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Stories from the Celtic Tiger Years Mod Warning in OP PLEASE READ

chops018

Does anyone have any good (or bad) stories from the Celtic Tiger years?

You always hear phrases about how people partied etc., was there just a constant flow of credit available to people and people actually taking the money e.g. was there actually teachers on circa €30k a year buying a house and car and an apartment somewhere.

I was in school and college during these years, graduated into the recession, so I didn't really see what was fully going on at the time bar the fact everyone was working and had money. My dad was working on the buildings on great money and my mam was working away also, we were never stuck really money-wise, also rent seemed to be a lot cheaper back then and fuel and also my college fees were only around €800 a year along with wages being fairly similar to what they are now (from what I can remember anyway, will stand corrected if I am wrong)

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completedit

I literally did not see any of the boom. I live in a nice part of Dublin but it's like a safe middle class suburb, double glazed windows are all I remember from the boom. That's what the lads from the council houses used to slag us about. I didn't have them till 2006 and they were second hand.

FixitFelix

Yep lived it up earning good money working construction sites, changed my car I think 6 times in 18 months for newer and shinier, work Xmas parties all paid for hotel room drink 4 course dinners, presents and taxi home next day. Plenty of foreign holidays through the year.
Spent stupid money every week on drink and the rest but enjoyed it.
Didn't get sucked into the 100% mortgage trap even though I was offered one.
Seemed everyone no matter what job they were in had money to burn

branie2

We built our house extension during the period, in 1996

antimatterx

I hope I get to experience a boom (maybe post COVID?). I'm 24 now, so I was a kid during the tiger.

Montage of Feck

We've drank the "easy" credit Kool-Aid and there no going back now! We are just as worse now.

[Deleted User]

Lots of stories of 'characters' becoming property developers, investing in property or starting recruitment companies.

eviltwin

I had a great time. I was working for a company that loved to spend money. Our Christmas parties were in Marbella and Dubai. We got paid a lot and I was at an age where I could enjoy it. Even after buying a house and the day to day expense we seemed to have lots of disposable income. It all seems a bit surreal now tbh.

antimatterx

My family did well out of it in hindsight. My parents were able to build up a portfolio of about 5 properties on 1 normal income. They sold one just before the crash, and looking to sell another one at the moment, but my dad is smart and didn't over extend himself. Me and my brothers wanted for nothing.

My uncle lost a couple of million attempting to become a big shot developer. He had 10 rental properties, and his house was worth 1m+. He put a couple of hundred thousand in Anglo thinking it was easy money. That wasn't enough for him and he lost nearly everything.

double jobbing

If anything people seem to be more freely spending now than they were then. You didn't see 17 year olds going around in 2006 in 600 euro jackets like you do now with Canada Goose now (albeit plenty of these are knock offs). It was pretty unheard of for working class people to wear the likes of Ralph Lauren, Lacoste, Hugo Boss etc on a night out like they do now (myself included).

For all the free credit the vast majority of people didn't even have a credit card back then. The few people who did spent half their lives booking Ryanair flights for their friends who didn't have them.

I'd say the biggest difference is people went out drinking more. Town on a Thursday or a Sunday night would be quite busy, it's dead these days.

Old cars disappeared off the streets almost overnight when the scrappage bonus came around 2000. Up to 2009 you essentially never saw a car older than 2000 yet today half the cars on the road seem to be 15 years plus old.

Aside from that I think pre Covid most people seem to have more disposable income than they did back in the mid 2000's. A pint in town has went up by what, 1.20, but the minimum wage must have climbed about 3 quid per hour in that time, so younger people are definitely better off.

But looking back to my school days I can only recall one family that seemed to go from average to ridiculously well off over night (few holidays a year, new car every 18 months etc).

Plenty of brickies made a fortune but sure plenty of them were too fond of the sniff and a gamble for it to matter.

Sky King

I did my leaving in early naughties - a load of my friends were working on the buildings from the late 90s all the way through the 'tiger'.

My abiding memory is them earning huge money and spending thousands of euro a month on drinking and boy racer cars.

Can I have 6 double vodka red bulls barman. Here's a hundred quid. Keep the change.

L1011

I was offered a 100% mortgage on a house in Kilbeggan when I was on 31k. Its affordability was based on assuming I'd rent rooms out to the rent-a-room max amount.

My parents talked me out of it.