The Irish economy

Was chatting to a few tradesmen the other day. The blocklayer had work for 8 men for the last 6 years and turning down work regularly. Back to a squad of 4 and only 2 weeks work on at the minute

They forgot to put in not paid very much

Banks still want to lend

Household debt is far lower

Money hasn't disappeared so demand will still exist 

I think tourism and hospitality could rebound fairly quickly. But certainly a hard period ahead 

I think tourism may take a while. A lot of people will be cautious about travelling and it will be a very uncertain time for airlines. 

In saying that, I think a lot more people will holiday domestically over the next few years too, which will soften some of the blow.

The economic outcomes will be different. I think it’s likely that the national debt will be high, and the real economy will be hit as a product of job losses, redundancies, and businesses that will unfortunately close. However, there will remain a demand in the longer term for these businesses, and that when the crisis is over, things will return to normal and people will want to socialise, eat out, drink in pubs, attend gigs etc, and hopefully this will create a relatively speedy revival. 

This is different to 2008 when we had a massive national debt, along with the banking deficit, where money was being flung into the abyss to support non existent banks.

Hill 16 on tour  The city that fought on empire is going on a nationwide roadshow