Daft Property - Irish Property News

We've never had it so bad, ESRI warns... Recession worst since the 1930s, think-tank reveals IRELAND is suffering the worst recession of any advanced country since the 1930s, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) warns in a grim analysis of the economy. Unemployment could rise above 500,000 as national income (GNP) is forecast to fall by 14pc over the three years from 2008 to 2010. The fall in national income beats the 11pc decline in the Finnish crisis of 1990 to 1993, when the collapse of the Soviet Union suddenly deprived Finland of its main market. The ESRI believes this year will be the worst of the crisis, with income per person plunging by more than 9pc in real terms. But there will be further decline next year, with a 1.2pc fall in national income. The stark outline comes as new figures will today show that the rate of increase in unemployment has slowed, but that 384,000 people are signing on. The CSO statistics reveal that an additional 11,000 signed on the li...

How our young will get through the recession... BASICS: Sewing and baking is key... THE younger generation is being urged to get back to basics and learn the long forgotten skills of sewing, baking and fending for themselves in a series of classes to be held in Dublin city. Celebrity chef Darina Allen recently said that elderly people have the know-how to cope with limited budgets, but those in younger age groups may find it difficult to survive in the recession. Helpless "People have been so focused on careers and academia that they are helpless when they lose their jobs," she said. "They don't have money and they realise they don't have skills that would help them through. "From a small budget, grandmothers were able to feed the family," she added. "They could look in the fridge and make a meal out of all sorts of little scraps . That is a skill that's lost - being able to judge it yourself when food is safe to eat and when it is not. It...

How greed is the rot at society's dying core... OPINION: A PAIR of travel-worn slippers, a brass bowl and plate, round-rimmed glasses and an old pocket watch recently fetched a whopping $1.8 million at a New York auction. The memorabilia constituted just about all the earthly possessions of Mahatma Gandhi, the man Churchill infamously described as the “naked fakir” or beggar. Coincidentally, on the anniversary of the death of Gandhi, who epitomised austerity and simplicity, Seán Quinn, Ireland’s richest man, admitted in an RTÉ interview following the collapse of Anglo Irish Bank to feeling that “we were too greedy” ... It may well be deemed a collective admission from all of us, who in varying degrees, have brought on this global recession. Topping the list will be those whose greed has subsumed the hopes and dreams of generations, to the extent where radio shows that hitherto dished up discussions on caviare and champagne are recommending snail and nettle soup as its recession fla...

Does this finally mean bye-bye to Bertieland? Just because Brian Cowen et al are proclaiming the end of crony capitalism doesn't mean it's dead yet... They do things differently in Sweden. Up there, they pull together in crisis. They show a united face to the outside world when the chips are down. They are ideal candidates for a social solidarity pact. Out here on the far side of Bertieland, we don't have the stomach for such happy-clappy stuff. On Wednesday, Brian Lenihan announced details for the National Asset Management Agency, or, if you will, the bad bank. This agency will take control of the property assets in the country's main banks, thus freeing up the banks to lend money to businesses. The book value of the assets, most of which are toxic, is estimated at €80bn to €90bn. Nobody knows the real value of the assets because at the moment, as nothing is selling, there is no market in which to put a price on them. The process is designed to clean up the horrendous ...

Ireland's dream is over as bankers chase McJobs... In Dublin, the sushi conveyor belt has stopped turning at one of the city's swankiest Japanese restaurants. In the west of the country, a new McDonald's outlet has been inundated with job applicants, among them bankers, architects and accountants. As signs of the times go, it could hardly be more dramatic. “It's no joke, I had to do a double-take on the CVs,” Kieran McDermott, the franchisee, said. He removed a “Now Hiring” banner on the site of the fast-food restaurant after only ten days. “The jobs were advertised nowhere else.” More than 500 people applied for the 50 available jobs. From indulging the latest food fad to flipping burgers, Ireland's fall from economic grace has been dramatic . Europe's most successful economy for more than a decade - the famous Celtic Tiger - became the first of the eurozone nations to move officially into recession last autumn. Since then, the descent into a financial maelstro...

Will your lifestyle survive?... THE GARDA and the Army have been refreshing their riot-control skills in recent times. Clearly, the fear is that the Irish might emulate their French and Greek counterparts and stage a peasants’ revolt. But even Opposition party members are taken aback by the “rather eerie silence” around the constituencies in the wake of the emergency Budget ... “The only flashpoint was the Pat Kenny show with Brian Lenihan,” says one Fine Gaeler. That programme featured a 51-year-old teacher on €63,000 who stood to lose €800-€900 a month. Although she might be considered better off than most, she claimed to understand “how people go home and hang themselves”. The main sense was an absence of hope. Some households stood to lose a third of their income, yet there was no sign of economic stimulus. And what was it all for? As Caroline, a mother of four, told The Irish Times : “It’s to pay for the smart gambles hatched in the Galway tent. And the only hope they can offer u...

World reaction to Budget... The reaction to the Budget from European and US websites was wide ranging, with news organisations throughout the globe reporting on the new measures introduced by the Government. The story was picked up not only the usual large media organisations such as the BBC and the Independent, but also by papers less familiar to Irish taxpayers, such as Canada's Toronto Star. The Times online carried a short video clip about the emergency budget and what it would mean for Britain's economy. Describing it as a "bust budget" , the video said Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan was delivering his second emergency Budget in seventh months, describing it as a grim task for any finance minister. However, it pointed out that Ireland had some advantages over Britain, with a smaller national debt, and said that markets would now be looking to Britain's fiscal position. The accompanying article described the measures as a way to address the "runaway...

The Orphans of Ireland... DINGLE, Ireland — Under a sky that looks like a late-winter coat of sheep fleece, the island of saints and scholars falls away in a sheer drop to the Atlantic. The next parish over, they say from this far western edge of Ireland, is Boston. It is reassuring to an Irish-American on a first-time visit to find the wellspring of poets and balladeers as advertised: those emerald fields, those ruddy-cheeked fishermen warming pub seats, a land of stone and cold wind that produced a lyrical people and a music embraced more than ever by the young. But it is also jarring to see this ancient landscape littered with empty monuments to the kind of excess that helped bring down the global economy. For a time, the Irish thought they would never fall off those cliffs into the sea; a nation of barely 4 million people could defy gravity. If Barack Obama, the president with roots in County Offaly, were to skip across the Irish Sea this week he would find a big part of what affli...