Survey shows money burned hole in Irish pockets

TIMES were good never better in fact in the late '90s. Cash was flush and people surely gave it a lash.

They went from the traditional Sunday round roast to sirloin; from the small economy car to the saloon or estate, from the cheque book to plastic money and from the B&B to the hotel when they went away for a short break.

They also spent money on their homes, installing more computers, dishwashers and stereos than ever before, while they went mad altogether on mobile phones.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) yesterday confirmed that the country had a mighty spending spree during the economic boom, though as Bertie, Charlie and government ministers keep grimly reminding us, things have changed for the worst.

The CSO's household budget survey, which involved almost 8,000 householders keeping close track of every penny that went out the door for two weeks in 1999/2000, shows that spending per week was up by 46% on a similar survey five years before.

But, incomes rose by 53% over the same period and, going on the old maxim that the more money you have the more you spend, most people let the goods times roll.

The average weekly spend on drink and tobacco per house rose by 45% to 44, spending on food went up by 31% to 117 and on transport by 67% to 95. Computers were in 30% of houses compared to 12% five years earlier and stereos in 66% of houses, as against 52% back in '95.

But, there may be trouble ahead.

"The second half of the 1990s was a time of great confidence, but people will be cutting back on spending now that the signals are going in the other direction,'' said Jewell Dermot Jewell, chief executive of the Consumers' Association of Ireland.