The downturn benefits some

Hard Times:The recession has, if anything, made life a little easier for mother-of-two Sharon Shaughnessy. As a lone parent on a tight budget, she welcomes the "noticeable" drop in food and fuel prices over the past few months.

“What did the Celtic Tiger do for me? Absolutely nothing. The food prices got a lot higher, petrol got a lot higher, oil for the house . . . Everything went a bit too crazy.

“Personally, I think lone parents are permanently in a recession,” says Shaughnessy, who came back to her native Galway from England four years ago “with two kids and a bag and nowhere to go”, after her relationship with their father broke down.

“Lone parents really know how to manage money, they have to, it’s all they know.”

Wednesday is called “waiting day” in her Knocknacarra home, where she lives with her two sons, five-year-old Ciarán and seven-year-old Jamie. It’s the day before the lone parent’s allowance is paid.

“I think the recession is more hitting people with big houses and mortgages and big cars outside their doors.”

She has no major debts; she could never have afforded them.

However, having qualified as a special needs assistant through a Community Employment Scheme at the Galway Resource Centre and now going on to do a year’s “train the trainer” course, she wonders if there will be a job for her.

“You’re trying to better yourself and do all these different courses. The two kids are in school now and I’m like, great, I’m ready, this is my time, and it’s crashing all round us.”

But, considering the benefits she would lose if she went into full-time employment and the childcare costs she would have to pay, “I don’t see much incentive to get out there to work, unless you were to walk into a huge position with big money.”

Contrary to the prevailing mood of the country, she is a little more optimistic about her future now.

“The Celtic Tiger made us struggle more. I can see light at the end of the tunnel; if I ever got a full-time position, I could now think about getting a mortgage because houses are so much cheaper.”