It’s 2.43am and i’m back in my rented gaff in Dalkey, Dublin, Ireland after my first Friday night out following my first two weeks living in London. To be honest i’m gagging to get back to the UK asap to get back to what is now becoming a taste of reality after a big dose [...]
It’s 2.43am and i’m back in my rented gaff in Dalkey, Dublin, Ireland after my first Friday night out following my first two weeks living in London. To be honest i’m gagging to get back to the UK asap to get back to what is now becoming a taste of reality after a big dose of Celtic Tiger horseshit. We, as Irish, have been living the high life over the last ten to fifteen years, totally taking for granted our financial offerings from the EEC (now the EU of course), and the help so many states have given us since our formation as a nation in 1922 (1937 if you want to be pedantic about it), and we desperately needed a kick in the hole. Now we’ve had it.
I just went out tonight in Dalkey. You know? The place where Edge from U2 lives, Enya, blah blah. They really live in Killiney but Dalkey’s where it’s at, and the place that claims them as residents. Damon Hill (the F1 Driver) lived here, as did colleague Eddie Irvine. Neil Jordan lives here. Lisa Stansfield lived here for a while when she was trying to kick the booze habit, and our wonderful Irish celeb economist David McWilliams lives nearby.
A hub of celebrity activity, and therefore wealth you may say? 12 months ago you may have been correct, but not so today.
There were no celebs in Dalkey tonight. Just the regular inhabitants of an increasingly jaded south Dublin, drinking away their recessionary woes and pains. Some of those out tonight are on the dole - of these, a huge amount enjoy being on the dole. Why bother getting a job when you and your impregnated missus can gather every social benefit known to man, and come out with €40,000 a year for doing absolutely sweet fuck all?
And then we have the taxi drivers.
For so long the taxi drivers of Dublin have been trying everything to squeeze the last little cent out of the needy and financially raped Irish customer. They even decided to lash a ‘fuel levy’ onto cab fares about six months ago when fuel prices went skyward for a month or two. Clearly they missed out on the business studies part of secondary school, if they bothered to attend the education they were given for free. You can’t peddle ice to the eskimos, specially when it’s already overpriced and you want to charge for keeping that overpriced ice cool.
In the past i’ve left the Queens in Dalkey - at a time when I didn’t live (rent) in Dalkey - and couldn’t get a cab home for love nor money. Tonight… well, let me give you a visual perspective on my amusement. Here goes: http://twitpic.com/apt0b
No, you’ve not just looked at a Carlsberg ad from 2004, you’ve looked at a posh south county Dublin suburb from summer 2009. Twelve months ago, at 2am, each and every one of those taxi drivers in the picture you just looked at were in their leabas havin a little snooze - when consumers needed them most. Now that they’re fucked like the rest of the country they’re bothering to queue up for business - as they should have done twelve months ago.
I’ve not lived in London long - in fact i’ve not yet moved full time - but what i’ve noticed is that London today is the exact same as it was 5, 7, even 10 years ago. The dole is shit, the incentive to work is great, and the place is relentlessly buzzing. I went for dinner at a French restaurant at Spitalfields market on Tuesday and it was jammed - I could barely get a table, I had to wait. On a Tuesday! Why? They bothered their hole to cut their prices during a slow period, do two for one specials, and get people through the doors.
In comparison heaps of Irish restaurants have decided to simply half arsedly do ‘lunch specials’ at two courses for €23 (fuck off please, it should be a tenner) and give up, going out of business and leaving the banks with their bad debts and egg on their faces.
Hopefully in years to come the Irish will look back on the early part of the millennium and roll their eyes to heaven. ‘What the fuck were we thinking’, they’ll say. And hopefully they’ll realise for a little island in the Atlantic we had it good - very, very good - and we fucked it up.
Not our government. Not world markets. Ourselves.
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2 Responses
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeLSNzEorbI
I’m on the dole, lost my job of 11 years ,have 3 kids and a wife who works parttime. I intend to find work as soon as I can and it is not from the want of trying, but cutting the dole isn’t going to work. I would love to know how you came up with this €40000 figure? So you have distain for anyone on the dole! I can’t afford to socialise and a truely it seems you have become too good for “south county dublin” now most of them joined the dole queues. If The UK suits you best perhaps you should jump this sinking ship. Enjoy the above link , And please let us know how you are getting on in London after you have spent more than two weeks there.
Joe Dole,
Firstly it’s better if you use your real email when commenting, it’ll make the comment look less spammy.
In relation to the €40k figure - it’s very achievable in certain circumstances. The dole itself is massive in Ireland compared to other countries, and even our colleagues in Northern Ireland. Way too much. During the celtic tiger, we had it good so benefits were introduced for everything under the sun. The Government is now pulling some of those back, and as a result people are whinging about it. Why? It was a ‘bonus’ of the celtic tiger, so it has to go now because we can’t afford it. End of.
I sympathise with your situation when it comes to being unemployed - i’ve plenty of friends in the same situation, who are also looking for work.
However there are plenty out there who have been offered the chance to work three day weeks, change work practices, or take small pay cuts - in the private and public sector - but they choose to instead to fight these changes which would secure the long term future of their jobs. The companies who try to make these changes can’t come to agreement with them, or their unions, and have to shut.
These workers then end up on the dole. Whose fault is it?
London’s great by the way, i’ve been here two months now