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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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linguist

The OP asked about teachers on modest salaries heavily leveraged on foreign properties etc. Yes, as a teacher I can absolutely confirm that although it needs huge qualification.

It was actually quite tough to get a permanent teaching job through all those years. Ironically, that was only rectified in 2015 as we were coming out of the crash. So the people who tended to be in that situation were the ones who came in up to the early to mid 90s who were well set up as the Tiger came in. The 'younger' ones were struggling on non-permanent contracts watching property prices spiral. Many of us are saddled with mortgages from the years before the crash so no risk of such luxuries there I can assure you.

But I definitely knew people who did have huge commitments and when austerity and pay cuts came in for the public sector during the crash they were absolutely in trouble. I knew one guy in particular with his family home in Dublin, second home in Cork where he was from, a holiday home in Bulgaria and an investment property in France! Personally, I'm glad I didn't get got up in that. It's just bonkers when you think about it.

CIP4

I was young enough during the boom years in secondary school but 2006 and 2007 really stand out in my mind as being the real peak of it. It was completely different times anything was possible people just bought what they wanted when they wanted everyone even in very average jobs had new cars. My parents did well during it but worked hard and didn't go completely mad they had their own business in the construction industry which they spent most of their time turning down work with builders begging them to take on more and more jobs and them just unable to get enough staff even paying mad salaries. I suppose the recession really hit hard then on a lot of people as the sheer levels of debt so many had.

There was a few saying the boom is back last year its not even close and will never be what it was back then as banks are so tight with mortgage rules which I am not necessarily saying is a bad thing but it will keep it pulled back. 2019 didn't even come close to 2007 really. Truth be know if banks came out in the morning and did 100% mortgages 5 plus times your salary I am sure plenty would jump for them straight away.

Cal4567

Came back in 2004 with the family. Was shocked at the level of notions some people had taken and was laughed at because I wasn't buying a buy to let, or even 2 or 3 of them as I'd need them for my 'pension'.

Happy to see the back of the Celtic Tiger. Greed had become a religion.

Zebra3

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Ideal it is, but in reality it’s not. Banks have gone form letting you buy regardless to not letting you buy regardless in most cases.

Well, a good bit has to do with whole developments being sold to vulture funds and the like so ordinary folk don't even get a chance to try to buy.

The beauty of the so-called free market.

[Deleted User]

Zebra3 wrote: »

It's not about how easy it is for someone to buy a house, it's about ensuring people have a reasonable good chance of keeping up with the mortgage repayments.

Ideal it is, but in reality it’s not. Banks have gone form letting you buy regardless to not letting you buy regardless in most cases.

Zebra3

riclad wrote: »

It was easier for young people to buy a house than it us now

It's not about how easy it is for someone to buy a house, it's about ensuring people have a reasonable good chance of keeping up with the mortgage repayments.

riclad

Young people are not better off if they live in an urban area and have to pay high rent, in the celtic tiger years rents were much lower than now.
There were not so much gig jobs like people delivering online food orders.
It was easier for young people to buy a house than it us now

One More Toy

Sky King wrote: »

She Glanza lad. Quare quick.

What is she on the logbook?

Zebra3

Nigel Fairservice wrote: »

I always remember this banking ad from those times. The banks more or less saying we don't care what you want the money for.

I assume no action was taking against the bank for encouraging people to lie about their loan applications.

"Understanding Banking" ended up with €7Bn in bad debts.

tedpan

colm_mcm wrote:

There was a housing estate (Alderwood) in D15 where they gave you a â€œfreeâ€ Volvo C30 with every house.

ReginaldSmythV wrote:

Is that the one behind the Johnson Mooney and O'Brien factory where they were all lied to about them moving site?

They're the pyrite plagued houses in hollystown..

RasTa

I remember working in Xtra-vision at the time. This builder used to come in and rent 2 movies at a time for €4.75 each and the fine was the same for each day they where late. Every single time he would bring them back 7-14 days(think the fine stopped rising after 7 days) but he would return them and rent out another two costing about €80 every visit.

This was going on for a year or so, the manager loved him.

CrankyHaus

Mister Vain wrote: »

Ahh yes, something you never see anymore is the modified cars. They were everywhere at one stage. Guys spending a fortune on sound systems and ridiculously loud exhausts.

At the time I thought it was tacky. I actually miss cars on the road being a little interesting now that everyone's crammed into blandly coloured new crossovers on PCP; barely a step above white goods in their individuality.

Nigel Fairservice

I always remember this banking ad from those times. The banks more or less saying we don't care what you want the money for.

HerrKuehn

Anyone remember the developer Donal Caulfield?
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/sunset-on-the-property-boom-1.941146

"It's not so much about owning the jet. It's about having the money to give you the freedom to do what you want, to say what you want. The more money people have, the more free they are, if they have the right psyche. Having a jet means you're not queuing up for an hour in Dublin or London airports. Money is pure and utter freedom. If you want to wear shades inside, which I often do, I don't care what people say about me. My Da, Joseph, used to say that money was freedom. But he had five kids, he was a great goer, a great small builder, but he couldn't risk it because he had five kids."

They had a brochure for one of their developments that cost €750.

[Deleted User]

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup wrote: »

JJ?

Not JJ, but he did okay too!

Sultan of Bling

Cake Man wrote:

For anyone who lives in or around Waterford will know the Waterford Crystal factory was an institution for years and was booming around the CT years. I think at the height of it the place employed over 2000 people, crazy when you think the factory is shut now. Youâ€™d have bus loads of Yanks in every week doing tours and then buying up everything. If youâ€™re from the area youâ€™re either related to or know someone who worked in â€œThe Glassâ€ (or work(ed) there yourself). I remember being told a story recently from someone who worked there around the boom years a Chinese group of tourists came in on a tour of the place one day. They spot a lovely crafted giant glass panda in one of the showrooms and ask the tour guide â€œhow much is that?â€. Tour guide basically says itâ€™s just for decoration and not really for sale, â€œyeah but how much?â€ is their reply. Not knowing what to do the tour guide escalated up to management and likewise, the management guys donâ€™t really know either as itâ€™s not something that was advertised for sale. So they do some calculations to work out the material cost, labour, overheads, profit etc to get an idea of what the glass panda would be worth and arrive at the figure of around E50,000. They go back down to the Chinese group and quote them the figure, not really sure if they were actually seriously considering buying it. Their reply: â€œah ok, weâ€™ll take three of them

Hope you weren't doing a Chinese accent in your head typing that post.

A certain leader of Fianna Fail got himself in trouble for the same thing ðŸ˜œ

Sky King

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

99% of which had to have been untaxed 1.9TDI Audi A4’s with a RS4 body kit

Ah yes, 'Felt spec'.

Still a few of them knocking around.

[Deleted User]

addaword wrote: »

In most of Donegal we never saw much of the tiger. Maybe a lot of old car got replaced by newer cars, but nothing wild .

99% of which had to have been untaxed 1.9TDI Audi A4’s with a RS4 body kit

[Deleted User]

colm_mcm wrote: »

There was a housing estate (Alderwood) in D15 where they gave you a “free” Volvo C30 with every house.

Prices starred at €480k.

Is that the one behind the Johnson Mooney and O'Brien factory where they were all lied to about them moving site?

addaword

In most of Donegal we never saw much of the tiger. Maybe a lot of old car got replaced by newer cars, but nothing wild .

kkhornet

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

Translation ??

Is that a Toyota glanza old chap. It's very fast.

ILoveYourVibes

Sky King wrote: »

She Glanza lad. Quare quick.

Translation ??

Sky King

Mister Vain wrote: »

Ahh yes, something you never see anymore is the modified cars. They were everywhere at one stage. Guys spending a fortune on sound systems and ridiculously loud exhausts.

She Glanza lad. Quare quick.

ILoveYourVibes

I knew a girl who spend 300 quid on postcard.

antiskeptic

chops018 wrote: »

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).

A €30k a year colleague went to the bank looking for a small mortgage. He lived in his family home and inherited it when his folks died. He wanted to swop from his mid terrace to the end of terrace across the road.

The bank suggested he keep his house and rent it and they'd loan in full on the one across the road.

He declined

colm_mcm

There was a housing estate (Alderwood) in D15 where they gave you a “free” Volvo C30 with every house.

Prices starred at €480k.

Mister Vain

Sky King wrote: »

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.

Ahh yes, something you never see anymore is the modified cars. They were everywhere at one stage. Guys spending a fortune on sound systems and ridiculously loud exhausts.

mikemac2

Section 50 - tax breaks to get investors to build student campus accommodation. Good idea

Living over the shop scheme - invest to create accomadation in town centres. Good idea

Section 23 - build housing estates in rural villages with no jobs, no transport, not much in the way of services at all. Absolutely horrendous idea! Many of these estates were never sold and more were left unfinished to die a slow death through vandalism. There is an estate in our village, nobody ever spent a night there. I fully expect it to be torched and burn down some time. Local teenagers use it for drinking their naggins at the moment

WAW

mariaalice wrote: »

I had an SSIA, but other than that no financial institution ever offered me loans or or credit cards that I can remember, so again maybe it was only certain sections of society it was offered too?

SSIAs will they ever bring anything like them back?! Or the great interest rates on state savings? They were great.

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup

Sunny Disposition wrote: »

Also, know an elderly single man in Clare who sold a piece of land for €6 million. The same man could easily live on €200 a week. He was laughing at it, joking his home village was like Manhattan. Of course the land, which actually flooded at times, was never built on.

JJ?