EDITORIAL: Dare we say it...are we living beyond our means?

There are people and households who struggled this Christmas, there’s no doubt about that, but this festive season brought a strange vibe with it also.

There are certainly many more households/people who have either thrown caution to the wind, or are not feeling the pinch as much as we might be led to believe.

Where did all the money come from this holiday period and how long will the spending spree last?

By all accounts, you’d have been hard-pressed to get a seat in many of the wonderful restaurants around Tipperary this festive season, and some pubs were even three or four deep at the bar with so many out socialising.

It begs the question, with energy costs so high (just look at the story this week of a butcher closing down in Littleton), how are we affording all of these luxuries?

And where did all the disposable income come from at the end of 2022, because the country seems to have gone on one big spending binge.

Eating out, nights out, shopping trolleys full of items that are not for a weekly shop, full of items that can only be used by someone hosting a big New Year’s Eve party.

Either that, or they really like small finger foods for their evening meals.

A trip to Dunne Stores on New Year’s Eve was eye-opening. The store looked like it had been looted.

Okay, maybe we all deserved it after the pandemic and being free of all restrictions this year.

That’s fair enough.

But given what we’ve been hearing about the cost of living crisis, and households struggling to make ends meet.

Dare we say it...are we living beyond our means?

And where is this recession we keep hearing about.

Budget 2023 has seen/will see a lot of extra money in people’s pockets, but there are dark clouds on the horizon.

And we should all be worried about what’s coming.

Because this can’t last.