Will the good times ever return?

dublincc2

The late 80s-2001 period was incredible.

Immediately after I did my leaving cert, i could easily afford to purchase a car. By my late 20s I bought my own house and pretty much anything I wanted I could purchase. Plenty of money to spend/save. It was ridiculously easy to earn a real salary, headhunters were constantly trying to poach you from other companies, etc.

We didn't have this extreme PC culture. everyone got on well, people weren't perpetually "offended". You could smoke in pubs, restaurants, aeroplanes, etc. women loved attention, there was no "shaming" and "toxic masculinity". I approached a girl in college in 1992 and after getting to know each other over a few weeks asked her out for a drink. Today we have been married 26 years and have three children. Today young men don’t have the balls and toxic attitudes with people like Tate prevail.

Italia 90 was a moment of national euphoria that nobody who wasn’t alive at the time will ever understand. The country was on the crest of a wave. The only real financial boom also happened around this time.

The music and culture was going strong and there was finally peace in the north. Everything was chill and cool.

I was working in the IT sector from the mid-90s and the dot com boom was basically a 6-year-long rave, where you were constantly peaking on the best ecstasy of your life. Anything was possible. there were no limits. Life was good.

Then in 2001 something happened at the World Shìte Centre and nothing has been the same since.

Will we ever see a return to the golden days of the 80s and 90s? The hope for this is one of the things that keeps me going TBH. Anything is better than what we have now.

zell12

No.

buried

You've got to take the rough with the smooth.

Or don't.

pgj2015

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058312282/will-the-good-times-ever-return

Anything is better than what we have now. 🙄

You live in one of the best and richest and free Countries in the world, count your blessings you dont live in Iran, North Korea, China, Gabon, Ukraine, Russia, even America or the UK.

gmisk

Er u ok hun

rogber

Middle aged person looks back on their youth and decides everything was much better then than it is now.

A tale as old as time itself.

Jim_Hodge

Times are good for most. Living the dream here.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058312282/will-the-good-times-ever-return

Almost everything is worse now, compared to what it was.

Some will say that's "moving with the times". That's all well and good, but "the times" don't always move in a positive direction.

I put it down to people being too busy looking for problems to fix that were never problems to begin with. It keeps them busy, but makes life worse for the rest of us.

Emblematic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121069501#Comment_121069501

I thought it was supposed to be "of course in my day we had it tough!"

Isn't that how it normally is: middle-aged and older people saying how the young have it easy these days? The OP is doing the opposite though.

mikemac2

In college in the early 90´s before free fees. Your family weren't struggling anyway

L.Ball

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058312282/will-the-good-times-ever-return

No.

tom1ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121069524#Comment_121069524

With what?

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121069544#Comment_121069544

I put it down to people being too busy looking for problems to fix that were never problems to begin with.

Like crusading against tiny, tiny minorities of the population who just want to be left alone by conservatives yearning for the good ol days TM

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121069912#Comment_121069912

Sheets of prosperity and rolls of happiness.

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121069944#Comment_121069944

What ever happened to Snuggle anyway

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TRsgx97pZw

Oh yeah, we shattered his innocence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nJtoqeIwk0

We chose this path of war we're on...

Faugheen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121069524#Comment_121069524

Yeah I’m having a great time personally.

D-Lo Brown

Call me PC mad but I think it's a good thing I can eat my chips without having to breath in a ball of smoke.

tom1ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121069944#Comment_121069944

😂😂 good man Jim!

joseywhales

No part of my life was better than this part

Edit: well obviously early childhood , that's just not possible to get back.

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121069501#Comment_121069501

Life was more affordable during the period described, to be fair.

Ubbquittious

There was freedom in the 80s,90s and perhaps the early 2000s that we will wont see back unless there is a massive crash in the global population. I was too young to enjoy most of it

GSBellew

Things were still great long after September 2001, Ok the Dot Com bubble went sometime around then, so maybe that's why the OP thinks it went completely at that stage, the rest of us were still having a great time for several years after that, I would have said it was only really in 2009 that things went down.

They did come back though, I think we are all a little less spend crazy with the hindsight of 2008 - 2009, that said, there were never as many new cars floating about as you see these days.

dublincc2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121070192#Comment_121070192

It was because of the World Shìte Centre coming down that everything went downhill. That was the key event.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121070154#Comment_121070154

For who would be a salient question.

Elements of life were more affordable for many, equally many were completely out of reach for most people.

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121070192#Comment_121070192

Autumn 2008 was the other real tipping point. You could almost pin it to the day: September 15.

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/world/americas/17iht-mccain.4.16251777.html

If you wanna talk major inflection points in the world besides 9/11 that was the other big one. So much to unpack there tbh. It changed the entire global and political landscape (alongside people realizing right around the same time Palin was chosen as a cardboard cutout, conservatives have had a crisis of identity ever since, the 'silent/majority' aka white supremacists were suddenly aggressively activated by a black president, devolving from there to Tea Party then MAGA, etc). This ran completely parallel with the explosion of twitter and major social media, and with it the race to drive engagement metrics, fueled by disagreement usually, nevermind state-actor efforts to drive these wedges as they arose. This totally changed the state of play in the middle east as well. It was a flip between "we're getting out on X date americans are tired" to "maybe we'll stay there 100 years, **** you al qaeda"

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121070161#Comment_121070161

Which is what one might expect with the confluence of the birth of the internet and the end of the Cold War. Since then governments have learned better to reign it in, ie. Web 2.0 etc., the great firewall of china, state spying programs, state propaganda programs, and more.

Princess Calla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121070154#Comment_121070154

Was it though?

It may have been affordable if you had a job. However the 80's was high unemployment and high emigration.

Reeling in the Years is an excellent programme for giving snapshots of what life was like.

There was a randomer being interviewed in 78/79 young enough guy who was despairing at how shyte and dangerous Ireland, Dublin more likely had become.

Income tax was very high , I remember my dad saying there was no point doing overtime as it all went to tax man. Mortgage interest rates were also very high.

You're living the dream when you've disposable income and no responsibilities, however for most of us, those years are short-lived and lived without us realising how good we had it.

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121070251#Comment_121070251

The average or median salaried person was able to buy a house. I wouldnt say thats the case anymore. Unless you live in Leitrim or somewhere similar.

BlueSkyDreams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121070260#Comment_121070260

I was thinking more of the 2000s. When people were writing their own mortgage approvals :)

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121070265#Comment_121070265

Yes and that's absolutely worse for young people. Though it's worse for young people because they are a minority and the majority of the population who own their own homes don't really care.

But lots of things were worse in the 80s and 90s, not least unemployment and general salary levels. I suspect disposable incomes were worse. Life was a lot worse for women in particular.

Ubbquittious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121070258#Comment_121070258

Yes orwellianism is a big part of it but in Ireland you also had the brief power vacuum from a declining Catholic church and the state picking up the slack

GSBellew

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121070248#Comment_121070248

But they really didn't, not in Ireland, things were flying high long after the twin towers fell, that was but a temporary blip in world economic terms. now maybe the boom would have been even boomier to borrow a phrase but it certainly kept on going in Ireland regardless.

Year on year 2001 to 2009 I was earning more each year than the year before it.

If things were gone in 2001 why did peoples earnings keep climbing? why did property keep climbing? they did because we were in a bubble and it did not end in 2001.

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121070288#Comment_121070288

yeaaaaa there has been, since hell right around the same pivot point, the big catholic upheaval because - well, people talk to each other now. A lot. And it was just too much to gloss over anymore. "Let Jesus enter you" meant something else to too many people now.

quokula

No, you won't be young again.

lbunnae

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121069501#Comment_121069501

This gave me a laugh. Apparently young lads don't have the balls to approach someone in college, get to know them for a few weeks and then ask them to go for a drink hahaha.

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121070161#Comment_121070161

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121070288#Comment_121070288

But what do you want the freedom to do or be? Do you know? People, including myself, were free but very un-directed in the 90s, 00s. I think that totally passive free floating sense of possibility wasn't going anywhere for a lot of people and didn't culminate in anything much. Hedonism just goes around in circles.

There is a lot of double-negative reactivity right now. Few people have totally independent, positive, creative aims that motivate them strongly.

Sunny Disposition

Some things were certainly worse, but I would say the average Irish person was happier from the mid nineties to 2001 or so.

In terms of big stuff, houses were way more affordable than they are now. The health service was poor, but a smaller population meant it wasn’t under as much pressure.

Communities were stronger, probably because population was less transient and the non availability of the internet meant fewer entertainment options.

There was a bit less division, again pre internet you didn’t have crackpots coming together convincing each other vaccines were a form of mass control etc.

Of course there were negatives, a stronger drink culture, far more corruption, more homophobia and social snobbery. But with most of these issues there was a sense that things could improve.

I think there’s a more negative outlook today among the public. No one really expects our hospitals to improve or our hosing crisis to ease.

It’s not a dark time like 07 to 2015 or so, but it is not a very contented time in the Republic of Ireland either.

Some positives I do see over the last few years are a realisation that social media can be very damaging and the potential of remote work to take the sting out of the housing market in the cities.

Astartes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121069431#Comment_121069431

Just don't get sick here

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121070454#Comment_121070454

Go get sick in Alabama instead

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058312282/will-the-good-times-ever-return

The 2015-2020 period was incredible.

Employers and recruiters banging down the door offering big salaries in MNCs.

Out for pints 3 times a week with the lads, cheap flights to Italy and Spain whenever we had a weekend free. Didnt bother with festivals in Ireland, too busy with Primavera and Nos Alive. Nothing like dancing on the beach at 4am.

Second hand cars were cheap as chips, we were all driving mid 00s big engine BMWs picked up for less than 5k (thank you luxobarge thread)

Want a date? Pop onto Tinder and you'll have women lined up easy as you like. Didn't even need to chat them up in the pub.

Then COVID happened and it all went to sh"te for a few years.

francois

The 80s and early 90s had massive emigration and unemployment. Horrible grey time for most. The only fun to be had for a young person was raving.

Flinty997

No one back then was walking around with €1000 iPhones and drinking expensive coffee, and travelling all over the world multiple times a year. Or binge watching Netflix on wall sized TVs.

You don't go from being a backwater off the edge of Europe to "go to destination" European capital without it getting a lot more expensive. You don't grow your population massively and not have an effect of housing and services.

If you want to relieve the 1990s go to a country that's poorer and underdeveloped. Because that's where Dublin and Ireland was back then.

Thelonious Monk

i think we're still very much in the good times. i mean i had to either flatshare or live at home or was abroad until i was 36, which isn't that long ago, so it's not like all of us were able to just buy a house when we felt like it back in the day either. i seemed to live payday to payday until the last few years where i've become more settled.

bars, restaurants, airport all jammed all the time in dublin, more cars on the road than ever, full employment, there doesn't seem to be a lack of money or opportunity around anyway

if these are the bad times i dread to think about the actual really bad times!

Honey50000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058312282/will-the-good-times-ever-return

Smoking in pubs was a good thing selfish people putting other peoples lives at risk. Today young men don’t have the balls and toxic attitudes with people like Tate prevail. Maybe women are not the same as they were then ever think about that and maybe ask youself why so many people follow him. Also pretty sure Ireland was broke in the 80s.

SortingYouOut

There's great money in rose tinted specs OP, they're flying off the shelves.

prunudo

Obviously things never go back to how they were but there is a definite unease in the air this year amongst people across many sectors and industries. People seem stressed and on edge.

I'm not sure if its due to technology and information at the palm of our hands but we seem to bombarded with bad news and problems, being bounced from one crisis to the next, dire warnings constantly being pushed down our necks.

We're not allowed enjoy ourselves anymore without some killjoy or government warning telling us of impending doom.

ancapailldorcha

I think that, if we're honest, the "good times" were a bit of a sham. If they weren't there'd be no bubble to burst. Everybody was getting cheap credit including too many who were in no position to pay it back and this led to the 2008 crash, the hangover of which we're still living in. Obviously, covid exacerbated that but with the rise of AI, climate change and the continued erosion of the social contract, it's hard to see the world as being in anything but managed decline for the forseeable future.

Billy Mays

The halcyon days of breathing in second hand smoke while eating, drinking, watching a movie in the cinema or travelling on public transport

Oh how I miss thee 🙁

murpho999

I'm a similar age to the OP and the person is deluded. Country is way better now.

Economy is multiples of 10 better, higher paid jobs, tax is actually less now than it was then.

Mass emigration has stopped.

Infrastructure better now, Luas, Motorways etc still more work to do there. Get metros and other stuff built.

Smoking ban is fantastic, No way would I want to go back to that.

Church has lost its power and most people don't listen to their dogma and people actually have sex lives.

Much more advanced and tolerant socially, divorce, abortion and same sex marriage.

Food has improved with much more choice and influence of immigrants to country

Northern Ireland situation improved.

Thanks to Ryanair, better and cheaper options for travel and holidays

Social Protection: People don't realise it but social welfare care is really good here and improved so much and it's mostly used by Irish people before the bigots jump in.

Health Care: Not perfect but nowhere near as bad as people make out.

Housing: This is the no 1 problem that needs fixing, has become unaffordable and unobtainable for many, Need to build more and change planning laws to stop people objecting to everything.

I've travelled and lived abroad and very happy to live in Ireland, positives far outweigh the negatives and irish people have an enjoyement of life that you don't get in many other countries.

saabsaab

Boom times won't be back. That was really from the late nineties till 2008. The trends are climate change, wars, resource shortages and overpopulation for the future. Our way of life here will be affected how much and how soon is the question.

yourdeadwright

Its a funny thing

People always look back at the past with a sense of it being better & easier ,

There is a simply reason for that & its because most of our "struggles" & "hard times" are in our heads , As in we constantly worry about this that the other , things that never actually end up happen as we keep them from the door, ,

So when we look back we forget our thoughts in them moments but we remember the things that actual happened & the fun things that occurred , Your memories are 90% events that happened not thoughts you had ,

mykrodot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121070285#Comment_121070285

I don't agree that people who own their own home don't really care. That's just you guessing and its a massive generalisation. A lot of people who own houses are older and have kids and grandkids themselves who cannot get houses, who are living with them.

Many of these people would like to downsize but there is nowhere small to buy. In fact smaller houses are hugely sought after for people who are getting older and want to sell their bigger house to a family!

I have kids and grandkids and sold my 3 bed semi in East Meath last year. I've been waiting a full year to get a house somewhere in the West Limerick, Kerry area that I moved to! Trying to buy a small house is next to impossible unless its a derelict cottage that needs grants and renovations. I am finally Sale Agreed on another 3 bed semi but its in need of repair.

The house market is just appalling, for everyone. My kids are struggling big time and having returned here a few years ago from London and Canada are now thinking of emigrating again! We are SO aware of it, everyone is, I hope I never have to go through this experience again and pray my Sale Agreed goes through soon.