Ireland the 1980s

Ireland in the 1980s has the reputation of being a basket case unemployment 20% etc, however if you looked from one side of Dublin to the other including all the suburbs, a huge amount of housing was built in the 1980s massive housing estates in all the suburbs, its the same in Limerick not sure about Cork or Galway but probably the same so who was buying all the housing if there was such massive unemployment.

In an era of massive unemployment people were able to buy houses and now in an era of lowering unemployment the same subset of people can not afford a house.

gifted

Bono

Winterlong

Looking at my own street (for the 1970s)
The average industrial wage in 1975 was €3518 per annum.
In 1975 you could rent a house on our street for €90 a month.
You could buy the same house for €12,700.

In 2016 the average industrial wage is €32,000
The same house can be rented for €1800 per month.
You could buy it for €430,000.

Not very scientific but the cost of housing was a lot less back then relative to wages. So there was more demand, less developed land and less regulations making it easier to build/buy?

Snakeblood

mariaalice wrote: »

Ireland in the 1980s has the reputation of being a basket case unemployment 20% etc, however if you looked from one side of Dublin to the other including all the suburbs, a huge amount of housing was built in the 1980s massive housing estates in all the suburbs, its the same in Limerick not sure about Cork or Galway but probably the same so who was buying all the housing if there was such massive unemployment.

In an eras of massive unemployment people were able to buy houses and now in an eras of lowering unemployment the same subset of people can not afford a house.

House prices were cheaper. Interest rates were higher.

How do you know it's the same subset?

Snakeblood

Snakeblood wrote: »

House prices were cheaper. Interest rates were higher.

How do you know it's the same subset?

Well maybe not exactly the same subset but in general two working adults.

Minderbinder

My only memory of the 1980's is those multi-coloured carpets with flower designs and the likes on them.

mariaalice

mariaalice wrote: »

...its the same in Limerick not sure about Cork or Galway but probably the same so who was buying all the housing if there was such massive unemployment.

In an era of massive unemployment people were able to buy houses and now in an era of lowering unemployment the same subset of people can not afford a house.

But...there was massive unemployment. And emigration. The stats are all there. I don't think anecdotal evidence about estates being built changes that, and I don't remember too much going up in Cork at all.

We held a concert to address the unemployment crisis. Cactus World News played. It don't get much worse than that.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

But...there was massive unemployment. And emigration. The stats are all there. I don't think anecdotal evidence about estates being built changes that, and I don't remember too much going up in Cork at all.

We held a concert to address the unemployment crisis. Cactus World News played. It don't get much worse than that.

I am not disagreeing with the statistics but that does not take away from the fact that there was massive house building in the likes of Tallagh and Swords and other suburbs in Dublin in the 1980s my point is who was buying them if unemployment was so high there seems to be a disconnect between the statistics and what was happening on the ground.

mariaalice

mariaalice wrote: »

I am not disagreeing with the statistics but that does not take away from the fact that there was massive house building in the likes of Tallagh and Swords and other suburbs in Dublin in the 1980s my point is who was buying them if unemployment was so high there seems to be a disconnect between the statistics and what was happening on the ground.

I would have thought most of the building in Tallaght took place in the 70s when it went from being a small town to having a population similar to Limerick.

Acc to Wiki, it went from 6k to 55k between 1971 and 1981. I'd say things were fairly stagnant after that, bar developing the Square.

riclad

Many of the houses were built by the councils and cost a lot less to build
in the 80s, wages were low.
It costs 150k plus to build a council house now.
Now the government owes millions due to the crash .
Also sites for building were cheaper in the 70,s 80s .

MeatTwoVeg

mariaalice wrote:

so who was buying all the housing if there was such massive unemployment.

Maybe some of the 80% who weren't unemployed.

MeatTwoVeg

MeatTwoVeg wrote: »

Maybe some of the 80% who weren't unemployed.

That is a very interesting point, the internet, the media and the amount of accesses to information we have now has reshaped how we view the past.

ohnonotgmail

Deleted User wrote: »

But...there was massive unemployment. And emigration. The stats are all there. I don't think anecdotal evidence about estates being built changes that, and I don't remember too much going up in Cork at all.

We held a concert to address the unemployment crisis. Cactus World News played. It don't get much worse than that.

it was a grim time indeed.

ohnonotgmail

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

it was a grim time indeed.

I am not saying it was not a grim time I was an adult in the 1980s but that is not the whole story.

Dravokivich

mariaalice wrote: »

In an era of massive unemployment people were able to buy houses and now in an era of lowering unemployment the same subset of people can not afford a house.

It's because of schemes that were introduced to allow people on low income to purchase a house. My folks got a place under a scheme in the mid 80's their mortgage payments would be 20% of salary the highest earner, regardless of what that income amount was. This allowed for people who could lose their job to still have a payment they could make while on the dole. They ended up using the savings scheme Fianna Fail brought in to pay it off.

The bars have been set higher now due to an inflated market that's on the rise again and with income thresholds being rigidly kept to for mortgage approval, the chances of low income earners purchasing have become pretty unlikey.

ohnonotgmail

mariaalice wrote: »

I am not saying it was not a grim time I was an adult in the 1980s but that is not the whole story.

i was referring specifically to self aid.

SEPT 23 1989

both parents working is the reason

The J Stands for Jay

mariaalice wrote: »

I am not disagreeing with the statistics but that does not take away from the fact that there was massive house building in the likes of Tallagh and Swords and other suburbs in Dublin in the 1980s my point is who was buying them if unemployment was so high there seems to be a disconnect between the statistics and what was happening on the ground.

Weren't a lit of the house built by local authorities?

ThisRegard

mariaalice wrote: »

I am not disagreeing with the statistics but that does not take away from the fact that there was massive house building in the likes of Tallagh and Swords and other suburbs in Dublin in the 1980s my point is who was buying them if unemployment was so high there seems to be a disconnect between the statistics and what was happening on the ground.

Housing was built by the councils and rented out to families, they weren't being purchased. Most are still council owned.

Snakeblood

mariaalice wrote: »

Well maybe not exactly the same subset but in general two working adults.

But you were talking about massive unemployment?

jimmy blevins

I remember the a-team and bosco from the eighties and not a lot else.

NiallBoo

Shocking really.

They were able to buy houses for cheap so they blew the leftovers on Artex.

AllGunsBlazing

We were all unemployed, living on council estates, and playing in blue - eyed soul bands. Good times.

I bet the people who actually were living through the 80s didn't think of it as being that bad at the time. To them, their only reference points were times prior to them, so they would have thought they had things better than people in the 70s, 60s and before, since they had more technology and entertainment than before (universal colour tv, vcrs, walkmans, primitive home computer games). Not sure how "real" incomes in the 80s compared to before then but the amount of disposable income a person has isn't absolutely proportional to how happy they are, in any case.

That said, as someone who was a child in the 90s and teen in the 00s, even during the mid 00s the 80s seemed like a very quaint and distant era to me, somewhat, but not totally, removed from my experience. As a kid I mostly imagined it to be a time when I would have been hungrier if I was growing up ... teachers, parents and adults in general would have been angrier ... the general rule was to be poor rather than for it to be the exception ... everything was "more Irish" than in the late 90s for instance ... men with no sideburns and moustaches who looked like they'd kill you .. the weather being sunnier ... among many other connotations ...

Crea

The thing was though everyone seemed to be in the same boat. 1 parent working, mammy at home, 1 car, holiday in a caravan in Ireland, jam sandwiches and sweets on a Sunday.
Government built massive swathes of council houses in the 80's. Tallaght was mainly council houses when it was first built but many were bought out by the Tennant purchase scheme.
There was hidden poverty though, Angelas Ashes type stuff.
At the time I remember thinking that there was a shame in being out of work and those who were unemployed would do anything to get back to work. Now there are some who are unemployed as a life choice.

Badly Drunk Boy

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

i was referring specifically to self aid.

Yeah, any of the half-decent Irish bands that were around at the time managed to avoid Self Aid.

5rtytry56

Aer Lingus actually had 3 Jumbo Jet 747s, the biggest planes they will ever operate.

Badly Drunk Boy

Crea wrote: »

The thing was though everyone seemed to be in the same boat. 1 parent working, mammy at home, 1 car, holiday in a caravan in Ireland, jam sandwiches and sweets on a Sunday.

We had my father working (in a factory, and never unemployed) and my mother at home, no car, and for holidays we stayed in an aunt's house in Dublin by the coast, when they went on holidays!

Until my younger siblings got older, my older sister and I often got a main Christmas present between us. It was usually a game of some sort that made it easier to share. We never went hungry but I'm sure it must have been fairly tough on the parents at the time. There were no luxuries. We didn't even get a phone until 1990!

I can't remember much about the housing side of things. The house I grew up in (and now own) is a few years older than me, built in 1970.

For Forks Sake

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

Yeah, any of the half-decent Irish bands that were around at the time managed to avoid Self Aid.

Was it mandatory that Brush f*cking Shiels turn up to every event in the 80's?

sligojoek

For Forks Sake wrote: »

Was it mandatory that Brush f*cking Shiels turn up to every event in the 80's?

He was with Joe Duffy's Funny friday on a thursday crew at the ploughing c/ship today.

Winterlong

Worst thing about the 80s was not the unemployment. It was Electric Eddie and the 2FM roadcaster.

5rtytry56

sligojoek wrote: »

He was with Joe Duffy's Funny friday on a thursday crew at the ploughing c/ship today.

Brush was Gay Burns's omnipresent "special guest" on the Late Late Show in the 1980s.

For Forks Sake

For Forks Sake wrote: »

Was it mandatory that Brush f*cking Shiels turn up to every event in the 80's?

Brush Shiels and BP Fallon.

And the edgier crowd tuning in to Dave Fanning at 8.

donegaLroad

5rtytry56 wrote: »

Aer Lingus actually had 3 Jumbo Jet 747s, the biggest planes they will ever operate.

they needed them to take all the immigrants to the States

ScumLord

Deleted User wrote: »

I bet the people who actually were living through the 80s didn't think of it as being that bad at the time. To them, their only reference points were times prior to them, so they would have thought they had things better than people in the 70s, 60s and before, since they had more technology and entertainment than before (universal colour tv, vcrs, walkmans, primitive home computer games).

The 80s were shyte.

Universal colour tv, vcrs, walkmans, primitive home computing, didn't really exist for most people. You might know someone with a walkman, another person with a vcr. The nostalgic view we have of the 80s, the technology, the music, the clothes, wasn't really happening in the west of Ireland. We were pretty much still tying up the loose ends of the 60s and 70s.

Nearly everyone was drunk, a lot of the time.

Schools were still Catholic strongholds of misery, civil patriotism and abuse.

I feel like the 90s is when everything started to change, we more or less skipped the culture of the 80s here.

Dyr

Modern shiney economies like the muggles to spend their lives up to their ears in debt for the most basic of things

Anything else is unsustainable

Fuzzy Clam

ScumLord wrote:

Schools were still Catholic strongholds of misery, civil patriotism and abuse.

ScumLord wrote:

Universal colour tv, vcrs, walkmans, primitive home computing, didn't really exist for most people. You might know someone with a walkman, another person with a vcr. The nostalgic view we have of the 80s, the technology, the music, the clothes, wasn't really happening in the west of Ireland. We were pretty much still tying up the loose ends of the 60s and 70s.

ScumLord wrote:

I feel like the 90s is when everything started to change, we more or less skipped the culture of the 80s here.

ScumLord wrote:

Nearly everyone was drunk, a lot of the time.

ScumLord wrote:

The 80s were shyte.

ScumLord wrote:

The 80s were shyte.

ScumLord wrote:

Universal colour tv, vcrs, walkmans, primitive home computing, didn't really exist for most people. You might know someone with a walkman, another person with a vcr. The nostalgic view we have of the 80s, the technology, the music, the clothes, wasn't really happening in the west of Ireland. We were pretty much still tying up the loose ends of the 60s and 70s.

ScumLord wrote:

Nearly everyone was drunk, a lot of the time.

ScumLord wrote:

Schools were still Catholic strongholds of misery, civil patriotism and abuse.

ScumLord wrote:

I feel like the 90s is when everything started to change, we more or less skipped the culture of the 80s here.

Most people had colour TVs. I had a walkman in 85 and I wasn't exactly flush.
We didn't miss home computers as they didn't exist for most of us.
The social scene was much better then today, even with less available cash.
We had great radio with the pirates compared with the regulated muck today.
The 80's was what we made it to be. What we wanted it to be. Unlike today where everybody just moans.

mailforkev

5rtytry56 wrote: »

Aer Lingus actually had 3 Jumbo Jet 747s, the biggest planes they will ever operate.

I was even given a tour of the cockpit of one of them whilst going on holidays. None of that these days.

Mind you, 80s Ireland was a culturally repressive hole compared to today. We really only got the 60s in the 90s.

We always had all the UK tv stations and got Sky etc at some point in the late 80s, my wife's family only had RTÉ. We have surprisingly different cultural references from the 80s, it's funny how closed the place was back then.

allthedoyles

Started work in 1980 on £45 per week . Bought a 3 year old Fiat 127 for £1,200 .

SEPT 23 1989

I'm sure we flew to the building site that was Portugal on an Air Lingus 747 in the mid 80s

Our only foreign holiday

Mr. FoggPatches

I had a great time in the eighties
Where was I when princess di got married? On my bike.
Where was I when live aid was happening? Playing football.
Where was I when heysel happened? Community games.
Where was I when self aid happened? Playing tennis
Where was I during euro 88? Planted in front of the TV.
Where was I when the Berlin wall fell? Playing pitch and putt.

What a time it was to be alive.

SEPT 23 1989

allthedoyles wrote: »

Started work in 1980 on £45 per week . Bought a 3 year old Fiat 127 for £1,200 .

Was it a black "sport"

Grayson

5rtytry56 wrote: »

Aer Lingus actually had 3 Jumbo Jet 747s, the biggest planes they will ever operate.

How much did flights cost? Remember when it cost a fortune to fly to london?

MadYaker

Unemployment may have been 20% in the nation but I'd say it was a lot lower in Dublin. I'm not arsed looking up figures but I'd guess it was probably under 10%?

Bateman

Winterlong wrote: »

Worst thing about the 80s was not the unemployment. It was Electric Eddie and the 2FM roadcaster.

The Beat on the Street...ah memories

andekwarhola

Bateman wrote: »

The Beatings on the Street...ah memories

Fixed.

Allinall

ScumLord wrote: »

The 80s were shyte.

Universal colour tv, vcrs, walkmans, primitive home computing, didn't really exist for most people. You might know someone with a walkman, another person with a vcr. The nostalgic view we have of the 80s, the technology, the music, the clothes, wasn't really happening in the west of Ireland. We were pretty much still tying up the loose ends of the 60s and 70s.

Nearly everyone was drunk, a lot of the time.

Schools were still Catholic strongholds of misery, civil patriotism and abuse.

I feel like the 90s is when everything started to change, we more or less skipped the culture of the 80s here.

That sounds like a whole lot of bitterness.

Revisionism is not good.

foggy_lad

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

Most people had colour TVs. I had a walkman in 85 and I wasn't exactly flush.
We didn't miss home computers as they didn't exist for most of us.
The social scene was much better then today, even with less available cash.
We had great radio with the pirates compared with the regulated muck today.
The 80's was what we made it to be. What we wanted it to be. Unlike today where everybody just moans.

We didn't get a colour TV till about 1984 and although the neighbours had a massive deflector aerial and were offering to cut other neighbours in for a small fee we couldn't afford it and made do with just two channels till the same year we got the colour TV when we also got "cable TV". That was just the UK channels though as there was no SKY back then. we didn't get a phone till the late 80's and the closest we got to a computer was a calculator.

allthedoyles

SEPT 23 1989 wrote:

Was it a black "sport"

It was a yellow car

Fuzzy Clam

foggy_lad wrote:

We didn't get a colour TV till about 1984 and although the neighbours had a massive deflector aerial and were offering to cut other neighbours in for a small fee we couldn't afford it and made do with just two channels till the same year we got the colour TV when we also got "cable TV". That was just the UK channels though as there was no SKY back then. we didn't get a phone till the late 80's and the closest we got to a computer was a calculator.

Not having any of those things does not make the 1980s "shyte".
I didn't have a smart phone or the internet or Sky TV or a laptop or or or .......
It didn't make the 80,s any worse.

Dr Crayfish

Ah, the 80s were lovely, my childhood. My youthful parents, Roland Rat, Basil Brush, Kenny Everett, the Muskahounds... And having my Grandparents around, all of them!
I'm from Dublin but we didn't have a phone till I was about 8. Emergency calls had to go to our neighbours. We hadn't much money but it didn't matter, I can't remember anything but happy young parents and my brother and I having a lovely childhood. I wish I could go back to our old house back then just for an hour