Pack the cash - if you have it, says ISABEL MORTON

THIS week, it eventually dawned on the powers-that-be, that the state could be losing up to €5 billion in revenue due to the growing black economy.

Of course, every dog in the street has known this for a few years now, as more and more people try to survive under the radar, but as per usual it takes a while for it to register with certain sectors.

The trouble is that there is a growing divide these days between those who have access to cash and those who have none. The latter are finding it increasingly difficult to manage, as many will only deal in cash, refusing to supply invoices and charging double the cash amount if people want to go “legit”.

One woman explained that she had no choice but to pay cash to a plumber for a repair job, as he said that it just wasn’t worth his while to do such a small job otherwise. “I could hardly blame him really and it was much cheaper for me to pay him in cash but of course, I couldn’t get an invoice for the job.”

Another friend joked about her ex-cleaning lady, whom she can no longer afford to employ: “I keep running in to her in Dundrum Shopping Centre, with loads of shopping bags and a permanent tan, as she’s always disappearing for a week or two to Spain. The irony is not lost on me; Im watching every penny I spend and her lifestyle hasn’t changed a whit.”

Then again, her ex-cleaning lady probably never invested in bank shares or property and might not even have had a bank account. I suspect that a number of people would happily swap places with her now.

Another couple, whose cash business, miraculously, has not seen much of a decline, admitted that they are careful how they spend and where they spend.

“Obviously, we are careful to use cash for non-essential things, like eating out, shopping and when we’re away on holidays. But even at home, things have really changed, as it used to be the case that everything went through the books and you could get nothing done for cash but now it’s the other way around, people offer you the option. There are two prices for everything and if you’re lucky enough to have the cash, you’ll get things done at the right price.”

Cash is leaving the country in holiday suitcases, as it’s easy to book a cheap flight on your credit card and then spend cash on everything else. Hotels in some sunny climates are no longer insisting on swiping your credit card but now accept a caseload of cash, with their customer’s check-in.

And talking of holidays, they’ve become a touchy subject of late, as most of those who are lucky enough to be able to afford one at all claim to be just “slipping away for a little break”. As this could mean anything from a long weekend in Connemara to three months on the Côte d’Azur, no one dares inquire and if they did, they’d be unlikely to be told any of the details.

The days of volunteering information about your seven- star circumnavigation of the globe are over. Nobody wants to know.

Equally, nobody wants to hear you moan about not being able to afford to get away for the traditional fortnight in the sun. After all, it seems churlish to complain when so many are so much worse off. So, nobody is saying much on the subject because nobody knows quite what to say.

This polite silence is the only way the newly impoverished middle-classes know how to deal with the traumas that have beset their once orderly lives. Their budget, having become increasingly tight of late, now means that their traditional family holiday is no longer possible.

Conservative by nature, their first priority is to service their mortgage and keep on the right side of their lending institution. Totally unused to “milking the system”, the average middle-

class family is invariably honest to a fault, terrified of being publicly disgraced and, somewhat perversely, still respectful of bankers.

This year, however, things have become considerably worse, as savings are gone and any hope of a recovery is ruled out, and although few are honest enough to admit it, they’ve now resorted to doing whatever they can to make ends meet.

“I’m ironing for people, looking after a neighbour’s child and I’ve taken in two foreign students this summer, to save a bit of cash for a family holiday,” I was told by a woman whose household income has been severely reduced of late.

“I gave up pretending about it all, when my eight-year-old announced to her entire class, that she had to move out of her bedroom to let a Spanish girl sleep there or else she wouldn’t be given a bed herself, when she goes on holiday to Spain.

Pack the swimwear and the cash, but you might consider leaving the kids behind.

ISABEL MORTONis a property consultant