My Generation

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My generation can’t afford houses, my generation can’t afford to have children, my generation are either leaving the country or jumping in rivers, that’s my generation, man. My generation is dealing with neo-liberalism, economic policies that are similar enough to the economic liberalism at the time of the famine. It’s a laissez-faire system where the resources of the country are being sold for private interests and our generation, my generation, is screwed.”

“The lads that were in 1916, they were the same age as my generation, they were from the ages of 18 up to their mid-thirties, do you know what I’m saying? So my generation is looking at them, going, ‘yeah they had it incredibly hard’ and obviously we have it hard as well, is that what we don’t have, my generation, we don’t have the idealism that they had because that was a time of idealism.”

At the time of 1916, with World War 1, you just had the industrial revolution, you had the enlightenment, you had all of that, that was a time of idealism, we don’t have that, we’re gone past postmodernism, we’ve just got despair and confusion.”

Blindboy Boatclub, from The Rubberbandits, speaking on The Late Late Show last Friday – striking a chord with many on social media.

Further to Blindboy’s appearance (above), Denise McGrath, from Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary, wrote into The Ryan Tubridy Show on RTÉ Radio One this morning praising Blindboy’s observations.

The 24-year-old, who’s been working in the local SuperValu since she was 16, then spoke with Ryan on the show this morning.

She said:

“[Blindboy] just cut straight to it. A lot of people fluff around and, as he said, my generation, they’re either jumping on planes or jumping off bridges. It’s true, it’s grim. But it is the life of the younger generation at the minute…I would love to have my dream job…I would love to be an English teacher. There’s a glass ceiling that we can’t get through…Our generation, we’re sidled with the USC charge, you’re sidled with extra taxes – to chip away at the debt that was incurred by the generation above us, the politicians who are supposed to be in charge of our country…They’re the ones who are going ‘oh we need the younger generation to vote for us’ but what are they going to do for the younger generation?

Listen back to The Ryan Tubridy Show here

Thanks Lynne

Meanwhile…

CYdGnKUWMAAIpB_

David O’Carroll, at Temple Bar-based design agency Miller87, writes:

Blind boy’s mini speech about our generation struck a chord with us as everyone in our office is between 24 – 30…We were talking about it for quite a while so we said we’d create a little Illustration (above) as we were inspired by Blindboy’s honesty and directness.

Sponsored Link

205 thoughts on “My Generation

    1. han solo's carbonite dream

      i think you are off the mark here …as a man in my late 30’s the people the generation behind me have it a lot harder.

    2. Fergus the magic postman

      Yes but your children & mine will be taxed to the hilt to make up for the Denis O Briens of the country, who you might know, are doing rather well & don’t want for anything apart from a good name.

      So stop complaining about people complaining, as if everything is friggin’ perfect.

        1. Fergus the magic postman

          Engage your brain.

          I was responding to a comment about tax. Which the richest Irish person in existence doesn’t pay. That’s a little bit relevant you know.

          Find something important to whinge about. Try to contribute something of value.

          Jesus Christ. Some people.

        2. ollie

          Denis O’Brien, and how the government cosies up to him, is an example of the rot that has set in across a certain level of Society.
          To remind you, £150,000 went from an account associated with Mr O’Brien in the Isle of Man, to an account in Jersey of the late businessman David Austin. The money then went from Mr Austin’s account to an account of Mr Lowry’s in the Isle of Man.
          The same Mr Lowry was communications minister when O’Brien’s company was awarded a mobile phone licence.

          Instead of celebrating 1916 we should celebrate all of those in public life who have screwed over the Irish Citizen and who continue to do so.

    3. Paul

      I want to be Brad Pitt but genetics got in the way. Am assuming Denise has the necessary qualifications to become an English teacher? If so and she still can’t get a job, then better off emigrating. Broaden the mind and see the world.

      1. well, tat's that

        Also, today 27 year olds (which is what I am) didn’t party. We were in secondary school wen the bubble burst and struggled through college with every-increasing “Free-fees” now called “student contribution” because the irony of a 3,000 EUR ‘free-fee’-fee was too much. So you partied, now you and the rest of us pay.

        1. Nigel

          It’s okay, I know, I didn’t party either. I spent most of the boom on disability – admittedly a bit of a luxury from the point of view of today – effectively wrecking my career prospects, wondering if they really were driving the country off a cliff like they seemed to be or if that was just me seeing things through a fog of depression and medication. And hey when people like me complained, they told us to stop whining or go live in another country! Plus ca change…

        2. jon

          Not taking issue with the thrust of your post as such, but it reads as if you were in secondary school at 19 or 20.

    4. Sean McManus

      With absolutely no due respect, go fupp yourself. Why should our generation be saddled with the debt of a previous generation who lived irresponsibly and voted for incompetent governance?

      Im sure im not the only who knows many who’ve left the country out of necessity and there’s a fair few who’ve left out of principal. Even if I could make a living in Ireland why would I stay when my family and friends are gone and I have to pay ridiculous taxes that I won’t pay elsewhere?

    5. John Power

      Also, “neoliberalism” is all about *cutting* taxes. So what is the complaint here, exactly? High taxes or the opposite?

      1. Martin Heavy-Guy

        The problem is what the taxes are for. Taxation should be going into the state, to improve public services, not labouring a debt that was created by banks that were run by corrupt people who have gone, for the most part, unpunished.

        1. Andy

          Is it hard to be so ignorant of facts?

          Max 1.4bn was spent on servicing the Bank debt in 2015. That’s out of 49bn in taxes.
          Are you saying that if the state spent that 2.7% not on the Bank debt that all would be fine?

          1. Martin Heavy-Guy

            That’s 1.4bn per year, for at least another 30-40 years, plus interest. Yes, I am saying that the state would be better off without that debt.

  1. han solo's carbonite dream

    excellent commentary
    just one correction for Denise McGrath – it wasn’t the generation above her , we’re screwed too perhaps screwed with the benefits of jobs but with the oppression of mortgages to balance that – it was the two or three generations before her that did all this.
    Oddly they are the characters I see now in my area driving the 161 cars but in the words of a great man “we are where we are”

  2. phil

    Some day a group of those young disenfranchised youth are not going to jump off a bridge , they may decide to take matter into their own hands like was done 100 yrs ago , and I’m sure like then there will be plenty of poe faced law abiding citizens to throw tomatoes (likely virtual ones these days) as they are marched up to the four courts …

    And if history does repeat those who threw the tomatoes will be demanding plum positions in the regime…

    Its clear to me that peaceful revolution does not seem possible in this country , and if that’s true , I wont be throwing tomatoes …

    1. Rob_G

      Or maybe you could, I dunno, vote for a party that better reflects your beliefs than the current Govt parties do at the next election?

      1. 15 cents

        like who? theyre all the same. FG promised all sorts, and once they got in they just followed FF’s template they left behind them. Very hard to see any party that would be different, except the Social Democrats, but they wont get in.

        1. Medium Sized C

          The definitely won’t get in if you decide not to vote for them because they won’t get in.

          1. MoyestWithExcitement

            Aye. Fooking vote for them!! They’re the first party I can vote for, probably ever, with a clear conscience.

          1. sirtuffyknight

            That was an ad for Labour, who subsequently u-turned on most of their pre-election promises

  3. shitferbrains

    ” We’re sidled with The USC charge ” I’d love to be an English teacher, whereupon I’d only be saddled with the USC charge, and I could sidle off home at 3.30.

    1. Cup of tea anyone?

      And you think the working day would end at 3:30 every day? just relaxing for the evening?

      1. Malta

        I think the point wss more that the wannabe English teacher didn’t know the meaning of the word “sidle”.

        (unless she has been mis-transcribed)

  4. diddy

    If you were leaving college in 2001 you did so with no significant debt and a paid job to go to
    If you left college in 2016 you have a fair bit of debt and a jobsbridge to look forward to.

    Of course the people in their 20’s have it harder. Across the board wages and conditions are being diminished by increased globablistaion and the lack of tax on wealth

    1. wearnicehats

      Transport these poor souls back to leave college in 1991 or 1981 they’d maybe just be quiet and be thankful for what they have

    2. Graham

      Really? I left college with a 1st class degree from Trinity in 1998 and I still had to emigrate, share a small room in Boston and work 80 hours a week to get ahead. Which I did.

      I avoided debt in college by working constantly. Summers were spent doing two full time jobs in the States, saving every penny. Accommodation was nearly impossible to get in Dublin at the time: I remember queuing in the rain in Rathmines for hours to get a shot at a lucky ‘bedsit’ which most students today would consider unsuitable for living (shared toilet, no shower, metred electricity box…). I stuffed my pockets with the free sandwiches at every university event and when the sandwiches ran out, dinner was as often as not a bag of chips at Burdocks (£1 in the day…)

      I’m not complaining – it was a great time of my life. But this mantra of how hard the young people have it in Ireland today seems a bit far fetched. No one is going hungry, as far as I can see. And I can tell you there were times I went hungry as a student. But I’m still not complaining – a bit of hunger when you’re young is no bad thing.

      My grandfather – now HE had it hard. No trade union, cycled from Donore Ave to Ringsend in the rain, sun or hail every day plus Sat mornings, and then had to give up his wages to his wife and wait for his pub money.

      There’s buckets of jobs right now in Bavaria. I cycled through the place last year and they couldn’t keep the restaurants open because they couldn’t find the staff. My advice: Take the plastic bag off your head and go out and make your life better.

    1. All the good ones fly south for winter

      Does not mean you need remove them from your ‘Nice young lads who I’d do’ list what is remarkable here is the complaint that our economic policies are too right wing and too left wing at the same time.

        1. All the good ones fly south for winter

          Laissez-faire neo-liberalism whilst being saddled with high taxes.

          1. Medium Sized C

            I see your point.
            But like, high tax isn’t a left wing feature per se. Centralisation of resources is.

            When taxes are high but are avoidable by those with means to avoid them, cost of living is high and economic inequality is high then the high taxation system is only serving to maintain social stratification. Which is quite right wing.

            Also, lasseiz-faire neoliberalism isn’t of itself right-wing, its neither wing. Its on a different axis. Its just favoured by right wingers because it favours people with means.

  5. scottser

    what marks out our parents’ and grandparetns’ generations from ours is that we don’t know how to fight. we are told that fighting is wrong and that there is power in compromise. fighing has been replaced with ‘competition’ which is further reduced to participation. as for ideals, the next generation won’t be able to determine what’s even real unless they see it on their phone.

    1. All the good ones fly south for winter

      That is rather cynical. Perhaps we should have another civil war. In honour of our dead ancestors’ idealism.

      1. scottser

        and that is why you will roll over and take it up the hole, thinking you’re something special.

    2. han solo's carbonite dream

      they didn’t fight either – they bowed down at the altar of John charles mcQuaid and deValera
      and bow down they did

      oddly its’ devalera we laud as a 1916 hero but give out about as a lacky of mcQuaid .
      whats’ his legacy

      ?

    3. Nigel

      Two world wars, millions dead, ongoing conflicts mired in entrenched political interests and you sneer at the idea that fighting might be wrong and that compromise is worthwhile. Previous generations that went to mass every Sunday and let old men in pointy hats tell them how to have sex, but this generation has trouble with what’s real.

      1. scottser

        they fought for ‘a truth’. this truth cost millions of lives and the subsequent philosphy rejected truth. now even yours and my own vacuous opinions must be regarded as valid. there is no truth except what we are fed will eventually kill us.

        1. Nigel

          The First World War was a massive, stupid wasteful lie. The Second had clearer lines but came bout as a result of the First. It was the propaganda of those wars that taught current generations that they were being lied to, all the time as a means of control. What people reject is the idea that there is someone out there with their best interests at heart who will tell them The Truth. Like revolutionary demagogues who say the only thing to do is burn it all down.

    4. ahjayzis

      ” the next generation won’t be able to determine what’s even real unless they see it on their phone.”

      This sentiment always irks me. That because the yoof of today have access to basically unlimited information, insights, opinions, discussions that somehow they’re less informed than the generation who consumed all media, news, opinion from a handful of outfits owned by billionaires and those with their own political axe to grind.

      The generations before us elected a man repeatedly who lived like an Emperor on an 80’s Taoiseach’s salary – did they not see how wealthy public office was making him? Was it filtered through a compliant media and onto their two channels and four newspapers of news? Where was the dissent? The catholic church could not silence it’s victims today – they have a voice and no gatekeepers to using it.

      It’s the same condemnation from the generation preceding as happened when radio came along, television, videogames, internet.

      I think the real problem with my generation is we grew up in an age of plenty, our futures were bright – until the crash and they tanked and it looks as though we’re the first generation in a long time to expect to have it worse in middle age than our parents. We haven’t been brought up in a time like the 80’s were civil strife, strikes etc. were on the march – fighting back and the language of protest and societal change is a skill that has to be re-learned.

      1. scottser

        ahjaysis, i don’t blame anyone, for one minute not being idealistic. blind, apathetic consumerism is now considered by some parties to be a career path.

      1. ahjayzis

        And a lot of the time it doesn’t. Syria for instance. Libya. Of all the Arab Spring countries only Tunisia made the transition to democracy – relatively bloodlessly. Everywhere else a failure and an increase in repression and killings.

        We have the power to change things – we’re a democracy. But we don’t, because the sad truth is the Irish voter is complicit in the way things are. They’ve bought the story that this is as good as it gets. The ‘stability’ of being ruled by idealess administrators over the ‘uncertainty’ of being lead by motivated leaders.

        We’re complicit – either by low-information or the lure of short-term gain through tax cuts offsetting long term pain like Edwardian hospitals and shanty-style school classrooms. The education I recieved on politics in secondary school was a laughable box-ticking exercise where projects were fictional and answers read out to me by the teacher. But the change has to come from the ballot box, otherwise it’s a dictatorship against the will of the people.

        1. Tony

          Change cannot come from the ballot box. It has been bought and those that own it have no interest in change. Before long, we shall be openly discussing the idea of benign, short term dictatorships. This blind belief in democracy, and the subsequent disappointment in its failure is getting tiresome.

          1. ahjayzis

            Riiiiiiight.

            In what way has it been bought again?

            What evidence do you have that FG/Labours mandate is fraudulent?

            What’s your strategy to subdue the people and impose the first short-term, voluntarily stepping-down dictator to rule over them? Will opposition parties be banned or just shut out? If the people fail to comply with their new master, what are the penalties?

          2. MoyestWithExcitement

            “Change cannot come from the ballot box.”

            I must have dreamed that marriage referendum.

            “This blind belief in democracy, and the subsequent disappointment in its failure is getting tiresome.”

            Do you actually believe a perfect world is possible?

          3. Tony

            It has been bought because it has become a competition for popularity, not for principle. So if you have money (and no principles) you can buy popularity and you can defend it in the court if you can afford the lawyers.

            And yes, the government has a mandate- but have they changed anything? No. and thats my point. by its nature, the democratic system focuses politicians to worry about their re-election, not their promises.

          4. ahjayzis

            You’ve made my point.

            It’s not the system that’s been bought, it’s the electorate. Their focus on re-election is natural. They should be rewarded for long-term, strategic thinking – they’re not, votes are cast on short term promises instead. The politicians priorities are wrong becuase the electorate’s priorities are wrong. You don’t fix that by abandoning democracy, you engage in it more. Make it less of a consumerist, money-in-your-pocket affair. That’s something the SocDems are advocating for instance. Spend windfalls on growing society, not on tiny give-backs that only result in price rises.

            So the answer is to engage and change the minds of the people, not brush them aside and impose a dictatorship.

          5. Tony

            Fine words indeed. But its that kind of naive belief in democracy that causes us to continue to hope that one day it will deliver. It can’t though, and your lovely, well intentioned Soc Dems will find that out quick sharp if they ever make an impact beyond Broadsheet and Fintan O Toole. Democracy was a great experiment and Im glad we tried it. But when the two greatest forces of our times, armies and corporations used command and control, its time we stopped fooling ourselves and at least adopt a system that gets things done. But go to that meeting in the Spa hotel. It should be riveting.

          6. ahjayzis

            For someone who spent hours the other week arguing for freedom of speech and expression, it’s odd you’re praying for an autocracy and a strong man to take your voice away.

          7. Tony

            Im not actually. Im just slowly coming to realise that democracy cannot deliver the changes people want. And Im glad I live in a society that lets me express that. I am aware of the contradictions in my observations, but life is full of them.

  6. Kolmo

    To hold a view contrary to the current dominant corporate driven agenda is akin to declaring a mental deficiency out loud on the street – anyone who sticks their head above the parapet is risking character decapitation by the 30 page property section media spivs and know-nothing mé féin types…it’s grim.

  7. Tony

    Sadly, the problems he speaks of are not unique to Ireland, this generation or any other to have lived before either here or anywhere else. So a bit of context please. Having said that, he spoke with an eloquence and a passion seldom seen or heard on Irish media.

    1. Medium Sized C

      The context is Ireland.
      It is a discussion about Ireland, surely.
      So there is your context.

    2. Tony

      I know. But why should/how could we have what no-one else has? Not wanting to burst your “Ireland is uniquely crap” bubble of course…

      1. Medium Sized C

        Your point is irrelevant.
        Neither me or Blind Boy Boatclub suggested that Ireland is “uniquely crap” as you so stupidly put it.
        You are disputing a point that nobody made, using words you don’t understand.

      2. Tony

        I love the smallness of your mind :-) and your itch for a fight. But be careful, they are a lethal combination.

        1. Medium Sized C

          So your response is “No, YOU’RE stupid and if you don’t shut up I’ll kill ya…”?

  8. Kevin Finnerty

    A load of nonsense, you’d swear we were living in Mongolia. There’s every opportunity in this country for young people to make something of themselves. Going to college doesn’t automatically entitle you to a brilliant job. Getting your ‘dream job’ means working hard, making sacrifices and creating opportunities for yourself. You can blame Denis O’Brien or whatever all you like but if you’re not willing to go after something yourself and make it happen then it’s not going to.

    1. Fergus the magic postman

      So everything’s perfect here then yeah? Do you not think there is a responsibility for the government to create an environment where potential in young people is maximised, along with available opportunities? Or is it a case of I’m alright Jack ?

      1. Tony

        The question is the potential for what? For being great workers, for being members of a happy society, for feeling that the world is a good place to live. At the moment, they are just focusing on the “getting a job” bit (and doing it well). The vision bit is missing.

  9. Kevin Finnerty

    Of course I’m not saying everything’s perfect and i definitely think the government could be doing more. Having said that this ‘glass ceiling’ argument holds no water whatsoever when there are innumerable resources in this country for people to educate and improve themselves. No economic policy is going to create a situation where amazing jobs are simply handed out to anyone who wants one.

    1. nellyb

      “Having said that this ‘glass ceiling’ argument holds no water whatsoever when there are innumerable resources in this country for people to educate and improve themselves.”
      Keep conflating everything and ignoring the meanings. It will be a rich stew when you’ve finished. But it’ll be just your party eating it.

  10. MoyestWithExcitement

    3rd level education costs €3000 a year and prohibits you from working a full time job. I like how judgemental folks usually haven’t a breeze about what actually happens in reality.

    1. Kevin Finnerty

      Means-tested maintenance grants are available from local authorities which cover the costs of ‘registration’ fees. Obviously working a full-time job would be counter-productive if your doing a full-time 3rd-level course wouldn’t you agree? and there’s nothing stopping you getting a part-time job at the weekends or evenings.

      1. MoyestWithExcitement

        “Means-tested maintenance grants are available from local authorities which cover the costs of ‘registration’ fees.”

        They’re “available” but very often, enough for it to be newsworthy every year, delayed and in a lot of cases, delayed so long that people drop out of college because they’re can’t afford it.

        “Obviously working a full-time job would be counter-productive if your doing a full-time 3rd-level course wouldn’t you agree?”

        Yes, that’s why I said going to college prohibits you from a full time job.

        “and there’s nothing stopping you getting a part-time job at the weekends or evenings.”

        And how are you going to pay the rent and feed your child on part time wages?

        1. Kevin Finnerty

          So just give up on your entire education prospects because your grant didn’t come in on time? In my experience, most grants come in on time. A lot of colleges have financial supports for students in financial difficulty in the cases that they don’t.

          If its irrelevant then why did you bring it up?

          if you decide to have children then your main priority is to look after your children – not embarking on a fulltime college course to pursue your own personal goals which was my original point.

          1. MoyestWithExcitement

            “So just give up on your entire education prospects because your grant didn’t come in on time?”

            No, it’s more to do with not having any money to pay rent or buy food.

            “In my experience, most grants come in on time.”

            In November, 20,000 students were still waiting for their grants.http://www.thejournal.ie/susi-student-grant-applications-2462028-Nov2015/ Instead of your “experience”, try actually reading some stuff.

            “If its irrelevant then why did you bring it up?”

            Huh? If what’s irrelevant?

            “if you decide to have children then your main priority is to look after your children – not embarking on a fulltime college course to pursue your own personal goals which was my original point.”

            So if I have children, I shouldn’t try and improve my job prospects and give my children a better life? I should remain in a crappy supermarket job and live in a council estate and make it as difficult as possible for my children to become productive members of society? You haven’t a clue how anything works, do you.

          2. Saint Paul

            @ Moysie

            St Paul says he has personal experience of the grants process in recent years.

            Yes SUSI are annoying and very bureaucratic and it’s hard to get someone on the line to talk to. However they came through for Saint Paul in the end and even advised him how to structure his appeal to ensure the best chance of success.
            Yes there may be 20,000 folks ‘waiting for grants’ in November but Saint Paul feels your analysis did not include any pertinent facts such as how many of these folks are ‘waiting’ because they did not bother their hoop providing the documentation SUSI asked them to. Have you polled all 20,000 or SUSI to determine this or are you simply the type of simpering halfwit who regurgitates half-arsed demagoguery and passes it off as some kind of journalistic analysis?

          3. MoyestWithExcitement

            No, I’ve not personally spoken to 20,000 people so we can safely say that there are loads of opportunities out there and anyone who says they’re finding it tough can leave the country. Definitely.

        2. Andy

          Why the hell do you have a child before finishing your education and starting a career?

          Had to be asked.

        1. ReproBertie

          What a stupid response to suggest that people should accept their lot because things are worse elsewhere.

          By the way, this little corner of the first world we live in has a bit of a homeless problem and one or two people struggling to feed their families but don’t let that interfere with your sense of self satisfaction..

          1. Tony

            And don’t let the fact that you are in the luckiest 10% on the planet interfere with you constant, selfish, whining and ignorant sense of entitlement.

          2. Nigel

            If you thought the way we deal with people with depression or other mental illnesses is problematic, wait’ll you hear how we deal with people with other sorts of problems. People like Tony here simply will not listen. They do not want to know. In fact, Tony wants YOU to know, you worthless whiner, that you are nothing and your problems are nothing. Not listening to people with problems, after all, is what got us to where we are today! Let’s march into a glorious future telling people with problems to shut up! When the people with problems can’t be heard anymore then that’s when you know you’re doing it right! No voices for the voiceless! Shut up, Tony explains!

          3. ReproBertie

            This policy of ignoring people with problems is part of the reason Tony is pushing the line that democracy doesn’t work. Selfish whining people with problems actually having a say in the make up of the government? Thoughts like that keep Tony awake at night.

          4. Nigel

            Well after you stupidly parroted ‘First World Problems’ like a mindless stupidhead I figured it was language you understood.

          5. Tony

            No, the reason I say democracy doesn’t work is that I have lived all my life in a democracy and all the things you speak of haven’t happened. mental health spending is reduced, allocation to homes is reduced and you have ended up in this society.The rich have gotten richer and the poor just keep bouncing along the bottom. And no other democracy is different So what evidence do you have that democracy works? or is it just blind faith? Or is it the old- but this time will be different line?

          6. ReproBertie

            Just because the government that gets elected aren’t the one you wanted or don’t implement the policies you’d like doesn’t mean democracy doesn’t work.

          7. Tony

            Well its not delivering for you obviously. As I said, its a flaw system that has been taken over by clever money. And we love it and do it again.

          8. ReproBertie

            I think trying to provoke everyone at the same time has you confused. Nowhere have I complained about my situation or how this government is working out for me. I could waste your time and mine listing the pros and cons of this current government for my personal situation but nobody gets a government that is either 100% beneficial or 100% detrminental to their situation.

          1. MoyestWithExcitement

            The galling thing for me about that post is I guessed earlier that Tony might have depression given the hopelessness of his posts but | chose not to say anything about it. Then he posts that.

          2. Nigel

            I don’t think Tony is advocating a rush to suicide.

            No, but he\s willing to say shite like that for a laugh. Why let him off lightly?

          3. Tony

            Ok. some context. the commentators name was Repro Bertie. Bertie made a similar comment while Taoiseach. Now can you fupp off and get your outrage somewhere else. Amateurs.

          4. Nigel

            You have to laboriously explain your hilarious joke and reference but you’re not the amateur here?

          5. Joni2015

            Don’t bother Tony. You’re working on a different level to most of them here. Your post was smart and funny.

  11. Jake38

    Causes of the above. 1) Vast spending on pensioners, etc which can’t be rolled back as they vote. 2) Narrowing of the income tax base to ridiculous levels. 3) Globalization, you are now competing with the world for a job. 4) Information technology revolution changing the job market. 5) Job insecurity for young people while the old (who vote) can’t be got rid of no matter how incompetent 6) A Fianna Fail government for whom all the above was just incomprehensible. 7) A world class sense of entitlement. That’s it.

    1. Neilo

      @Nigel: I don’t really dig what Tony’s saying but I’m not a BS moderator: he’ll tire himself out soon enough :)

  12. is in the air

    .. my generation can’t afford to have children, my generation are either leaving the country or jumping in rivers, that’s my generation.

    My sister lost her job last year, a week or two after getting married, and then she found a job within a month of losing it, and now she’s having a baby.

    1. Floodedout

      What’s her job? It’s going to be a lot easier for some people to come back from this than others. She had a supportive partner for example.

  13. Gooner4life

    We need to get a petition going for the abolishing of USC for under 35s. It could be a campaign issue in the next election if enough people/TDs sign it. Younfg people disproportionately suffered in the recession and no should gain disproportionately in the recovery – its idealistic but also practical, it would go along way to tempt back our emmigrants too who will be the lifeblood for future state tax revenue.

    1. Disasta

      Under 35?

      Why am I getting hit, I didnt get anything from the boom.
      I didnt buy a stupid priced property.

      1. Gooner4life

        Who said you were getting hit – your taxes shouldn’t rise at all with the improving economy, it would be a fair, temporary (~5 years or something) redistribution of wealth from a generation who benefited in the good times and voted in a bunch of dopes who wrecked the country for this generation of young people (and even if you own a normal property you are something a young person today can only dream off aspiring to be!).

        1. Disasta

          I don’t own any property. I rent, I’m 35. I didn’t vote them in.
          I just ended up with getting taxed, that’s what I got.

          1. Disasta

            Oh I also got put on 3 days a week cause construction was banjaxed. And my pay lowered. Yeah I really did well out of it and didn’t have to go back to college to re-tool. Oh wait….

      2. Cup of tea anyone?

        @Disasta You didn’t buy a property during the boom so you have that going for you.
        Which is nice.

    2. scottser

      so, those of us who stayed and took the hits to our wages, we get sod all while those who fecked off get rewarded? what fukn planet are you on?

      1. Gooner4life

        Your part of a generation who had:
        – Free third level education – Abolished
        – Had access to a wealth of high quality jobs – Finished
        – Paid low taxes – Finished
        – Enjoyed a low cost of living (look at rents/fuel prices etc back then)
        – Could buy a home as if it was a packet of crisps
        All of these are not available to young people these, getting to the end of the month without using a credit these is a serious acheivement for young. Even if you took hits to your wages you are in a better position now with the improving jobs market as you have more years work experience than young people!
        You sir have been OWNED!

        1. ReproBertie

          Gooner you need to stop reading the fairy tales. For a start, the idea that an entire generation were able to “buy a home as if it was a packet of crisps” is utter nonsense. That may be the way it was peddled by a media deeply embedded in the property market but the reality was very different.

          Which generation are you even talking about? When was there ever free third level education? I was in 3rd level in the 80’s and had to find a part time job to help cover the costs.

          1. Gooner4life

            You had to get a part-time job in college – oh the injustice! Students need to get 3 or 4 these days! The generation who are 40-60 im talking about, who were able to buy property at reasonable prices, who bought 2nd, 3rd, 4th homes. You are the greedy landlords of todasy screwing young people for rent and complaining you’re not making enough money on your “investment”, last time i checked people lived in houses not made money from them. You were the generation able to enjoy a good standard of living on average incomes, went on 4 holidays a year etc, and don’t bother saying i got nothing from the boom blabla – im generalising here OBVIOUSLY!
            Whats so bad about abit of generational wealth redistribution for young people, oh wait your part of that generation, ah i see know!

          2. Tony

            Oh Gooner. This is tragic. And Im sorry you have been lead to believe this. But before you grow anymore, inform yourself. You’ll never survive with an Oedipal chip that size when its based on fiction.

          3. ReproBertie

            Ah come on Gooner. Students have to have 3 or 4 part time jobs to pay for their 3rd level education? Property at reasonable prices? I don’t know if you heard about the property bubble but it was defined by constantly rising property prices. Also the generation that are 40-60 did not invent renting. 4 holidays a year? You’re not generalising, you’re flat out fantasising.

          4. Nigel

            Wow, you’re right, everything he says there is completely made up – waves fingers like Jedi Knight – this is mot the generation that enjoyed a level of prosperity and security that look like luxuries today you’re looking for…

  14. Saint Paul

    Saint Paul feels the lady doth protest too much – there are options available as Kevin Finnerty says.

    As for BlindBoy Boatclub, he’s almost as entertaining as Saint Paul.

    He is an articulate boy but it’s hard to take social commentary seriously when delivered by a man wearing a plastic bag on his head. Saint Paul likes the Willie O’Dea song however.

    1. TheFerg

      Quite correct, FFS a TEFL course is like €500? She should feck off to Thailand, Vietnam or South America, but will she. No. She call up Tubbers and have a whinge.

      1. Saint Paul

        Saint Paul feels some people are very conforming, living in their own little town, don’t want to go away and experience the world or learn anything about life or themselves or other places, yet that is all the fault of them up in Dublin.

          1. Saint Paul

            Saint Paul asks:

            Is that what your erstwhile synonym was doing during his ‘work abroad’ sojourn at Real Sociedad?

          2. MoyestWithExcitement

            No, he was learning to count to 4 in Spanish but I’m not sure what he has to do with the lack of employment and education options for young folks in Ireland.

      2. Nigel

        How dare she? You know what’s best for her! You know what she should do! Why oh why does she insist on talking about her life and her problems and not shutting up and doing what you tell her to do?

          1. Nigel

            Ah, there’s nothing like people talking about their problems to really bring out the bastards, is there?

          2. MoyestWithExcitement

            Saint Paul’s temper is seeping out, so he might need to invent another funny-for-about-3-posts character.

          3. MoyestWithExcitement

            Well, maybe not funny, but I assumed it was someone who didn’t take themselves too seriously. Then he referred to a bloke as a woman and I realised it was just another oppressed white man with the emotional age of a 12 year old.

          4. Saint Paul

            Saint Paul says: I wasn’t put on this earth so that whores like you get to take cheap digs Saint Nigel. Is the problem that I appear to be adopting your saintly space>
            Get a life you troll.

          5. MoyestWithExcitement

            “Is the problem that I appear to be adopting your saintly space”

            I just wanted to repeat this thing I said 2 minutes ago; “I realised it was just another oppressed white man with the emotional age of a 12 year old” Yep.

          6. Saint Paul

            @ moistie

            Saint Paul says : most of the commentators here are pretty sound, funny, irreverent, insightful, thoughtful,

            Others are trolls, argumentative, objectionable and have nothing to contribute

            You seem to be somewhere in the middle. Some day maybe you’ll be a big boy.

          7. Nigel

            No, you’re fine, an obsession with the sinfulness of women is a hallmark of Catholic sainthood – you clearly know your own niche.

        1. Saint Paul

          Saint Paul says that Nigel is a whiny little beattch and the irony of a man who denies others their point of view while defining the only acceptable speech to his delicate little ears as whiney grinding girlie noises about how sad their whiney little life is is not lost on Saint Paul

          1. Saint Paul

            Saint Paul says: Thank you Fergus, yes I did
            I felt the girl’s commentary was wallowing in self-pity and lacked joie de vivre and made the mistake of saying so before being wildly handbagged by a bingo of hags

          2. Nigel

            All it takes is an alternative point of view to reduce St Paul to a whiny self-pitying joyless buffoon. Irony!

  15. rotide

    Seeing as the first 3 things he said were patently and observably untrue, I’ll treat this as todays Kony piece.

    Scarlet for yer wan though.

  16. Anne

    Blindboy boatman looks to be fairly handsome.. Does he have to stay incognito all the time?
    That rustling of the plastic bag as he talks is a bit off putting.

    Other than that, I thought he was spot on..
    He lost me a bit though when he started talking about existentialism. Actually he didn’t lose me.. it just sounded like horsesh*te. We’re looking for our identity in commemorations so we don’t die or some sorta gibberish.
    He did better when he wasn’t trying to sound intelligent.

  17. Brendan

    I for one voted NO to the fiscal treaty. The austerity measures were a contract to forfeit the national GDP for decades to bondholders of mostly British, French and German nationality.
    It’s a very difficult time and we have been screwed over by Europe, the mouse who promised it would not be Brussels who ‘dictated’ our future (former leader of the labour party, yes you Gilmore), retreated back under a rock and let us handing. Obese minister’s for health, incompetent Taoiseachs, corruption and cronyism throughout government and business, it doesn’t make for a great picture……BUT!!!
    We have opportunities. Lets not forget our place, a tiny Island with no significant power except that of the U.S. having our back. Take away the corporate tax haven and Ireland is going back to horse and carriage, we’d have agriculture but finance and I.T., Research and Development businesses would all pack bags like there was no tomorrow.
    We have a massive shortfall in the number of qualified ‘high paying’ jobs in the many sectors. We are importing ‘hard-working dedicated’ people to fill these roles.
    Not everybody can do these jobs, granted but many are equally happy not to bother educating or improvising buy trying their own business, effectively lazy cowards. Teach a man to fish they say.
    The world is corrupt, accept that, human nature is greatly flawed by poor morals.
    The world is not fair, accept that and plan a way to improve your life – anything is better than just complaining.
    The world is in dire need of great leaders, if you have a vision put your weight behind it.
    The world economic system is a western one mostly based on the Federal reserve operating around a fractional reserve banking system. This system has inevitable consequences. Cyclical Boom and Bust periods. Capital is the God of the wealthy. Distribution is the obvious problem. The system is a set of rules, the distribution can be controlled and designed but we have never had a strong enough leader to drive it through into legislation.
    the 1916 rising centenary could incite a revolt, a taking of our house of parliament but you know what would happen, the same cowards complaining would happily turn their backs of the freedom fighters so they can feel somewhat secure in their miserable existances.
    Unite the people and rules can be changed. Sober up our youth, getting drunk is very uncool. If you disagree, try a couple of sober nights out with your drinking buddies. Alcohol is the scourge of the nation.
    It’s killing brain cells at a phenomenal rate, lowering immune system, responsible for deaths, rapes, abuses both physical and mental and killing people on our roads.
    Sober up.
    Get involved
    Be inspired.
    Change

    some reccomendations for your awakening: ‘Zeitgeist’ the documentaries, the Venus Project, Cosmos – Carl Sagan, Tesla – patent US 685957, the SEG by Professor John Searle. Everything we need is and has been available.
    Rise

  18. Bob in NZ

    I think Blindboy should have paid more attention in school, particularly in history class.

    Pretty sure that the “lads” who were around in 1916 would have known that the industrial revolution and the Enlightenment were centuries before their time.

    At the time of their execution for taking a stand against a government they didn’t agree or identify with, not all of the “lads” from 1916 were in his narrowly defined age range

    John McBride – 47
    Thomas Kent- 50
    Thomas MacDonagh – 38
    Tom Clarke – 59
    Michael O’Hanrahan – 39
    James Connolly – 47

    It’s easy to criticize, far harder to step up and take action, like the “lads’ being idolized here did. Shamless grandstanding to boost flagging album sales.

    Poor form

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