Northern Ireland Thread

Art Vandelay

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I demand that post in Irish, its my right I tell ye.
Vote for me and I'll push to have all signs also in Klingon and Valyrian.

Someone actually complained about the sign at the bottom of my street not being in Irish. Turns out he doesn't even live here, he drove past and got offended then complained to the council.

Reminds me of when I worked in the civil service and someone filled out an application form entirely in Irish despite the form being in English. We're a fun bunch with our culture over here.
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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Vote for me and I'll push to have all signs also in Klingon and Valyrian.

Someone actually complained about the sign at the bottom of my street not being in Irish. Turns out he doesn't even live here, he drove past and got offended then complained to the council.

Reminds me of when I worked in the civil service and someone filled out an application form entirely in Irish despite the form being in English. We're a fun bunch with our culture over here.
NI Civil Servant here :lol: , hard at work at my desk.
 

Art Vandelay

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NI Civil Servant here :lol: , hard at work at my desk.
:lol: I miss the Civil Service. The use of an apptitude test instead of interviews made it chaos at times. You'd get some right nutjobs that an interview would have weeded out. Guy running up and down the corridor making car noises, doing handbrake turns at the corner. People knitting at their desks. People drunk at their desks. There's always at least one lunatic.
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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:lol: I miss the Civil Service. The use of an apptitude test instead of interviews made it chaos at times. You'd get some right nutjobs that an interview would have weeded out. Guy running up and down the corridor making car noises, doing handbrake turns at the corner. People knitting at their desks. People drunk at their desks. There's always at least one lunatic.
I came in at EO2, SO now. But yeah the feckwits that came in at AA and AO grade on aptitude tests were a fecking nightmare and impossible to get rid of, they just get moved on somewhere else, I'm in a cushy support team and yeah I had a pint at lunch.
 

balaks

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I came in at EO2, SO now. But yeah the feckwits that came in at AA and AO grade on aptitude tests were a fecking nightmare and impossible to get rid of, they just get moved on somewhere else, I'm in a cushy support team and yeah I had a pint at lunch.
I was an AA years ago in the child support agency and it was shite - the long lunches/pints and flexible working hours were very hard to beat though.

A cushy job in the civil service wouldn't be half bad... I did consider applying for the management scheme they advertised a few months ago looking for people outside the service to apply for more senior positions. Decided against it but I'd probably think about it again if it came around in a year or two.
 

poleglass red

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child support agency back in the day had some lunatics in it. Most of the people back then it was their first job since leaving school. Flexi time to them was like the golden ticket. Robinson's got some business out of that lot :)
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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I was an AA years ago in the child support agency and it was shite - the long lunches/pints and flexible working hours were very hard to beat though.

A cushy job in the civil service wouldn't be half bad... I did consider applying for the management scheme they advertised a few months ago looking for people outside the service to apply for more senior positions. Decided against it but I'd probably think about it again if it came around in a year or two.
I was an EO2 in the CSA, fecking awful place at the time, no one knew anything and the system was shite. But yeah The Beaten Docket, Robinsons and The Crown weren't bad. I got out of there a good few years ago.
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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child support agency back in the day had some lunatics in it. Most of the people back then it was their first job since leaving school. Flexi time to them was like the golden ticket. Robinson's got some business out of that lot :)
:D Does the name Vinny Duggin mean anything to you?
 

Art Vandelay

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I ended up in Belfast for a while too, but wasn't CSA. I don't think I've ever been as drunk. Two hour lunch sat in bar, then bus into town at 5pm and go to the bar again because getting bus out of Belfast before 7pm is torture, then end up sat there drinking until 10pm. 10.15pm bus back to Derry and up at 5am to do it all over again the next day.

After about 9 months of this my mate started asking how we were still functional while calculating how much we were drinking. He was alright as he lived in Belfast, I had over 4 hours of travel per day on top of the drinking. I had put on nearly 5 stone and was physically exhausted.

Wish I could go back to it, now I'm afraid to go for a shit in case they try to make me take flexi for it.
 

golden_blunder

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I was an AA years ago in the revenue place in Belfast, ducking cushy number but was traveling up and down from Derry.

My first ever job was an AA in Dept of Education in Derry. Me and 1 other lad in a registry office. Our boss was the facilities manager but was out half the time. We’d clock in early to claim flexi but be in the gym downstairs and the same going home. We’d play cricket in the filing room with a rolled up ball of elastics. Great craic those days but shitty money. I was on I think about 9.5k at the time and got a new job starting on 13.5k. Wow
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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I was an AA years ago in the revenue place in Belfast, ducking cushy number but was traveling up and down from Derry.

My first ever job was an AA in Dept of Education in Derry. Me and 1 other lad in a registry office. Our boss was the facilities manager but was out half the time. We’d clock in early to claim flexi but be in the gym downstairs and the same going home. We’d play cricket in the filing room with a rolled up ball of elastics. Great craic those days but shitty money. I was on I think about 9.5k at the time and got a new job starting on 13.5k. Wow
How long a go was that? I know a load of AAs and AOs that got back pay of close to £13k or 14k at a time.
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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What do you need to qualify for that?

I was an AA/AO for a year around 11 years ago. Had a 51 week contract about 17 years ago too. Think I had a few temp ones in between those.
No idea, I think the payout was about 10 years ago maybe less, but they got a pay rise backed dated for a number of years. Id contact the NI Civil Service and see what they say. It covered both AA and AO grades.
 

Art Vandelay

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No idea, I think the payout was about 10 years ago maybe less, but they got a pay rise backed dated for a number of years. Id contact the NI Civil Service and see what they say. It covered both AA and AO grades.
Cheers, I'll look into it. I probably got it at the time and have completely forgotten about it now. I can barely remember this morning.
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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Both were temp contacts first one around 96-97 and the other around 2002. How do I find out the timelines and if temps qualified?
Contact HRConnect they are our HR now, 0800 1 300 400 they should have a record and be able to advice if you qualify. If you have no luck let me know and I will ask on Tuesday for you... 2 flexi days to take :D
 

Rooney24

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Surprised Julian Smith lost his Job in the reshuffle. He was one of the better ones they have sent over in recent times.
 

diarm

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Surprised Julian Smith lost his Job in the reshuffle. He was one of the better ones they have sent over in recent times.
Yep. Seems a crazy decision, particularly in the context of SF potentially coming into power down here. I can't understand how you wouldn't want to maintain a proven and steady influence as NI SOS.
 

poleglass red

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strange decision, I guess Boris doesn't like people who challenge him. Considering the absolute shite we've had in recent yrs in this position, you think they'd want to hold onto one that had done well.
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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strange decision, I guess Boris doesn't like people who challenge him. Considering the absolute shite we've had in recent yrs in this position, you think they'd want to hold onto one that had done well.
I can see why Boris doesn't really give a shit about NI, either he is trying to sail us into a UI or he plans to give 2 fingers to Europe and actually leave with no long term deal.
 

sullydnl

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The guy who killed and chopped up that 17 year old in Dublin a few months ago killed. No great loss there.
 

Paxi

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The guy who killed and chopped up that 17 year old in Dublin a few months ago killed. No great loss there.
Are you sure it's him? Was that a retaliation from gangs down South or from paramilitaries in the North cause they knew he was child killer.
 

2cents

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2cents

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Are you sure it's him? Was that a retaliation from gangs down South or from paramilitaries in the North cause they knew he was child killer.
The word on Twitter/Whatsapp is that he was up collecting a debt from an Ardoyne criminal who decided to cancel the debt.
 

Paxi

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The word on Twitter/Whatsapp is that he was up collecting a debt from an Ardoyne criminal who decided to cancel the debt.
Alright so he actually didn't live in Ardoyne, just knocked on the wrong door then.
 

sullydnl

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Are you sure it's him? Was that a retaliation from gangs down South or from paramilitaries in the North cause they knew he was child killer.
Irish Times reporting the victim was the prime suspect:

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/cri...eane-mulready-woods-murder-1.4221156?mode=amp

And as @2cents said it's all over social media that it's Lawlor who was killed. Lawlor having been fairly widely known to have committed the Keane-Mulready murder since it happened. Not like he was particularly keeping it a secret.
 

2cents

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Alright so he actually didn't live in Ardoyne, just knocked on the wrong door then.
Yeah, he’s from Coolock but was living in Meath. Deeply involved in Dublin and Drogheda gangland stuff.

Word is that the three lads arrested are from Limerick.
 

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2cents

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So he maybe was in hiding in Ardoyne and the rival gang from that Mr Big or whatever you call them went and paid him a visit?
Maybe. Mr Big doesn’t mess around, it was his gang that pretty much ended the IRA in Dublin as a major criminal force. But what I’m reading is Lawlor drove up with three others to collect a drug debt. Got blasted in the front garden. Maybe a double-cross or maybe the owner of the property in question decided not to pay up.

I don’t know Belfast well but I’d guess someone like him throwing his weight around would stand out like a sore thumb and be asking for trouble, yeah?

There’s videos going around Whatsapp of full-on celebrations happening in Darndale tonight.
 

arnie_ni

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2 days late but this thread was started 9 years ago after the ira bombing of a caf members brother in my home town.

RIP Ronan Kerr
 

Paxi

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Maybe. Mr Big doesn’t mess around, it was his gang that pretty much ended the IRA in Dublin as a major criminal force. But what I’m reading is Lawlor drove up with three others to collect a drug debt. Got blasted in the front garden. Maybe a double-cross or maybe the owner of the property in question decided not to pay up.

I don’t know Belfast well but I’d guess someone like him throwing his weight around would stand out like a sore thumb and be asking for trouble, yeah?

There’s videos going around Whatsapp of full-on celebrations happening in Darndale tonight.
Yeah I've just read all that mate and seen your man Price on Twitter drinking what looks to be a shot of poitín. According to social media rumours Lawler had a firearm on him as well so it would be a case of a potential self defense. Aye, I've seen the video too. All that fecking Smirnoff Ice. Are those lads mates of that fella that got dismembered or what cause they all look about 12 ffs. Young age to be getting on like that -- about someone losing their life, but I guess it's par for the course in some areas. And I don't really buy the whole, it's Belfast, it's Ardoyne, he shouldn't waltzed in there acting a big man. Sometimes you just meet a person who you can't intimidate and they will fight back and they could be from anywhere. Anyway, sounds like it was a long time coming.