No, minister we didn’t all ‘party’ in the boom

THE worst economic crisis in Ireland’s history follows what, for many citizens, was a near-decade of prosperity in which average incomes soared, unemployment rates were at all-time lows and property owners watched the value of their homes rocket.

For many, the property boom became more about lining their own pockets instead of making an affordable home a realistic ambition for a generation of young Irish people.

But far from everybody was on the receiving end of the wealth that was generated before the bubble exploded.