Counting the human cost of the bust as mental health services feel strain

First, a history lesson. During the years of the Celtic Tiger (a title destined to haunt us forever), the economy of this benighted republic grew by a staggering average rate of 9.4 per cent between 1995 and 2000, and thereafter at an average annual rate of 5.5 per cent in the years up to 2008. Since then, it has been downhill all the way. Unemployment levels have risen to 14.8 per cent (July 2012). In a short time, we have gone from being one of Europe's poorest nations, to one of the richest, and back again - and our future remains uncertain. Our greatest folly lay in putting so much store in the building industry, and while the housing sector (and its 'bubble') provided most of the post-Tiger gloom, I remember in particular the profligacy evident in the Republic's hotel industry where tax-incentivised building ensured an over-supply of bedrooms at the rate of 25 per cent. Economist Peter Bacon, in a report on the hotel industry in 2009, drew attention to this over-supply. I remember him being interviewed on RTE radio shortly afterwards and being asked what we should do about that situation. His answer was that we should consider demolishing 25 per cent of those hotels so that the industry itself would have a viable future. In his report, he had argued for implementation of a "managed process of capacity reduction", removing between 12,300 and 15,300 hotel bedrooms. He went on: "The important issue is to ensure that the adjustment in room numbers should be in a manner which leaves an overall profile of supply appropriate to the development of demand." In shorthand, we can read that as "don't build hotels until you know how many you're going to need". If only he had written those words pre-Tiger, but we now know that all regulation (public and private) went out the window during those years. We need to think about the human cost of all this economic carnage. While many sectors of Irish society have been hit, I have always felt that those suffering most were those involved in the building industry. TV commentators invented the term 'Breakfast Roll Man' for the hordes of workers, largely young people, who headed out in minibuses and vans for building sites around the country. When the property bubble burst, these young people found themselves deprived of a livelihood, the great benefits of camaraderie on the sites, and the few extra euro for socialising at the weekend. Their fate has been tied up with the economic decline and it comes as no surprise this week to learn of increases in mental health issues in the north-east. "Financial pressures and unemployment have caused a spiralling of conditions among those who have been suffering from mental health issues and we've noticed a big increase in the number of enquiries to our help groups so far this year," according to Mary French, co-ordinator of Grow Ireland's north-east region. As a result, the organisation is planning to increase its services in this area with two regional groups set to be established here this month. A new Grow group will meet weekly at Navan Library every Monday from 24th September from 10.30am to 12.30pm. The organisation has identified the recession and the increased isolation among people in the community as the cause of a rise in depression, In many cases, people who are unemployed feel they have nowhere to turn in dealing with that isolation and feeling of helplessness. Grow has 130 groups operating nationwide (many of them run by volunteers), so it should be relatively easy for people who are suffering to reach out to someone who can help. We all have a part to play in ensuring that these victims of the bust get the professional help and companionship that they need.