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Witness History: Celtic Tiger: Ireland's 'ghost estates'

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Ireland's 'ghost estates'

24/08/2023 GMT

Celtic Tiger: Ireland's 'ghost estates'

BBC World Service - Witness History, Celtic Tiger: Ireland's 'ghost estates'

How the collapse of Ireland's Celtic Tiger led to thousands of abandoned housing estates

The Celtic Tiger - the nickname given to Ireland's economic boom - crashed in 2008 and led to thousands of abandoned 'ghost estates'.

In 2006, Michele Burke and her fiancé William were looking forward to moving into their dream home in the picturesque town of Killaloe, in Ireland. 

But when Ireland's economic boom - known as the Celtic Tiger - ended and the global financial crisis of 2008 hit, construction on Michele and William's new house abruptly stopped. 

The couple were stuck paying a mortgage on a home they couldn't move into. They were not the only ones struggling. During the recession, there were more than 1,000 abandoned 'ghost estates' in Ireland. 

Michele tells Vicky Farncombe about her eight-year fight to move into her house.

(Photo: Michele Burke outside her abandoned home in Killaloe in 2013. Credit: BBC)

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