Post- Celtic Tiger

The increased affluence of the Celtic Tiger years witnessed growing consumption; for example, spending on consumer goods and services increased from €8,140 per capita in 1995 to €17,844 per capita in 2005. However by 2010, 6.2% of the population were estimated to be living in consistent poverty, an increase on the level recorded in 2009, which was 5.5%. Not all parts of the country were affected in the same way by the recession; Limerick, for example, was more affected than any other county by unemployment, with 28% of people of employment age unemployed in 2011. The increasing preponderance of technology was reflected in the fact that 81% of all households in 2011 had access to a computer, up 16% since 2007, and 78% of all households had access to the internet compared with 57% in 2007. In 2011 there were 5.5 million mobile phone subscriptions in Ireland, of which 0.5 million were mobile broadband subscriptions. However, Dublin’s status as a European technology-hub, signified by the presence there of Silicon Valley companies such as Google, Facebook and Twitter, is not reflected to the same extent outside of Dublin.