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WITH THOSE TEMPERATURES soaring, some could argue we’ve skipped spring entirely and throttled right through to summer. But hopefully that’s not the case as spring brings an abundance of traditional seasonal dishes to enjoy at leisure – pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, hot cross buns, wild garlic soup and, of course, spring lamb.
Lamb is one of the most versatile, delicious and value-for-money meats you can find in the supermarket. Irish lamb is amongst the best in the world and it’s one of our favourite things to cook, but when you want something delicious and elegantly easy, roast some lamb on-the-bone. Goes without saying, always look for the Bord Bia Quality Mark.
A couple of hours in the oven alongside some potatoes, root vegetables and lots of seasoning and extra flavour makes a full or half leg of lamb juicy, soft, succulent and full of flavour – here’s a one-pan dish that you’ll want to try now spring is here and winter is (hopefully) gone for another year!
Serves 4
Ingredients
Method
Preheat the oven to 180ºC (170ºC fan).
Using a pestle and mortar, bash the garlic, flaked salt and herbs down to a fine paste, thinning it out with a little oil until it’s the consistency of a very thick pesto. Alternatively you could do this with a small food processor or hand blender, or even very, very finely dice it all on a board, but the pestle and mortar is best. If you don’t have fresh herbs, a generous amount of dried mixed herbs will suffice.
Liberally season the half lamb leg with fine, free-flowing salt and freshly-cracked pepper.
Thinly slice the potatoes into half inch slices and arrange in layers at the bottom of a greased, lipped baking tray large enough to fit the lamb comfortably in. These are known as pommes boulangère – potatoes that are cooked in fat/stock under a roasted piece of meat.
Lay the seasoned lamb half leg on top and, using a knife, make fairly deep incisions throughout the meat. Spread the herb and garlic mixture all over the lamb, pushing it as best you can into the little pockets created. Ensure there’s a fairly even coating over the lamb.
Pour about 75ml of stock over the potatoes underneath the lamb just to stop them from drying out, as they will absorb the flavour and fat from the lamb.
Cover the tray with a double layer of foil and put into the oven for 90 minutes.
Then, prepare your root vegetables like carrots and parsnips by washing and slicing. You can even use quartered onions or halved bulbs of garlic here if you like and other vegetables like beetroot, but rainbow carrots give a wonderful colour.
Remove the lamb and potatoes from the oven, take off the foil and crank the heat up to 190/200ºC for the last 30-45 minutes. Arrange the vegetables around the lamb in the tray and return to the oven.
When finished, take out the tray and cover the lamb loosely again with the tin foil for about ten minutes to rest before carving into slices. Carve the lamb first and then plate up with the roasted vegetables and boulangère potatoes.
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I pay the extra to rent. Renting makes it easier to move quickly whenever I get caught stealing bras off the neighbours clothesline.
I’m sure there’s support groups for that…
*I’ll get my coat*
My neighbours are forever creating a storm in a d-cup about my antics.
You’d look like a right tit if you were caught.
@fake Avast
Try the BRA, Bra Robbers Anonymous
You are making a boob out of yourself now! ;)
Getting in touch with a support group could be the breast thing that ever happened….
Eric aka Larry Murphy
Just speaking for myself, but much of what I saw during the crash (and the hysteria before where people took insane risks with their futures for homes) has scared me off every buying an apt. Even the word ”mortgage” has the same connotations for me now as ”I sentence you to life imprisonment”. Maybe if I’m wealthy enough to buy outright or almost outright with minimal debt (which I intend to be)…but borrowing for a 400k house on 40k a year? I’d sooner pay the highest rent on earth.
Besides, we will inevitably have another property and housing orgy since no serious regulation was passed last time to stop it happening again.
“the era of boom and bust is over” – Gordon Brown, 2008
“the days of boom and bust and bailouts are over” – Micheal Noonan 2014
A mortgage is only a life sentence if you are in negative equity.
Buy smart and at the right time and you are sitting on an asset that has intrinsic monetary value if sold.
James , negative equity enters the equation only when you are selling
Exactly, you have to put a cost to paying the money upfront vs the flexibility of being able to move on when it suits. Seems natural enough to me that renting should be more expensive than outright purchasing.
James, I do wonder whether the quality of the construction of the Celtic tiger 3 bed semi d will hold up that well at the end of your 20/25 year mortgage.
Now everyones a monday morning quarterbacker who not only thinks they saw it coming but thinks (wrongly) it was purely a result of people who could not afford it buying big mortgages (those people were actually sad pawns in a much bigger game of intl finance) But I remember when someone told me “iceberg ahead” and I said “sure sure”, and remember when I was talked into saying it..what did I get? Sneers “soft landing”
Anyway my point is remember what the pressure on those people was like, I do.
“your house is 300k”
“jeez that’s a bit of a stretch for me…”
“well you won’t get anything but a dogbox for less, and next year it will be 400k, better get on the ladder!”
So they got on the ladder, they could not ‘wait’ for the bubble to burst or whatever and choose to buy at a better time, say they were buying in 1999..what were they gonna do? a 34 year old couple wait until 2011 to buy? Start having kids when they are 47? Or do they rent in the mean time in a packed apt? They had to go with the market at the time and what was their reward? A crash, debt and every talking head in the Indo calling them irresponsible morons because said talking head is too stupid to understand the game they were caught in….no thanks..I’ll rent.
I have news for you, on €40k a year you’ll be only able to get a max mortgage of about €160k of which €32k you will have to have to contribute cash.
At 40k one can get max 140k, (3.5x) per central bank rules, which won’t buy you a shed in a lot of places. Though it is worth noting, if you can get over the salary multiple hurdle (and all the other fun hurdles… sufficient net income, good credit rating, no significant existing debts, good savings history, no obvious bad spending habits/gambling problems, etc) and you are a first time buyer, you can still get up to 90% on the first 220k with the 80% rule only kicking in on the balance… Right so no hope for most of us any time soon then… ;-)
This article isn’t taking into account taxes or upkeep & maintenance.
You can’t have it every way.
Buy a house, be stuck with it & take a risk of the above
or
pay more & have the freedom to walk away.
It’s not that strange.
True. If my washing machine (or my Fridge which is one of those awful integrated ones) breaks my landlord replaces it. That’s €300 or so I don’t have to fork out. Happy days.
And the deposit, stamp duty, house insurance (that alone is a month’s rent), solicitor’s fees, estate agent’s fees, decoration, often gardening costs etc. Eventually any house will need major reconstruction or it will just end up a kip.
Another major problem with ownership is the changing circumstances such as more kids, then less kids, then no kids. How many couples in their 50′s live in a large 4 bedroomed house on their own? That and the large garden were great when the kids were small, now it’s a nightmare to heat and maintain.
I bought a new house is Dublin 15 last year, 3 bedrooms, 1400 sq feet and I pay just under 1100 a month for my mortgage and insurance. There isn’t a hope in hell of me getting an apartment for that in this area, never mind a house. And as I rented for about 10 years I know that most landlords are small time and don’t care about the property once rent is being paid so they have crap furniture, poorly maintained never get painted and are too small. Renting in Ireland is awful.
Good for you John. How much was the deposit, stamp duty and other fees? Yearly insurance?
I agree re your comment on condition of properties but considering that many tenants abuse houses it’s not surprising. However, if you are a long term tenant a landlord wants you can normally demand certain improvements. The condition of a house also is determined by the target tenant. A tenant prepared to pay say €2,000 per month expects good quality furniture or none.
I couldn’t agree more.
I don’t blame landlords either.
They’re going to try profit.
Maybe the bought it in 2007? Only an idiot would buy a house & rent it out for less than it costs.
Maybe more of the 50/50 council deals etc need to be put in place.
There has to be another idea somewhere.
Deposit 24,000
Lawyers 1,000
Yearly insurance is paid monthly and is included in the figure I said above, 1,100 for mortgage and insurance.
Stamp duty 2,900
Renting isn’t that flexible. I broke a contract once and lost my deposit. Other times if I needed to move I would have to wait till the contract was up. Also rent prices will keep going up while my mortgage will stay steady. My parents were paying 26 pound a month at the end of their mortgage which was big money when they bought it and pittance when they finished the mortgage 25 years later. In 20 years I will still be paying 1,100 a month while rent will be a lot higher ( once I have the same house, mortgage etc)
So €28,000 up front. Stick that in shares for 25 years ago and you’d have a tidy sum, maybe €280,000 as per S&P’s rate over 25 years. Every time you move you have to pay stamp duty (which used to be about 8%), solicitor’s and estate agents fees etc.. Not so with renting. You can stick that in shares as well if you are renting. Moving is a pain in the butt BUT moving while buying a house and trying to sell your existing one is a far bigger pain. Furthermore if you buy a second house you have to pay capital gains tax. Finally you’re paying €1,110 with less than 5% interest. If it doubled you’d be paying nearly €2,000. Always remember cash is king :)
Will you stop for jaysus sake
“Only an idiot would buy a house & rent it out for less than it costs.”
Fortunately or unfortunately that has no relevance on the rent required by a landlord; he is governed by “the market rate” which may or may not be more than his mortgage payment.
So he’s an idiot who paid too much for a house where the market rate won’t cover it.
Or he got a terrible mortgage deal.
Either way, Still an idiot.
There is an end to the mortgage, despite hardship. There is no end to rent and it always goes up. I just would not feel safe in a rented place now. I need to have the tatty, old run-down stone that I can stop in rather than who knows what?
It has been done up here and there, nothing too grand and the walls are having insulation bit by bit this will make it warmer.
I won enough on a prize bond years back,to have the cement floors tiled. Waiting for Lino now. It is not wildly smart but at least I can stay.
I dont want to be tied to a mortagage blah blah blah..
So Rent.. A year passes, then a decade, then 2 and before you know it your income has collpsed as youve retired and all you have to show for yourself is a happy landlord whos mortgage youve paid. THEN WHAT?
You’d actually probably be onto paying their kids mortgage by then..
Unless the market tanks again, like it has twice before, and you end up owing more than the property is worth. This is the exactly sort of carry on which created the last bubble.
Then you die and no longer need anywhere to live
Borrow €200,000 pay back €400,000
Here you go mr (or mrs) landlord have my hard earned money and I’ll stay in your house and buy it for you and in 10 years time I’ll move on and have absolutely nothing to show for all that money i gave you. Funk that.
Instead ill save 40k to hand over to a bank and I’m going to give that cash i was going to spend on rent to them instead
But what if god forbid – flooding, pipes/wire damages, fire, along with forking out for regular maintenance and decor and “unforeseen circumstances” just to “owning” half my house in 25 years and been forced to stay in same property no matter the rates. Yeah buying is great.
There is only two downsides to renting 1. You might have to move at a months notice 2. You’re cost per month could go up at a months notice.
And Sharon, think of those in the 80′s who saw their interest rates go to nearly 20%
What are you talking about suggesting in 25 years you will have only half of your mortgage paid off? How many people have 50year mortgages? Most people will be paid off after 25 years. In 25 years inflation will reduce your payments. If renting inflation will increase your rent. As for replacing white goods, pretty rare thing, you normally get 10 years or longer out of them. My white goods are much better than I would get in a rental. I also insulated my house and an efficient boiler so my heating in both better and cheaper than a rental.
There is good and bad with buying and renting you don’t need to make up false reasons.
I currently rent and I’m happy for now however, in 30/40 years time when I can’t afford my nice apartment because my pension won’t cover the cost I would have to leave and step into the unknown. Mr landlord won’t care and will happily help me pack.
I can argue that I don’t have to fix the washing machine or boiler etc etc but down the line what happens?
Buying a house and being lucky enough to own it leaves you in a home when retired.
Renting is great for now but without any protection it could be very daunting when folk hit the retirement age.
25 years? What are you talking about any mortgage I’ve looked into has me making repayments for a min 35 years. Currently its sh*t if you rent and sh*t if you’re trying to buy
a decent 3 bed home where we’re renting would set us back 450k as we’re first time buyers we’d need 45k deposit. We pay as is 1600 a month on rent we may “save 200e” a month by buying but sure we’d have to first get the deposit and second try and fight for a property along with the other 20 families trying to “get on the ladder” that would need work etc done to it they are not worth the prices they are currently going for.
I don’t know about you but I’d rather pay up my pension with the extra cash i do have then have a “home” i could still get repossessed at any stage of my working life.
Will I ever buy? Yes of course but only if job security and market values get better.
@paul retirement age in your own home can be short lived, you will have to move to a old age home for assistance, where you will pay rent or risk burning down your home and soiling the carpet.
Exactly the worry Paul.
The construction companies that built this country into a recession should be forced to build now or close up for good. (Those that are left of course) they are waiting for prices to come back up so they can make a killing again. Do we ever learn?
How can you force someone to build, or shut someone down for good? Are you going to guarantee they make a profit?
Otherwise maybe you could time limit the planning permission, or put a tax on vacant sites?
The number of houses per say was not the only factor in the last orgy. I can build you thousands of houses in the middle of Donegal but whos gonna live in them?
Dublin should start going up, it would make the Dart Underground and Metro plans more viable, but Irish have an aversion to apartments for historical reasons, they want land, maybe that’s something we need to get over now as a people, it’s been nearly 200 years
We were forced into a bailout, USC was forced upon us, water charges to come. Those in power can do what they want. A plan should be set out that they can’t build anymore than they build in year 1(say 2016) so they have to build and finish 10,000 in 2016 if they want to continue building that many in years to come. These are just example figures but hopefully you understand my point.
I understand your point but it still makes no sense, surely that will just restrict building further, ie in increased production would not be allowed in rising demand? Also, an easy way around it would be to set up a new company, or are we not allowed set up new companies any more?
I think the real issue is that there is a lead time of at least a couple of years for a new development incl planning etc. Also there is still an issue with credit, are the banks lending to developers? The lead time means that the first houses are sold years after the development starts, so you have to borrow millions for a couple of years to cover costs.
Won’t change until the minimum standard’s for apartments in Ireland change. Currently minimum standards in Ireland for apartments are awful. They are far, far too small and lack storage areas and public amenities such as a place to wash and dry clothing etc.
Buy or rent both not affordable for people on normal incomes.
My figures were just an example.
The number of new builds should be exactly what we need now, but they won’t build now because prices are too low for them to make a bigger profit they know they will get in 5 years.
At least we are debating it, the govt are doing sweet Fu€k ALL
It depends on your personal circumstances, whether to rent or buy. My mortgage is 760pm, based on interest rate of about 4.3% and to rent a 3 bed house in my area is 500pm.
Renting has its advantages if your plans are short term. Buying a property (to live in) is a big commitment and should be seen that way. Example never buy a one bed apartment, if you fall on difficult times you can’t rent out a spare room. If you are in negative equity but are still paying your mortgage you will eventually come out of this negative equity and be able to reassess your options. In a few years time people who bought apartments in the boom times will be coming out of negative equity and I guess there will be a surge in available rental property, this might balance the current rental increases
What was the findings of the government inquiry into media fueling the housing bubble again?
What’s disgusting is that if you buy or rent a 3 bed in parts of Dublin is almost €1000 dearer a month then if you do the same in parts down the country .
You do get the amenities in Dublin and we have mainly old stone and needing a lot of work. Not really much to envy eh?
It’s nice how the report shows “a severe undersupply in available rental properties was pushing up prices” as if that’s natural. Unless the cost of maintaining a rental properties or the cost of living of the landlords has increased the only thing pushing up rental prices is greedy landlords. Of course the undersupply is required to allow it to them to do it, but by itself an undersupply of anything doesn’t drive up prices.
There are several factors involved. “greedy landlords” is undoubtedly one. But most people running a business try to maximise their income from that business, unless they are running a charity. Also consider the following: unlike any other business in Ireland, Landlords are taxed on a substantial portion of their cost overhead, which is mortgage interest. This was only introduced in the last few years and has had a substantial impact on the amount landlords need to charge to cover their costs. If the costs are greater than the income after tax from rent, obviously the landlord is better off just shuttering the property. Add to that property charges which again are not tax exempt, and PRTB costs all of which have conspired to vastly reduce income from rent, it’s not surprising they have increased. This is then compounded by a market in which there is not enough supply. Its the tenants that suffer in the end, but attempts by landlords to reverse some of the legislation have fallen on deaf ears.
You probably think most landlords are cigar smoking millionaires, but a large cohort are simply families or individuals who bought 1 or 2 bed apartments in the boom and are now unable to sell due to negative equity and are just trying to cover the mortgage.
Leaving aside whether I should feel any pity for someone who bought to rent during the boom, and whether maximising business income is greed or not, a lack of supply itself does not drive up prices. I did say that there might be other factors increasing the rents, and you’ve listed a few, but nothing you’re said contradicts my statement that undersupply itself does not drive up prices, as claimed in the report.
Also consider that unlike other businesses, property rental doesn’t actually produce any goods or services. It’s simply a means for the wealthy (or foolhardy) to make income from buying up scarce resources.
Same vicious circle starting up….
Don’t forget you need rich Mom and Dad to pay your deposit and give you an artificial advantage over others who earn the same as you but don’t have parents who dodged their taxes all their lives.
This is of course not the full picture given that all rates available now are variable and will not doubt rise over period of 30 years. This may well add 10s of thousands of euros to the real cost. Also not included here is home and mortgage insurance not to mention house maintenance. Such maintenance will add thousands to the cost of a mortgaged house over its life.
Of course with interest payments it’s easy to appear to beat the comparative cost. Banks have used this as their marketing ploy for centuries. Just one easy payment and it’s yours…..the mortgage hype is well and truly on again. The magic number for the banks is to add as many new very profitable mortgages to soak up those that are on trackers.
Best advice is buy a house by all means but do not trust anyone in the property or banking sector.
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