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Sam Boal

Aldi rewards staff for coronavirus efforts with 10% bonus

The retailer said that the payment was to reward colleagues who have “worked tirelessly” in recent weeks.

ALDI HAS ANNOUNCED that its 3,800 workers in Ireland will receive a 10% bonus in recognition of their efforts helping the grocery giant meet the swell in demand sparked by the Covid-19 crisis.

The German chain announced the enhanced pay today following a similar move by Tesco last week. Staff will receive a 10% bonus on hours worked, from March until the end of April.

The retailer said that the payment was to reward colleagues who it said had “worked tirelessly” in recent weeks.

In the early days of the virus outbreak in Ireland, grocery stores had to cope with a massive increase of customers as a rush of panic buying led to a surge in demand for goods. 

Aldi is one of several retailers that is offering priority hours for the elderly and vulnerable from 11am to 1pm daily.

The chain has also launched a recruitment drive across the country to boost its workforce. 

In other positive pandemic news, a pair of Dublin artists have released a range of t-shirts and bags to encourage people to observe social distancing rules.

The products are a collaboration between photographer Ruth Medjber and illustrator Holly Pereira and they are made with materials ethically sourced in Sligo.

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

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    Mute Paul Quirke
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    Jul 18th 2020, 7:04 AM

    call it what it is a tenement housing project

    946
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    Mute rosetheone
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    Jul 18th 2020, 7:30 AM

    @Paul Quirke: it’s basically living in a hotel. Just phrased a different way

    232
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    Mute Paul Quirke
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    Jul 18th 2020, 7:32 AM

    @rosetheone: where do you get hotel from?

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    Mute mayo chicken
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    Jul 18th 2020, 8:08 AM

    @Paul Quirke: more like living in a youth hostel.

    300
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    Mute windbag
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    Jul 18th 2020, 10:24 AM

    @Paul Quirke: race to the bottom..

    96
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    Mute Craic_a_tower
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    Jul 18th 2020, 10:24 AM

    @Paul Quirke: have you visited the tenement museum? My grandmother grew up in an old Georgian house in one room with 3 other families living in it with her family of 6 children. No indoor toilet. No need to exaggerate what they are.

    62
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    Mute Monica Anderson
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    Jul 18th 2020, 11:26 AM

    @Paul Quirke: No, it’s completely different and ideal for young people who want to live alone with all the benefits of family, always someone to talk to, to share a meal with, to go to the movies with. Big cities can be lonely places. It works in London, so why not here?

    55
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    Mute Gasher
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    Jul 18th 2020, 1:17 PM

    @Paul Quirke: D4 tenement housing, living in a shoe box with a nice postal address.
    If this was being built in tallagh, coolock etc it would be called a slum

    61
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    Mute Alan Dillon
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    Jul 18th 2020, 2:32 PM

    @Monica Anderson: Unrelated strangers to share their virus with more like

    24
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    Mute Belinda
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    Jul 19th 2020, 1:07 AM

    @Monica Anderson: I do agree with a lot of what your saying, but I thought no they would be lovely for older people who no longer have family for whatever reason. And it would be better if they were for sale and not rent

    2
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    Mute john deere
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    Jul 18th 2020, 7:15 AM

    Granted planning for apartments.. decided they couldn’t make enough money from them .. put the site with planning up for sale … couldn’t sell it for enough …changed the design to fit their profit margins. .. Co- living my ballbag.. should be called Maximum Profit rooms

    855
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    Mute D Mems
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    Jul 18th 2020, 8:35 AM

    @john deere: is that not the primary reason of any business, maximum profit?

    109
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    Mute O Hiongardail Collie
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    Jul 18th 2020, 8:53 AM

    @john deere: or they sense the arse is going to fall out of the country

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    Mute alan
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    Jul 18th 2020, 2:57 PM

    @D Mems: maximum profit need not involve exploitation of basic needs of consumers or rights of workers. Thats fg/ff thinking so why not stick them to their own ideology

    16
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    Mute Greg Ward
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    Jul 18th 2020, 7:03 AM

    Co-living = bedsits only worse. Just a money-grab

    530
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    Mute Craic_a_tower
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    Jul 18th 2020, 8:59 AM

    @Greg Ward: I don’t think you saw the bedsits from the 80s. Shared bathrooms and showers in hall ways

    65
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    Mute Gerry Quinn
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    Jul 18th 2020, 2:30 PM

    @Craic_a_tower: I lived in one. It was fine. Just depends on whether you have reasonably civilised housemates and not excessive crowding.

    25
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    Mute Thomas Sheridan
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    Jul 18th 2020, 7:29 AM

    How low can you go again. It’s not like they will be cheap to rent or anything – but this is the prospect that successive Irish governments have led many of our coming generations to. (unless of course you never work, in which case you can expect a good standard new house, furnished by the taxpayer + have school meals delivered to it even when school’s are closed. What a country!

    294
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    Mute Conor Kennelly
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    Jul 18th 2020, 8:14 AM

    @Thomas Sheridan: you were doing very well until you started making crass generalizations about the unemployed.

    123
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    Mute Jack Cass
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    Jul 18th 2020, 4:02 PM

    @Thomas Sheridan: “unless of course you never work, in which case you can expect a good standard new house, furnished by the taxpayer + have school meals delivered to it even when school’s are closed. What a country!”–all brought to you, compliments of FFG. The amount of those that complain about the (so called, high) standards of living enjoyed by those on welfare conveniently forgetting the fact that it was FFG that introduced the policies they complain about. Those complaining then go out and vote FFG at each election and the cycle of complaining repeats. Hypocrisy at its finest.

    17
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    Mute Sal Paradise
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    Jul 18th 2020, 8:08 AM

    It’s basically a giant hostel without dorms.

    246
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    Mute Vladimir Macro
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    Jul 18th 2020, 7:31 AM

    Lockdowns will be fun in co living accommodation

    253
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    Mute Pj Browne
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    Jul 18th 2020, 7:48 AM

    Back to bedsits only a fancy new name

    197
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    Mute D'oh
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    Jul 18th 2020, 8:45 AM

    @Pj Browne: Except there is nothing wrong with bedsits, I’ve lived in them for years when young and single.

    70
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    Mute Shane McGettrick
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    Jul 18th 2020, 11:18 AM

    @D’oh: Sure there’s nothing wrong with outdoor toilets, didn’t they do the job? What was acceptable once isn’t necessarily acceptable now, it’s called progress.

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    Mute Alan Dillon
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    Jul 18th 2020, 2:35 PM

    @D’oh: Except they were all kips

    5
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    Mute Belinda
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    Jul 19th 2020, 1:24 AM

    @Shane McGettrick: and let’s not forget beds it’s were outlawed, and now they are introducing these . As I said earlier they would be better for sale and not rent as people would eventually have somewhere to sell the f they wanted to buy a house

    1
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    Mute Ann Illing
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    Jul 18th 2020, 7:56 AM

    How’s social distancing going to work there!!!

    158
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    Mute JKtucker
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    Jul 18th 2020, 8:27 AM

    How is the transmission lower in Co-living, sharing a living space with 110 other bedsits would spread any virus or pathogen like wild fire. Also who are they putting in these spaces, you could be sharing with complete nutjobs, the physical and psychological abuse would be endless…

    166
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    Mute Seán Ó hAnnracháin
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    Jul 18th 2020, 9:27 AM

    The biggest issue I have with this is the price of rent. 1300 euro is way too much for something like this. Half the proposed price would be more reasonable.

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    Mute M Bowe
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    Jul 18th 2020, 10:42 AM

    @Seán Ó hAnnracháin: € 7,503,600 per year rental income based on figures given. Bottom line every time.

    37
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    Mute Shane McGettrick
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    Jul 18th 2020, 11:20 AM

    @Seán Ó hAnnracháin: more like 1/4 of that would be acceptable. Imagine paying €650 per month to share a kitchen with 12 randomers.

    77
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    Mute TheDublinGirly
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    Jul 18th 2020, 8:45 AM

    With Facebook opening up around the corner – they must be rubbing their hands. Thinking of the infection rate within these tenements is terrifying.

    102
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    Mute Gareth
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    Jul 18th 2020, 7:16 AM

    #BoycottBartra

    192
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    Mute JoyMonkey
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    Jul 18th 2020, 7:50 AM

    This Flannery fella must be money hungry sleveen.

    148
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    Mute ChadChaderson
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    Jul 18th 2020, 8:38 AM

    The problem is foreign workers will jump at this and drag us back to an era we fought to abolish .

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    Mute D'oh
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    Jul 18th 2020, 8:46 AM

    @ChadChaderson: Those dang forners!!!

    36
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    Mute Brynþór Patrekursson
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    Jul 18th 2020, 10:36 AM

    @ChadChaderson: oh foreigners! pushing up take home pay, and willing to work in modern community living. Not needing a private space to ignore your neighbours in. They’ll be not taking our women next.

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    Mute Belinda
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    Jul 19th 2020, 1:31 AM

    @ChadChaderson: foreign workers generally rent a house between 5 or six of them which works out on average if 50 euro per week no way are they going to pay 1300 euro a month

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    Mute Fred the Muss...
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    Jul 18th 2020, 9:27 AM

    Let’s see what what that FF mouthpiece Darragh O Brien has to say about this? Now is your time to step in and say no.

    68
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    Mute Dorothy Giselsson
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    Jul 18th 2020, 10:06 AM

    They want to turn an apartment block into a glorified student accommodation block. In the middle of a pandemic when people are trying to keep their distance the very idea of cramming 111 people into a shared living space is preposterous and reeks of nothing more than greed on the part of the developer.

    91
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    Mute Claire Quinn
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    Jul 18th 2020, 9:23 AM

    Disgraceful profiteering! Who in their right mind could suggest co-living is safer in any respect than having your own accommodation. The list of problems with co-living are endless . This madness has got to be stopped.

    87
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    Mute Molly1952
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    Jul 18th 2020, 9:16 AM

    There is a market for these….look at other big cities. They are intended for renting only, not family homes. They will suit single people with good jobs who want to rent for a while until they move on to somewhere else. They could help in a big way to ease the pressure on other kinds of rental accommodation. And hopefully covid will be long gone before they’re built so social distancing shouldn’t be an issue. If I was young in a good job I’d much prefer it to sharing a semi-d with strangers.

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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Jul 18th 2020, 3:58 PM

    @Molly1952: You’d be sharing with strangers anyway – fewer bills in a house share split.

    9
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    Mute John Mulligan
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    Jul 18th 2020, 6:38 PM

    @Molly1952: that’s too logical for the comments section.
    You left out ‘FFG’ and ‘greedy landlords.’
    You’ll never get a job as a sinn fein troll. Sorry, ‘community worker.’

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    Mute Molly1952
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    Jul 18th 2020, 7:10 PM

    @Fiona Fitzgerald: I know Fiona… but there is something claustraphobic about sharing a semi-d with random people unless you are very easy-going. Maybe I’m a bit odd… I just think I’d like the anonimity of being a part of a wider group, but with my own private sleeping/living area. You’re right about the bills though.

    1
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    Mute Mick Scanlan
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    Jul 18th 2020, 9:51 AM

    My late mother was brought up in a tenement in Peterson lane .her opinion was it should never become the norm again. 1300 a month . Yet another shameless greedy developer

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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Jul 18th 2020, 4:00 PM

    @Mick Scanlan: It’s an unbelievably high figure for monthly rent, sheer price-gouging. Selling a few units wasn’t enough for them, but those rents are far too high.

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    Mute Airwave81
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    Jul 18th 2020, 10:24 AM

    Coming soon to an Auctioner near you Tenements with Wi-Fi .. we have come full circle it seems .

    53
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    Mute Paul Cunningham
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    Jul 18th 2020, 9:41 AM

    There will be a market for co-living, but you know full well that they won’t be priced fairly. I remember those asking prices of €1300 and were taking many litres of #%&#, and should be more than half that, maybe €500 tops.

    33
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    Mute John Coleman
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    Jul 18th 2020, 10:03 AM

    Don’t worry, these developers are just chancing their arm, the same used car dealers as Marlett and their ilk. By the time their Senior council and Business leader neighbours are finished with them , their ‘shared living’ project will be a distant memory.

    22
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    Mute Cillian Lynch
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    Jul 18th 2020, 7:03 PM

    How long before the Irish people have had enough? Am I alone in feeling a sense of outrage about this blatant swindle? This is an unashamed cash-grab by this developer of which it will not be the last. What alarms me most is how fatalistic and apathetic we have become. We face the prospect of an entire generation who haven’t been lucky enough to have been born into generational wealth becoming locked out of the housing market entirely. Our most respected workers (Gardai, nurses, teachers etc etc) having no living options available to them. It is the scandal of our time and we continue to shrug at this pilfering with tacit acceptance.

    As our history demonstrates, there will be a tipping point.

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    Mute Christopher Byrne
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    Jul 18th 2020, 11:32 AM

    While Im not a fan of this type of accommodation there is a need for it. Bedsits served a purpose back in the day. Students, young workers and those on lower salaries have to live somewhere. Not everyone can afford a house or apartment. At least it give people options. Really depends on how affordable they are.

    12
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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Jul 18th 2020, 4:02 PM

    @Christopher Byrne: Fair point, but these proposed rents are hugely inflated. They aren’t low enough to allow people to save to move on.

    12
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    Mute David Lafferty FCCA
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    Jul 18th 2020, 2:45 PM

    Are these developments the same thing as bedsits, which are illegal in Ireland?

    11
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    Mute Liam O'Connell
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    Jul 18th 2020, 5:25 PM

    Are there not enough unliveable shoe boxes in our capital already?

    9
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    Mute leartius
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    Jul 18th 2020, 11:33 AM

    We should first acknowledge that Bartra is a vast commercial company with seven divisions. From healthcare, homes, social housing, commercial buildings and communal living. who knows maybe your pension fund is already investing in this development.
    They are not some TD’s brother in law who got land rezoned or a Wam Bam Bam foreign construction brown envelope blackhole labelled as ‘construction inflation’.
    Co living has its advantages over bedsit living. Better for young peoples to develop with others than stare at four walls in a bedsit. Its not a solution for our self inflicted housing crisis but it may suite professionals saving for their own home. why spend years paying off someone else’s mortgage renting without any frills.

    10
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    Mute Sham Rogue
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    Jul 18th 2020, 4:43 PM

    These Co-Living, money making scams, need to be stopped.

    11
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    Mute John Coleman
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    Jul 18th 2020, 10:03 AM

    Don’t worry, these developers are just chancing their arm, the same used car dealers as Marlett and their ilk. By the time their Senior council and Business leader neighbours are finished with them , their ‘shared living’ project will be a distant memory.

    10
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    Mute Louise B
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    Jul 18th 2020, 11:17 AM

    I couldn’t imagine Co-living with anybody. There’d be murder if someone left the kitchen messy lol

    12
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    Mute B Collins
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    Jul 18th 2020, 7:01 PM

    Aside from the fact that co-living sounds like a zero quality tenement existence, it seems absolutely LUDICROUS to propose building high density accommodation with shared common amenities *during a pandemic*.

    9
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    Mute Don
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    Jul 18th 2020, 6:35 PM

    Bartra just exploiting the property incentives in this country which are biased towards pension fund investors. In my opinion, for any of these housing developments to get preferential planning treatment, they should emphasise security of tenure and value for money. If not then, they need to abide by the local character of the area, i.e. back to the original lower density application.

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    Mute Eileen O'Sullivan
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    Jul 18th 2020, 1:31 PM

    Greedy f c. E r

    10
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    Mute Tee Carr
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    Jul 19th 2020, 2:24 PM

    Absolutely sickening. The grubbing for money and the disregard for real human needs here is beyond stunning.

    1
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    Mute Jim McDaid
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    Jul 21st 2020, 10:12 AM

    Complex name competition anyone ?

    Pad-daii Corona Vil-lieur’s

    Winner gets first apartment nearest the kitchen.

    1
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    Mute Marie Broomfield
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    Jul 19th 2020, 1:08 PM

    i don’t see anything wrong with that sort of living arrangement if that’s what people want. But not for 100 people! The idea behind these living spaces is that people wont feel isolated and they have the opportunity to get to know other people but homing 100 people kind of misses the point! nobody can get to know 99 other people and get on okay with them. People will end up in their own bedrooms , isolated in even smaller spaces,just to get away from people. And can you imagine the trouble with ‘ who the hell didn’t clean up after themselves. who ate my bread, the smell of that fish, who is gonna take out the bins etc etc. fun times ahead.

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    Mute Tee Carr
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    Jul 19th 2020, 2:24 PM

    Absolutely sickening. The grubbing for money and the disregard for real human needs here is beyond stunning.

    1
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