'We'll be living on beans for five years." It is said with a smile, but it is hard to escape the feeling that Julianne Molloy is only half joking when she talks about how last week's budget will affect herself and her family.
Molloy and her husband David, who have two children aged three and six, have been hit hard by the recent downturn.
Speaking at the Blanchardstown shopping centre in Dublin, the Huntstown-based couple acknowledged that they had yet to work out exactly how much the measures announced by finance minister Brian Lenihan on Tuesday will cost them in real terms.
At a rough estimate, clerical worker Julianne guesses the family is down about €160 a month due to the measures introduced in the budget.
In recent months they have already had to cancel their family camping holiday to France, forfeiting the €175 deposit they paid in the process.
Instead they will be taking a shorter holiday in Cork. They booked the trip to Trabolgan for May, as prices are lower then, meaning they can still afford the family break.
Now they shop in the discount supermarket Lidl, with more traditional retailers like Dunnes Stores and their local newsagents relegated to somewhere where they "get a few bits".
There is no jewellery, or expensive bouquets of flowers on Julianne's birthday. The couple simply cannot afford such luxuries.
Other more subtle things to go by the wayside include spending money on non-essential clothes, eating out in restaurants, and Julianne having her hair washed and blow dried every week.
"We would have gone out every two to three weeks to restaurants, and then there's bringing the kids to TGI Friday's and stuff like that. That's gone," David says.
David, a taxi driver by profession who usually operates from the taxi rank next to Dublin's Gresham hotel, also says the five-cent rise on the price of diesel in last week's budget will hit his pocket.
"With the diesel going up, I know it's only five cent a litre but it's an extra running cost you just can't afford," he says. "I could sit on that rank in the past and get a fare every 15-20 minutes. Now I could be an hour-and-a-half there. People don't have the money, they'll tell you that themselves. People are trying to bargain with me."
More worryingly for the couple, Julianne believes they could be facing a further decline in their income later this year due to the government's plans to means test children's allowance.
Already from next month they are facing the hit of losing half of their €1,000 a year childcare supplement payment, with the remainder abolished by the end of this year. And they are unclear how the replacement – a year's free pre-school for each child – will work for them.
Hence Julianne's belief that the weekly shopping will have to go, to be replaced by more ad hoc day-to-day spending on groceries as and when they strictly need (and can afford) them.
"We have two car loans as well. We were able to afford them until now but I'm not sure any more. And you can't sell the cars as no one wants to buy them," she explains.
The effect of the reduced spending power of families such as the Molloys is also being seen elsewhere. Late last week, the Sunday Tribune visited small to medium-sized retailers in three Co Meath commuter belt towns –Ashbourne, Dunshaughlin and Ratoath. These have traditionally been heavily dependent on "discretionary" money people have to spend.
Ranging from restaurant owners, to florists, dry cleaners to DIY merchants, all have witnessed a sharp decline in trade over the past six to 12 months.
Eileen O'Dwyer poses proudly for the Sunday Tribune's photographer in the shop which bears her husband's name over its doors.
Immaculately dressed and refreshingly direct in her conversation, she says trade at Jim O'Brien's carpets in Dunshaughlin is down by as much as 50% in the past year. Much of their trade is done over the phone too, she says.
"People certainly don't have the cash flow, and I would think an awful lot are paying by credit card now," she says. "People are looking for the 25% discount that Eddie Hobbs has promised them. It is happening all the time.
"We're a family business, and Jim is 40 years in the carpet trade. I don't personally remember anything like this," she says.
When people come to her shop these days, more often than not they are doing so with the clear intention of buying.
"I would be very disappointed if someone came in and I lost them. Like I say, at the moment if people come in, they're coming in to buy, they're not coming in to look," she says. "So you make sure when customers come through the door now that you don't lose them."
Even with the budget taking more money out of many of her potential customers' pockets, O'Dwyer believes people are beginning to "get on with their lives" again. But they are still afraid of spending, as they "don't know what's down the road".
As a result, she fears that the financial situation which her potential customers may find themselves in by Christmas could be even worse, with inevitable implications for her business.
"We still have to pay our overheads, our water rates, ground rents and so on. So there's nothing going down in price for us. And yet it's a harder sell for us."
'There is less money there but people are putting more thought into it. For example, generally a man coming into the shop is happier to go with something in their set price range. They are happy for you to suggest things. But they will also look at a bunch for €45 or €60, and ask what are you going to give it to me for, rather than pay that price."
This is how Moira Murphy describes the impact of the recent downturn, and more recently last week's budget, on her business. Flowers by Moira has been operating on Dunshaughlin's main street for 26 years now.
"I would have got a lot of corporate work, and I have a lovely loyal local trade," she explains. "But you'd definitely notice it with an event that might have been booked last year, then it suddenly is changed from a dinner to a drinks situation, and then it is even cancelled. So it's gone completely."
This has an inevitable impact on her business, which has also seen a slowdown in the key wedding trade.
"Come January, all brides would usually get booking for their wedding. But that didn't happen this year. Would you believe it that it is only starting really now?"
Walk-in trade is definitely down, the most recent example being Valentine's day. Young people who may be trying to pay their mortgages just didn't have the same money to spend.
The budget will impact further, she believes. This is something which she says is a challenge to a small business like hers which is so focused on customer service. She has already had to let two part-time staff go.
"We just have to give customers better options. You have to be more flexible, I suppose. For example extend the hours you work to meet deadlines... it means I'm working longer hours. But I'm in this business for the service."
Sales of 'fancy light goods' such as barbecues and lawnmowers have almost completely died, says DIY and hardware merchant Michael Lawless.
The front shop of Lawless Home Value Hardware in Dunshaughlin is quiet when we enter, but it is busier out in the backyard.
A staff member drives a forklift truck nearby as we speak, hurrying to meet orders from customers.
Lawless himself is in the midst of talking to another customer when we approach him first.
Standing in the muddy back yard, he is blunt in his assessment of prospects for the trade.
The price of stock such as timber, which in the past would have serviced a booming housing market, has fallen hugely.
"Prices of stock are coming down, but you're afraid to buy the stock as you don't know what the demand will be," he explains. "Customers are only buying what they can afford. But you still have to do business.
"Overall, people are haggling big time. There is complete uncertainty there."
Having just returned from holiday, he had missed the specific details of the budget, he says.
But there appears little doubt that the building and home improvement trade will take a hit.
Seán, his customer, agrees wholeheartedly with Lawless' assessment of the current market. It is the basic items that people are holding off on buying, and there is real uncertainty out there.
"Everybody has to haggle," he says.
'It is probably too early for me to tell what impact the budget is going to have, at this moment," says Andrew Lynch, manager of the Ashbourne Travel Centre. "But trade is definitely slower than last year.
"You have to remember that holidays are probably a luxury item in terms of most people's pockets. So someone who may have been going to book is waiting to see if their job is secure first."
January and February are usually busier than they have been this year, although trade is beginning to pick up, with many people looking for last-minute deals, Lynch says.
"People in January and February were worried if their job was going to be there next year, so they were holding off. But there has been a gradual improvement. People maybe know where they stand a bit more in terms of pay cuts etc, so they can budget for the future. They are reassessing the situation."
But whereas in the past people might have taken two or three holidays a year, they are now focused on one main holiday instead, he says.
"I find people who had the money for long-haul holidays, for example to Dubai or Thailand, can't afford that, so they are going to the Canary Islands instead. And the people who would have gone to the Canary Islands are maybe just doing a weekend in Ireland."
Faced with increased competition from the internet, the business model of travel agents such as Lynch is facing unprecedented pressure from customers who are only too aware of what bargains are around.
"People are going to be working harder to make up the losses in income, and will be saying that they need a holiday... But they are definitely shopping around," he says.
"We have a client base that we have built up over 25 years. I'm working here five years, and I'm in the business 12 years. But this is the worst I've ever seen it."
A sheet of paper advertising the restaurant's 'Tennerfest' promotion is prominently displayed at both branches of La Bucca, in Ashbourne and Ratoath.
Where before they used to have to turn customers away and were filled seven days a week, both restaurants have resorted to offering all pizzas, pastas and burger for a tenner Monday to Thursday.
The fact that they are advertising this bargain at all provides a useful illustration of the impact of the downturn on trade in the town.
In fact, the restaurants' owner, Russell Bailey, says that he now spends many of his mornings meeting suppliers, bargaining with them to get their costs down.
Often he finds he is pushing an open door, with the only real issue being the amount of discount, not whether a discount should be available at all.
"Everything is negotiable at the moment. Every single supplier I have approached has reduced their prices. For example, a year ago I was paying €32 for 20 litres of cooking oil. Now I'm paying €18."
The first branch of La Bucca opened in boomtime Ashbourne five years ago. It did so well that it prompted Bailey to open a second branch, in the Corballis Demesne, Ratoath, two years ago.
Just last August, he opened a wine bar called Novello. It was also just as the recession really began to kick in.
"The wine bar had no time to build a regular (and loyal) clientele, so it has taken a hit, definitely," he says.
Sitting in his Ratoath restaurant, Bailey says that, more generally, the only mid-week customers it gets are budget-conscious diners "looking for a deal".
His clientele are mainly young professionals, many with growing families, and often commuting to Dublin for work. There is a catchment area of around 9,000 people in the vicinity of his business in Ratoath.
People are happy enough to pay full prices at the weekend, particularly on Saturdays, he says. But even then, the restaurant's takeaway service on Friday has "gone through the roof", as customers opt to stay in with a bottle of wine or beer from the off-licence rather than paying restaurant prices.
"Going back a year, we were turning away nearly as many customers as we served," he says. "Now our job is to make sure every customer has such a good experience they will come back. I think it makes everybody up their game."
Last week's budget, and the money it takes out of his potential customers' pockets, could be dire, he warns.
"Two years ago when we opened here there was no 'tennerfest'. We were full seven nights a week," he says."We virtually only sell house wines now. The top end of the wine list is virtually irrelevant.
"I think in the past when it came to the weekend, people would splash out. But the budget could even destroy our weekend trade."
Nearly every customer you talk to at the cash desk will comment on how tough things are, says Catherine Osborne, manager of Kasura boutique in Ashbourne town.
Sitting in her small stock room, where photos of different outfits are pinned to the wall, Osborne is only too aware of how the budget might affect her clientele's spending power.
The shop was established five years ago and has built up a loyal client base in the intervening years.
As with so many such boutiques up and down the country, it specialises in offering attentive customer service coupled with designs that are not available in better-known high street shops.
"So many people are talking about the economy. It used to be that you would talk about things like holidays, going to New York on a trip for example. But that's all gone now," Osborne says.
The shop has had to respond to the fact that people simply don't have as much money to spend in the only way it can – by reducing its prices. This has led to an across the board price decrease of 25% on all its stock.
"Sales are down on last year quite considerably, and we had to discount all our prices just to get people in and spending money. And it has worked," she says.
"But people are listening to what they're hearing in the media, and looking for a bargain. And what with job losses and so on, everybody has tightened their belts. It's very tough.
"Our profit margins are right down, and the hope is that if we can turn over more stock and sell more stock, that will help to compensate. But we've had to sacrifice our margins."
It is not a strategy they can afford to implement indefinitely.
"We're doing it at the moment to survive. This has been the quiet part of the season, and we're hoping that when the weather picks up, business might too."
These days you really have to encourage customers, when they do drop in their dry-cleaning, to avail of extra discounts by including other items in their wash, says Bernadette Joyce, assistant manager of Gill's dry-cleaners and launderette in Dunshaughlin.
She believes people are opting to get the clothes they already own properly cleaned, whereas before they might have simply bought new ones.
"People just can't afford to buy new clothes any more, so it is cheaper to get them washed and dried here," she says.
Another change in customer behaviour is that, if an item of clothing such as a coat can be either washed or dry-cleaned, "people are going for washing it. Dry-cleaning would be a luxury for some people now.
"In saying that, we have a lot of special offers. You have to encourage people to come in. You have to look after the customer and encourage them to come back.
"I would always ask someone, if they are dropping in a suit, why don't you bring in your other suit? It works out cheaper that way than if you do them individually."
Her boss, Frank Gill, also operates two other dry-cleaners and launderettes in Westport and Ballina, Co Mayo.
He says all have seen a decrease in trade, but Dunshaughlin is the worst affected of the three.
Overall, trade is down by about 22%-23%, and the budget will hardly help matters.
He believes the decline in Dunshaughlin can be partly attributed to the fact that a lot of the customers are living in the town and working in Dublin, and they "don't have the few bob any more".
As a result, they are cutting down on both dry-cleaning and service washes.
Back inside her shop, Bernadette agrees.
"Trade would be down, definitely. It's just not as busy as it was."
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Are these people for real?!
Is this article a joke that I am just not grasping?
Poverty;"state of being low in quality"
I guess everyone has their own definition.
Our ancestors walked barefoot over this land driven only by hunger and a sense of survival.
Today,we cannot even afford to eat in a good restaurant at least three times a week,
go to the parlour for our weekly make-over,or even grant our children an education in a private school,as only befits our darlings.
I must be the happiest man in Ireland:
I am talking to the neighbours now who choose to ignore me for years,
you see,they had an SUV and I did nt!(they dont have it anymore)
Of course I realise the people I am talking to now are the greatest of phoneys,
(I know this because their D4 accent has kinda reverted back to D7)
but it really does not bother me.
Sure,whats the point in getting too despondent,
There must be a few of us left who still know that our true wealth lies on the inside.
I ll invite em over for dinner some time to gauge their opinion,
because you see there is always hope for us poor sad peasants,
because there is always LIFE!