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TODAY IS ANOTHER warm, dry and sunny day for most parts of the country as temperatures creep up further to reach as high as 26 degrees.
Although Met Éireann said there is “plenty of warm sunshine” across the country this afternoon, a few patches of mist and fog will linger along some coastal areas in the afternoon and evening.
Temperatures will reach highs of 21 to 26 degrees Celsius.
As for tomorrow, it will be dry and mostly sunny again once any morning mist and fog clears. The forecaster said an isolated light shower may develop in some western areas in the afternoon.
Temperatures look set to stay between 20 and 24 degrees.
Saturday will see most parts remain dry with long spells of sunshine. Highest temperatures of 20 to 23 degrees but slightly cooler along eastern and northern coasts.
Sunday will be a bit cloudier, but should still stay dry. Temperatures will also be slightly lower, ranging between 17 and 23 degrees.
The forecaster reported highest temperatures of 25.1 degrees yesterday and 12.8 hours of sunshine at one weather observing station.
Good sunshine☀️ & temperatures🌡️ into the mid 20's today. Mount Dillon saw the highest temperature at 25.1°C, while the best of the sunshine was at Belmullet with 12.8 hours recorded😎
— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) August 25, 2021
View today's full weather reports on our Current Observations page⬇️https://t.co/MvCx72KIaT pic.twitter.com/DU8qVCv0Wa
Met Éireann meteorologist Aoife Kealy said on Tuesday that the recent spell of good weather is set to stick around until at least this weekend and potentially into next week.
“It looks like this settled spell will take us into the early days of meteorological autumn, though indications suggest that temperatures next week will be closer to average, in the high teens or low twenties,” Kealy said.
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im back in college next week at age 35 after being made redundant in august
Best of luck! Fair play to you !
Good luck with that hope it goes well for you.
cheers lads
Did it take much convincing, even after redundancy, to go back?
How do you afford it?
(oh, good luck!)
Fair dues best of luck its been on my mind to go back but have no idea where to start seems easier to get back to college if you have been unemployed rather than being a stay at home mum for over 20 years not that I mind that but I would love the chance as well
I’m 37 and started back to college about 5 weeks ago. It is a bit strange at first but stick at it and I’m sure you’ll love.
Fair play man, wish u all the best, takes a lot of balls to do it but it’ll be worth it in the long run
Best of luck and congratulations
Went back? That implies you’ve been before. I never had the chance to go until I was laid off in the recession. I was 51 then and have no qualifications to speak of……and guess what? I’m loving it. Bring on the PhD. !!
As they say, education is wasted on the young!!
Fair play lads. I went back a couple of years ago (although I seem to be a few years younger than yerselves). If I can offer ye any advice, stick with it, keep the heads down, and if ye have any problems at all dont hesitate to go straight to ye’re lecturers. They always have a lot of time for mature students.
Its great, I went back at 50…..following redundancy….now in my Honors Degree year and hope to continue. sure it is tough financially but it is liberating, self affirming and brilliant for confidence.College today is much more progressive and interactive and is really designed that you will succeed. Best decision I ever made.
I went to college as a mature student and it was the best thing I ever done. I actually think now that everybody should work for a number of years before going into third level. Reasons for this include a) that you have a better idea of what you want to do, b) you’re past your mad drinking years and actually go to all lectures and learn something, c) many courses like sociology/psychology are actually easier for people who have some ‘life experience’, d) you actually want to be there as opposed to going to college ‘because that is what you do after leaving cert’ and finally, e) you just have the maturity for it.
I’d say to anyone who is thinking of going back, DEFINATELY do it!!
I’m back for a second masters after discovering there are no jobs in the HSE, or ever will be it seems. So I have chosen the path of journalist and am finding its what I should have picked all along. A blessing in disguise? Though I am under no illusion about job prospects either as a “traditional” journo.
I started back studying journalism online last year and find it great not to have to leave home to do it. I am hoping to get enough work as a freelance journalist to keep me going.
I am 44 I have lost everything in the crash im unemployed can i go back & how?
Of course you can Michael, Check your nearest college for available courses, FAS (or its new alter ego) plus VEC will help with fees, Social Welfare will pay back to education……No better time to up skill, and you will not be alone I guarantee you, there are large numbers of “Mature Students” attending colleges across the country…my Mature I mean, any thing from 25 years to 60 years….It is brilliant stuff, but hard work I might add….
Yes you can….you can do anything you want, the world I’d your oyster
Of course you can. The big thing is to think about what you want to do first and then set about a plan to do it.
Great to see so many positive comments despite the difficulties a lot of the writers are experiencing. What a pleasant change.
I can so identify with this story. In 1999 I was 44 years old, working as a care attendant for the old Eastern Health Board. I got a chance as a mature student to go to college in DCU to study and train to be a nurse. 12 years on with a diploma and degree under my belt I now work with student nurses who are undertaking the BSc nursing degree. if ever you get a similar opportunity grasp it with both hands. education is the way out to go for a better and fulfilling career.
Great feature…. as apreviously qualified accountant … I went back to University FT in 2007 aged 59 and got a LLB Honours Degree …. taking time out at present but intend to do a Masters next year. I’d recommend the route to anyone at any age.
Well Johnny, I still disagree with you….. Perpetual students V Perpetual Drinkers V Perpetual anythings???? what is the difference so long as it is good? May not be for you but each to their own…. And By Tangible Benefit I assume you mean , skills? for employers & Wages for the Learner?……well I believe further education will deliver both….
Mary
Study to enrich the mind is good, study to earn more money is bad, the reason is education does not always lead to increased income, especially for the mature student. These days people get the concepts of training and education jumbled up, they are very different. So yes train to do your job better, but educate yourself to broaden your mind
Johnny Z
This is so common, did it myself during boom times, that I question why it’s up here like its news or worth discussing.
It is something that might make a huge difference to some people who might never have had to do it but for the recession and why not share it? It makes a change from complaining and whinging.
I really enjoyed going to college as a mature student, however there can be great difficulty with getting funding. I applied in August with everything correctly presented and I am still waiting and its November.
Great article – I tell you I so agree with you! I am 43 and have worked in so many sectors and have two diplomas in totally different areas and now the crisis makes me look into setting up an own business in again another area.So exciting – the crisis SO forces us to look over the end of the plate as we say in german ;-) does this saying exist in english? lol
The crisis is scary of course I so agree and experience that too (single parent of a small child no support) – but there are soo many chances in it and we cant stay all our life in the same path, that is not how life is meant to be.
I so agree and as I experience it first hand – people lets get positive, get over the bloody embarrassment which in the end is being proud of having the courage to take another path! Great article, look what the recession brings into light – absolut fantastic!
I went back to college at 48 (wife and 4 kids at home). It was the a fantastic experience and great opportunity. My two oldest kids are in their late teens and it put me back in touch with the challenges that they will be facing real soon. I learned a lot out of this not just what I was studying, it taught me that the young people of this country are respectful, helpful and generous in short a real decent bunch.The exceptions are so few they are not worth mentioning.
It is true that every cloud has a silver lining.
Myself and my husband have both gone to college after we lost our buisiness. He has just started his masters and I am in third year. Scary and wonderful in equal measusres, incredibaly difficult money wise and hopeing that it will be worth it. You have to pick yourself up, dust yourself down and try something new when your world falls apart, but you know what change it good.
Hi Liam. Having previouly qualified as an Accountant I undertook this Cert course in Adult Guidance in 2005 before completing the HDip in Adult Guidance Counselling. The Cert course, whilst providing a good introduction to key themes in client work, is not a functional or professional certification for work in this area. Full professional membership of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors will require attainment of the MA/PG Diploma in AGC. I currently work as a Guidance Counsellor and find it to be challenging and rewarding in equal measure. Every success with your studies.
Thanks for that, James, yes, that’s the route I am planning. I have to start here due to absence of any qualification from my first stint in college.
This is typical qualification inflations and just makes money for the educational institution, at 43 you should be starting businesses and leading the way not heading back to college thinking it will open door…door to what?….why you are studying others are stealing the march by doing real business, this education thing is big business now with unproven career results, look at Steve Job, he saw the light and dropped out
Disagree Johnny, I have started a small organisation while back at College, but this time as stated above in a number of comments the study is for ME, so I can better understand aspects of business I was vague on previously, this will assist in my being better armed into the future. Also can I add that The individuals involved particularly in 3rd level education today are more than willing to assist in getting businesses going or assisting individuals to achieve their best. I was a student for a short while years ago but the lecturers today sure are committed have huge knowledge, many have hands on practical experience and to enjoy their day and achieve greater satisfaction, go that extra mile to assist.
Mary
I disagree with you, we are creating a society of perpetual students, feeling that life is in a book, life is about real experiences and achieving real things…not getting bits of paper after years of “study”, with no tangible benifit
Johnny
There is more to life than business. Lots of people I know changed careers and went back to College to enable them to do that. It is much better to do that than stay in a job you dislike. Lots of older people didn’t have the opportunity to go to college in their earlier life and it is great for them to have this experience. Education at whatever age is not a heavy load to carry, especially if you enjoy it. I’m all for it at any age.
Liam what a great an inspiring story. I am also in the fab 40 group and have also started college for the first time ever! I can relate to so much of what you have written. Having been someone who has been self employed trying different business opportunities over the years and now working as an employee again it has indeed been a tough and also enjoyable road. Having had a meltdown this weekend as not only do I work full time, and go to college part time I also look after an aging mother as part of a large family. It all just got too much. Having people telling me why am I putting pressure on myslef taking college on with work and a Mother who requires care doesnt really help. My answer to them is this is something I want to do for myself. From a work prospective I see having all the experience in the world is just not good enough anymore in our good old Ireland. You need that piece of paper to help tick all the boxes. Apart from that I was one of the people who bought a house in the celtic tiger which is crippling financially along with all the other dramas of past business.Self employed with no business coming in does not pay the bills and neither will our social welfare system support you until you get back on your feet. So you just have to get up off your own back side and make it happen!!!
Thats enough of that….. I am going to put my head down and work my way to Christmas to complete two exams and finish two assignments, then I can relax for the xmas break and start all over again in Jan… And next weekend I am going to get my hair done and go out and socialise with my very supportive partner and super supportive sister who sent me this link and switch off from all the begrudgers!
Have a super day!
Tina
Tina
Great story, loved your 40s comments, I think it’s the decade we really come of age.
We are all struggling in Ireland, with the economy and life, the good news is you are not alone and all bonding as a society which bodes well for the future. Be sure when you are studying that you are doing it for yourself, not for an aspirational career,
Johnny Z
Good luck Tina. We need more positive uplifting stories, and less of the downbeat monotonous whining usually seen in the media these days. Although I understand the news has to be told, and I would love to see some Politicians and bankers get hard time, but still, we need positive stories too.
Nice article Liam.
Your an inspiration Tina keep it up though it is hard you sound like you have a good support base Good Luck with exams and assignments
Did it myself, and there were other “oldies” in my class. Those who got the best results, with the least stress, treated it exactly as “the day job” – in Monday to Friday at 0830, work until 1300, lunch 1 hour, work 1400 until 1700, whether there were lectures (never miss lectures) or not.
I should come clean and say that I was not one of those disciplined few, and I realise that I ended up working twice as hard as a result.
Good piece and very true. The big difficultly is that lots of people never go through this, don’t have to change careers for decades and don’t really understand what it feels like to be vulnerable.
I would agree about career changes, though having gone through this at the height of the “boom”, even then I found it extremely difficult to get my message through what seemed like yards of prejudice and assumption. Iwas 27 and trying to break into very basic call-centre IT jobs after a few years teaching music part time – I felt like I had bubonic plague. I can only imagine how the same bigots would react to somebody who’d worked in a different sector, had different qualifications or was just 10 years older.
Ironically, when I did get my break it was very obvious to me that by far the best talent in the place was amongst the older career changers.
The other side is the forced changes you have to make if you are unlucky enough to get laid off (I went through it myself in mid 2010). The change of location, perhaps a change in status: for example in my own area of IT permanent roles are virtually imposible to get, forcing you to contract, which essentially forces you into self employment. We all know the tales of the supercommuters – those who travel to the UK or across the country to work. Sad thing is, there are many whose predicament would be helped by moving location or going back to college, who are too proud to do so, and as a result will remain unemployed for years.
I am a 56 yr old mature student in Maynooth..Come have a chat and coffe some day..
I’m currently studying Applied Music @ 44 after what I can only describe as a soul crushing career in IT…
Best thing I’ve ever done
Good luck with that.
Know how you feel. I did an MBA at 38…best year of my educational “career”. For money purposes, I moved back into my old career afterward but it opened up so many other doors!
Follow your dreams Anto…
BTW Anto, I went on to have my own newspaper and restaurant…two of my passions! Writing and cooking.
Congrats to all who are heading back to college. I went that road myself a number of years ago when mature students were less common than now and I found it a fantastic experience. However it can get complicated for some people. I know of one chap who was in college as a mature student 2 years ago, he qualified for BTEA at that stage. He then applied for a degree course in 2010 but did not get on the course. He was then offered a part time job in a shop and rather than sit on his ass claiming dole he took the job. He first checked with SW who advised him it would not affect his eligibility for BTEA this year. He was accepted on the degree course this year and now SW are refusing to pay his BTEA as he disqualified himself by working. He should have stayed on the dole. So now it looks like he is going to have to drop out as he can’t fund himself without the BTEA. It’s a mad system when someone is punished for working instead of claiming dole. And if he stays on the dole for this year he will probably get the allowance next year if he can get back into college. Makes no sense at all!
Fair play to you Liam and to all the other commentators as well. I work in education and the influx of mature students into 3rd level in the last few years has been a fantastic development. It has been a new challenge for lecturers and has led to an improvement in the quality of programmes as the life experience of the mature students is a hugely valuable learning resource that can now be also tapped into. And I fully understand the initial nervousness and the subsequent feeling of
empowerment that going back to college as a mature brings. I initially qualified as a carpenter and went back to college some years later to study for a degree. Once I got the bug, I kept going back part-time until I finally completed a PhD in 2007. And if I could do that, anyone can!
Brilliant article Liam
Both my husband and I were mature students, he went back in his 30s and when he finished I went for the first time while working full time! It was tough as the lectures were all day Monday when I had finished an 84 hour week of night duty at 8 on Monday morning or was in college all day and then starting an 84 week of night duty! It was tough but well worth it and I missed it when I finished! GO FOR IT, ENJOY IT.
Great article :)
I’m 47…….out of work 18 months after redundancy. First time in my life. Chartered Engineer. Have had loads of interviews in Ireland, with no luck. Despite what Liam says, ageism is ripe in todays workplace, especially when your competing against Masters and PhD graduates who were in college during the recession while I was out working, paying shit loads of tax. I’m not bitter though…..hehehe. Looking at either emigrating, upskilling or retraining. Starting a business is not for everyone but i do believe you have to take a chance and embrace change if you want to get back to work. However, i’m not sure which is worse, being unemployed or underemployed. Lifes a bitch.
Update on this article – I was (still am, I guess) the author of this piece.
This week, our college class is together for the last time – we have our final night out tonight, indeed. Like many others above, I can definitely recommend the return to college, and my appetite has been whetted sufficiently to commit to another two years of part-time study to reach Diploma level. It has opened my mind to new concepts, re-ignited my creativity: too many benefits to mention here, in fact.
Thanks for all the feedback on this article when it first appeared. And best of luck to any of you who might be considering treading a similar path. Liam
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