Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
Thanks Dublinrory- good to hear from - good luck in Sligo, which I know very well because we have family there and I spent many very happy hours playing Rosses Point, Strandhill, Enniscrone and Bundoran with occasional visits to Murvagh - happy happy days. My first daughter was born in Sligo on St.Stephens Day, delivered by my colleens sister -
my Garda friend Eddie Keen took me home in the squad car from The Stables because he said that he would have to arrest me if I drove - poor fella died and only 53....
Property here is in high demand because there are so few being built except for about thirty that are being built in the nearby village of Maghera - and fifty that are being built by a fella that I played with the other day round Newcastle in Rathfriland where nobody here wants to live. They are mostly going for social housing but he has sold one or two privately.
When you say that you expect a correction in the market it would not surprise me if the banks were allowed to introduce negative equity FOR THE SECOND TIME - which was what happened in England - the destruction of wealth was serious resulting in most people being subjected, as I was, to a re-valuation of "the asset" at my expense £500 + VAT - that they were only too eager to advance funds on because it was such "good value" when I got into the market.
New Ireland will really become the new reality if they are allowed to contrive it - and will silence the protocol brigade.
Negative Equity is for me a very sore subject because I witnessed it at first hand and lost a large number of friends and customers when it was inflicted on them....
Now I am going to end this, because I am playing tomorrow and stirring up these kind of memories will only spoil my swing.
Good luck all..
We chose Newcastle because of the vibe - it reminded us of Torquay -except for the beach, except for the over priced meals of poor quality. You can buy a steak almost anywhere in this town but apart from one restaurant (Great Jones ) they don't have any real chefs, they all want to sell you griddled steaks - pan fried is out of the question except at Great Jones which with the Mourne Seafood Bar are about the only places we would go back to.
It's a shame when the food is grown here that most establishments want to make a jewellers margin, they all want to profit from tourism but not enough of them think of their customers returning.
You will have noticed that I do not spend much time speculating on this shares fortunes, mainly because I am so disappointed with the state of the Republic, which seems to have turned into a mini London around The Liffey.
What is the use of a good education and a good job if you cannot afford to put down roots and enjoy the fruits of your labour, because you are commuting at increasing expense and being drained by an enormous mortgage or worst of all an eye watering rent which the politicians and the banks have assisted. I very much found myself in sympathy with Michael D - how has it been allowed to happen???
What I have to say about the bankers would not be allowed to be published anywhere because I am finding it ever more difficult to see what they do that is genuinely socially useful WITH OUR MONEY.....
Good luck all...
Well my Jackeen friend - we are told that the population up here has increased by 300K - that does not include all the white plates from the south who are up here on holiday at the moment.
Employment here is at record levels now, having surpassed the pre pandemic levels - you have to wonder what is keeping it going with all the prices rising and house inflation of 36% since we bought our property here in Newcastle.
This place is heaving with visitors and not just American golfers, who arrive daily on the now regular shuttle from the "Kingdom" - we now have three regular coaches plus helicopters occasionally.
You are right of course - it is too good to last - but hey, the Colleen and I are retired with FREE TRAVEL passes which we have yet to use except on the bus so while it lasts what is not to like.
We must have an election coming, because this is classic pre-election economics - which we always have to pay for afterwards.....
Victory to our heroes in the Ukraine and good luck to all...
I think what you are saying is something to do with "Glass Houses" - I wasn't aware that Michael D was a landlord or that at his age he still had such an appetite for money. The lost tribe of Israel comes to mind whenever I am confronted by people, like our bankers, who seem to regard a vast accumulation of wealth as a virility symbol.
What a pity that they cannot do something socially useful with it, but never hesitate to promote themselves excessively when they are at Ascot or some other spendthrift venture.
Ireland's politicians and banks must answer eventually for the current state of the housing market - what is the use of a good job when you cannot survive on the salary or find somewhere to live reasonably well.
As they are now learning, recruitment becomes a problem due to the difficulty in retaining staff when they learn of greener pastures outside the counmtry.
Good luck all...
Lift Off perhaps and a divi - I was advised this morning that I was to receive a dividend and that it had been forwarded to my bank account in Sterling - AMAZED - at this level of apparent intelligence when they haven't been able to do it previously.
Are they putting a new team together?????
Good luck all - still working on what we call politics up here.... Good on ya Michael D....
The Lone Ranger is still on his horse I see - and I expect that the rest of "the old timers" still look in - while they wait for the miracle of victory for the Ukraine to be realised over the next year or so.
Could do with a good uplift here, when it now costs over £90 for a fill for my new Vor Sprung, lovely drive though which I hope to continue to be able to enjoy for a good spell yet.
Good luck all and keep well as we are.
Interesting to see some positive speculation as an antidote to the ravings of "Crazyhorse" - somebody should set light to his wigwam.
Also noticed the upward tendency - just so long as we do not pick up a nail in the tyre.
Good luck all.
To add a little to my earlier post - the reason that my enthusiasm for this share is subdued stems from the fact that most of the inward investors particularly those from the continent arrange their finance in Europe and like the Americans only require a facility in Ireland due to the fact that it is possible in Europe to negotiate low interest borrowing on a fixed rate and term basis.
The smart boys in the UK - whatever they say about Europe - do arrange their loans in Europe when buying their hotels in Torquay for instance as many of them did whilst I was in business there.
It should however be noted that this form of finance is only available "if you borrow enough"and have ample security.
As the banks withdraw to their towers and close their branches the people up here increasingly rely on their local Credit Union for every day requirements and even larger transactions such as house building, which is very prevalent up here.
Good luck all.
Happy New Year Hotdog - bet you thought that we had all vanished but we are here still - the only thing that ruins the debate about the future is uncertainty.
Covid has seen to that and destroyed many small businesses in the process - the job losses have yet to be quantified but I am sure that we can guess the effect on our dear little money lender here which usually rises when bad news is about and then falls flat when the wind turns warm when you would expect the sap to be rising.
Personally I have no great expectations for the coming year as we continue to overcome the effects of Covid and respond to the idea that somehow we are going to "build back better" as Brexit bites.
The blow to incomes from rising utility and food bills combined with rising petrol bills as the "Pandemic Payments are retrieved" by the various treasuries will not add to the sum of economic activity from which the banks profit with all their little charges.
It's quite cold here now in the north as election machinations begin which inclines me to wonder about the Mediterranean and all those lucky people quaffing Rioja.
Happy New Year to everyone and good luck in the coming year.
Signing off here before I give the S4 a blast - we are away with the family this year because I am fed up of washing up so this year I said we would do something different.
Very happy Christmas to you all and hope for better things in the new year.
My ears twitched tonight when the current price of houses in Dublin particularly, but I am sure also elsewhere was discussed in the news. No doubt the prices quoted are accompanied by "long term" mortgages 25/30 years or more - and I am sure where people have encountered problems a good proportion of them will be 'interest only' which leaves people treading water to no purpose.
All that is required then is for the financial institutions to withdraw from the market as far as supporting house purchase is concerned and concentrate on the harvest for a while whilst interest rates increase.
It has already happened once in Ireland - twice now in the UK - which has resulted in so many people being now dependant "ON THEIR CREDIT SCORE" in order to be able to do anything, just like America.
I hope what I am now seeing is not visited on Ireland as the banks withdraw into their towers, where they are not obliged to be in contact with their customers preferring to transact their business via a phone bank. It is very easy then to make harsh decisions which impact on peoples lives often in a very damaging way.
Please god this is not what I am seeing, but I am very much afraid that it is not that far off - I have lived through both of the events that I have described in the UK and I most assuredly do not wish it on Ireland because of the wealth that is destroyed when assets which were good investments when you were taking out the loan are then re- valued to a much lower figure than your loan.
If I was not able to come up with the money - they were very sympathetic as they prepared to cast me adrift - fortunately I was able to frustrate them and came out in the end with ten times my original investment.
This is an accident waiting to happen to a lot of heavily borrowed people and the TD's have been very happy to go along with it for their own reasons I am sure - it is however over the long run very socially destructive.
Now - that's off my chest, I hope that my experience over thirty years with the banks is not visited on people in Ireland, as the damage from Covid and Brexit together with the UK government's meltdown seeps into the economies in the new year.
Sorry for the rant but I really do feel very strongly that Ireland is in danger....economically.
Good luck all.
I feel that I will be lucky as well as happy with the motor - "NOW THAT IT HAS BEEN CHRISTENED" -by that I mean an initial incident which always seems to have happened to me, with all the many cars that I have had in my younger days.
This time it was our first visit to the church for evening mass in our new super shiny when somebody crunched my heated and electric wing mirror with their car door - only the lens was damaged thankfully, it fell out when my Colleen shut her door. It cost £54 to replace it which I consider lucky when you think what else might have happened.....
Good luck all and a very happy Christmas to all - Nollaig Shona.
Wasbenlittle - it can be quite busy on here OR USED TO BE - with some very intelligent posts offering considerable insite or offering strategies which actually bore fruit.
Unfortunately we have also aquired some squatters who mostly block up useful space on our computers which is why the FILTER is so useful...
I've been on here since about 2006 - unfortunately with Covid and the current managements performance, sentiment has been impacted, which in turn suppresses the enthusiasm of all our useful contributors. Add to that the impending events in the Eucraine coupled with Covid and the Brexit meltdown of the UK government - YOU ARE LEFT WONDERING ABOUT ARMAGEDON when we should be talking about a dividend.
Good luck all....
So much for a Christmas bounce - still, have consoled myself with a smart Vor Sprung S4 - just saw it, low enough Mileage so went for it and am very much enjoying the ride.
Pity about here and our share.......
Good luck all.