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AS PART OF TheJournal.ie’s weekly Family Magazine, we wanted to create a space for parents to share their views. A place where mums and dads could share their experiences, lessons learned, and even mistakes along the way. With that in mind, we’ve launched TheJournal.ie Parents Panel.
This week, we’re asking our panel: What one ‘must-have’ purchase turned out to be a waste of money?
Top L-R: Olly Keegan, Alan Dooley, Denise, Ken Hyland. Middle L-R: Ríona Flood, Ross Boxshall, Marta Lisiecka, Denise Cumiskey. Bottom L-R: Kait Strickland, Susannah O’Brien, Derek McInerney, Suzie Kelly.
An expensive Scandinavian high chair
We inherited lots of baby gear from family so at the time I felt like the chair was a justified purchase. I recently realised that the €15 IKEA model does the exact same job!
- Kait Strickland
A changing mat
I used it for about a month, until I learnt to change her on my knees. Three more kids later and I’ve never looked at it again. I can’t even begin to add up the money I’ve wasted on gimmicks over the years.
- Susannah O’Brien
Reusable nappies
We spent a year of our lives washing and drying nappies every other day. They were an expensive investment – and I’d wager they didn’t save us (or the environment) much. Suffice to say we gave them up for babies two and three.
- Alan Dooley
A buggy bike attachment
It cost €120, but my wife thought would be a great idea for our eldest. After a bit of an argument I conceded defeat. Annoyingly, the thing ended up broken before we even got our money’s worth from it.
- Ken Hyland
The clothes I thought she’d grow into
At the end of last summer, Penneys had loads of kids’ tops reduced to €1. I came out with nearly 25 of them, and put them all away for this year. It’s July and she’s barely worn half of them. We call my toddler the ‘Discount Baby’ as everything she wears has been bought in the sales!
- Denise Cumiskey
Ballet classes
Like nearly every little girl, ours wanted to do ballet. We booked her in for a term, but she’d had enough after a couple of weeks. Not to mention the new Brownie uniform that was only used twice…
- Ross Boxshall
Swaddling blankets
I invested in two of them, after reading up on the benefits of swaddling your baby. But from day one my little one had a mind of her own. She wanted her hands and arms to be free. It was the same story with crib blankets, which I got ten of as presents.
- Ríona Flood
Far too many newborn clothes
I went crazy at the sales buying before Timothy was born. He didn’t have a chance to wear everything before he grew out of it, and in the end I gave three bags of clothes away to friends. I still have a huge bag of outgrown stuff left.
- Marta Liesicka
A baby floor seat
Our little guy’s legs were too chunky – by the time he was old enough to be in it, his thighs didn’t fit in!
- Olly Keegan
Expensive trainers for tiny feet
Buying expensive clothes and footwear before my boys were old enough to even be able to walk was a total waste. The majority of the time they ended up barefoot in babygros or stretchy pants, and they were just as happy like that.
- Suzie Kelly
Want to know a bit more about this week’s featured panel members? You’ll find a bio on each member here.
Want to win a two-night pampering break at The Kingsley in Cork? Simply enter your email address below. Full competition details here.
The other side of this coin, however, is that in the next election (which may be soon), SF will run far more candidates and the extra seats they win will come from PbP, SD, Greens, and all the others who this time benefited from the large SF surpluses.
@Ruairí Ó HEithir: I don’t think so lad. The likely final result is:
SF 37
FF 37
FG 36 (+ “non-member” Lowry)
Grn 12
SD 6
Lab 6
Sol 5
Ind 19
Oth 2
So you can get FF + FG + Greens w/ Michael as Taoiseach or;
SF + FF + Greens w/ Mary Lou as Taoiseach or;
SF + Lab + Sol/PBP + Greens + SD + 14 Independents.
Micheál Martin will be our next Taoiseach after a “transition period” for Leo to pad his parachute. SF weren’t brave enough to risk losing seats, pulled candidates when they should have been running more and won nothing more than a hollow “victory”.
@John Considine: option 3 please.
@John Considine: mar Lou as Taoiiseach with FF as partner….ah here give up the tablets
@John Considine: i counted FF getting to 39 seats? Is 37 the final amount? There are 7 seats left and FF look like taking 5 of them. Not great but keeps Mary Lou away from leadership
@Laughable: In that situation the Greens would be the Kingmakers. I suspect they will be pragmatic and not gamble on a 14 Independent longshot. I mean, could you even get enough Independents? Plus, some of these people are not very palatable, Verone Murphy for example; others are involved in their own Kerry Mafia thing, etc.
My money is on same as it ever was.
@SFAnkleTapper: it will be FF and SF with a small party and rotating Taoiseach or that left mix 3rd option similar to what Portugal have.
Can’t see a FF and FG coalition, it would further erode their base.
Or of course a caretaker government and we vote again.
@Martin McFly: I have the final 7 going to:
Wicklow:
3) Harris (FG) [Obligatory Booooooooooooo]
4) Donnelly (FF)
5) Matthews (Green)
Cavan-Monaghan
Distributing the Aontú vote now, then it will depend on how well the FF transfer goes when Gallagher is eliminated. I had this as FG earlier but I would now give it as likely FF. It’s close but:
4) Smith (FF)
5) Smyth (FF)
Sligo-Leitrim:
3) MacSharry
4) Feighan
This assumes the FG transfer holds up but but even then any FF transfers would split between 2 candidates. Very likely FG will take 4 here.
So -1 FG, +1 FF from my earlier prediction.
@SFAnkleTapper: It’s a possible option from the numbers. That said if FF can get 2 seats in Cavan-Monaghan they will be on 38, which actually makes a possible SF coalition more likely since Martin would then get to be Taoiseach.
@Ruairí Ó HEithir: I’ve a bit of a stupid question… Does anyone know when it’s decided that a candidate is excluded and that their votes are to be redistributed? I’ve had a look online but can’t seem to find anything. Thanks.
@Peter Cavey: It’s not a complete answer but essentially the candidate with lowest vote total after each count is eliminated.
Notable exceptions are if there is a surplus to be distributed and that surplus can theoretically save a candidate (or get them a refund on their deposit) or that multiple candidates can be excluded at once if they cannot theoretically get enough votes even when the candidate below them is eliminated. The latter mostly happens in the earlier counts when multiple candidates have very low vote totals.
@John Considine: thank you.
@John Considine: with only 1 or 2 seat difference between them it will be a shared Taoiseach. Mary Lou has a much better chance of getting the nomination for Taoiseach when the Dail returns than Martin. This will give her more leverage during negotiations.
@Martin McFly: your wrong . go Mary . Go Mary …. hurrayyyyyyyyy
@Gerard Smith: As much as I might wish it would be otherwise I fear that FG/FF will choose the lesser threat of brand dilution over the existential threat that SF now represents to their combined vested interest. An interest, as has so often been pointed out during this campaign, that has been vested in them since the foundation of the state no less.
I wish I could celebrate with you but the pragmatist in me knows what I would do if I were them. 5 more years. We can fix it guys, we’ll maintain identity be carefully delineating responsibility and focusing our messaging. It’ll be fine guys, honest. I mean, consider the alternative…
I hope I’m wrong and you are right.
@John Considine:
Such a sore loser. Build the auld proverbial bridge and haul your ass across it!
@Ruairí Ó HEithir: Yeah voters trusted Sinn Fein sol pbp for change glad of the transfers glad Sinn Fein know that a weak fine geal fianna fail is their best advantage fg ff being tough on sf for decades good Sinn Fein remembers
@Pád: Yeah voters trusted Sinn Fein sol pbp for change glad of the transfers glad Sinn Fein know that a weak fine geal fianna fail is their best advantage fg ff being tough on sf for decades good Sinn Fein remembers
Can’t wait for all these new houses and perfect health system
@Ro-your-nan: A bunch of monkeys would do a better job than FFG anyway so things can only get better.
@Laughable: well we will have 37 in the Dail soon so let’s see how they do
@Ro-your-nan: Great comeback
Amazing to think it was always the two main parties of FF and FG that benefited the most from votes being passed down in the past. The turnaround speaks volumes about how unhappy the public have been with our Governments performance. FFG need to do some serious thinking about the reasons why they have preformed so badly in this election. I like that…
Worrying to see the demise of centrist policies and a resurgence of populist and nationalist “change” not just overseas, but at home also.
As Waterford’s newest TD might say “tháinig ár lá”
@James Brady: It’s not the same kind of nationalist, Sinn Fein are now a centre left party, just slightly more left I think than FF used to be years ago.
The just also happen to be a nationalist all Ireland party.
Nothing like the nationalist stuff going in in Eastern Europe for example.
@James Brady: As a fellow Centrist I do feel obliged to ask. When, exactly, do you think we had centrist representation here exactly? I wish I’d known about it, I’ve been alternating between centre-left and centre-right my entire life. It seems tome that in this country centrists must vote tactically because we don’t get direct representation.
@James Brady: I genuinely struggle to see how many of FG policies could be considered centrist. They are a completely “market’ driven party. Also some of the scare mongering about left leaning policies is ridiculous. 5 budgets into a left coalition in Portugal and the country is doing well. For me the fundamental thing that FFG need to learn from this election is that there are some areas of society that the public are not prepared to leave to the market because the market is only interested in profits. People want a country defined by society first not economy first. Of course the economy is vital but it should be guided by the type of society we want not the other way round. I really believe that young people are changing the political landscape and those parties that cant adapt to what the people deem as important will perish.
@Gerard Smith: Amen, well articulated and exactly where we are at.
@James Brady: centrist Blueshirts got us into the mess we are in. Do you think they’ll get us out??
A TD should at least have a grasp of basic grammar. Did, not done.
@Ciarán O’ Donoghue: That was exactly my thought!!! Delighted I wasn’t on my own!! Certainly “interesting” times ahead.
@Gerkygirl: Amoeba!
@Ciarán O’ Donoghue: pardon out imperfect Oirish accent, can’t all go to Clongoes
@Gerkygirl: oh dear!!!! Not everybody speaks like you!!!! Whatever will you do???!!! Heavens sake. Why don’t you go and meet the guy, he’s one of the most hard-working, down to earth people I’ve ever met. So quick to judge, yet not bother to get to know a thing about them.. nice.
The fact that Gerry Adams stepped down as leader is why sein fein have done so well. He was the one who connected both sides of the i r a and sien fein and people found it hard to vote for them. Personally I would rather have seen Gerry Adams facing the troika than the spineless shower that gave our country away
@Danny Flynn: Don’t think so! These new votes for SF were protest and “anyone but FFG” votes. However none of these new voters voted for chants of “Up the Ra”. Foot shot SF! If they keep this up and there is a new election, SF will lose their new voters. Stay smart and transparent Mary Lou and keep a lid on your brand of nationalism!
@Paul Furey: people are sick of the lack of nationalism shown by the Blueshirt/FF wallows. The Black and Tans commemoration was got stuck in a lot of people’s throats! These lowlife traitors got what they deserved! A swift kick!
What are they going to do about the national debt first and foremost? Apparently 1/3 of income tax is going towards servicing the debt interest, €60 billion over the last 10 years. The only website I can find that states a current value puts it way above 200 billion. (Nearly 50k per head in the country). Our budget surplus is at the whim of interest rates. We need to play hardball to get closer to 0% interest so we have a chance at reducing it.
@Watchful Axe: it’s actually 63% of GDP which is lower than that of the UK at 86%.
We’re in debt but not as much as you think.
If corporations paid their fair share we’d be fine but we seem to have this inferiority complex in Ireland that we have to let corporations in and pay literally no tax, some pay less than 1%.
We’ve more to offer than low tax, a highly educated workforce, last native English speaking country in the EU, huge diaspora etc. Let them pay their fair share. Maybe then we could build houses, pay our debt and prosper.
@Laughable: But not only that! We are the European helpdesk for USA FDI entering Europe without tariffs!
The Shinners would be mad to go into Government with Fianna Fail..
@Just Some Guy: The Shinners are Mad without going anywhere.
Can someone tell me how the transfer system works? How do they decide the number of points/who they’ll be given to?
@Shala: The voting system
Ireland uses an electoral system called proportional representation with a single transferable vote.
This sounds complex, but it can be broken down into simple terms.
The voter marks their ballot card in order of preference, which means writing the number 1 opposite their first choice, 2 beside their second favourite and so on.
If the candidate marked as the voters first choice is eliminated or elected without needing the vote then the vote is transferred to the second candidate.
The transfer of votes between party candidates often plays an important part in ensuring they are elected.
@Stephen Kane: Ah I see. Thanks for that Stephen. I could never understand how the surplus was divided up.
@Shala: makes for great elections!!!
What a mess, the left is split too much in this country.
What most commentators are not even mentioning is the fact that the more the Blueshirt/West Brit media went ballistic telling people that SF were not normal or whatever, with editorials screaming for people to not vote SF, the more people were going to vote SF. People are sick and tired of the likes of Stephen Collins in the Unionist Times screaming blue murder and don’t want to be dictated to by a bunch of out-of-touch Blueshirts!! Away with ya!!
‘Not looking good’ is not conceding
Four peddle and crankers!
@Pat Coyne: go to bed pash!
Yeah voters trusted Sinn Fein sol pbp for change glad of the transfers glad Sinn Fein know that a weak fine geal fianna fail is their best advantage fg ff being tough on sf for decades good Sinn Fein remembers
have your say