Nearly 60% of young people would consider emigration over cost of living concerns

ALMOST 60 per cent of young people in the country would consider emigration to lower their cost of living, according to a recent report. And for a Limerick native, it is simply “not realistic to live here”.

According to the Our Lives, Our Money report published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) at the beginning of December, nearly 60 per cent of 18 to 29 years olds in the country would consider moving abroad to lower their cost of living.

Corbally native, Emily Burke, 22, is one of many who wants to move abroad.

“I’m in my last semester of fourth year, so I’m starting to think about what I’m going to do after college,” she says. While Emily would like to do a masters, the thought is quite simply “unrealistic.”

“Having to pay the amount of money that it costs in Ireland, as well as having to have a job and pay to live somewhere, is just unrealistic. I have a few friends who live in The Netherlands, and it seems to be a better quality of life for younger people,” she explains.

“With that kind of price difference, how would you not want to move?” she questions, as her boyfriend pays a monthly rent of €1,800 for a small two-bed apartment in Galway, while the couple found a similar apartment for “half the price” in Amsterdam.

Even though she loves to travel, Emily would love to stay in Limerick. “I hate wanting to move, but it’s just not realistic to live here at the moment,” she regrets.

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When she eventually has children, she would “love to raise them here”.

The Corbally native points out: “I love my family home, but I know I’ll probably never be able to afford something like this. It’s just not realistic for the wages that we’ll be getting.”

For Jack McGrath, 30, from Ennis Road in Limerick, Australia seems to be the place to be.

“It's just getting harder and harder to save for a house with the house prices. I have a lot of friends now in the last year that moved to Australia,” he says.

The Limerick man continues: “After speaking with them, the money seems better. The cost of living is a bit more, but they’re still able to save loads of money a week, go out and have fun.”

Although he always thought he would stay in Ireland, Jack doesn’t want to give up his life in order to buy a house.

“It kind of seems like there’s a bit of a trade, that you sort of have to give up your life for two or three years, to be able to buy housing,” he says.

If things were different, Jack would consider moving back to Ireland in the future.

“We”ll see with the housing crisis, but I don’t really have that much faith in the government,” he says.

According to him, the government doesn’t seem to be catering for someone in his “category”.

“As a young, single person looking to buy a house, you sort of earn too much to be considered for social housing, but you don’t earn enough to be able to get a mortgage for a house. It’s definitely not something that’s going to be fixed in the near future,” he concludes.