49 thoughts on “Monday’s Papers

  1. Lilly

    V, if you’re reading, what’s the best alternative to Ulster Bank in your opinion? Such a lorry load of hassle having to change banks.

    1. Mad

      I’m not V so not sure if I am allowed to comment
      I expect a good hand bagging for this in a regional accent

      Anyway here I go:
      Fee free – EBS, Revolut, N26

      Fee free if student
      PTSB, EBS, AIB, BOI etc

      EBS don’t have app, and their customer service is clunky
      However the branches are never busy if you like dealing with a person and they are also usually keeping their staff.
      So you deal with someone you know.

      Credit Unions many have current accounts and debit cards now but fees are surprisingly high

      An Post – avoid like the plague

      1. Lilly

        Thanks Mad. I’ll look at EBS. I like having access to a branch and real-life person even as I mostly bank online. I wouldn’t touch AIB. I’m also considering BOI but their fees are punitive. Damn you Ulster Bank.

        1. The Millie Obnoxious™

          I have my savings account with EBS and they’re a bit of a pain the arse to deal with at times. I have my current account with BOI and have never had any trouble at all with them, the app is fine too, especially for day to day stuff.

        2. V aka Frilly Keane

          If it’s face to face in the banking hall you are looking for Lil

          Then you only have one choice

          The credit union

          The Irish Credit Unions have won the CXi Best Customer Experience award for a record 7th year in a row.
          And that’s the tellers and loan officers
          And insurance officers etc
          Dealing with members over the counter, or in the private offices, or the phones, one to one

          1. Lilly

            Face-to-face is good in a pinch but I’d do most transactions online. I find it reassuring to have the option all the same.

          2. TenPin Terry

            The trouble with credit unions V is the 10 or 15 grand limit on cash deposits.
            And I thought those books with little sticky labels for transactions that my kids got when we opened accounts for them were just for kids.
            Apparently not.
            Do any of them have online banking ?
            By the way N26 accounts with their German IBANs are very useful – if you catch my drift.
            Of all the new digital banks I like Starling – unlimited fee-free FX and foreign ATM withdrawals.
            Sterling and euro accounts.
            Superb customer service not involving an Indian call centre.
            Not yet available in Ireland though …

          3. V aka Frilly Keane

            First of all
            Those savings caps are a consequence of the regulatory reserve imposed on Credit Unions in the Republic by the Central Bank (10% btw)
            and a significant impact of the regulatory apartheid cooperative financial services are forced to operate under

            and since you brought it up, it only needs to be 8% for community CUs and 6.5% for Industrial, given the % of assets held by CUs are Government Bonds and other Triple As. Retail Banks are 6% and were gifted a flex down over Covid that was denied to Credit Unions. That means that Credit Unions have to keep 10% of their asset base in what I call ready to go money – cash deposits in banks, for which most pay for by being charge negative interest rates. A very helpful income digout for banks from the Central Bank/ Dept of Finance. Brian Hayes earns his money here for sure.

            Credit Unions also pay the Central Bank a number of levies despite most of them also playing into the ILCU SPS fund which the Central Bank insists gets dipped into first.

            That totally unfair and unnecessary regulatory reserve demand is why Credit Unions are requiring members to remove their cash deposits.

            secondly
            I don’t know any Credit Union in RoI that doesn’t offer online services
            from DDs to Loan applications
            Same for FX services

            Or Lil, this might interest you
            conduct business over the phone – with a human btw

          4. TenPin Terry

            Irrespective of why they are there the €10-15,000 cash limits are a serious restriction on anyone with a few bob.
            Restrictions that are not on banks which is why you pay to lodge your money with the big boys and not some rural or suburban outfit with a hitching post for horses outside.
            The idea that they’re a serious banking alternative is laughable.

          5. I can't stand the rain

            Agreed, they are dangerous bean-counting hippie nonsense with the added Irish twist of ripping people off now with fees etc. I don’t even find the customer service great tbh

        3. Doxxy Chainsaw

          I’m an EBS customer since Ulster Bank’s fees went from €4 a quarter to a tenner a month. Highly recommend them. You can pay bills, set up payments, shop online with no issues.

    2. V aka Frilly Keane

      Hi Lil

      Keep your account with UB ( assuming you’re already happy there)
      For as long as you can
      Until you are forced to transfer – if at all

      Meanwhile, make enquiries with your local community or work place Credit Union to see if they have current account services available
      I know it’s more expensive
      But you do own your own part of that co-op
      And you do get a say in how it’s run and get to attend their AGM to let rip

      FYI: all my personal current account banking is with UB
      And I have no intention of moving until the last minute

      1. Lilly

        The day of reckoning will come though and I’d prefer not to be in a panic with direct debits etc. My debit card expires in July, they’ll hardly renew that. Worth a try though. Thanks V. Maybe I’ll step up my credit union action. I have an account with a tenner out there somewhere.

        1. I can't stand the rain

          The credit union fees are shameful
          their APR on personal loans is far higher than most
          It is shameful that V is allowed give them a free plug here and is a bare-faced conflict of interest

  2. Birdie

    Is Mr Watt worth that figure? Would his duties and achievements command that figure outside the public service… just curious. Would be nice to put it all into context.

    1. TenPin Terry

      I don’t particularly agree with the stance of the protestors but the way their voices have been deliberately marginalised and the abuse they have received has been shameful.
      The MSM as ever has failed miserably to inform in a balanced way and RTE is now nothing more than the propaganda wing of the Establishment.
      More importantly the people pulling the levers of power during the pandemic – NPHET – haven’t faced any robust scrutiny over the decisions and mistakes they’ve made.
      It is dreadful for democracy but unsurprising. The Irish people swapped rebellion for subservience a long time ago.
      Oct 2nd 2009 was the final nail in the coffin.
      They have you by the short and curlies.

      1. SOQ

        It’s not an Irish thing- the very same has happened in most countries. The BBC have been just as much a propaganda mouthpiece as RTÉ and in the US, the likes of NBC are now seeing their ratings plummet.

        1. TenPin Terry

          I’d agree with you on that.
          Although the lack of accountability of those in power is a very Irish thing.
          Boris could be gone this week if the Sue Gray investigation turns up damning evidence.
          She started her inquiry this month.
          The criminal investigation into Varadkar started last March with no end in sight yet.
          Then there’s Bertie’s digout, no bank account while this country’s finance minister, the escape from blame by just about everyone in the banking crisis and the property collapse, the overehelming acceptance of cute-hoorism.
          I could go on.

          1. Cú Chulainn

            Hinge and Bracket it is so… (I’d forgotten them..!!) you make a lovely couple.. may I wish you both great happiness together..

          2. TenPin Terry

            I like SOQ.
            Doesn’t mind the bantz, doesn’t take offence at a witty barb, sticks to his guns even when, as with vaccines, he’s in a minority. Doesn’t do pile-ons either.
            We don’t agree on much but he’s a proper grown-up unlike many on here.
            I’m going with The Odd Couple.
            He’s Jack Lemmon of course …

          3. SOQ

            @ Cú Chulainn – a lot of the young ones think drag acts are something new but there is long history- even here in Ireland- the most famous from that era being Mr Pussy.

            But for me the best was Lilly Savage (Paul O’Grady) who was a comic genius. I seen him live many times and I never seen a heckler get the best of him- he was so so quick and sharp, he actually encouraged it.

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ2_a-84YAc

      1. TenPin Terry

        And quite right too.
        But fellers tend to have a bit more backbone when it comes bantz about carrying a bit of extra wood.
        Or comparing Nigel Farage to a frog.
        See what I did there ?

      1. TenPin Terry

        At 4.31pm ?
        Let me guess – Mammy gave you a jam sanger when you came home from school just to tide you over until your favourite tea of alphabetti spaghetti on toast and a glass of milk because she knows you’re a hefty young boy who needs constant filling ?

        1. TenPin Terry

          Andrew Neil ?
          You’re getting desperate now Theobald.
          Bitter loser turfed out of the BBC for not being left enough then turfed out of GB News because he couldn’t hack the pace of modern journalism.
          Never forgave Boris for refusing to do a general election interview with him because he didn’t need to.
          But you clutch away at that straw old boy. Never thought I’d see the day when Wolfe Tone needed the Daily Mail to make his point.
          Heh,heh,heh.

    1. TenPin Terry

      None too shabby tweet from UK Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, getting her own back on Cameron for sacking her.
      https://twitter.com/NadineDorries/status/1485649813379362816

      Makes a very good point about the latest ” party ” revelations too.
      ” So, when people in an office buy a cake in the middle of the afternoon for someone else they are working in the office with and stop for ten minutes to sing happy birthday and then go back to their desks, this is now called a party? “

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