Probably a bad example to pick considering they badly need to raise their retirement age, even more so than we do.
They’re gonna need to raise the retirement age though, not sure it’s that debatable
I’ve lived in France, and give me the rational discussion for the common good of a Nordic society to the individualistic “fuck everyone but me” mentality that prevails in France. Generalisations yeah, but politics in France can be a real clusterfuck, and pensions reform is badly needed.
Lol, all these comments so far. No wonder people are getting fucked over by everything in Ireland.
Weird seeing so many younger people there. Raising the pension age hugely benefits them, as it means they have to pay less in taxes.
Asked here recently.
To protest against what?
In general, I agree. I admire the French for their willingness to down tools and cause a ruckus. But in this particular instance I wonder how exactly they think a 62 year retirement age can be sustained.
Macron is saving France from financial collapse. Their pension age has been moved from 62 to 64! It was 62 ffs!!
You meant more like the French politicians right that has some backbone to make the difficult choice rather then stick head in sand like the irish ones are ?
Irish people complaining about French people protesting, typical Irish. This is why we are a nation full of sheep.
Everyone should be like the French in mostDemocracy related acts.
They have the best workers rights laws I have ever seen.
They fight for these rights.
You cannot take away what was won decades ago.
If state is not using their resources efficiently and spending too much money in the wrong crap it’s the government that needs changing. Not the people.
Never the people.
In general and as an Australian, I wholly agree. The unregulated energy market here, the terrible state of the housing market here, the ridiculous taxation laws here and no one cries out. Everyone is being fucked but there is no outcry and no general outrage.
I’ve lived all over the world but never in a country which is so passive about matters which impact so many daily.
Am curious to know why?
The French ‘doth protest too much methinks’
Seriously, they are never off the streets. Issue after issue. With a collapsing birth rate, how can they afford to retire at 62?
You’re not alone. In Ontario we have a premier that is actively dismantling universal healthcare, started before but continued through the fucking pandemic, is defunding public education and is currently opening protected green space land for his developer friends. And not only were we not in the streets, it was meh and we re-elected him. Special kind of stupid here.
We should turn Paddy’s weekend into a protest
It’s been done. Les Gilets Juanes – they were castigated and ridiculed if I recall.
No we don’t, this pension reform will be poison for the french economy if it does not go through
The Irish are full of shit! A shower of backstabbers, everyman for himself, that’s why they don’t strike like the French.
Wait …. isn’t nice in France??
I don’t get Macron’s thinking. How on Earth did he think this would go well with everyone. It’s like he’s trying to be unpopular
Be like the French then. What’s stopping anyone moaning why we aren’t like the French actually trying to be like them?
Love the Frenchies
[deleted]
I don’t think we need to be like the French. We just need to band together and protest properly like we did against the water charges. Fucking wrecking the place wouldn’t work here. The pricks in Leinster House would leave it wrecked.
Irish public are just very very passive and sedated. Not really concerned about much outside their bubble (i.e. friends family etc.).
Fair play to the french. if the people are pissed they will let you know. In lots of western countries it’s almost taboo to suggest action beyond just your police approved walk in the street holding a plastic sign directed away from government buildings so they don’t ever have to see it. That’s why governments can get away with being so incompetent and crony ridden because you’re made to believe you cannot do anything to change it.
do these protests ever result in the government capitulating? they should stop voting for the banker macron if they all hate his policies so much
Every time there’s a protest in France I always hear comments like the “Irish are so docile” and “why can’t we be like them in France” etc etc
Yet every time there is a protest in Ireland all I hear is criticism for the “rent-a-mob” crowd or some “witty” remark about no one having a job
You’d think after that whole Bastille (not the band) thing that the French government would have learned a thing or two about the French population.
I mean ….they’re wrong
Their retirement age can’t be sustained at that level. There isn’t a solution being offered to fill in the funding gap, it’s just rioting
Just to say, as a younger person (under 40), 100% the retirement age should be raised, to say more correctly, it needs to be raised, on average a pensioner (someone with no 9-5) has more disposable income than me or any other average person in my age range, 30-40. That’s mental.
Over the next 10 years the retirement age should be raised from 65 to 70 with an increase of one year every 2yrs.
As long as the rich are getting richer, it is a lie that we cannot afford things as a society. The French understand this and don’t tolerate it. Yes, they absolutely can pay for a 62 year retirement, yes the money is there, they just have to extract it from the ever-richer top 1%.
Rolling over and taking it, and beliving the lies about “we can’t afford it” is a very English-speaking flaw that, as the comments in this post demonstrate, is still rife amongst the Irish. Well, we did decide to just let the government hand over 200 billion to banks in 2008 and accept the nationalisation of private losses as necessary, when Iceland proved it was not, so I’m not surprised, just immensely disappointed.
Repeating neoliberal talking points and criticising a country with an actual sense of civic duty and collective consience is so very poor taste.
When politicians across the spectrum are selling us out, unions are our last line of defence…and our first too.
No we don’t
It does amaze me that the Irish aren’t protesting about the health system here.
It’s just accepted that you can’t get registered to a doctor or even worse, you could be waiting hours for an ambulance here in Killarney.
I actually know people who’ve been driven and caught taxis to the hospital because it’s quicker!!!
Same in the UK, we’re way too docile and the government isn’t scared enough of us.
We in the US really need to be more like them. I’m 20 now, I don’t wanna be retire at the age of 85 or some shit.
If only sadly we are a nation of pushovers that accepts the status quo
I say this a lot on hear but Irish people need to find a new and different way to protest. We are not the French and clearly there is a desire to protest but not like this.
There is some blue sky thinking needed from the people who organize these things but most people don’t have the time (which I understand because everyone seems to be struggling to keep their head above water these days), they are tired of the protests having no clear objectives and they are sick of the protests getting taken over by loons.
I thought you meant understanding English but refusing to speak it.
At least you’re not in America. The cops would just shoot us.
I know this is going to be unpopular but I don’t understand the support for young people to keep the retirement age low. When someone in France retires at 62 on a good pension and lives a lot longer now than when the system was developed it’s the young who have to fund that through increased taxes, not only to fund the retirement but also free healthcare for extended periods.
Some change is necessary.
This isn’t a protest it’s a riot. If people want to affect change, they should do so using the system that we have in place. 
[deleted]
They’ve changed it to “thousands” now, but the guardian would have had us believe merely hundreds of protesters showed up.
Expecting heavy downvotes for this but how do they expect to maintain the current pension age when the demographics of an increasingly older population – and less people of working age – will not support it?
Pension reform is needed. As much as I like how the French stick up for their rights, they often shoot themselves in the foot by hindering necessary economic reforms. And I say this as someone who used to live in France and supported the CGT.
No thanks.
rioter loving dip shits
French are wankers why would we want to be like them
In all fairness you were able to make them drop the water charges.
Literally protesting a worse time for their children and grandchildren
49 comments
Probably a bad example to pick considering they badly need to raise their retirement age, even more so than we do.
They’re gonna need to raise the retirement age though, not sure it’s that debatable
I’ve lived in France, and give me the rational discussion for the common good of a Nordic society to the individualistic “fuck everyone but me” mentality that prevails in France. Generalisations yeah, but politics in France can be a real clusterfuck, and pensions reform is badly needed.
Lol, all these comments so far. No wonder people are getting fucked over by everything in Ireland.
Weird seeing so many younger people there. Raising the pension age hugely benefits them, as it means they have to pay less in taxes.
Asked here recently.
To protest against what?
In general, I agree. I admire the French for their willingness to down tools and cause a ruckus. But in this particular instance I wonder how exactly they think a 62 year retirement age can be sustained.
Macron is saving France from financial collapse. Their pension age has been moved from 62 to 64! It was 62 ffs!!
You meant more like the French politicians right that has some backbone to make the difficult choice rather then stick head in sand like the irish ones are ?
Irish people complaining about French people protesting, typical Irish. This is why we are a nation full of sheep.
Everyone should be like the French in mostDemocracy related acts.
They have the best workers rights laws I have ever seen.
They fight for these rights.
You cannot take away what was won decades ago.
If state is not using their resources efficiently and spending too much money in the wrong crap it’s the government that needs changing. Not the people.
Never the people.
In general and as an Australian, I wholly agree. The unregulated energy market here, the terrible state of the housing market here, the ridiculous taxation laws here and no one cries out. Everyone is being fucked but there is no outcry and no general outrage.
I’ve lived all over the world but never in a country which is so passive about matters which impact so many daily.
Am curious to know why?
The French ‘doth protest too much methinks’
Seriously, they are never off the streets. Issue after issue. With a collapsing birth rate, how can they afford to retire at 62?
You’re not alone. In Ontario we have a premier that is actively dismantling universal healthcare, started before but continued through the fucking pandemic, is defunding public education and is currently opening protected green space land for his developer friends. And not only were we not in the streets, it was meh and we re-elected him. Special kind of stupid here.
We should turn Paddy’s weekend into a protest
It’s been done. Les Gilets Juanes – they were castigated and ridiculed if I recall.
No we don’t, this pension reform will be poison for the french economy if it does not go through
The Irish are full of shit! A shower of backstabbers, everyman for himself, that’s why they don’t strike like the French.
Wait …. isn’t nice in France??
I don’t get Macron’s thinking. How on Earth did he think this would go well with everyone. It’s like he’s trying to be unpopular
Be like the French then. What’s stopping anyone moaning why we aren’t like the French actually trying to be like them?
Love the Frenchies
[deleted]
I don’t think we need to be like the French. We just need to band together and protest properly like we did against the water charges. Fucking wrecking the place wouldn’t work here. The pricks in Leinster House would leave it wrecked.
Irish public are just very very passive and sedated. Not really concerned about much outside their bubble (i.e. friends family etc.).
Fair play to the french. if the people are pissed they will let you know. In lots of western countries it’s almost taboo to suggest action beyond just your police approved walk in the street holding a plastic sign directed away from government buildings so they don’t ever have to see it. That’s why governments can get away with being so incompetent and crony ridden because you’re made to believe you cannot do anything to change it.
do these protests ever result in the government capitulating? they should stop voting for the banker macron if they all hate his policies so much
Every time there’s a protest in France I always hear comments like the “Irish are so docile” and “why can’t we be like them in France” etc etc
Yet every time there is a protest in Ireland all I hear is criticism for the “rent-a-mob” crowd or some “witty” remark about no one having a job
You’d think after that whole Bastille (not the band) thing that the French government would have learned a thing or two about the French population.
I mean ….they’re wrong
Their retirement age can’t be sustained at that level. There isn’t a solution being offered to fill in the funding gap, it’s just rioting
Just to say, as a younger person (under 40), 100% the retirement age should be raised, to say more correctly, it needs to be raised, on average a pensioner (someone with no 9-5) has more disposable income than me or any other average person in my age range, 30-40. That’s mental.
Over the next 10 years the retirement age should be raised from 65 to 70 with an increase of one year every 2yrs.
As long as the rich are getting richer, it is a lie that we cannot afford things as a society. The French understand this and don’t tolerate it. Yes, they absolutely can pay for a 62 year retirement, yes the money is there, they just have to extract it from the ever-richer top 1%.
Rolling over and taking it, and beliving the lies about “we can’t afford it” is a very English-speaking flaw that, as the comments in this post demonstrate, is still rife amongst the Irish. Well, we did decide to just let the government hand over 200 billion to banks in 2008 and accept the nationalisation of private losses as necessary, when Iceland proved it was not, so I’m not surprised, just immensely disappointed.
Repeating neoliberal talking points and criticising a country with an actual sense of civic duty and collective consience is so very poor taste.
When politicians across the spectrum are selling us out, unions are our last line of defence…and our first too.
No we don’t
It does amaze me that the Irish aren’t protesting about the health system here.
It’s just accepted that you can’t get registered to a doctor or even worse, you could be waiting hours for an ambulance here in Killarney.
I actually know people who’ve been driven and caught taxis to the hospital because it’s quicker!!!
Same in the UK, we’re way too docile and the government isn’t scared enough of us.
We in the US really need to be more like them. I’m 20 now, I don’t wanna be retire at the age of 85 or some shit.
If only sadly we are a nation of pushovers that accepts the status quo
I say this a lot on hear but Irish people need to find a new and different way to protest. We are not the French and clearly there is a desire to protest but not like this.
There is some blue sky thinking needed from the people who organize these things but most people don’t have the time (which I understand because everyone seems to be struggling to keep their head above water these days), they are tired of the protests having no clear objectives and they are sick of the protests getting taken over by loons.
I thought you meant understanding English but refusing to speak it.
At least you’re not in America. The cops would just shoot us.
I know this is going to be unpopular but I don’t understand the support for young people to keep the retirement age low. When someone in France retires at 62 on a good pension and lives a lot longer now than when the system was developed it’s the young who have to fund that through increased taxes, not only to fund the retirement but also free healthcare for extended periods.
Some change is necessary.
This isn’t a protest it’s a riot. If people want to affect change, they should do so using the system that we have in place. 
[deleted]
They’ve changed it to “thousands” now, but the guardian would have had us believe merely hundreds of protesters showed up.
Expecting heavy downvotes for this but how do they expect to maintain the current pension age when the demographics of an increasingly older population – and less people of working age – will not support it?
Pension reform is needed. As much as I like how the French stick up for their rights, they often shoot themselves in the foot by hindering necessary economic reforms. And I say this as someone who used to live in France and supported the CGT.
No thanks.
rioter loving dip shits
French are wankers why would we want to be like them
In all fairness you were able to make them drop the water charges.
Literally protesting a worse time for their children and grandchildren