First signs of the Celtic tiger

mojesius

Agricola wrote: »

Has anyone mentioned the rise of car ownership among students? In my time in college I was regularly speaking to people who revelled in the poor student schtick, beans on toast, living on a fiver a day, yadda yadda yadda, yet they arrived into college each morning in a newer car than my own parents owned!

Yup, and I couldn't get over the amount of students in my class who didn't work a day in the three years, went out 5 nights a week then went off on a j1 piss up every summer.

topper75

^^^^ LOL!
And yet how often do we see the question asked in the threads of economic woe "Just where did the money all go?":rolleyes:
People blew it. Simple as.

Tiger appeared to me first when Scottish workers came to Dell in Limerick. Immigration - people thought in the 80's that it was just 'emigration' misspelled! But now it was really happening in Ireland.

FlutterinBantam

When classless gimps,celebrated 30th 40th 50th......et cetera ,birthdays,Communions,Confirmations and such with huge 'bashes' usually with tasteless rubbish and a feature event , and a major pissup involving hotels and weekends away.

When stupid gimps got involved in Big brother, X Factor, and whatever populist crap is the current norm and spending big bucks to fatten the bank balances of jerks like Simon Cowell, Louis walsh et al who ride of the 'we're in this together' attitude of the working classes, but who just line the pockets of the fat cats whilst all the time thinking 'we are supporting one of our own'.

When every fcuker at a DEBS had to fcuking had tohire a limo stretched of course so as not to seem left out.

Total manipulation by the marketeers, total acceptance by the consumers, rode into the chasm blindfolded, and now the fcukers are wondering what the fcuk happened:eek:


You stupid cunts , you were led on, trolled, and you swallowed the hook in one fcuking gulp:D

Johnny_Trotter

When the price of penny sweets went up...

fontanalis

When people who hadn't a clue about how to run a business became known as property developers, and possibly when snobby cnuts started living their lives through their children.

gbee

KungPao wrote: »

£1.20 for a coffee? Get outta here.

€7 for a Cappuccino!!!! :eek:

jackiebaron

When REAL cafes disappeared. You know the type..formica table tops, sponge-plastic booth seats, ketchup in a squeezy plastic tomato and they served such fare as fry-ups, mixed-grills, sausage-egg-beans-chips, shepherd's pie, burger n' chips, steak and kidney pie, etc. And if you wanted bread you got a stack of slices of Brennan's Batch ALREADY BUTTERED ffs on a plate served by a barrel-chested lady who called you "love" or "pet" or "honey-boy" in a Moore Street manner. Everything cost 3 or 4 quid and you could enjoy the nosh for the rest of the day by simply belching now and again. These greasy-spoon eateries were the business and my fave was the Mayfair Grill on O'Connell St.
Then all of a sudden they were gone only to be replaced by "brasseries" and "patisseries". I guess people no longer wanted to spend 4 quid on a gut busting slap-up meal and much preferred to drop 20 Euros on a **** mozarella and pesto pannini and a Latte Macchiato.

coreb_KK

When broadband became good in Ireland ! .... wait, sorry just dreaming here

Jawgap

I was away for pretty much all of the nineties and some of the 00s, but here's what I noticed:-

• the inexorable rise of Ryanair - as the 90s progressed the airports from which they flew got closer to where I lived in the UK and the prices came down to double then single digits;
• cranes across the Dublin skyline - dozens of them;
• bits of land that were vacant when I was home at Christmas having apartments on them by the time I came back in the summer;
• arriving at Dublin airport at Christmas and getting 7 offers for job interviews (seriously!!);
• Big Issue sellers with mobile phones, when I had just got my first one;
• my sister sitting in her house phoning her boyfriend on her mobile when he was upstairs;
• more and more people coming up to me in work looking for me to compile a pub crawl for them because they were off to Dublin for a stag / hen;
• snotty pretentious gits commenting on my 7 year old car (a lovely special edition Alfa - I still miss it!)
• nobody at home in June because they were all away somewhere sunny for 3 weeks and nobody around at Christmas because they were all off skiing

Jawgap

coreb_KK wrote: »

When broadband became good in Ireland ! .... wait, sorry just dreaming here

when I eventually moved back one of the first things I did was get in touch with Eircom to get a broadband connection and they were quite dismissive because I only wanted it for the house!! I think they thought you needed to be a sub-office of NASA to get that kind of connection......:)

MetzgerMeister

The craze of "Water Filtration" which turned out to be a complete load of nonsense! You know that thing where someone calls to your house, gets a glass of water from your tap, puts in a metal "magnet" thing and your water looks filthy!




with that said, the night they called, I was in the process of buying my current car....

Orando Broom

When a Taxi driver started to advise me on where to buy your 'second property' in Bulgaria, I knew we were ****ed. That was 2007/8.

Scuid Mhór

but there's no time for nostalgia now...

youcancallmeal

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

When stupid gimps got involved in Big brother, X Factor, and whatever populist crap is the current norm and spending big bucks to fatten the bank balances of jerks like Simon Cowell, Louis walsh et al who ride of the 'we're in this together' attitude of the working classes, but who just line the pockets of the fat cats whilst all the time thinking 'we are supporting one of our own'.

What are you talking about!?

Luxie

gbee wrote: »

€7 for a Cappuccino!!!! :eek:

Hucking fell, where??:eek:

bodun

Scuid Mhór wrote: »

but there's no time for nostalgia now...

Ah, nostalgia isn't what it used to be!

FlutterinBantam

youcancallme>al wrote: »

What are you talking about!?

Can't you read buddy.?


I'm talking about the stupid gimps who wasted Ks of yoyos supporting 'one of their own' without realising all they were doing was allowing themselves to be manipulated into the working class ideal of 'look after our own' whilst in reality their hard earned yoyos were heading into the pockets of gimps like Cowell/Walsh/ and others who run the phone lines.

That's what I am talking about pal.:rolleyes:

Feeona

By the second year (1998) of my first REAL job, my wages had doubled. That's when I realised something was amiss

youcancallmeal

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Can't you read buddy.?


I'm talking about the stupid gimps who wasted Ks of yoyos supporting 'one of their own' without realising all they were doing was allowing themselves to be manipulated into the working class ideal of 'look after our own' whilst in reality their hard earned yoyos were heading into the pockets of gimps like Cowell/Walsh/ and others who run the phone lines.

That's what I am talking about pal.:rolleyes:

I'm no big fan of the xfactor, big brother etc but I'm sick of seeing this nonsense spouted when somebody wants a easy target. These programs are popular entertainment. Nobody has to vote if they don't want to. The winners get multi-million pound contracts, the losers often make a lot of money as well. Simon Cowell has been involved in charity work for many years and donates significant sums of money. I sound like a fan boy now but I'm certainly not. I just wish people would do a bit of research before firing out statements like "fatten the bank balances of jerks like Simon Cowell, Louis walsh et al" as if they are the most evil people in the world right now

Wow gone way off topic. I knew things were really picking up back around 03/04 when my friends were arguing over how to have a night out in Dublin on less than €100. I'd easily have a good night out on €30 now!

Japer

When the postman was talking about his two property investments.
When a Gaurd I know aged about fifty, who was never the brightest spark, retired and told me his pension and told me about his lifestyle going to his villa in Portugal playing golf so much. I knew then something was unsustainable.

jackiebaron

I don't live in Ireland but come back every Christmas and sometimes in summer too. I still love the place but my life is elsewhere. Anyway coming back from New York in the 90's was a different experience each year. In 93/94 I'd be fairly loaded and my college mates would be fairly skint but we'd go on the piss in the Stag's Head nonetheless. Then in the late 90's I moved from the US to Amsterdam and was IT contracting. Still fairly coining it...but in a much less stable market so I have to be sensible and plan for downturns and periods where I might be scratching for 6 months. Coming back each year the picture got more and more surreal. I'd be down the pub and I'd be listening to fellas who were working class Joes, brikkies, sparkies, plumbers yammering on about going on golfing holidays to Thailand, going to see Moby IN MANHATTAN. Crap like that.

In 2007, having a cigarette in the smoking area of the Viscount pub in Whitehall I got talking to some "head". Again clearly a working class bloke. He told me that his head was "wrecked" from taking the kids to see "Santee". This wasn't in Cleary's or Arnott's. No, this guy just got back from taking his kids to see Santa in fücking LAPPLAND.

Bet he won't be taking them THIS Christmas.

FlutterinBantam

youcancallme>al wrote: »

I'm no big fan of the xfactor, big brother etc but I'm sick of seeing this nonsense spouted when somebody wants a easy target. These programs are popular entertainment. Nobody has to vote if they don't want to. The winners get multi-million pound contracts, the losers often make a lot of money as well. Simon Cowell has been involved in charity work for many years and donates significant sums of money. I sound like a fan boy now but I'm certainly not. I just wish people would do a bit of research before firing out statements like "fatten the bank balances of jerks like Simon Cowell, Louis walsh et al" as if they are the most evil people in the world right now

Wow gone way off topic. I knew things were really picking up back around 03/04 when my friends were arguing over how to have a night out in Dublin on less than €100. I'd easily have a good night out on €30 now!

Don't know what your agenda is pal, but this kind of crap epitomises the modern outlook where easily manipulated people are drawn into a situation where they feel they have to support 'one of their own' and will run up huge bills for the phone companies and the sponsors.

The Celtic Tiger seems to have taken the common sense from the populace who generally seemed to think that they must contribute to the populist rubbish marketed by very experienced manipulators like Cowell/walsh/Cullen/ etc who use the vast resources at their disposal to tap into the innate urge of working class people to look after their own .

Put up a working class hero or heroine and hey ..watch the dosh roll in.

No disrespect to those who are sucked in, but just remember that major market forces are behind all this and very shrewd and manipulative individuals and trousering huge bucks as a result.

It happens, people get conned.. that's life:D

skipz

Jawgap wrote: »

• because they were all off skiing

:)I love skiing me:)

arybvtcw0eolkf

When we got new rifles & gucci camo uniform's in the army!.

Otherwise the whole thing went flying past me as the army wage was never enough to provide a decent living so when I didn't go oversea's to earn more money I worked my ass off in 2 and sometimes 3 jobs a week.

A few things I do remember.. I couldn't get a tiler for a small job (bathroom walls and floors) so I learned how to tile, now I'm a pretty good tiler.

My garden gate was broke and I couldn't find a welder for love 'no money, so I bought a cheap welding plant (I think I bought it in woodies) and learned to weld!.

I wanted patio doors in an extention, again I couldn't get anyone to even price the job - yup, I done it myself.

Now the same people are baying for my blood because I'm a 'greedy' public servant - well they can go ask the butt end of my bollox.

FlutterinBantam

skipz wrote: »

:)I love skiing me:)

Any chance you might contribute something constructive to the thread pal?

Luxie

jackiebaron wrote: »

I don't live in Ireland but come back every Christmas and sometimes in summer too. I still love the place but my life is elsewhere. Anyway coming back from New York in the 90's was a different experience each year. In 93/94 I'd be fairly loaded and my college mates would be fairly skint but we'd go on the piss in the Stag's Head nonetheless. Then in the late 90's I moved from the US to Amsterdam and was IT contracting. Still fairly coining it...but in a much less stable market so I have to be sensible and plan for downturns and periods where I might be scratching for 6 months. Coming back each year the picture got more and more surreal. I'd be down the pub and I'd be listening to fellas who were working class Joes, brikkies, sparkies, plumbers yammering on about going on golfing holidays to Thailand, going to see Moby IN MANHATTAN. Crap like that.

In 2007, having a cigarette in the smoking area of the Viscount pub in Whitehall I got talking to some "head". Again clearly a working class bloke. He told me that his head was "wrecked" from taking the kids to see "Santee". This wasn't in Cleary's or Arnott's. No, this guy just got back from taking his kids to see Santa in fücking LAPPLAND.

Bet he won't be taking them THIS Christmas.

Same here. I remember seeing one woman who, well, didn't look obviously wealthy, she was clad in a shellsuit IIRC, looking (and I mean seriously looking) at a Prada bag. I picked up the same bag to have a look and put it down just as quick, it was the equivalent of the bulk of my disposable income in any given month. Madness.

starviewadams

Dont think the Celtic tiger ever made an appearance in my estate!

Do remember lots of the fella's I used to work with's dad's becoming landlords,now they're all probably becoming bankrupt.

FlutterinBantam

starviewadams wrote: »

Dont think the Celtic tiger ever made an appearance in my estate!

Do remember lots of the fella's I used to work with's dad's becoming landlords,now they're all probably becoming bankrupt.

geezers wasting apostrophes were all over the kip.:rolleyes:

Setun

youcancallme>al wrote: »

I'm no big fan of the xfactor, big brother etc but I'm sick of seeing this nonsense spouted when somebody wants a easy target. These programs are popular entertainment. Nobody has to vote if they don't want to. The winners get multi-million pound contracts, the losers often make a lot of money as well. Simon Cowell has been involved in charity work for many years and donates significant sums of money. I sound like a fan boy now but I'm certainly not. I just wish people would do a bit of research before firing out statements like "fatten the bank balances of jerks like Simon Cowell, Louis walsh et al" as if they are the most evil people in the world right now

Wow gone way off topic. I knew things were really picking up back around 03/04 when my friends were arguing over how to have a night out in Dublin on less than €100. I'd easily have a good night out on €30 now!

Is that you Louie? :P

I remember going up to the local sweet shop in my early teens, not long after the euro came in. A "penny sweet" went up to 2c. I thought to myself: My god, this country is ****ed. I didn't sleep a wink that night.

Rented Mule

I knew something was up @1993 when the number of kids showing up in Chicago with a bag full of clothes and the phone number of a friend of their/mother to put them up started to dwindle.

The number slowly dwindled as the 90s rolled on. The kids that were coming out weren't looking for construction jobs, many weren't even looking to work.

FruitLover

KungPao wrote: »

Yeah.

When you started having to speak fucking Italian to get a coffee with milk....oh sorry a Cafe Latte.

As an Italian speaker, I deliberately admonish coffeeshop employees over their pronunciation/grammar because of this kind if ****e.

Orando Broom

FruitLover wrote: »

As an Italian speaker, I deliberately admonish coffeeshop employees over their pronunciation/grammar because of this kind if ****e.

The next time I hear an Eyetalian ask for a 'peent of Geeness', I am going to let him have it!

skipz

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Any chance you might contribute something constructive to the thread pal?

Page 2, post #27.
And whats wrong with quoting that i love skiing? I used to go skiing when the Celtic tiger was roaring, pal.

FlutterinBantam

skipz wrote: »

Page 2, post #27.
And whats wrong with quoting that i love skiing? I used to go skiing when the Celtic tiger was roaring, pal.

Nothing at all buddy, you ,in fact ,seem to encapsulate the attitude of the CT years.

Live the present and then expect others to look after you when the bubble bursts and you find that the gravy train has dried up and you actually need some qualifications to get by.


best of luck pal.

FlutterinBantam

Orando Broom wrote: »

The next time I hear an Eyetalian ask for a 'peent of Geeness', I am going to let him have it!

'Eyetalian'

What country do those dudes come from?

'I' in Italian is pronounced 'ih' as in Ihtalian.

we don't call it 'Eyetaly' do we.

jesus,.

Fozzie Bear

I was 20 and in Boston for Christmas in 97 or 98 (can't remember which) staying with my uncle and his family. We went to visit some other family members on Stephens day and a neighbour of theirs was also visiting when we called. Anyway this American neighbour upon hearing I was over from Ireland said "Oh you must be one of those Celtic tigers". First time I ever heard the phrase. He had read about the Celtic tiger economy in some magazine or other.

I suppose it really hit home for me when a good mate of mine got married in 2004. They had moved into a 450,000 (builders finish) house outside Galway just before the marriage. Within weeks after the lavish wedding he bought a brand new silver Santa Fe SUV for himself and his wife got a matching silver Hyundai coupe. Both brand new on the same day and apparently on the spur of the moment. They had both been sharing a battered Toyota Yaris between them up to that, went into the garage to book a service for the yaris and drove away instead in two brand new cars:eek:. We honestly thought they had won the lottery. Madness, it was all on HP. The cars are long gone now and they are just about keeping their heads above water on their mortgage. The annual skiing holiday and summer in the sun are a thing of the past too. A week in Wexford is as good as it gets these days!

HeadPig

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

'Eyetalian'

What country do those dudes come from?

'I' in Italian is pronounced 'ih' as in Ihtalian.

we don't call it 'Eyetaly' do we.

jesus,.

You're not very clever.

FlutterinBantam

In what way buddy?

Technique

Cars.

When I was growing up in the 70s and 80s, I knew no-one with a BMW or Mercedes. I knew of some people in neighbouring towns who owned one who would have been considered 'wealthy' businessmen.

Fast forward 20 years.....I could probably name 50 people off the top of my head who have a BMW or Merc.

Spacedog

When you'd read about corrupt politicians, f##king poor people of ireland over for the millionth time in a row, be it giving the corrib gas reserve away to shell for free, shifting quality healthcare to private plans only, fees for working class students trying to get an education.

Then you'd log onto boards.ie and 20 people are leaving messages like 'that's capitalism, get over yourself ya commie nazi hippy' or 'the poor should work as hard as me in my office, I got a house and am a "millionaire", so f##k the lazy bums who clean the toilets'

Basically it's when the midddle class snobbish attitude came to dominate day to day irish life. Everyone thought they were millionaires and immeadiately looked down their noses at anyone with a properly working sense of modesty or proportion.

Try going back in time to 2007 and mentioning a property bubble to anyone. They took the prospect as a personal insult and would reply as such.

KungPao

Fancy dans buying FIFA AND International Superstar Soccer.

It was then, I feared for our future economy.

Nolanger

mariaalice wrote: »

Anyone remember the first time they saw signs of the Celtic tiger

Boyzone.

Nevermind_

fools paying large sums of money they didnt have so that their wedding was "covered" in VIP magazine...
Actually the sheer existance of that publication is evidence enough

Luxie

Nolanger wrote: »

Boyzone.

Personally I blame Riverdance for everything.

Jawgap

Cara Grumpy Malt wrote: »

When we got new rifles & gucci camo uniform's in the army!.

Otherwise the whole thing went flying past me as the army wage was never enough to provide a decent living so when I didn't go oversea's to earn more money I worked my ass off in 2 and sometimes 3 jobs a week.

A few things I do remember.. I couldn't get a tiler for a small job (bathroom walls and floors) so I learned how to tile, now I'm a pretty good tiler.

My garden gate was broke and I couldn't find a welder for love 'no money, so I bought a cheap welding plant (I think I bought it in woodies) and learned to weld!.

I wanted patio doors in an extention, again I couldn't get anyone to even price the job - yup, I done it myself.

Now the same people are baying for my blood because I'm a 'greedy' public servant - well they can go ask the butt end of my bollox.

Now as a similarly humble public servant I remember friends and rellies chiding me for going to work in the public service when I eventually decided to return. Came back because I preferred my kids to have a Dublin accent - as it happened I wouldn't join in the madness for property so now they have Meath accents:(

Went to work in the public service to (believe it or not) make a contribution having had enough of what I was doing in a private firm - but that's a story for another thread.

I realised just how "bad" things were when I did get back and people who were on lower salaries than mine were living in bigger houses, in better locations and were well on their way to buying their second and third investment properties in eastern Europe. I realise now it was because I didn't go looking for a 100% or 110% mortgage or anyhting like it!!

LarrytheLantern

mariaalice wrote: »

Anyone remember the first time they saw signs of the Celtic tiger ( or lost the run of ourselves ) depending on your point of view...

I remember reading an article about a shoe department in a shop in Dublin and i think it was the late nineties ...anyway the article was about Nike shoes for toddlers...i remember thinking people must have more money than sense if they were buying designer runners for toddlers!!

i always buy Nike or Adidas, Timberland for my kids (along with Tommy or DKNY sometimes) but i wouldn't consider them to be "designer".
they're just nice clothes, and my kids look good in them, so where's the problem in that?

Oranage2

Well being from humble beginings I knew something was up when my Television had more than 2 channels.

Meeoow

when i started buying bags of ice from supermarket freezers, instead of filling the ice cube tray in my freezer myself.

LETHAL LADY

In the early 90s when the women in Ireland began getting their eyebrows waxed and suddenly we all looked less hairy and more suprised.

cooltown

It might sound stupid but there was a time when people had bad cars but the Ford focus coming out in late 1998 and early 1999 was one for me!