Heatons I believe,and I used to collect my Grannies coal in a trolley and cart it to York Road for her. God,how I loved those days.

Londonuck

I know where the Purity Kitchen is, was never in there.

Heres 13 Alma today - double posh mate.

michaleen oge

Our apartment was top right,top floor..never fail to amaze,Londonuck. I street-viewed the house some time ago and kept the photo. The Mrs. did her back in once lugging a big bundle of turf up Alma Road from the shop at the bottom. Still pains her now.
The Purty was THE place to go on a Saturday,what with the live groups playing all the rebel songs. Even though I was in the Navy at the time,I knew all the words and bellowed them with the rest of the room, death to the English and me granny was a rebel, you know the rest I am sure.
From there it was a short walk up to the Wimpy bar for a burger and to wait for the eleven o'clock bus to Bray,to the International Ball-room. When that place closed about two a.m,you had to be sure to get on the bus back or else it was a long walk. I missed it several times. One time my mate,Scotchy,and myself were walking back and found a kids three-wheeled bike and we rode it down to Dun Laoghaire,stealing milk on the way. Used to get home about seven a.m if we were lucky, then off to ten o'clock mass after a fry-up. I would like to think I could do the same now but afraid not!!! Glory days,mate,glory days.

Londonuck

Remember my Dad telling me about going all the way out to the International from Ringsend. He said when they got there, there wasnt a girl to be seen, all blokes. He said they were most put out. They probably walked all the way back as well!

michaleen oge

Let me tell you about what happened with my Dad and my younger brother Gary when Dad took him to a bar in Ringsend. My Da was a terrible man for drinking and fighting and Gary was only about 17 at the time. He took Gary to a place in Ringsend and Gary told me much later that it was the roughest bar he had ever seen!!
All the old lads were standing at the bar when they walked in and the old man just walked up and stood next to one of them and said "You are still a bollix" and walked out. Seems the old man and the old fella at the bar had words during the war and the old man was told to stay out of Ringsend. Didn't work. Many years later,the Dad was in the Harbour bar in Dun Laoghaire and someone jumped on his leg,breaking it. He limped for the rest of his life but here is the clincher,,,,I was home on leave and the usual tradition was for me and my mate,Noel,to go for a drink with him in the Harbour bar on the first Sunday I landed. We were drinking and the old man said "there's the bastard who broke my leg" and pointed to a big old fella drinking alone. Me and Noel went up to him and asked him to go out into the courtyard where the toilets were for a bit of a chat and as we were going through the door,we could hear my old man laughing. Seems it was his mate and he was having us on. We could have been killed. Tell me,mate,do they make them like that any more? I don't think so.

Linotype

Hi Sean,
How long does the JSA last?
Do you have to prove that you are actively seeking employment?
I too am a 'Plastic Paddy'. Lived in Ireland from age 7 to 22.
Cheers

Joe-Soap

JSB (Job Seeker's Benefit) lasts for up to 12 months depending on the number of class A PRSI tax contributions one has made.
It then changes over to JSA (Job Seeker's Allowance, which lasts forever.
There are people that have been on JSA in Ireland for over 20 years.
You don't have to prove you are actively seeking employment at the dole office. Unlike the UK Job Centre's where one has to fill in a book which is checked fortnightly when one signs on.
Here I sign once a month to conform my circumstances haven't changed, and I haven't done any paid work since I last signed.
I get my dole money in cash at the post office every Wednesday, its 188 Euro per week.
I also get fuel allowance from October to April which is an extra 20 Euro per week cash; so my total dole is 208 Euro per week (until April).
One has to pass the HRC (Habitual Residence Condition) to claim dole though.
See my other post for further details on that.
The main one of the the 5 factors to pass the HRC is; length and continuity of stay within the state. Basically if you haven't lived in Ireland for the last 2 years without a break you will get nothing.
I failed the HRC, and failed an appeal. Then after 2 years I got everything including a medical card so I don't pay my GP 50 Euro per visit. I don't pay for prescriptions either.
I hope this is of help to you. Please feel free to ask if you need any other advice. I went through it all myself, so I know well how it works.
The only way round the HRC is to get a job, any job. Then you pay a single class A PRSI tax contribution to the Revenue. Your P45 will prove this to the department of social protection. You then claim dole on the basis of being an EU migrant worker. Therefore one doesn't have to pass the HRC. EU migrant workers are exempt from passing the HRC as the EU has ruled it discriminates against EU workers. The keys is proving you have paid tax to the Revenue, and are therefore an EU migrant worker. Unfortunately the HRC applies to all EU citizens in Ireland, there is no special treatment or exemption for Irish citizens. So even if you are born in Ireland, lived there for 30 years say, if you spent the last 6 months abroad you fail the HRC! Its a disgrace.
The young Irish are forced to emigrate to Australia to get work as Ireland is ****ed, then they can't claim dole as the fail the HRC when they return.

Londonuck

Going home Lino?