Ghost estates and broken lives: the human cost of the Irish crash

[marmar]

from the Independent UK:



Ghost estates and broken lives: the human cost of the Irish crash

By Michael Savage in Dublin and Donald Mahoney in Manorhamilton
Wednesday, 17 November 2010


They stand empty across Ireland: 300,000 unoccupied homes, a silent reproach to those who built them believing that the country's economic boom would never end. As Europe's finance ministers laboured in vain to reach an agreement on how to ease Ireland's economic misery last night, the so-called ghost estates were an awful reminder that the "survival crisis" the politicians were warning was under way had already hit ordinary people.

Dave O'Hara was one of those who bought into the "Celtic Tiger" at the beginning of the decade, eschewing a seven-generation family tradition of carving headstones in favour of a piece of the country's building boom. He founded a firm that constructed bespoke windows and doors for the thousands of upscale homes being built. The firm grew into a multimillion-euro enterprise, until the recession – and the collapse of the building industry – hit in September 2008.

Now his company is in liquidation, and Mr O'Hara, 41, who has one child, is on the dole. He owes the Bank of Scotland more than ¤1m (£850,000).

Like many others, Mr O'Hara's anger is aimed at the banks, which have already been bailed out and seem destined to force the government to seek further help of some kind from Ireland's European partners. "Everyone is responsible for their own actions, but the burden is being brought to bear on the people on the end of the line. In Ireland right now, it's better to owe ¤50m than ¤50,000. The people who have sinned the most are suffering the least," he said, sitting in his cottage along the borderlands between Leitrim and Sligo, in the boggy north-west of the country. "I don't know what's coming, but I know what we've got isn't going to stay. I've lost all faith and confidence in our system." .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ghost-estates-and-broken-lives-the-human-cost-of-the-irish-crash-2136104.html

[lonestarnot]

1. I'd like to see more of the story here too.

[dmr]

2. "The people who have sinned the most are suffering the least"

Boy, he sure nailed it.

They aren't suffering at all, sad to say.

This is a damn shame for any of us to have to endure. All because of greedy greed.
x(

[DCKit]

3. From "Rosalie Goes Shopping" (a very funny movie):

"When You're $100,000 In Debt, It's Your Problem. When You're $1,000,000 In Debt... It's The Bank's."

[MidwestTransplant]

4. The Republicans used to laud Irelands corporate tax structure