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Ireland the 1980s

[Deleted User]

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.

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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.

[Deleted User]

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 ...

AllGunsBlazing

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

NiallBoo

Shocking really.

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

jimmy blevins

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

Snakeblood

mariaalice wrote: »

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

But you were talking about massive unemployment?

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.

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?

SEPT 23 1989

both parents working is the reason

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.

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.

[Deleted User]

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.

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.

[Deleted User]

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.

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.

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 .

[Deleted User]

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.

[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.

[Deleted User]

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.

Minderbinder

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

[Deleted User]

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.

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?

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?

gifted

Bono