Post-2008 Irish economic downturn

The post-2008 Irish economic downturn in the Republic of Ireland,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} coincided with a series of banking scandals, followed the 1990s and 2000s Celtic Tiger period of rapid real economic growth fuelled by foreign direct investment, a subsequent property bubble which rendered the real economy uncompetitive, and an expansion in bank lending in the early 2000s. An initial slowdown in economic growth amid the international financial crisis of 2007–2008 greatly intensified in late 2008 and the country fell into recession for the first time since the 1980s. Emigration, as well as unemployment (particularly in the construction sector), escalated to levels not seen since that decade.

The Irish Stock Exchange (ISEQ) general index, which reached a peak of 10,000 points briefly in April 2007, fell to 1,987 points—a 14-year low—on 24 February 2009 (the last time it was under 2,000 being mid-1995).^[7] In September 2008, the Irish government—a Fianna Fáil–Green coalition—officially acknowledged the country's descent into recession; a massive jump in unemployment occurred in the following months. Ireland was the first state in the eurozone to enter recession, as declared by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).^[8] By January 2009, the number of people living on unemployment benefits had risen to 326,000—the highest monthly level since records began in 1967—and the unemployment rate rose from 6.5% in July 2008 to 14.8% in July 2012.^[9] The slumping economy drew 100,000 demonstrators onto the streets of Dublin on 21 February 2009, amid further talk of protests and industrial action.^[10]

With the banks "guaranteed",^[11] and the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) established^[12] on the evening of 21 November 2010, then Taoiseach Brian Cowen confirmed on live television that the EU/ECB/IMF troika would be involving itself in Ireland's financial affairs. Support for the Fianna Fáil party, dominant for much of the previous century, then crumbled; in an unprecedented event in the nation's history, it fell to third place in an opinion poll conducted by The Irish Times—placing behind Fine Gael and the Labour Party, the latter rising above Fianna Fáil for the first time. On 22 November, the Greens called for an election the following year.^[13] The 2011 general election replaced the ruling coalition with another between Fine Gael and Labour. This coalition continued with the same austerity policies of the previous coalition, as the country's larger parties all favour a similar agenda, but subsequently lost power in the 2016 General Election.

Official statistics showed a drop in most crimes coinciding with the economic downturn. Burglaries, however, rose by approximately 10%^[14] and recorded prostitution offences more than doubled from 2009 to 2010.^[15][16] In late 2014 the unemployment rate was 11.0% on the seasonally adjusted measure, still over double the lows of the mid-2000s but down from a peak of 15.1% in early 2012. By May 2016, this figure had fallen to 7.8%,^[17] and had returned to a pre-downturn level of 4.5% by June 2019^[18]