Doom and gloom

Unemployment in Ireland is now at 13 percent, but experts say it could climb by another percentage point before the end of the year. Job losses are most keenly being felt in the banking and construction industries, both of which grew considerably during Ireland's boom years.

Many people who are still employed in both the public and private sectors are having to accept wage cuts, and are fearful that they could lose their jobs. The Celtic tiger, it seems, has become a toothless one.

"We haven't been in this kind of economic space before where we're experiencing our own domestic implosion against the background of an unfolding global crisis," said Jack O'Connor, president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.

O'Connor added that doesn't see much evidence of recovery on the horizon at the moment.

"The question as to where alternative jobs would be found in an economy which has been over-inflated is not easy to answer," he said.

Clare Walsh works as a special needs assistant in a primary school in Moycullen, a small town close to Galway city. During the boom years, it saw huge development with housing estates, shopping centers, restaurants, and leisure facilities sprouting up. Many young families settled there, attracted by its many facilities and schools, which appointed thousands of special needs assistants.

Now, though, things have changed, and jobs like Walsh's are no longer safe. Over 1,000 special needs assistants have already been let go, and further cutbacks in numbers expected.

"For people like myself, we don't know if we'll have any jobs after June," she said. "And of course, there is huge uncertainty in the schools about how to provide for these children and how the teachers are going to cope in the classroom with children of all levels and abilities."

Falling house prices

If job losses and cutbacks in services are a daily reality in Ireland today, so too is the crash in property prices. Hugely inflated house prices and an over-reliance on the construction sector were major contributors to Ireland's dramatic economic crash.

Home ownership is a very strong part of Irish culture; now people who bought houses in recent years find themselves in a difficult situation, with negative equity and huge mortgages.

"I bought at the height of the boom. I have a 35-year mortgage and I am 33 years of age, so I will have a long time ahead of me with a house that I cannot sell," said Moycullen resident Marianne Kennedy.

With businesses closing every day, commercial property has also been very much affected by the downturn. In both residential areas and along the high street of any town, signs advertising property to rent now dot the landscape.

"Sometimes you see a whole row of these signs and that's kind of depressing and also quite worrying," said Walsh.

Depressing media reports

It's hardly surprising that the ongoing recession appears to be dampening the mood across the country. The Irish media have seized on the myriad tales of economic doom and gloom to the extent that, as Walsh says, it's hard to feel confident about anything.

"I would say that I am scared for my own future, because I just don't know what the next six to 12 months will bring," she added.

Union boss O'Connor agreed: "It’s a very difficult time for workers and their families and it’s a difficult time for people who have spent enormous amounts of money to put roofs over their family’s heads."

Author: Mary Phelan (dc)
Editor: Sam Edmonds