As soon as 22-year-old Cáit Fitzgerald finishes her studies, she intends to “get out” of her native Ireland. “I can’t afford anything here,” she says. “There’s not much hope for people our age.”
Ireland’s long history of emigration has seen an estimated 10mn people leave since 1800. While in the past many were forced out by famines and economic crises, young people in recent years have been drawn to jobs abroad or the freedoms of living in more open societies.
But now, the tone is changing again from pull to push. Rather than the lure of foreign opportunities, young people complain that the soaring cost of living — and in particular housing — is pricing them out of their own country.