The lyrical content of modern pop music rarely strays explicitly into politics and economics.
The recently released song Euro-Country by Co Meath singer-songwriter CMAT is an exception, addressing her childhood in the post-Celtic Tiger years and the trauma experienced as a result of the economic crash, bailout and austerity years.
“All the big boys, all the Berties, all the envelopes, yeah, they hurt me ...” she sings.
The Euro-Country video features CMAT wandering through a largely deserted shopping centre wearing a top emblazoned with the word “Bertie”.
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As Bertie Ahern was mentioned recently as a possible candidate for the Irish presidency, the song’s popularity provided a boon to critics of the former taoiseach and his government’s policies before the crash. (Ahern has since said he will not run for president.)
“I was 12 when the das started killing themselves all around me,” it continues. “And it was normal building houses that stay empty even now ...”
The reference to suicide has reopened analysis of that time and the psychological impact of economic loss and unemployment.
“The pre-existing downward trend in male suicide was reversed in Ireland during the downturn, more than in many other EU countries,” says Brendan Kelly, professor of psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin.
Kelly says the noticeable increase in Irish male suicide from 2007 onwards can be mapped directly against the economic crash. Recorded suicides had been dropping in Ireland as prosperity and employment increased throughout the boom, but as the construction sector began slowing, the trend was quickly reversed.
He cites research by the National Suicide Research Foundation (NSRF) showing that the rate of male suicide between the years of 2007 and 2012 was 57 per cent higher than it would have been had the economy not crashed.
“There was no other plausible cause of sufficient magnitude at the time,” he says.
A comparative study of suicide rates across Europe at the time shows Ireland’s experience was among the worst.
Along with Greece and Latvia, Ireland witnessed an increase of more than 15 per cent. This is compared with the likes of Bulgaria, France and Germany, where instances of male suicide rose by less than 3 per cent.
Kelly says that across Europe during the “Great Recession” of this period male suicide increases “were significantly associated” with increases in the unemployment rate. For every 1 per cent increase in unemployment, they rose by 0.9 per cent.
Ireland bore this out, he says.
More than 40 per cent of the recorded cases between September 2008 and March 2012 were among men who had worked in construction – a sector that laid off some 200,000 workers during that period.
State intervention to protect jobs and livelihoods during the Covid pandemic, when large parts of the economy closed overnight to stem the spread of the virus, prevented a repeat of this increase in the suicide rate.
The NSRF found there was no increase in male suicide rates in the first 15 months, despite hundreds of thousands of people being out of work for a sustained period.
The study suggested that the emergency unemployment measures introduced in Ireland and most developed economies were “critical” in this scenario.
By the time Covid arrived, the State was flush with unexpected corporation tax revenues from the big US multinationals, bolstering the public finances. Such fiscal wriggle-room was not available in 2008 – as the Fianna Fáil government pursued drastic cutbacks in public spending.
This suggests that the human toll in Ireland might have been lessened had austerity policies not been so severe or so long-lasting.
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“It was fairly clear that the recession began in 2008, but the impact it had on the rate of suicide went on for some time, with the bailout and emigration going on for several years,” says Paul Corcoran, head of research at the NSRF.
He points to international research by academic David Stuckler that suggests there is a clear relationship between austerity measures and suicide.
“Some European countries at that time were able to maintain their social supports and that helped to soften the effects of the recession,” he says.
“Whereas in Ireland, people were losing their jobs – and at the same time cuts were happening in social welfare that were worsening the situation.
“It explains why there was such a sustained impact on the suicide rate in Ireland over those years. It seemed to last five or six years after the recession hit. It feels plausible to me that the austerity policies prolonged this.”
He notes that Ireland saw a much-improved outcome during Covid and this can reasonably be linked to the wage supports.
“You would hope if there was the same sort of shock again, the Government wouldn’t implement austerity policies,” he says.
In the decades that followed the Great Depression, the western world seemed to learn the importance of supporting workers through difficult periods to prevent a re-run of the miseries endured in the 1920s and 1930s. This period greatly contributed to the development of the welfare state.
Lessons from the past can be learned.
The question of whether Ireland is better prepared than it was to help people struggling under financial strains is hard to answer, however. Would there be better mental health outcomes in the event of an economic shock like that of 2008?
“It is very difficult to forecast – everyone has a unique response to financial pressure, like a different fingerprint,” says Rionach Campbell, a clinician at the suicide and self-harm prevention charity Pieta.
“On financial matters the support available is still very limited in terms of the list of services we can refer people to.
“Very often there is a huge fear about going back to your bank – or talking to your bank manager about support.”
Campbell said she would like to see more options in addition to the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (Mabs) “where people can get guidance”.
She applauds the work being done by Mabs in parts of the country that have been hardest hit by the rising cost of living and notes that valuable research has been carried out covering the impact of food-price inflation.
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However, overall support for people struggling to manage their personal and family finances could be improved, she says.
“There is always the sense that more should be done. All we can do is keep lobbying and keep asking – and to do the research that is needed to back up services around the country,” she says.
Given the healthy state of the public finances – fuelled in large part by the multinational sector through tax revenues and wages – the Government recently rolled out enhanced jobseekers’ payments.
Depending on workers’ previous income and PRSI contributions, people can claim up to €450 a week for three months after they become unemployed. This drops to €375 a week for the following three months – and then €300 for the three months after that.
This brings Ireland into line with several other EU states and is designed to help individuals through the initial stages of an unexpected redundancy.
With the unemployment rate still close to historic lows – and no sign yet of a major loss in exchequer funding – economists say such measures are certainly easy to afford at present.
A new structural economic shock, however – such as that which destroyed the construction sector – would test the State’s ability to retain such enhanced measures indefinitely.
The implications for mental health in such a scenario are unclear.
If you have been affected by this article, you can contact Pieta 24/7 on Freephone 1800 247 247 or text HELP to 51444.
