{"id":32303,"date":"2025-08-30T05:56:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T05:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/32303\/"},"modified":"2025-08-30T05:56:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T05:56:08","slug":"we-were-all-affected-by-it-even-if-we-were-still-children-at-the-time-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/32303\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We were all affected by it, even if we were still children at the time\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Irish singer CMAT<\/a> (29) lit a spark earlier this summer when she released her song Euro-Country, in which she shares her memories of the 2008 economic crash in Ireland and its aftermath. In the song widely hailed as an \u201cIrish millennial anthem\u201d on platforms such as TikTok, the Meath musician, born in 1996, sings: \u201cAll the big boys\/All the Berties\/All the envelopes, yeah they hurt me …\u201d<\/p>\n

In the starkest line, CMAT sings: \u201cI was 12 when the das started killing themselves all around me.\u201d<\/p>\n

CMAT and her band performed the song for the first time at the All Together Now festival in Waterford in August, where she introduced it by saying: \u201cI can\u2019t explain to you the politics of what happened back then, I can only explain to you my memories of growing up as a kid during the crash that we all experienced, and it was a horrible, horrible time for the entire country, and I believe people in their 20s and 30s have been really adversely affected by it,\u201d to which a supportive cheer rose from the crowd.<\/p>\n

Molly Furey<\/a> (26), a writer and documentary film-maker from Stillorgan in Dublin, who was in the audience, says: \u201cStanding in that crowd, I felt emotional, I could see people around me were emotional. People were screaming that song at the top of their lungs, they were all around my age and the song was only out a week and everyone knew every single word; it was just really powerful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just so taken aback by, whoa, okay, we were all there. We do all remember that and we were all affected by it, even if we were still children at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

CMAT\u2019s song has prompted many young Irish people to share and also question their experience of the recession. Without such interrogation, Furey argues, \u201cyou allow cycles to repeat\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have a very short-term memory in this country, especially when it comes to governments and the parties in charge, and there seems to be an assumption that people are willing to forget and maybe for [our parents\u2019] generation they are, because it was so traumatising.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I wonder, with this younger generation, if there\u2019s a willingness and an ability to think about it, because they weren\u2019t trying to keep the doors of their business open or trying to put food on the table for their family. And I think we need to, I think that\u2019s what\u2019s so great about that CMAT song is it\u2019s an invitation for us to be like: what do you think about that and what did go wrong and how can we avoid that again?<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how you avoid a recession again, but it\u2019s maybe not that, but how to avoid the assumptions or the value system or the mode of thinking that produced it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Lee-Ann Burke, a lecturer in the department of economics at University College Cork, wrote a 2020 paper on the psychological effects of the recession on young people. Using data from the Growing Up in Ireland Study, which surveyed a cohort born in 1998, she looked at changes in participants\u2019 mental health<\/a> from when they were aged nine (2007-2008), 13 (2011-2012) and 17 (2015-2016).<\/p>\n

[\u00a0CMAT: \u2018Ireland is a really hard place to live unless you have money, which we didn\u2019t\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cThe things that were coming out very strongly in the analysis [as factors negatively affecting children\u2019s mental health] were a mother\u2019s poor mental health and housing stability, which is so important in today\u2019s economic context,\u201d says Burke. \u201cThe homeownership analysis in the report highlighted that children from households that owned their own home were less likely to experience poor psychological outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n

A household\u2019s ability to make ends meet, as well as parental unemployment were also key factors, according to Burke. \u201cUnemployment shot up during that time, especially the construction industry,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m wondering now, although I can\u2019t say for sure, but parents whose kids were small during that time are now talking to their kids about what to do after school, and perhaps after what they\u2019ve been through themselves in 2009, 2010, 2011, it\u2019s affecting what they\u2019re advising them to do or not do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Penny Warnock (28), a marketing professional and writer from Castleknock in Dublin, says she emigrated to Amsterdam five years ago partly in search of more opportunities to work in a creative field, but mainly because she wanted to \u201crun away\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always felt the whispers, where everyone knew what was going on with my family, so I wanted that anonymity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PennyPenny Warnock in 2007 and now. Photograph: Michael Roberts <\/p>\n

Warnock describes how when she was a child during the Celtic Tiger, the success of her father\u2019s company made her family wealthy, \u201cand we moved into this absolute mansion and loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went on holidays all the time, [we did] things like always going out for dinner, we weren\u2019t crazy flashy, but there was just never a worry and there was never any issue in terms of money,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

But Warnock remembers a lot of tension in her house around the time of the crash. Her parents split up. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe went from having this huge house where we had gardeners and it was well maintained, to it being completely overgrown to where it looked like an abandoned house.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember being very, very cold and my mom bought those plug-in heaters and put them everywhere, put them in front of us when we\u2019re eating breakfast, and [we were] shivering.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was tough, the few years after [the crash]. It looked like we were super rich, I was going to this private school, all my friends were like, do you have this new schoolbag, and I was watching my mom really struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warnock says she has been processing the emotional effects that time had on her. \u201cI think it affects me always, because I do think it was a traumatic time, and also I was living a weird double life of wealth and then a few short years later of having the total opposite side. But now I feel like I\u2019m a grounded person because I\u2019m very grateful for everything that I have in my life.<\/p>\n

\n

It\u2019s just strange because we\u2019re a wealthy country but … the actual people on the ground are struggling a lot <\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Daragh Fleming<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cAnd when people hear me speak, they\u2019re like \u2018you\u2019re posh! You obviously had family privilege.\u2019 But then if they saw how I lived for my teenage years, it was a different story, you know? So, it also makes me not judge people and I\u2019m a super empathetic person, and I think that\u2019s probably a lot because of it as well,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

Warnock has been sharing \u201cCeltic Tiger core\u201d stories on her TikTok page, describing her childhood experience. In one reel she lists \u201cthings we seriously had in our house,\u201d such as a vibrating power plate exercise machine and an indoor sauna. She says the fact that she and family have come \u201cfull circle\u201d is probably why she\u2019s now able to look at that time through a somewhat lighthearted lens.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s clearly just a moment in time right now that people are \u2013 I guess, like my family \u2013 coming out of it enough that they can talk about the crash and process it, and actually share the experience without fear, because obviously [mine\u2019s] a privileged story, but it\u2019s also not as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daragh Fleming (30), is a writer, poet and mental-health advocate from Glounthaune, Co Cork. <\/p>\n

\"DaraghDaragh Fleming circa 2008 and now. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw <\/p>\n

His memories of the post-recession years are somewhat overtaken by the tragedy of his best friend dying by suicide in 2012, he says, which led him to pursue a degree in applied psychology and to the mental health advocacy work he does now. <\/p>\n

Fleming does remember that times were good for his family before the 2008 crash, with his parents adding an extension to their house and the family going on holidays to stay with friends in the US, with such trips becoming unthinkable after the crash.<\/p>\n

Now, as an adult, reflecting on the impact of the crash, Fleming says the current housing crisis<\/a> is causing people in his age cohort distress, \u201cbecause there\u2019s a sense that you\u2019re failing or falling behind or not doing the right things because you might not be able to afford a house.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ireland\u2019s housing crisis: Why is there such a shortage of homes to buy and rent here?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when I was a kid, it was kind of like there\u2019s this algorithm for life, where you go to school, go to college, you find a partner, you buy a house [\u2026] But the way things are now, that\u2019s not reality for a lot of people, it\u2019s not a reality for me at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still recovering from [the crash]. You can look at the economy and be like, oh, we\u2019ve a high cost of living, and that\u2019s usually an indicator of how good the economy is. But the standard of living for most people in that economy is quite bad,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Rise in young people\u2019s mental health difficulties partly due to housing insecurity, says charityOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just strange because we\u2019re a wealthy country, but that\u2019s only because of all the corporations coming in, and the actual people on the ground, your day-to-day people, are struggling a lot in this wealthy country. It\u2019s bizarre.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fleming, who returned to Ireland in February after living in Barcelona for two years, adds that the many young people continuing to emigrate is also a sign of how they are struggling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason I went to Barcelona is because one, I had friends there, and two, I couldn\u2019t afford a place to even rent in Cork,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think [there\u2019s] obviously been lots of people going to Australia, Canada was big there for a while, people are just leaving, and it\u2019s more out of necessity. I always think it\u2019s either the call to adventure and you want to go travelling and see the world, or you can\u2019t afford to live in the country you call home, and I think more and more, it\u2019s the latter.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Growing Up in Ireland report that revisited the 1998 cohort at age 25, published earlier this year, found that one in eight contacted respondents had emigrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking about what might happen in the future, he says: \u201cHow on Earth are people affording to have children the way things are now?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can barely afford to sustain myself, let alone another human,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Another woman who used TikTok to share a reel about her childhood during the recession is photography student Caireann Flynn (34) from Lisnaskea in Co Fermanagh, who rents a flat in Glasgow with her husband, who is from Dundalk, Co Louth.<\/p>\n

\"CaireannCaireann Flynn in 2010 and now. Photograph: Theodora van Duin <\/p>\n

She posted a carousel of photos with captions explaining references from Euro-County, to which she received some messages telling her she couldn\u2019t have felt the effects of the recession in Northern Ireland. However, living in a Border town, she says, she most certainly did.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up in a really nice housing estate that had really big houses in it. And I remember it was this big deal when we bought this house a few years before the crash, I was probably like 10 at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her memory of that time is that conversations between the adults around her focused almost exclusively on \u201cmoney and jobs\u201d. \u201cIt was just like that defined you as a person. And I don\u2019t know if that was symptomatic of money being everywhere, but I remember my dad talking so much about the mortgage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flynn\u2019s father set up a company in 2007, which was \u201can awful time to start a new business,\u201d she says, in hindsight. <\/p>\n

\u201cThen it just nosedived, and in 2008, 2009, all the conversations about money in the house were: \u2018don\u2019t know how I\u2019m going to pay this bill, don\u2019t know how I\u2019m going to keep the lights on\u2019. We got our electricity changed over to one of those meters so it could be tracked more and it just wouldn\u2019t be topped up half the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really confusing, because we lived in this massive house, so outwardly it looked like we were loaded, but inside, it was like there was nothing going on,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it was a really hard time because in the middle of 2008, that\u2019s when my mum died. My mum didn\u2019t live with us, my parents were separated, and my mum was mentally unwell, and she was living in a care facility for mental health at the time,\u201d says Flynn.<\/p>\n

Flynn describes feeling \u201ca shift\u201d in 2008 where she went from feeling she could \u201cdo anything\u201d once she turned 18 to feeling pressured to pursue a traditionally stable career. She later went to Edinburgh to pursue a law degree but returned to Northern Ireland shortly afterwards due to ill health caused by endometriosis. She then went on to spend a decade working in hospitality and customer service in Belfast before moving to Glasgow four years ago to study photography, where she also dog-sits on the side.<\/p>\n

\u201cI obviously had a very extreme year in 2008, but I don\u2019t think that my circumstances are uncommon, because I think a lot of people lost parents, whether they took their own lives or families fell apart, or people split up or became depressed,\u201d says Flynn.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think, for a lot of people my age, it stripped away an innocence that people had as teenagers, where actually your life isn\u2019t just this little bubble with you and your friends and your family, there\u2019s this thing called the economy that affects everything that goes on around you, and it can actually just turn on its head and make everything very hard for you.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s made people my age really cautious with making big decisions. [We have] that awareness of how things can change.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut then, maybe there\u2019s another side to it that\u2019s made us resilient. We\u2019ve been through so much as a generation, we\u2019ve learned so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says the knock-on effects of the recession have left her generation struggling to secure stable long-term housing and to maintain close friendships \u201cbecause people are living everywhere\u201d, as a result. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe love living in Glasgow but I always open the conversation [with my husband] to, would you like to move closer to your family in Dundalk? And he says it\u2019s just not an option because it\u2019s a commuter town, it\u2019s on the train line [to Dublin] and when you look at the house prices, it\u2019s just mad.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe options feel so limited and anyone I know who has bought a home, they\u2019ve had help from their parents, but there\u2019s a whole wave of people that can\u2019t have that help because they were crippled by the recession and they\u2019re still recovering from it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

She has begun to think about potentially having children, \u201cbut, I never want to burden them the way we had to be burdened by things. And because I don\u2019t have a set career now, because I\u2019m back at university, it\u2019s something that really makes me question whether I would have a child, because it\u2019s so expensive, and you want them to have a certain quality of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want that security, so I am always researching my next step and always trying to stay prepared. I\u2019m always researching what I can do just to be stable.\u201d<\/p>\n

As CMAT belts out in the song that appears to have connected with so many of her peers: \u201cNo one says it out loud but I know it can be better if we hound it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Samaritans can be contacted on freephone: 116 123 or email: jo@samaritans.ie<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Irish singer CMAT (29) lit a spark earlier this summer when she released her song Euro-Country, in which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[25325,14867,18,8752,19,17,82,1150,2212],"class_list":{"0":"post-32303","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-celtic-tiger","9":"tag-cmat","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-housing-crisis","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-technology","15":"tag-tiktok","16":"tag-weekendreview"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}