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The Journal
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Journal
"The recession has followed us, it's marked us": The children of the boom and bust
THE NEW SINGLE from CMAT with its recession-era inspired lyrics has shone a light on the experience of children who were born into the boom, but grew up during the bust. The artist shared a snippet online from her upcoming song Euro-Country this week, which includes the lyrics: 'All the big boys/All the Berties/All the envelopes, yeah they hurt me/I was 12 when the das started killing themselves all around me/And it was normal/Building houses that stay empty even now.' The lyrics hit home for many Irish people who were kids between 2008 and 2013 and are now in their twenties and thirties. 'What happened when the Celtic Tiger collapsed was the worst thing I've ever experienced as a child. Countless suicides, ghost towns and pay cuts,' one man said online. 'Not enough attention to this part of our recent history. It affected the younger generations so much', another person said. While another said they have never 'felt so specifically and deeply for a lyric.' As a child of the recession, the CMAT lyrics struck a chord with me, too. I remember trying to predict how long the recession would last over lunchtime in third class, and teachers warning us there was no future for young people in Ireland. During a visit to family in Donegal, playing in the local ghost estate became my favourite pastime. Paul Murray's award-winning bestseller The Bee Sting examined the same themes, looking at recession-era Ireland through the eyes of a couple – and of their son and daughter. The book showed the stress, anxiety and fear the children experience as their father's business falls apart and their parents' marriage comes under increasing strain RTÉ journalist Adam Maguire has a book coming out in September about the same topic. The book, called The Bailout Babies, examines how recession kids grew up in an era of economic prosperity but never got to benefit from it - and are now navigating a new type of adulthood in post-boom Ireland. Research from the massive Growing up in Ireland survey suggests the recession hit children hard. Mothers under economic pressure were 84% more likely to experience depression than mothers who weren't, while parents who felt economic distress – which was a lot of people – showed harsher styles of parenting and less warmth. They also experienced marital issues, reporting more arguments and unhappiness in their relationship. The worsened relationships between children and parents were associated with higher anxiety in children, bad behaviour, lower child happiness and lower educational test scores. 'I wouldn't have a lot of trust in things' Shannon, who was 14 when the crash hit, was hospitalised with anorexia in 2008, something she believes was partly caused by the stress of the recession. 'I remember life going from zero anxiety to being surrounded by it. You picked up the anxiety around you,' she told The Journal. As a teenager, Shannon was aware of what was going on with her family and the country as a whole, and struggled as there was nothing she could do to help. Advertisement She witnessed an increase in alcoholism and suicide, with several of her friends' older siblings taking their own lives. The stress she experienced as a teenager has never left her. 'I'm always on high alert. I wouldn't have a lot of trust in things. I know a lot of my generation are like that, that's just the way we grew up,' she said. Ultan from Wexford was 9 when the recession hit. His family were significantly impacted by the crash as they struggled to pay off loans they had taken out during the boom. '[My parents] tried their hardest not to let us feel they were stressed, but you could tell', he said. 'Mam and Dad had to work through Christmas because they couldn't afford not to,' he added. Ultan struggles with a scarcity mindset due to the experience, and finds it hard not to spend his money immediately. He said: 'I struggle with holding onto money because I feel like as soon as I have it, it will go. It's not a guarantee that it will be here next month.' He said seeing the CMAT lyrics brought back memories of the recession he hadn't realised had impacted him so much. 'The das killing themselves line, it brought back a lot of memories of being in school and it happening to people in my class', he said, explaining that as a child he didn't realise why it was happening. Several family members and whole families from his school emigrated. 'I remember thinking, this is just going to be how it will be, I'll just have to leave Ireland when I'm older. It wasn't until I was 21 that I realised I could stay,' he said. Róisín McManus from Cavan was 11 when the recession hit. She said news of the crash and stress over money was a constant during her childhood, something she feels has never left her. 'I think for people in our generation, the recession has followed us, it's marked us, we felt the burden of money from a young age, and we still do', she said. 'At this stage, it's almost like a lifelong experience that money can be tight, and you're always conscious of that,' she added. 'Growing up, I was more conscious of money and how it doesn't go very far,' she said. She recalls noticing things in her life were suddenly different, as trips to the cinema and meals out ended. Róisín's major memory is of people in their early twenties in her community emigrating for work. She wonders if growing up in this environment has contributed to a pattern where Ireland's young people are once again emigrating. 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. 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Irish Independent
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Independent
Former partner of broker Bloxham is declared bankrupt
The Dublin-based fund manager resigned from the firm in 2006 at the height of the Celtic Tiger, but later became embroiled, along with a number of other former partners, in a legal action launched by an insurance entity that sought to pursue a €4.9m judgment against them. Bloxham, which operated as an unlimited partnership, went into meltdown in the spring of 2012 when the firm's head of finance and compliance, Tadhg Gunnell, revealed that certain financial irregularities had been hidden over the years. The firm had 17,000 private clients at the time. In 2015, Mr Gunnell was disqualified by the Central Bank from managing a financial firm for 10 years. He was also fined €105,000. He had been declared bankrupt early in 2015. After the financial irregularities were revealed at Bloxham in 2012, the Central Bank then ordered it to cease trading, with the firm having a €5.3m hole in its accounts. In 2021, a Court of Appeal ruling meant that the insurer was able to pursue its application for €4.9m that was allegedly outstanding under a 2011 settlement with Bloxham. The January 2011 settlement was made in proceedings over heavy losses suffered by the Solicitors Mutual Defence Fund (SMDF) fund after investing in a bond which fell 97pc in value. SMDF, later R&Q Ireland, claimed it lost almost all of its then reserves of €8.4m due to negligence by Bloxham. The insurer applied to the High Court in 2020 for leave to re-enter proceedings initiated in 2009 against Bloxham, seeking judgment for €4.9m. Re-entry was opposed by lawyers representing five former Bloxham partners, including Mr Harte. They argued that a High Court order of January 31, 2011, made when the settlement was announced, meant the proceedings were 'struck out with liberty to re-enter' and this prevented any matter other than the original cause of action being re-entered. SMDF insisted the proceedings could be re-entered for the purpose of it seeking judgment. In May 2020, Mr Justice Denis McDonald found for SMDF. In 2021, the Court of Appeal upheld that decision. The case was settled later that year. Mr Harte has no financial judgments against him.
Irish Examiner
4 days ago
- Business
- Irish Examiner
First-time buyers relying on their parents 'digging very deep' to help them buy a home
First-time buyers are relying on parents 'digging very deep' to help them purchase a home, as new statistics show the median price of a home in Ireland has risen by €35,000 in the last year. The Central Statistics Office's (CSO) latest Property Price Index for May showed property prices in Ireland rose 7.9% in the last year, as inflation continues at a relentless pace in a market starved of the supply it needs to meet demand. This is the 21st month in a row of house price inflation, according to the CSO statistics. The median price of a home bought in Ireland in the last 12 months was €370,000, as prices rose at a higher rate outside of Dublin than in the capital. The median is the middle figure in a row of numbers sorted from top to bottom, as opposed to the average. Prices in Cork and Kerry (up 8.2%) are also rising at a faster rate than those in Dublin (up 6.9%), with the cost of buying a home now almost 20% higher than the Celtic Tiger peak. In the last 12 months, the most expensive Eircode in the country to buy a property was A94 Blackrock in Dublin, with a median price of €770,000 while F45 of Castlerea in Roscommon had the lowest, at €150,000. In each month of the year so far, fewer than 1,000 new homes have been purchased in Ireland, with the majority being second-hand. In May, 3,824 homes were purchased. Just 911 of them were new homes. And 1,388 of these buyers were first-time buyers, according to the CSO statistics. With fears essential infrastructure delays will hit the supply of homes, and the strong likelihood of housing delivery being significantly below Government targets this year, industry stakeholders warned home buyers are competing for an 'ever-shrinking pool of second-hand homes'. "Affordability pressures remain severe,' Irish Mortgage Advisors chairperson Trevor Grant said. We've also seen properties regularly selling well above asking price, with recent reports stating that one in six or seven now are going 20% over. Many younger buyers are simply being priced out entirely. He said developers were facing major challenges in delivering housing, such as rising build costs, planning bottlenecks, and labour shortages. Mr Grant added: 'Without targeted intervention to boost output and streamline the development process, house price inflation will persist.' Brokers Ireland, meanwhile, said the outlook for prospective buyers and renters alike was 'bleak', given the shortage of supply. 'The latest Economic and Social Research Institute data forecasting just 33,000 units for 2025 and 37,000 in 2026, well below Government targets, is very worrying,' its deputy chief executive Rachel McGovern said. 'It's hard to envisage how any new housing plan by the Government can turn this around in the short term.' Ms McGovern said a feature of the market in recent times had been ever-growing levels of debt as a consequence of sky-high prices. 'The Central Bank mortgage measures are not, and could never be, sufficient to deal with this situation,' she added. 'Parents are digging very deep into their resources to help first-time buyers to get a foothold in the market.'
Irish Independent
5 days ago
- Business
- Irish Independent
The Indo Daily: What next for Dylan McGrath as Fade Street empire on the brink
Judge O'Connor, who appointed Dessie Morrow of Azets Ireland as examiner of the company's affairs, was also told that Mr Morrow had undertaken to provide a special report to Revenue in relation to inter-company loans of almost €4.5m. Barrister Ross Gorman said the company's board of directors had decided on June 26 to seek the protection of the court from its creditors by the appointment of an examiner. Mr Gorman, who appeared with BHSM Solicitors for the company, told Judge O'Connor that Mr McGrath of Mespil Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, and Vincent Melinn of Howth Lodge, Howth Road, Co Dublin, own 50pc of the company's share capital. He said the company has 86 employees whose jobs could be saved under a scheme of arrangement with its creditors. So how did the high-flying chef of the Celtic Tiger era end up here, and was the temper part of the act, or just part of the pressure cooker? Today on The Indo Daily, Fionnán Sheahan is joined by John Mulligan, Senior Business Journalist with the Irish Independent, and Melanie Finn, Entertainment Correspondent with The Irish Independent, to look at how Ireland's original 'bad boy' chef went from Michelin stars to mounting debts.
Irish Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
French ambassador's residence, once most expensive house on the market, gets a complete refurbishment
In January 2008 the French ministry for foreign affairs put its ambassador's residence at 53 Ailesbury Road, Dublin 4 up for sale for €60 million. Even by Celtic Tiger excesses, this was a breathtaking amount of money – a record asking price at the time. The original house was commissioned by wealthy barrister George Bustard in 1883. It remained in the family until it was purchased by the French government in 1930. The 11,000sq ft mansion was so big that Yvon Roe d'Albert, ambassador between 2007 and 2010, said he had to call his wife on the mobile phone to find her. READ MORE Its attempted sale was part of a worldwide downsizing of the French foreign estate. The timing was unfortunate. The collapse of Northern Rock in the UK in late 2007 had been the canary in the coal mine of the great recession that was to follow. By St Patrick's Day 2008, shares in Irish banks had plummeted. The debt-fueled party had ended and property prices crashed. The embassy across the road at 36 Ailesbury Road was put on the market at the same time for €20 million. Such was the magnitude of the crash that it eventually fetched between €4 and €4.5 million when it sold in 2013. The French residence was quietly taken off the market. Instead, it has been totally refurbished, a process that has taken four years. The roof, plumbing and electricity were completely overhauled. The French ambassador's residence foyer. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni A dining room at the French ambassador's residence. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni The residence closed for more than a year for renovation inside. It has been repainted with new tapestries from contemporary French artists. The hallway floor was stripped back to reveal the original tiles. The original doors separating the stairway and the entrance hall were found and have been restored. The French ambassador Céline Place has only been in residence there for 10 days and is focused on the annual Bastille Day celebrations in the 1.75-acre back garden which will feature more than 1,000 invited guests. 'It will be my own home when my family comes back from France, where they are on holidays,' she said. She and her husband have two boys, aged nine and 17. Céline Place, ambassador of France in Ireland. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni The trend of selling off French residences abroad has stopped now, she added, and the ambassador's residence will not be put on the market again. 'The renovation means we are here and we are staying for good.' A reception nook in the piano room at the French ambassador's residence. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni A bust and tapestry in the piano room at the French ambassador's residence. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni Even in the pantheon of great French residences abroad, the Dublin property is regarded as special. 'Other colleagues who told me about it before I came to Ireland, and all those who travelled to Ireland for official visits or strategic dialogue, said: 'You should see the residence; it is amazing'. It is a well-known building and much appreciated in France.' Though it is called the ambassador's residence, the living space itself is upstairs. The ground floor is reserved for public functions and is opened once a year for the public through Open House Dublin. The newly renovated residence will be the focal point for many French activities in Ireland. Ms Place is hoping to organise the launch of the Dublin Chamber International Festival in the residence next April. The old piano in the main salon was regularly played at functions by Ms Place's predecessor, Stéphane Crouzat. The piano room at the French ambassador's residence. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni She also hopes to showcase the work of French designers during Irish Design Week, while next November there will be events to mark the 10th anniversary of the Paris Climate Accord. 'We will work as we always do on classical arts and promoting the good relationship in arts between France and Ireland.'
