Ireland 2008 - 2012: Untold Story of the Crisis - Gender, Equality and Inequalities

Ireland was the first EU country to declare itself officially in recession in August 2008 and the second EU country to have a structural adjustment programme imposed by the IMF/ECB/EU, known as ‘the troika’. The turnaround of the Irish economy has been dramatic - from one with the highest levels of GDP and employment growth to among those with the highest unemployment, emigration and debt levels across the EU - in the space of just a few short years. Ireland’s economic policy throughout the ‘boom years’ had been based on a low tax strategy and the consequences of this have shaped the particular way in which the recession has unfolded and its enormous negative impact on Irish public finances. Firstly, the overreliance on taxation income from a completely overblown property and construction sector and secondly, the high level of public subsidy that has been made available to a crisis-ridden Irish banking sector through nationalisations, capital injections and taking over of ‘bad loans’. Since 2008, the Irish government has guaranteed not just depositors but also all bondholders, secured and unsecured, in Irish banks and credit institutions - including those who have already failed. Private corporate debt has been transformed into private sovereign debt, placing a huge burden on the economy as a whole and with particular serious consequences for low and middle income households.