Yes Tim , that’s more to the point… 150k going price. I wonder who the owner was.

Yep the real spongers are hidden deeper within this story.

It is absolutely astonishing the amount of bigotry and hatred thejournal are allowing on this thread and the thread about the pope, yet are so quick to remove comments on other social issues.

What bigotry? So people are not allowed to say anything but keep their mouth shut and put up with all their rubbish is it.

Oh yeah , true, its all about the ” right” of the family to have the state provide a house many who have worked all their lives couldnt afford but nothing of the responsibility of the parents to stop having kids they claerly cannot provide for . Its the usual BS that we have to put up with

Council tenants pay rent- average family living on basic SW pay €40-50 per week. No one is getting housed for free except the politicians who get accommodation allowances and speculators in NAMA getting 1-2k per week to maintain their lifestyle!

€40-50 a week? You taking the piss?

Jesus, I’m quitting my job, I’m being ridden sideways for having a bit of dignity?

Dont quit just yet Partysaurus, you could be on the housing list for at least 6 years

Nah, it’s grand Aaron. I have a plan. Knock up some north side Dublin dirt, develop an addiction, and I’ll have a house, sky and a shiny car by the end of the year. Seems to be what everyone else on this side of the river is doing.

Pamela, social welfare recipients who pay rent are paying it with money they more than likely didn’t have to work for, so yes, they are living for free! Who’d blame them though!?

Divide and rule the masses is a strategy as old as the hills. Lets just remember that Ireland had almost full employment not too long ago. Marginalised groups are just a scape goat to distract you all from the real spongers in society and its not the lowest income/ least educated groups nor the low paid and middle classes. I can’t bear to look at his thread any more, its so full of bile and bigotry.

Nothing to see here. Move along now!

Fair play for burning down a family home?

You need help.

I’d say the locals are gutted.

It’s the politicians, that need a roasting over this and not the properties. That tax/rate payers money was wasted on this, all gone up in smoke and how many potholes would it have filled or fixed?

Im sure it has insurance

It’s over €200,000 of taxpayers money gone down the drain just because a pack of bigots don’t want travellers living beside them. It needless and wasteful. One thing I take from it is that this country is still as conservative as DeValera’s Ireland all those years ago. Ethnic discrimination, immigrant discrimination, gender discrimination, religious discrimination, class discrimination. We do it all. This small mindedness is destroying any hope for the future in Ireland.

We are all human at the end of the day. Burning down houses while their is a homelessness crisis in Ireland. Disgraceful. All the dislikes on this page are from bigots. Nothing more nothing less.

Unoccupied building usually aren’t covered.

Cant insure an empty house. Insurance companies don’t want to know.

Ollie the sooner you grow up and admit to yourself that most people who are negative about travellers are so becasue of what they have witnessed themselves throughout the years . I do not dislike Traveller becasue of their heritage or the fact they are nomadic or becasue i think that i am in anyway superior by birth or before the law, but i do dislike many elements of their culture which are an effornt to what i see as a progressive society . I dislike their ambivilance to education , how they treat women , how the treat other actual ethnic minorities, their views on sexulaity . Just becasue a culture proports to be unique does not mean that it should be valued without question and when you analyse the values that make up the culture i have to say i dont like a lot of what i see .maybe yyyou can change my mind and ouline soem of the progressive elements that have escaped me ?

I don’t think you can change your prejudice. The nazis and Americans in the new frontiers had the same ideology and look what happened. It’s good people like me are here to make sure that doesn’t happen. Have a nice day, cleanse yourself. :)

*Nazis in Germany

Ah poor auld Ollie , I’m guessing you’re a first sociology student , bless . Listen Ollie don’t compare me to Nazi I never at at stage advocated violence against anybody . What I did do is outline genuinely held misgivings about a sector of the community that expects to have everything handed to them and in many instances have no respect what they get because they never had to work for it . But then again this is a philosophical debate , I believe in hand up not perpetual hand out where you probably think if they have more kids the council should maybe buy a small hotel ??

@ Tensing. I detect some inferiority complex on your behalf from the dialogue between us. Why must you fixate yourself on brow beating an assumed first year sociology student who you believe is intellectually inferior to you? Are you scared of my opinions and have to prove me inadequate? :) I never challenged your opinions even though flawed and antiquated. I have accepted your ideology and that of others as that of your own. It bothers me not.

Why do you have a pseudonym? Are you afraid of who You really are as person? I am comfortable and confident with my ideological leanings and will not be shouted down by conservative backward bigots with very weak prejudiced arguments.

A little tip for you when understanding this topic; take a long gaze at the system that encompasses the variables which in this case is the travelling people. The system has sundered them from mainstream society by not understanding their culture and fully integrating them as equals into society.

Be truthful we’re they ever equal in your mind? We have created this hatred over 200 years which is not too dissimilar to that seen in apartheid era South Africa as a result of not accepting them and their indigenous irish culture 100%. Who can blame some for their outlook?

Well said ollie.

@ Ollie , well the first thing I can confirm is that your sense of perception is very poor indeed as I feel in no way inferior to you in any respect , ironic in fact that you would suggest that I started the puerile brow beating when you suggested I should “cleanse myself “, inferring that I had a moral disposition inferior to your highly self righteous self . Let me reiterate my position for you Ollie , cause I think you’re struggling to get it . I clearly stated that I do not believe that any person is born superior to another or should treated differently because of race , colour or religious belief, full stop, but I do reserve the right to comment on my belief that implicit in all rights are responsibilities and this should be applied to travellers like everyone else , I do not believe this to be the case , I also that I have the right to say that disagree with what is widely regarded to travellers own world view, on topics such as sexual orientation , disability,colour etc . But of course you know better than the rest of us one eyed yokels . Anyway I hear there is a job coming up in the Vatican , ideal for Olllie. You should give your Christmas eulogy from Rathkeale
Chris from limerick

Aww you opened up for me. i see your a very emotional person too. Have a lovely day tensing aka chris. Have to go to work now. ;)

FF Take measures? The party is full of cowards. You must be joking. In convinced you just made a joks.

Racist? Were they African or Asian travellers? I must have missed that part of the article.

Seán McEniff is no “fool politician” a
nything but…………..

Sean, last thing I would want is travellers moving in anywhere near me.
Most people feel the same, nothing wrong with saying it.

Judging by the amount of thumbs up he has got for being honest. It looks lije tgeirs alot of bigots on here, myself included. I have no shame in saying that I also would not like to live near a traveller family

Obviously u haven’t been the victim of traveller crime or know any victims. U’d change ur mind fairly quickly then. I wouldn’t want them near me.

Travellers are a cultural minority, not an ethnic one, I would not like a family of travellers moving anywhere near me, – this is not racism or bigotry, it is simply precaution.
Burgalry, mugging, brawling, domestic violence, drunkenness, intimidation, etc. are all part & parcel of the traveller lifestyle, – who the hell wants that near them, or their children…??

I know a lot of travelers and there is a big difference between a traveller and a knacker! I would have a traveler live next to me any day and would put anyone to shame with how they keep the place, not in a million years would i want to live next to a knacker tho!

I’m saying it, I’m leaving my home this month for another place as the traveller family settled a few doors up have made my area hell. I’m scrounging to pay rent, working a normal job, yet I can’t get a mortgage, but sure, give them a 200k house. Glad to see my taxes at work.

My grandparents lives beside a traveller family. Very nice people. There’s not a week that goes by that the lady doesn’t drop out potatoes or scones or buns and vice versa. Very nice. Never had an ounce of trouble. They are Hardworking family people all their lives. Don’t tar everyone with the one stick. Remember society has good and bad eggs.

Have a look a look at our bankers and politicians they have wreaked more havoc in communities than anyone. Red thumbs you all Need to see the bigger picture by opening your mind. Burning down houses is not the solution. It’s plain stupidity. I hope the government rebuilds it and puts the people in it.

The bigots will Make martyrs of them.

Ollie. Does thou heart bleed profusely?
Where do you think travellers got their bad reputation from? Did people just make it up? It seems that you would rather believe that all travellers are lovely warm folks who drop scones into their neighbours everyday, while everybody else in the country is a bigot who unfairly discriminates against these friendliest of bakers.
I think you’re thinking of the story of the Gingerbread Man. Fanciful story, but it’s not reality.

You know what, when living next to them doesn’t involve my car being vandalised, my property being broken into and drunken abuse on the green every weekend with hoards if vans everywhere (including my driveway) then I won’t have a problem.
I’ve only had bad experiences with them, so until I get a positive example, my opinion is what they have helped me form.

He was dead right why let people live beside you that dont want to contribute to socetity just take take take.Why does the father not buy the house? why not stop havn kids when you cant afford to rare them. Its pulling the same old victim act this years. It suits them to be nomadic and say its there culture pure Bs just lets them play the system more!

Thanks for that Kevin.

Bigots you say. Why don’t you go off and have a little chat with any member of the Gardaí, a state solicitor, a Judge, Shop Keeper, A&E worker, Social Worker.,…etc. This isn’t bigotry. This is people who are just sick to the teeth of putting up with all their BS.

The difference between 1970’s London & Ireland 2013 is possibly the majority of the Blacks, the Dogs & the Irish are not involved in dubious activities, unlike our fellow citizens that like to travel.

@Mike: Citation needed.

@Continent
Read any local or provincial paper and you’ll find all the evidence you want.

I see a lot of crimes committed by non-travelling types.

Frankly, the vast majority are also committed by men, but you don’t let that change your bias.

@Continent
They are different arguments, and a red herring, you asked Mike to cite evidence of his statement, sorry that your Liberalist PC sensibilities might be hurt by the evidence. You really need to live in the real world where people suffer from the criminality and self righteousness of certain people in the community. People are sick of this PC bu**sh*t so be honest say it like it is, and stop trying to make the country fit into the perverted fantasyland you think it should be.

Utterly stupid comparison: Black and Irish were discriminated because they were, well, Black and Irish, that is racism pure and simple. However , Travellers are widely unpopular because of the “behaviour ” of not all ,but a largely disproportionate number of their community . It is widely held amongst the “settled” community, i.e. the rest of us, that this community have utter contempt for pretty much everyone that is not a traveller, and this is deduced through our experiences and interactions not some gobels type propaganda thought to us in school . Now , their heritage of being nomadic is all well and good if it was not for the fact that is incompatible with modern society, because incompatible holding down a Job or having a structured education . I know that the “do gooder” will argue ,who are we to say that work and education are values that should be imposed on a ethnic group with a different heritage and that’s fine if we are not asked to pay for it all of the time . Westerns societies have still got many flaws but by and large it has evolved to the point where inequality amongst genders , sexualities are no longer tolerated , we don’t define a real man by our ability give and take a “baten”, we won’t even talk about their attitude to disability etc . So, the fact is that you and Continent are the real bigot because implicitly support any behaviours if its under the banner of culture discrimination . But from all of these forums you can against the wider community who are fed up of being held to different standard to our traveller community.

I am no pierrot but I would be confident the arsonists would have known it was vacant.

Politics aside, they are not racist comments, travellers are not a different race, they are Caucasian just like the majority of Ireland. The only difference between them and the settled community is they chose to live in caravans on the side of the road. Prejudice perhaps but racist most definitely not! There’s a reason why so many people share the same opinion about travellers which is unfortunate for the decent ones out there.

I am equally bigoted against culchies & taxi drivers, so I’m not here to judge the other bigots making comments.

I’m sure they’d all support me if I burned down a home about to be inhabited by a Longford taxi driver.

Aren’t they lampooning themselves? I agree with the majority here, NIMBY and believe that within reason
people also have the right to choose. Lastly Travellers are not a race, they are a section of the same race as the majority in this country

No less racially different than minorities in Nazi Germany or the conflict in the Balkans.

It is a weak argument to defend your prejudice as not being racist just because they aren’t profoundly ethnically different enough according to your measure of what being sufficiently different must mean. There is genetic difference between black people and white people, or Jews from Christians or Muslims.

They are still a recognisable group being marginalised largely because they don’t herd obediently with the rest of society into the neat little homogenised package you call conventional living.

This house may have been burned down because the local yokels thought themselves so much better than the people who were going to move in.

As you are no doubt aware the walls in Irish built houses are built thin. The walls in your house clearly to not ring with the sound of mayhem. Your walls sound like they most likely ring with the clatter of silver service and polite conversation over tea and biscuits. Perhaps you live next to a concert pianist or maybe it’s that silver spoon wedged firmly between the cheeks of your arse that has managed to contaminate your world view.

Only folks who live in relative tranquility with their neighbors could write such utter shite.

I’ll tell you what, I’ll send my neighbors over to live next to you. They can steal the clothes hung on your line, arrive drunk on your door in the middle of the night because they cant see straight enough to see the numbers on their samsung galaxy 2 to ring a taxi. Whilst your at it, you can take your tyres down for puncture repair when you run over the glass strewn over the road. I can supply you with a breathing apparatus to mask the smell of rubbish and human waste that emanates from your brand new marginalized neighbors.

When they arrive, please call me. I can give you a long list of what you can expect from your new friends as a consequence of living next to them.

I’m just so very curious as to how long your heart will bleed following such an experience. Your expression smacks of someone well removed from the company of these so called victims of our cruel society. You might want remove your face from that sociology textbook and live amongst those with whom you sympathize before denigrating those who do live with such experience on a daily basis.

@ollie if the council does decide to rebuild the house and put them in it, as you suggest they do, I hope they relocate your good self to the field beside them for the rest of your life. That way you can help mind the 10 children. And one other thing. The travellers complain that they’re travelling people that’s their way of life. So why are us shower of fools paying over two hundred thousand for a house for them. I suppose the next thing is we will have to do is put it on wheels and get the local people to push the house into town to collect their dole, while they sleep in their beds! Stop your daft ridiculous comments about how Irish people are bigots, your a disgrace to every decent, honest,hard working Irish person who cannot complain to anyone but their family about the tax they have to pay, to keep handing out five bedroom houses to people who drain a system.