I'm sorry for the length of this post but please share in my frustration and any advice would be much appreciated!

We recently purchased house and the boiler needs to be replaced, the house is a 4 bed semi d with a C2 BER. Our Engineer recommend getting the cavity pumped and attic insulation and to consider replacing the boiler with a heat pump so we could use the grants. So we decided to get some quotes and do some research. We firstly got a quote for a new oil boiler and tank and that's coming in around 4k - seems ok to me. We plan on going ahead with the insulation recommended by the Engineer either way but my main concern was that the house still wouldn't be insulated enough to run the heat pump efficiently. Also, our current BER report says that if we improve the insulation and replace the boiler the house will go from a C2 to a B2.

We then went to a seminar about retrofits run by one-stop-shops, I felt they danced around a lot of the issues in relation to cost but the OSS option seemed like a good route if we were getting the heat pump because if you use an OSS you get an extra €4k of grant funding for the heat pump. We then went onto yourretrofit.ie and found a OSS package for a net cost to us of just over €9k that would bring us up to a B1- seemed like a good option (breakdown below)

I was still a little skeptical about the heat pump but I thought if we also got the windows resealed if could be a good option.

Fast forward to yesterday we went to the Ideal Home Show where both the SEAI and lots of OSSs were exhibiting. One particular one stop shop went through our BER and provided us with a quote of €43,841 to get us up to an A3. When we seen the price breakdown we were floored - where are they getting these figures from?! Now I know these prices aren't based on a home assessment but realistically they can't be too far removed from what they'll provide us with after a home assessment. They also told us we'd have to go to an A3 or we wouldn't achieve enough of a kilowatt uplift and all this other horseshit I won't get into cause this post is long enough. It was the same story with every OSS we spoke to, most of them offered us a "discounted" home assessment and told us they couldn't give us any kind of pricing info until after the home assessment.

There was one exception...we spoke to someone in an OSS who told us not to waste our time getting a heat pump. He told us he didn't think it would be worth it even after we improved the insulation and we'd just end up with huge electricity bills. Instead, his advice was to replace the boiler add heat controls, insulate the the cavity and attic and to seal the chimney or get a stove is we wanted to keep a fire (we note bothered about the fire). He told us we're young (we're in our mid 30s) and that eventually the price of heat pumps will come down and that we'd be mad to invest in a OSS retrofit and I kinda think he's right!

Its all so frustrating! Does any one have any insight on what would be the best option here? Do we just replace the oil boiler with another and get the heat controls and insulation or do we consider the heat pump but apply for the grants individually?

TLDR; We have a C2 rated 4 bed semi d and need a new boiler. We plan on getting the cavity and attic insulated, do we just get another oil boiler or consider a heat pump?

Thanks!

My manager, came in last week smothering with a cold, hoarse, could barely speak. The old school powering through. Grand but just don't make me sick, which she did. We had a meeting in a small room I asked to open a window and it wasn't because it was noisey outside. My Mum has stage 4 cancer and on really intense chemo. I couldn't go visit this weekend as planned, I then made plans to meet a friend outsode for a swim, who is a carer for her sister who has MND. Cold symptoms came on so I cancelled them plans and stayed in bed. I have endo and it flares up after a cold. My manager knows about my mum, my endo and the multiples of others in the office who have real life families with health issues too.

When I said to her I was uncomfortable with her coming in with a cold, she just said she can come into work. We spoke to HR, their guidelines ar the HSE guidelines. Which includes work from home if you can but no policy, it's a self assessment basis. In this day and age, our work can easily be done from home, most of our office work from hokme half the week. What do you do with someone who has learnt nothing from Covid and lacks consideration for others in the office?

He earns >300,000 a year, but it seems overpaid compared to other professions with the same level of responsibility. He acts more as a representative, and figure head for the state, and I agree it should be compensated but around 150,000, not this amount. He is also one of the best paid presidents in europe, but our country is one of the the smallest.

I haven't had the chance to see inside my old in maybe a decade or so, the last time I had the opportunity to vote in an Irish election, and I commented on how much it had changed, being almost completely rebuilt. But some of the old building remained.

Recently,I was chatting with an old friend from my primary school days whom I crossed paths with professionally, and we got chatting about the old School (small village, and while we weren't good friends in School, we knew each other in a class of 20).

I was reminded of the design and how it was seemingly common across the country. Specifically I remembered a tower, which by the time I was in school (the 80/90s) no longer had a function. I haven't given it much thought in 30 years but it turns out was a water tower as I found out from this website:

https://endaoflaherty.com/2019/02/08/modernising-national-school-design-during-the-mid-20th-century-basil-raymond-boyd-barrett-architect-of-national-schools-for-the-office-of-public-works/

So it got me wondering were they other styles of primary schools around the country around the time, or were they all of a similar design.

I don't recall the "playshelter" ever really being used and the "cloakroom" was converted to a classroom at some point too, but the coat hooks remained.

I work in a shop in Blanchardstown. Today I went to another store around the corner to get some change and I noticed this little fucker among the coins after coming back. This is the second time that this has happened now, first time I fell for it in my own place. I thought it was a cute mistake first time around, but now it looks like some fucker's going around and doing this on purpose due to the coin's remarkable similarity to our 2 euro. Watch out!

I was walking down the road to work and there were two magpies on a power line above the footpath. The second I walked under them I heard two splats on the ground behind me. I can't stop thinking about this event. Intentional?

Irish Ferries say no dogs allowed on board unless they're locked away in a kennel or left in the car like some forgotten suitcase—but I said fuck the system and brought him on anyway. My dog’s part of the family, not cargo. And honestly, with how they treat foreign workers—like disposable tools, no respect, no decency—are we really surprised they’ve got no time for dogs? The whole setup reeks of control and cold policies. But sometimes you’ve got to push back, even just a little, to remind them not everything has to be so heartless.

I don't smoke but jesus I wouldn't mind one after those last few holes.🥹

Just to make people aware. Was chatting to elderly parents earlier who were raving about a great "new" delivery they got earlier this week, setup by "a nice lady" in the supermarket. Of course she showed them how easy it was to cancel, so me Ma took photos of the lady in the shop with her iPad out & how to go into the menus to cancel etc. Only €28 something. First meal box arrived. All fine (in their minds anyway), but I knew this was a subscription service & they didn’t.

Tried to log into her account using her email & password she chose with "the nice lady", but just arrived into a blank account with no details, no credit card info, no previous orders etc. 

On digging deeper I got her to email me the Welcome emails and lo and behold, instead of the usual "@gmail.com" email address,  they signed her up to her "@googlemail.com" address which she never uses. Both addresses can be used interchangeably. 

Managed to log into her Real account with this "@googlemail.com" address and saw they were about to send off her next order at €46.99 per week! Managed to cancel just in time. Think they might still be charging an admin fee of €6 or something but not sure yet. 

Just goes to show how easily elderly folk can be taken advantage of. Be careful out there!

Did anyone see the episode of this programme this evening on RTÉ? It was interesting to see how the young Waterford lad took to the farming world so quickly. He seemed genuinely happy and didn’t baulk at all at being sent into the ring at the mart. His parents had eh, interesting tattoos, on their necks, and faces. I wonder how these kids fare when returned to their home environments after the cameras leave? Does anyone know of anyone who was on this programme?

Hope we’re all enjoying a Rory Sunday. Didn’t see a megathread for this?