What is the solution to the Irish border?

[MegCleary]

Keen to hear, as I am struggling.

Not sorted it yet, MN. Can't think why because it's obviously really easy to.

Xenia How do you afford treatment without health insurance? In Ireland, all GP visits, medicines are paid for directly by the patient. Therapies that have extensive waiting lists can be paid for privately directly by the patient but can be budgeted for as they are spread out. Consultant fees can be paid for privately. All of this costs

I am in England which has the NHS so there is no charge. From a personal point of view I am very very lucky. I have been to my doctor once in 12 years and that was on the NHS so I am not typical at all for women in their 50s. I don't even take headache pills. Most people in the UK do not pay for health insurance because we have the NHS. Some people get private insurance through their work which i did about 25 years ago and covered the whole family for a time.

I paid for one of my sons have a kind of funny big freckle thing that had irritated him at waist band level for most of his life last year privately and that was a few hundred pounds. Actually I think it was about £800 as they saw him that day and then did the procedure immediately as he was last appointment of the day. The NHS rightly said it was not cancerous and just annoying so would not remove it - he did try that route and I agreed to pay as it hurt rather than was just cosmetic.

bean it's very hard to pick out anyone. FF and PDs also give me the rage. All those v years of plenty and nothing to show for it except motorways. If they built social housing then, it would have kept house prices down a bit, there wouldn't have been as much of a bubble, and there wouldn't be as much of a crisis now with rents and homelessness.

I have no time for the Labour Party here, they're pretty much the same as FF and FG and don't seem to have a notion what it's like for ordinary people they are the ones they are supposed to be representing. FF wreck the place and FG put it back together, we've had that for years and years. I'm not sure what to make of FG now and when Leo Varadkar was in Social Protection he started the benefit bashing carry on when the amount of fraud is actually a pittance compared to some of the other waste of money including people not paying their tax. I'd rather see people getting money that need it even if a small number are taking advantage rather than people who need it not getting it. But I'll wait and see.

They'd want to be careful about the bottom and the lower middle. It shouldn't be the case you'd nearly be as well off not working but it shouldn't be the case either that even working is just keeping you going, with constant worry about bills and rent and with no real hope of improvement.

Anyone see this on Twitter? So, not a massive sample but depressing nonetheless.

How much do elderly or infirm etc. pay in UK for full time care in a nursing home or other facility?

I have a relative in Ireland (ROI) who has a house, 150k euros in the bank, a private and State pension and pays, wait for it, E4,800 per month for her care. On top of that pays E144 per month for scripts, GP is free as she is over seventy years old.

Her family (my second cousins) applied for subsidy under the Fair Deal Scheme. Too long to explain, but basically means that you should not have to pay more than 80% of your income for your care. BUT, assets are charged at 7.5% per annum for a few years too, although this can be deferred and taken from the estate of the person in care.

Now I do realise that my relative is in good fettle money wise, but IMV her late husband would have been better pissing his money up against a wall, since those with little income or assets (or who have cleverly divested themselves of same five years ago or more) just pay 20% of their income.

ROI is a great place, but it is in no way a universally free place either. If you can afford it, you pay, if you cannot you don't.

Anyway, just wondered and looking for a comparison. Thanks.

Last thing I read about fair deal was that you only pay the high percentage for 3 years, after that the state does. I think the assets are protected more than in the UK. I'm very vague on it though.

mrsfeatherbottom that's absolutely terrible.

keyboardkate I've just looked it up there and 7.5% of your assets are charged as part of your contribution. After the 3 years it changes to only counting assets that are not your primary residence or farm/family business (I'd imagine this is to protect family farms mostly). Most people would only be making the income contribution then I suppose.

It does look like anyone whose parents have a lot of actual cash savings would end up losing quite a lot of their inheritance to pay for their parents' care.

'FF and PDs also give me the rage. All those v years of plenty and nothing to show for it except motorways.'

How were the motorways funded?

Mrs Featherbottom that statistic if true would not surprise me in the least. Hilary Clinton cares far more about peace in NI than Teresa May does if you ask me.

Initially I think some EU money, then mostly revenue and some public-private partnership as it was known.

Loads of money thrown at the health service to no avail (management and administration), setting up Irish Water (I've no objections to paying for clean water but I do object to the vast amount of money for setting up the water system in a way that makes it possible to privatise, and contracts going to private companies while people with knowledge, expertise and equipment are idly drawing salaries in councils), huge salary increases in the public sector, tax rates cut by a ridiculous amount, and the answer to curbing inflation was to take money out of the economy by starting a government funded saving scheme awarding people 25% of what they saved after 5 years. It was all bonkers.

It might have been 20%.

Mrsfeatherbottom that is depressing. It was hard enough when the thought was that those who voted for Brexit didn't realise the consequences. But this is so much worse, they just don't give a shit about violence returning to NI and how it would impact those living there. God it's grim

How come the suggestions are for Ireland to stay in the EU but when Scottish people say we don’t want to leave we get harassed!

It’s only England that wanted to leave so it should only be England that leaves.

What an absolute load of shite.

Schrodinger,

I think you might have meant Northern Ireland, not the Republic there.

Still, it might be the best solution all round. But it will lead to Scotland looking for similar no doubt about it. I feel your pain.

It is a mess of humungous proportions.

Sorry . Although I do see all of this causing so much more chaos than people imagine.

I see posters on here all the time, saying that “there won’t be any civil unrest, load of rubbish”. There really will be!! I can definitely see it happening here, lots of Scots seriously unhappy especially now that it’s looking like no deal is a possibility.

I do feel for the people who live on the border though, what a shambles.

Ah Schrodinger,

No apologies needed at all! The mess is not of our making is it? But it is so unnecessary really.

I'm not sure NI staying in EU would be viewed as the best thing all round. The vote was as the UK not it's separate parts. Whether you agree with that or not, that's the way it was.

I'm not saying whether I agree Brexit or not, however, i don't think it's about who cares and doesn't care, it's a hard sum and so far the answer is a head scratcher!

Honestly; I see so many English people saying “that’s how it is” but I’m positive there will be riots here. I’m assuming it will be the same in Ireland.

You have to understand no one else wanted this and it will be a mess.

I am in NI.

Tentothree are you worried about a hard Brexit?

The irony is that DUP know that NI voted to stay in the EU.

They seem to have more power now than is warranted, and still talk about Brexit and the UK and all that. Fine, but what is best for your Province really, not you, not your power play, just that.

We shall see.

SchrodingersMeowth Northern Ireland has 1.8 million people who are fully entitled to Irish citizenship and therefore retain EU citizenship after Brexit. That alone makes it a special case. I am too tired to start listing all the other reasons.

I came across this page on Twitter yesterday. Contributors seem to reflect both traditions across all 32 counties and so far discussion and debate seems reasonable and balanced. It might be one worth watching.

Take a look at #Think32 (@Think32): twitter.com/Think32?s=09

Whilst this is obviously a sensible and informative twitter thread it is pro unification in nature. It isn’t reflective of the breadth of views across NI and the huge hardline opposition to unification.It would take decades of reasonable debate before a unification poll could even be properly carried out. I think though that it’s good that the debate is just starting to open up in the mainstream media.