ESRI optimists should wake up to realities behind ‘good times’ fantasy

We live in a world where suicide is as big a threat to young people as a road accident, where underage drinking is out of control, where the range of mental health problems is growing as our response to them shrinks. And that’s only a tiny part of the story.

READING the news reports of the latest Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) publication, I seriously began to wonder what planet they live on. You might have caught some of it on the news. The Celtic Tiger has been good for society as well as the economy. Everyone has benefited. Even the poor are less poor.

According to the press release accompanying the study, “the stresses of too much work and of juggling job and family life are less socially damaging than the stresses of too little work. National morale is among the highest in Europe. Social mobility has increased, as more people from modest backgrounds ascend into white-collar occupations. Even though there are problems in the health services, people’s health has improved”.