u/Comfortable-Policy99

Hey all, looked through the sub but couldn't find a situation quite like mine.

Context: I bought a 2008 built duplex B3 rated about a year and a half ago. It has the original Baxi gas boiler and 8 rads. We really only use gas for heating in the winter (December to March); everything else is electric and we have no solar. To be honest, we still don't even need the heating right now as the temperature doesn't drop below 21°C in any of the rooms! We recently switched to a day/night plan (35c day / 17c night) and our bills are averaging about €100/month for electricity and €20/month for gas for a family of 3 adults.
The boiler finally gave up on us recently, so I reached out for quotes and Bord Gáis came back last week quoting 5k just to swap it for a standard gas boiler. That sounds completely absurd to me. If it was an upgrade to a combi boiler I might have at least considered it, but €5k for a like-for-like standard boiler feels like robbery.
So now I’m looking at other options: has anyone here actually retrofitted a heat pump into a duplex apartment?
If you have, where does the external machine actually go? Out on the balcony? Up in the attic? I can't find any clear answers online for how it works with duplexes (and I'm assuming the management company would have something to say about it going on an external wall).
To make things worse, I looked into a few installers and they said they charge €800 just to do the technical assessment. If the apartment isn't suitable, they don't refund it. If it is suitable, I'm basically locked into using them for the install. Am I really expected to blindly gamble €800 just to find out if a heat pump is even an option? Also, if anyone knows how the SEAI grants work for a duplex, I'd love to know what's actually available.
Sorry for the long post! Any advice, similar experiences, or installer recommendations would be massively appreciated.

Hey everyone,
I need to vent because this is keeping me up at night, and I feel like I'm losing my mind.
I work in IT, and every single day the ground shifts underneath us. Between companies slashing engineering budgets, ongoing hiring freezes, and the relentless news cycle about AI ranging from job extinction to autonomous AI agents breaking containment and breaching platforms like Hugging Face.
I am completely overwhelmed.
Every article makes it sound like we are months away from human labor being completely obsolete, or worse, autonomous systems spiraling out of control. When I look at my career
and my skills, I just feel a deep sense of dread.
**What is the government even going to do about this?** Are regulators just going to sit back while tech companies move at breakneck speed, or are we heading toward massive policy interventions?
**What are we supposed to do?** Just "learn to code" harder? How do you future-proof a career when the tool itself is writing the code?
Is anyone else in the industry actually losing sleep over this, or am I just trapped in a doom-scrolling loop? How are you guys coping?

Hi everyone,
I wanted to share some thoughts about something I’ve been observing recently. I absolutely love our culture and believe our festivals are beautiful, but I have growing concerns about how we are adapting these celebrations for public spaces here in Ireland.
Many of us moved here to embrace the local way of life, which tends to be quite peaceful and quiet. While I know organizers work hard to get the necessary local permits, I sometimes wonder if large-scale street celebrations (like yatras and dhol pathaks) are the best fit for Irish towns and cities.
Here are the main issues I’ve been wrestling with:

Public Spaces and Noise: Ireland's infrastructure and cultural norms around public spaces are very different from back home. Even with official permissions, large street processions can be quite disruptive to locals who simply aren't used to this level of noise and crowding in their daily routines.

Online Optics and Misinformation: There is a difficult reality regarding how these events are portrayed online. Videos of our street celebrations frequently circulate on right-wing social media accounts. Unfortunately, these clips are often taken out of context to spread false information and technically feed anti-immigrant hate. Keeping these larger celebrations to private venues would help protect our community from becoming an unnecessary target.

Environmental Impact: I am also concerned about the practice of idol immersion in local water bodies. While I understand the religious significance, I worry about the ecological impact on local Irish waterways, even when it is technically permitted.

Celebrating in Dedicated Spaces: We have so many wonderful community halls, rented venues, and indoor arenas here. It would be just as joyous to host these grand celebrations in enclosed, dedicated spaces without impacting the broader public.
I am very proud of my roots, but I also strongly believe in integrating and being mindful of our adopted home. To be completely honest, I am not looking to debate this in the comments; I just needed a place to get this off my chest. I know the word might sound harsh to some, but I genuinely hope this public nonsense will come to an end soon so we can all just live peacefully like the locals do

Hi everyone,
My wife and I recently started a small pancake/food stall that operates only on Saturdays in Ireland, We’ve been running it for about two months now.
We had quite a few setup costs initially, so I don’t expect us to make much profit this year as we are currently doing about gross 250€ a week. I’m trying to understand the best way to keep track of everything properly from the beginning.

For those who run a small sole-trader business or anyone who had been doing this:

How do you keep track of receipts and expenses?
Is it realistic to manage the bookkeeping and tax side ourselves, or would you recommend getting an accountant?
Are there any simple apps or tools that make this easier?
Alternatively, I can create an AI agent to track receipts, categorise expenses and keep everything organised, or is it still better to use an accountant?
At what stage would you recommend getting an accountant involved?
& How do I handle cash transactions? How to declare cash to revenue?
I’m happy to do the work myself if it’s straightforward, but I want to make sure we’re keeping proper records and not creating problems for ourselves later.
Would appreciate any advice from people who have been in a similar situation.
Thanks!

Edit:
Thanks for your comments gals and guys but we both have full time jobs too with gross salary of 85000€ annual combined.

I know I’m going to get slaughtered for this, but someone has to say it: modern electric cars are soulless appliances, and the attitude of the people driving them in this country is insufferable.
Every time the topic comes up, EV drivers talk down to everyone like they’re tech messiahs who cracked life’s cheat code because they charge on a night-rate in their suburban driveway. Meanwhile, out on the actual road, they’re either sitting in the overtaking lane doing 95 km/h on the M7 to save battery percentage.

As a mechanical engineer, internal combustion is actual engineering brilliance. Thousands of moving parts, thermal cycles, fluid dynamics, and gearboxes engineered to work in harmony. You feel the machine working. You get real road feedback, proper throttle modulation, and the satisfaction of knowing that if a sensor or alternator fails, you can pop the bonnet with a socket set and fix it yourself.
EVs are just heavy, disposable consumer electronics on wheels. There is zero mechanical soul to them just instant torque to mask a 2.3-tonne chassis that destroys tyres, shreds roads, and relies on proprietary dealer software where a failed battery module out of warranty basically writes the entire car off.

I drove my 2.0L diesel from Dublin to Kerry and back recently. 900+ km on one quick 3-minute stop, AC blasting, cruise set to 120 km/h the whole way, and not a single second wasted worrying about charging apps, broken ESB points, or freezing my arse off in a service station car park.

The push to force everyone into these oversized iPads feels completely detached from reality.
Am I the only one who genuinely hates everything about the EV hype train and the drivers pushing it?

Hi all,
Looking to get the front and rear brake discs and pads replaced on my 2017 BMW 3 Series and was wondering if anyone can recommend a good garage around the Dublin area that does quality work at a fair price.
I’m not necessarily looking for the cheapest option, just somewhere that’s reliable and won’t charge BMW main dealer prices. If you’ve had a good experience recently, I’d really appreciate any recommendations and, if you don’t mind sharing, roughly what you paid.
Also, is it actually worth taking it to a BMW dealer for a job like this, or would I be just as well off going to a good independent BMW specialist?
Thanks!

Welcome to r/BmwIreland! 🇮🇪🚘
Hey everyone! I’m u/Comfortable-Policy99, a founding moderator of r/BmwIreland.
This is our new home for BMW enthusiasts across Ireland. Whether you own a BMW, are looking to buy one, enjoy working on them, or simply appreciate the brand, we’re excited to have you here!
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