There is no doubt that Budget 2014 will have implications for every person living in Ireland. However, students and jobseekers are bearing the brunt of these cuts. Dole payments for under-25s, hiked student fees, prescription charges and a 10 cent hike on cigarettes and alcohol are just some of the cutbacks facing young people.
Ryanair has finally accepted their website is AWFUL.
Speaking on RTE’s Prime Time, Chief Executive Michael O’Leary accepted that the site is “the source of most complaints [from customers]”.
O’Leary described the site as “clunky” and “very frustrating”, echoing the user experience of… everyone.
But we’re in luck, O’Leary has promised a rollout of developments in the coming weeks making the site “simpler to engage with”.
To celebrate the good news, The City has compiled a list of the nine ways you know you’re on a Ryanair flight.
We’ve all done it, at least once. The frustration of booking the flight becomes a minefield of finger-slips. And that travel insurance doesn’t come cheap!
Quick! You’ve twenty minutes until the four hour deadline. It’s a game of mission impossible with the printer cables.
You bought duty-free didn’t you? Silly, silly silly. You’re clearly a Ryanair nube. Now comes the 10 minute struggle at the departure gates stuffing Toblerones and that reduced bottle of Jack into your tattered old school rucksack.
It’s like a game of musical chairs, except your only sound track is the gentle hum of elevator music. Yep, no pre-assigned seating with Ryanair. Get held up at the departure gates with that Toblerone? Welcome to the seat right at the back next to the screaming baby.
Keep tuned in, because blink and its gone. Your hostess of the most-ess will be throwing on the oxygen mask and life vest like it’s a real life emergency. Don’t forget to thoroughly read the safety card!
Relax they said. Take a nap they said. Oh, and listen to us drone on as we patrol the isle with tickets, perfumes, e-ciggarettes and miniature aeroplanes.
Yep, and you better hope you’re sorry tush you’re not hungry. A packet soup is another €3.50, and a panini accompaniment will set you back €5.50. Wallet empty and only 15 minutes into the flight. Lets hope you’re not travelling too far.
The infamous Ryanair on-time trumpet jingle.
That’s an estimated 30 minute walk. What Ryanair doesn’t tell you is that the secret to their cheap flights is in them having you walk half the journey… enjoy! Oh, and welcome to your destination.
By: Aidan Knowles
Photo courtesy: Flickr/Steve A
AFTER SATURDAY, 1st December 2012 – cash and leap card fares for Dublin Bus, Luas, Iarnród Éireann and Bus Éireann services will increase.
Prepaid tickets prices will also increase, but this change will not come into affect until early 2013.
The move, approved by the National Transport Authority, was made due to Ireland’s “difficult economic circumstances” and increasing fuel costs – despite cost cutting measures in the industry.
For Dublin Bus, the last fare increases were introduced in January 2012.
What does this mean for the city’s commuters?
Cash paying commuters are the worst affected by the increase. While those using Leap Card and prepaid tickets will still suffer price increases, these options still offer better value over cash fares.
On Dublin bus – the new price adjustment will see cash fares increase by an average of 11%. Meanwhile, leap card fares will be increased by an average of 7%.
For example, a cash paying adult travelling 8 to 13 stages on Dublin Bus previously had to pay €2.15. After December 1st 2012, this same journey will now cost €2.40.
Dubliners availing of the Dublin Bus’ ‘City Fare’ to get around the capital are also affected – with their cash paying fare increasing from €0.60 to €0.65 cent.
How do these new fares compare with nearby European capitals?
Across the pond – London’s bus service charges passengers a flat cash fee of £2.30, or at a discounted fare of £1.35 if using the Oyster Card (similar to Dublin’s Leap Card).
Meanwhile in Paris, the French pay a flat fee of €1.70 per bus journey.
Further South, commuters in Madrid pay a flat cash fare of €1.50 per bus journey.
Saturday’s anti-austerity march brought thousands out on the streets of Dublin City.
The march, organised by the Dublin Council of Trade Unions, saw people from all corners of the country come to capital to demonstrate against austerity measures and taxes.
Gathering at Parnell Square, live traditional Irish music – well known songs like the ‘Rare Old Times’ and ‘Dirty Old Town’ – kept participants entertained while waiting patiently in the cold for the demonstration to take off.
When the time came, approximately 10,000 strong left from the Garden Remembrance, with chants and banners at the ready.
Despite the colds, spirits were high and all aspects of society marched side by side – the young, old, students, unemployed and employed alike.
[youtube.com=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akQJwaG6OLc]Accompanying the marchers was a wide range of lively music and dramatics – including marching bands, singers, costumed performers and creative floats.
Led by a deathly cloaked figure on a horse – demonstrators left from Parnell Square, making their way down O’ Connell Street and across College Green, before proceeding back across the O’ Connell Street bridge for a special assembly in front of the GPO.
So many turned out for the event that tail end of the march had barely left Parnell Square while those way ahead in the lead were almost at the end point.
This made for a parallel meeting of marchers travelling across both directions of the O’ Connell Street bridge. Here, the sound of uilleann pipes mixed with enthusiastic shouts and a lively sing along of Bob Marley’s ‘Stand Up For Your Rights’.
Meanwhile, unified chants of “You cut, we bleed” bellowed across the Liffey. These chants echoed the general theme and feeling of the march – many hurt and worried by budget cuts and taxes to come.
But whether marcher’s cries were heard all the way over in the offices of Kildare Street remains to be seen.
By Liam Keegan & Aidan Knowles
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