Social/Economic Ireland in 20 yrs? Get out the crystal ball and tell me what you see?

Re: Social/Economic Ireland in 20 years?

The electronic voting machines & the port tunnel will feature on RTE's 'Reeling in the Years'

The average waiting time on a hospital trolley in A&E will be 9 days (cut in half from the scandleous 18 day waiting in 2017)

Re: Social/Economic Ireland in 20 years?

I predict we will all be too fat to get out of our houses.

Re: Social/Economic Ireland in 20 years?

Depends on your house of course... maybe someone is thinking

Re: Social/Economic Ireland in 20 years?

-Tomachewski's grand nephew is new Goalie for Ireland.
-National Grid can't cope with Air Conditioning in Summer.Most Dubliners flock to Donegal Caost to escape oppressive City temperatures.
- 2 Cs and 1 D qualifies for Medicine in Trinity
- 20 Euro pints in Cafe En Seine (10 Euros for hot nuts)
- Dubs really believe this time that they can win Sam for the first time since 95
- Integrated ticketing system almost agreed upon in the Capital
- Electronic Voting machine unveiled in National History Museum
- 5 cent coin scrapped (1 & 2 cents went ages ago)

Re: Social/Economic Ireland in 20 years?

Everyone can speak French, German or Chinese but no-one can spell without predictive texting.

Social Welfare has been outsourced to the French, health care to the Dutch, tax collection to the Germans, entire public service has been retired on superannuated überbenchmarked pensions.

Phoenix park is renamed Stagland and turned into a stag party theme park for Europeans who take the tunnel from Holland.

The Burren is paved over to make massive park and ride carpark for commuters to Dublin.

Tesco opens 10,000th store in Ireland, on top of Croagh Patrick.

Roy Keane is president of NFAI, the New FAI, which was founded by him after FAI was disestablished by popular demand in 2008.

Seán Óg O´Hailpin collects 24th All-Ireland hurling medal, having captained a Cork team composed entirely of O´Hailpins whose average age is 19.

Re: Social/Economic Ireland in 20 years?

Dont think you'se are taking this too serious!

Re: Social/Economic Ireland in 20 years?

joe sod said:

But you assume that the human interaction will only be needed in the west. Whats to stop high end products from being produced in the east along with all the associated human interaction with no interaction needed in the west. I dont believe that salaries and living standards in the east can ever equal todays in the west due to the huge supply of labour both low end and high end. Today there is still alot of activity carried out in the areas you have pointed out due to the fact that technology is still very much in the hands of western companies. However if an asian microsoft or pfiser comes into being which is only a matter of time, then there will be huge pressure on wages and jobs in the west. This is because the technology will no longer be in the control of western companies.

Click to expand...

Eastern companies with high end job openings are hiring westerners en masse, so many of us will look to the east increasingly for good work (and better weather). However there will always be a local market. Many jobs that can be systemised or semi automated will reduce in value.

Re: Social/Economic Ireland in 20 years?

I think in 20 years time Ireland (more so Dublin) will be unrecognised as it is now. With immigration levels ireland will become a western satellite of eastern europe especially as it becomes the major gateway for those wishing to learn and speak the essential language of English.

Thats my take.

Re: Social/Economic Ireland in 20 years?

joe sod said:

But you assume that the human interaction will only be needed in the west. Whats to stop high end products from being produced in the east along with all the associated human interaction with no interaction needed in the west. I dont believe that salaries and living standards in the east can ever equal todays in the west due to the huge supply of labour both low end and high end. Today there is still alot of activity carried out in the areas you have pointed out due to the fact that technology is still very much in the hands of western companies. However if an asian microsoft or pfiser comes into being which is only a matter of time, then there will be huge pressure on wages and jobs in the west. This is because the technology will no longer be in the control of western companies.

Click to expand...

As badabing stated, eastern companies will want to expand to and sell in the west. In order to do this in Ireland, they will need skilled Paddys on the ground to do the selling, maintenance, marketing etc. You need knowledge of the local culture to do this. If you've worked in any multinationals you will see that there are still huge cultural differences in the approach to business even between the various western countries. What works in Germany often won't work in France or Ireland. So Asians probably have even less chance of understanding the local market. And there will still be a local market in Ireland. Do you really think 4m people will just collectivly shrug their shoulders and say "ah well, we've priced ourselves out of the market, the asians are running the show now. We may as well just go back to cave dwelling, hunting and gathering, with perhaps a bit of barter thrown in."

Re: Social/Economic Ireland in 20 years?

A bit more like the US. A very unequal society. Immigrant communities becoming much more mobilised and starting to have a political influence. I would guess that there will be a huge gap between rich and poor, and a lot of apartment blocks in some areas will be de-gentrified by a high proportion of welfare-dependent tenants being housed there.

I would suspect that tax exiledom will become extremely common as taxes will have to rise to support the rise in the older population and a huge generation of people with no means to house themselves - unless by then social welfare levels have been drastically cut.

Re: Social/Economic Ireland in 20 years?

our peak population bulge will not retire until 2045 or later , seeing as they were born in 1980 .

Re: Social/Economic Ireland in 20 years?

Some very interesting ideas about where we're going expressed so far.

When I put my pessimistic hat on, the following spring to light:

- Moves towards tax harmonisation in the EU (possibly tied up into an effort to address VAT fraud) - at the considerable expense of people employed in our fleet footed multinational sector.

- At the same time tax takes will be under pressure due to continued give-away (election-purchasing) budgets - leading to continued underfunding of current and capital expenditure and the associated infrastructure deficits.

- The ever increasing 'hollowing out' of our economic profile, with manufacturing and agriculture dwindling away to almost nothing at the expense of 'services' and tourism - both very vulnerable to external shocks.

- Chronic underfunding of R&D, in the Third Level sector as well as in indigenous and foreign firms, will lead to continued slipping down the value-chain for what little manufacturing remains.

- The lack of a co-ordinated energy policy, allied to the increased demands on energy caused by climate change and simple demographics will see nuclear energy firmly in the agenda. Renewable energy will be playing a much larger role but due to it's nature it will be insufficient. Our fines under the Kyoto Protocol should be kicking in during the timeframe too.

- Central Government and Local Authorities will be unable to properly service the unsustainably developed semi-rural sludge that has surrounded our major cities. A fundamental re-think about how we fund and organise our local services will be needed. Expect major political bun-fights over resources, services and local taxation. Of course the politicians time would be better spent on pressing national matters, but all politics is local.

- I would agree with David McWilliams that there will be increasing tension between elements of our increasingly multi-ethnic society, particularly among the economically disadvantaged. Along with unemployment of 8-10%, this will see poorly developed and under-resourced parts of our cities becoming no-go zones once again.

- I think there will be a recognition that the Celtic Tiger days were the boom years, not just for the generation that are retiring in 2026, but for the following two to three generations who will have to live with (and in) their legacy. There will be no Tigers spotted again in Ireland in living memory.

I seem to have mislaid my optimistic hat...

Re: Social/Economic Ireland in 20 yrs? Get out the crystal ball and tell me what you

Since this discussion is clearly not a "Great Financial Debate" Im moving it to the more appropriate "Shoot the Breeze" section.

aj

Re: Social/Economic Ireland in 20 yrs? Get out the crystal ball and tell me what you

The atlantic tunnel will have commenced, but the irish had a faulty compass and ended up in greenland and even then didnt cater for super duper trucks. The M50 will have 9 lanes in both directions with the toll being 14e per car. Still gridlocked at 5pm on sundays when any team from the south is playing in croke park, and every exit off the M50 will be a feeder for a bright new shopping experience (sorry, lifeless mall). We'll be able to vote with texts. But the voting machines will only be able to accept votes from the new nokia 9943iiVTI 2.2. You can also microwave soup with the phone. Alternative methods of voting can be accepted via emails, but only if the mails are sent via a pc connected with the Govt ISP eircom . You can get Broadband at speeds of up to 10GB per second. Only if you live near the IFSC though, although the IFSC recently extended to the isle of man.