Households feeling recession pinch

One in 10 households has borrowed money from friends or family to pay for basic services during the recession.

Official figures also show that one fifth of Irish residents have delayed or missed paying a bill over the last two years, while nearly half have spent all or some of their savings.

The figures, released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), reveal that more than half of households cut back on groceries and going out – with two-thirds spending less on clothes and footwear.

The Quarterly National Household Survey found spending on health insurance and pension contributions has also been cut by more than 10%.

The pilot survey evaluated the response of households to the economic downturn in the second quarter of last year.

One member of each household was asked if they had had to cut back on spending on several categories of goods or services as a result of the economic climate in Ireland.

They included utility bills, mortgage payments, groceries, clothing and footwear, holidays, going out, and extra classes for their children.

Some 79% of households said they had cut back their spending on at least one of the listed items including:

- One in 10 who delayed or missed loan repayments and a further 10% who skipped paying their credit card bill;

- One in five reduced spending on club memberships, with 10% cutting back on lessons or classes for adults or children;

- Holidays abroad were also cut back by just under half of all households.

The CSO said there were some clear differences in the behaviour of households depending on the age of the person surveyed, whether or not they were working and whether or not there were children in the house.

“Cutbacks were far more likely in a household where the reference person was aged less than 55 years,” it found.

Where the person quizzed was aged less than 35 or between 35 and 54 years, three quarters had cut back on clothing and footwear, compared with half of households where the person was aged 55 or older.

Some 64% of homes where the person was under 35 were buying cheaper groceries, compares to 42% of the over-55s.

Elsewhere, eight out of 10 unemployed households have cut back their spending on groceries, while homes with children were more likely than those without children to spend as much on food, clothes, going out and lessons or classes.

Financially, the survey found one in 10 households borrowed money from family or friends to pay for basic goods.

But it revealed single parents were most at risk, with a third borrowing cash, one quarter delaying or missing loan repayments and half not paying bills on time.

Almost 30% of households where the person quizzed was unemployed had borrowed money, with half of those not paying bills and more than a quarter missing loan repayments.

They were almost twice as likely to have spent their savings.