We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
ON MONDAY THE world learned that US singer and actor Kris Kristofferson had sadly passed away.
During his career, the veteran musician wrote a host of classics which were covered by artists including Janis Joplin and Johnny Cash.
The country singer also performed in Ireland several times throughout his career, with his last tour here taking place in 2018.
It’s often said that Irish people love country music, as shown by the annual Late Late Show country music special taking place on Friday, but we want to know what you think.
So today we’re asking: Do you like country music?
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
A captive portal that requires a code that lasts only 30 mins, get a code with every cup of coffee (or whatever) bought. Problem solved.
Or just use the Wi-Fi hot spot on your phone.
I never go to cafes in ireland unless I am getting a coffee to go. They are overcrowded and people don’t seem to respect personal space.
One way to stop it. 30 minutes free internet with every purchase. You will find the code on the receipt. That’s what I would do if I ran a coffee shop. The spongers can go sponge someplace else.
Dear jaysus let’s hope so, we are turning into a nation of zombies. Ironic that I post this using my phone all the same
Monty..It would only be ironic if you were using that phone in Starbucks after sitting there all day..
I know this is going off on a tangent here, but reckon 3G / Wifi signals should be blocked in some cases in public places!! The pub scene is ruined with groups of people, heads down staring into phones!?! The chat n banter will be a thing of the past in the pub at this rate!
Me & 3 mates waiting 20mins for seating in Star-B’s last week.
Finally got one tiny high stool spot.
We Had 2 coffees each & chat.
We were In & gone within 45 mins.
Crammed into one tiny spot.
Entire time this guy was sprawled out at comfy 6 seater on his tod with an empty coffee cup. His head stuck in a lap top which was plugged in..
Daft isn’t it. I’d have sat beside the sponge.
Maybe the church should embrace wifi, might fill up the place more :)
That was me!
I was in Belfast a few weeks back and more people outside a Starbucks on phones than people sitting in the shop. Obviously using the free internet. The owner pulled the plug on the modem they all walked off.
Turn it off in all pubs!! Talk to each other!!!
Ahh relax the kaks!
I agree with mick it’ll ruin the craic in pubs if everyone inside is logged on.
Sorry , Mike
I’ll admit I once sat outside the Maldron hotel in Smithfield for 2 hours to rob their wifi when I Locked my self out!!
All you can eat data for me. Hate to be smug about it, but aside from holidays abroad, it makes no difference if a place has WiFi or not.
30 minutes per purchase seems a fair approach to deter the wifi spongers in taking up valuable seating space. There’s a lot to be said for interacting with people around you as opposed to getting lost in the virtual world of social networking. I type this while alone just home from watching the hurling double header in my local, for those wannabe troll naysayers. :)
‘a market niche for not having wi fi’, is there no end to corporate greed?
No
Feck it. I have a 4g connection with an ‘unlimited’ (15gb) plan.
I have no need for their slow, insecure wifi.
Have to turn it off going into some places now.
It must be scary being old
It is Reagan.
Turn it off on trains and look out the widow.. :-/
.. at the graffiti and rusty shopping trolleys?
Leave the widows alone. They’ve been through enough.
Ah feck off. Should people not read books or magazines on trains too? Should we just look out the window for the whole journey?
Would ya ever go away and done be annoying me.
Even when it’s dark outside?
Great Idea!
Look! This is a load of tosh…cafe’s can easily monitor overuse by insisting the customer buy’s more product.
Any A-Hole hogging the wi-fi for hours on end should be shown the door…
I refuse to use a place if it doesn’t have wifi. Recently complained to Costa about it…. logged in to check whether the person I was meeting was on the way…. grabbed a coffee (waited in line) there was only 10 mins left on the timer when I got back. Ffs.
I get it about ppl hogging seats…. but they used to do that b4 wifi… sitting around a cold cup of coffee for ages. That’s not new.
If you don’t offer the service in this day and age then you don’t get my business.
Why didn’t you just ring the person, or text them?
What ever happened to the Dublin Free WiFi? Never works…
Pointless pointless waffle, if businesses are trying to increase customer volumes they are really scraping from the end of the barrel with this angle
Wifi is free in most public libraries – for as long as you want!
How would the girls get in touch with me Tinder??
People have WiFi at home and most likely a data plan on their smart device. So…. Coffee shops are for coffee and maybe even shock, horror,- talking to someone?
Wifi is a basic right.
There are cafés here that have free wifi?
In all fairness, most public wifi spots are so slow you are better off using your own phone’s 3g. If you have 4G there is no competition or point on using a public wifi spot unless you have reached a data limit or so.
I think that public laptop users in Ireland may have a higher regard for manners. I am one of the owners of August First the cafe described in your article. We always felt that if lap top users had a sense of manners it would never have been a problem. Once they see people coming in and wanting a table to eat at, they should know that it’s time to leave. But I watched over and over again as people would come in and leave because there were no open tables while several tables had zombies staring at screens. Even though we would only have 2 or 3 at a time, it had an effect on the overall culture of the place. Our biggest surprise was how much the culture of the space improved when there were no longer any screens. A very happy change!
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say