‘THERE ARE NOW MORE REASONS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE TO EMIGRATE THAN REASONS WHY THEY SHOULD STAY’

By Eoin Ryan

After visiting London there is nothing more obvious than its pure scale in proportion to anything seen in Ireland. Every ten minutes there is a historical structure or skyscraper multiple times larger than anything seen in Ireland.

Its night clubs teem with life late until half three in the morning and finding work is as easy as finding a sign outside a front window. So why, even after Brexit made a dent in their economy, is it easier to find a place to rent here than anywhere in Ireland.

The average rent is slightly more than what it is in Dublin, £2,500 ( €2880) a month compared to €2,324, but what it provides more than makes up for the jump in price. First off, their transport is both quicker and cheaper than Busaras while also being on schedule more times than not, a luxury we do not have. Second, I can grab a drink late into the night without having to scrounge for a taxi among massive crowds flooding out at the same time. Third, and most importantly, there are more cheap rentals, meaning less time spent in queueing for house viewings and getting rejected by landlords.

As each day passes where I am stuck at the family home, that part of my brain telling me to just pack up and leave Ireland gets louder and louder. So many people I know are already gone somewhere else with young Irish adults making a stereotype out of moving to Australia. It is becoming more and more obvious to not just young adults, but most Irish residents, that there are now more reasons for young people to emigrate than reasons why they should stay. The worst part is that there is no end to this in sight, no guarantee moving out is possible before hitting 30 without blowing my savings.

How can I become a proper adult stuck at my parents home despite owning the very paper you are reading right now? I have been an adult for 5 years now but

I still feel like someone in their late teens struggling for their independence. So the more important question is: Why shouldn’t I move? In no way does it have to be London as well. Anywhere speaking English paying enough that rent is affordable can be treated as an option. The only reason I stay is my stubbornness sticking to reporting jobs instead of giving in and take any job available in a better place to live.

More and more are leaving each year, seeing no hope and no chance of moving out of their parents home. Every house tour for somewhere at least half decent at a reasonable rental price gets flooded with applications before even an hour passes and a queue extending half the street just for a house viewing.

I am 23, a college graduate now co-running a paper, unable to move out and trying to act like this is how things are meant to be. It is either that or search months for a rental which will most likely be too expensive for me to build up any savings. It doesn’t help that every pint bought makes a miniature dent in my wallet. Need to pay for a taxi most of the time as well because having decent public transport at night is still another ten years away if they don’t delay it another time. Now London is far from perfect especially after Brexit, Covid, their own housing crisis and a myriad of other issues the United Kingdom have gone through. Despite this, however, it is still somehow a better option for many my age, and that does not even include everywhere else in the UK.

Personal attachments and Irish culture seem to be the only good reasons for staying as prices and services seem to only get worse and worse. Doing research for stories lately can be a slog of checking what is becoming more expensive or which service is struggling due to a myriad of reasons. Going through all this would not be so bad if there was even a trace of reassurance that it will be sorted in the near future, but there rarely is lately. It makes me question why I should even think about waiting it all out because there is no end in sight to most of Ireland’s woes.

The thought of moving away has been lingering since graduation as living gets more and more expensive in Ireland, even when compared to other EU countries. Moving halfway across the world is now becoming a better choice than living in our own country.