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Averages and Salaries :-O

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Averages and Salaries :-O

So what are you? Are you below average or above average? Before you drop your self-esteem to the floor, let me tell you that without a doubt there are areas in your life or personality where you are well above average, but there might also be some areas where you are blow average. We are multifaceted, so there is give and take and lots of areas where we can shine.

When it comes to numbers, however, the truth is sometimes much bitterer. About two weeks ago I found an article that specified what the average salary in Ireland is. And this average for full time workers stands at EUR 45,611. That is a good bit higher than I had expected and I know that many people WISHED they were just average i.e. not far below average! (If part time workers are considered, then the average salary is EUR 36,519.) Clearly crazily high salaries in some sectors distort the average number quite a bit.

Ohh and if you are anywhere near that average, please chip a bit of your average in the Dublin Event Guide hat!! Without your help it is in trouble! You can help here www.paypal.me/dublineventguide

www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/this-is-the-average-full-time-wage-in-ireland-795670.html

Economy, Society

Dublin is booming: Temple Bar Pub and Guinness Storehouse

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Dublin is booming: Temple Bar Pub and Guinness Storehouse

Two media reports last week seem to indicate that Dublin is booming again. We had that before, but will it last this time?

The first one here, is about the Temple Bar Pub and the fact that it made a profit of EUR 3.29m last year, with a gross profit of EUR 10.3m. That is a HELL of a lot of pints even at crazy Temple Bar prices. Since the gross profit is the total revenue minus the cost of goods, the actual cost for the drink has already been subtracted. And if you divide that amount by 363, then you come to a gross profit of more than 28k per DAY!

And in the second report here, the Guinness Storehouse has announced that they will spend EUR 16m to expand the Storehouse, which includes a plan to double the size of the Gravity Bar on top of the building. Works will start in the beginning of 2018 and will be finished by 2019. Coincidentally the amount they will invest is “just” EUR 1 per visitor for ALL visitors since 2000: 16.5m visitors came to the Storehouse since it opened in 2000.

There is clearly a lot of money in Dublin…at least the pub and pub/drink-related businesses seem to have it.

Dublin, Economy, , ,

Free Wednesday is going, going, nearly gone!

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Free Wednesday is going, going, nearly gone!

This week it is not a really “odd” topic, but some bad news. If you follow the daily Dublin Event Guide posts on Facebook, you already found out that the Free Wednesday, the one day a month when in the past all state owned and OPW (Office of Public Works)-managed heritage sites were free, did get hollowed out in a bad way for us in Dublin.

Last year the hugely popular Kilmainham Gaol was taken off the list: No more free visits to the Gaol. Because of the very much increased interest due to the 1916/2016 festivities and after a very expensive renovation I could see where they were coming from with that decision. But now Dublin Castle was ALSO taken off the list of free sites on the first Wednesday of the month and I can see that just being the start!!

My prediction is that other sites outside of Dublin will follow in the next few months.

The Free Wednesday (originally it was just called “First Wednesday”) was introduced by Brian Hayes, the junior minister in charge of the OPW, in 2011 to get more people to visit heritage sites. It had exactly that effect! So it worked! If you live in a place, most of us visit the sites less than if we go on holidays somewhere else, so it was mainly for Irish people to learn more about the country and cities around us. Sure, the visitors benefit from it as well, but I think that was an accepted consequence, not the main purpose of the introduction of the First/Free Wednesday.

Is it a coincidence that just a few days after a new junior minister takes over responsibility for the OPW the rules for the First Wednesday get changed? Kevin Moran (who oddly calls himself “Boxer” because he punched and knocked down another boy on a  football field when he was 12) took over at the end of June and immediately the rules changed. Do I think that he CAUSED that change? No, probably not! Maybe the OPW management disliked the (politically motivated) First Wednesday for a long time and took the opportunity to railroad the new an inexperienced guy as soon as he arrived.

I think it is a wrong decision!

Just a few days before that not-at-all publicised decision to take Dublin Castle off the list (I only found out because I smelled a rat and rang Dublin Castle.) another decision was publicised WIDELY and without holding back: Children until the age of 12 will get free admission to OPW sites from now on. Before the age limit was 6 years of age. This is a good decision, but I’d say it costs MUCH less than the Free Wednesday and it consequently saves people who are interested in going to heritage sites much less as well.

Dublin, Events, Tourism, , , , ,

Ryanair – Nice is over!

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Ryanair – Nice is over!

A few years ago, Ryanair realised (with some surprise!) that being nice and customer friendly has positive effect on their business. But it seems this realisation came to an end.

Last week I flew on a Ryanair flight and Something substantial has been changed: In the past, two or more people checking in together were usually put next to each other EVEN if they didn’t pay the EUR 4 for seat reservation.

Now, Ryanair will intentionally place people apart!! If you travel on a short flight with a friend or your partner, this might be a little annoying and certainly will leave NO warm feeling towards Ryanair, but you will survive. But if you travel with kids, it is now extremely likely that you will be separated from your kids during the flight.

A German journalist asked Ryanair for a statement and they CLAIMED that nothing had changed, but on the flight the journalist was on 3 couples were separated and I flew last week ans despite being No 54 to check in (so there were plenty of seats still available) Ryanair assigned seats in different rows.

Back to their old customer unfriendly behaviour just to make a relatively small amount of money? Typical Ryanair!

Tourism, , , ,

Don’t blink or you miss him! A new mayor for Dublin!

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Don’t blink or you miss him! A new mayor for Dublin!

The most unnecessary yearly event has happened again a few days ago. A new mayor was elected for Dublin! I know, I know, you probably have no idea who the previous mayor was (It was Brendan Carr from the Labour Party.) and you also have no intention to remember the name of the new mayor, because – again – he will be gone before you will have heard anything of importance from him. Well, for he record, I will mention his name. The new guy is called Micheal MacDonncha.

The time when Dublin’s mayor really steps forward is when the Christmas tree needs to be lit. He has no powers and is just a representative roles. Sounds cynical? It is! See, this is now the 348th Mayor of Dublin, so there have been a LOT of them around and because they are power less and the city is run by a non-elected bureaucrat, hardly any of them made any impact. I was talking to some of them over the years and oddly some of them are convinced that they are hugely important, but I guess they try do as much as they can within a framework of powerlessness.

See, it is not the fault of the Dublin City Mayor that he has no power and is elected in such a nonsensical charade. A few years ago, there was a plan to change the local government structures and to go forward with ONE directly elected mayor WITH RESPONSIBILITIES and POWER for whole Dublin, but thanks to the dimness of the councillors in Fingal (North County Dublin), that sensical new idea was voted down.

In some dealings with one of the previous mayors it always amused me how he was soooo madly keen on wearing that silly golden chain even when there are no photographers around, but then I realised that the only thing that gives the mayor the appearance of having an important role is that golden chain and otherwise nobody will ever recognise him. Without a doubt you have not seen a golden chain on the Mayor of London Sadiq Kahn. Why? Because he is important and therefore people recognise him.

Oh and one more thing: I know that the official title is “Lord Mayor” but come on, he is not even a proper mayor, so the “lord” makes the joke even bigger, so I will stick to “mayor”.

Dublin, Dublin City Council, Politics, ,
 
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