The economy was once at Status Red

Despite some challenges, we’re in better economic shape than the last time a big freeze hit, says Jim Power.

As the country ground to a halt this week due to the severe cold weather and lots of snow, which is in turn being caused by very strange climatic conditions in the North Pole, or at least that is what sensible climate scientists are saying, it is worth reminiscing on where the Irish economy was the last time we had such severe weather conditions.

At the end of 2010, the country was in the depths of a very deep recession. The unemployment rate was moving towards 16% of the labour force, consumer spending was under serious pressure, and employment levels were still in decline.