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A friend has just come back from a month’s holiday in sunny Australia with a very emotional story to tell about what he describes as the ‘missing generation’ of young Irish people who have emigrated there – and the quality of life they enjoy down under.
“I have not seen one incident of anti-social behaviour of any kind since I went there,” he reports, “I have been to the beach area in Sydney where there are tens of thousands of young people every day and particularly at weekends and, while the atmosphere is electric, there was no trouble at all. I even observed single women walking home on their own at night without fear – which would not happen in any major town in Ireland, nevermind Dublin. There are also loads of taxis available. In fact, you are never waiting for any more than five minutes for a taxi or Uber car. I can see what the attraction is for the thousands of young Irish people who are here. It’s a different lifestyle. The weather is fabulous. You need about a quarter of the clothes that you’d use at home. A t-shirt and a pair of shorts and away you go!”
It’s a pretty picture alright and, to be honest, a common story we now hear regularly in the Ireland of 2024. Australian wakes are becoming a weekly event at GAA clubs around the country once more. It seems to me that, while thousands of refugees and asylum seekers are entering our communities in search of a better life for themselves and their families, the number of young people leaving our shores to do the same elsewhere is increasing to heights not seen in a generation.
Historical context
The theory about the ever-increasing number of Irish young people living in Australia also deserves some historical context. Irish-born immigrants and their descendants have been a feature of the population down under since the arrival of the First Fleet in New South Wales in 1788 – according to Richard Reid, senior curator at the National Museum of Australia. He argues that their descendants formed a large segment (somewhere between 20 and 30%) of the population up until 1914, and some suggest well beyond that. “Australia remains the most Irish country in the world outside Ireland,” is his strongly-held view. It would seem to me we were always there in strength and periodically, there’s always been a pattern of ups and downs.
It is incredible to see the amount of young Irish people there and I have to say I can’t blame them one bit
There is, of course, another side to the picture postcard conditions painted by my friend, especially regarding the new lifestyle adopted by arriving Irish emigrants and the contrast with the way in which many of them would have lived and worked here at home. “Most people in Oz – young people included – are in bed by 11pm at night at the latest,” he tells me, “and they are up at 6am and off they go to work. With regard to the pub and a social life generally, they go out at about 5pm and go home early, there’s not much of a nightclub scene. However, although it is a paradise for young people, it’s not all roses. The cost of living is very high and on a par with, if not higher, than Ireland.
“It is incredible to see the amount of young Irish people there and I have to say I can’t blame them one bit. Will they go home eventually? As parents, we fervently hope so, but there are a lot of attractions here for sure.”
So what’s the real truth behind this exodus of so many of our younger generation to the land of Oz? Has this nation’s cost-of-living crisis really run them from their native land or is there is another aspect at play here with young people wanting to ‘see the world’? Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in between the two?
Fully-qualified doctor
My own nephew is one of those who has taken flight. A fully-qualified doctor, he left very soon after graduating and is enjoying his new career in a Melbourne hospital whilst seeing the sights and travelling extensively in the region with his girlfriend. He acknowledges that working in an Autralian hospital brings many of the same pressures and stresses he had seen at home – though the broad range of expertise and professional medical back-up eases such challenges considerably. He speaks passionately about the great life experience he is having, as well as the people he has got to know and and the places he has visited.
I asked him recently if he’d be coming home soon. “I am loving it here,” he said, “I am missing home at times – but not the weather.” And who could blame him?
No sooner had the cattle gone out on the neighbours land last week, than they had to come back in again after three days of rain bucketing down. Another large dairy farmer in the next parish was tweeting about the slurry tanks being full, the silage pit being empty and not a bucket of manure having been spread on the land yet. Farmers are facing a severe start to the year and we really need a dry spell of a month to get things settled down. Apart from the obvious animal welfare issues, our mental health also needs a break.
Follow Ciaran on X Twitter at @ciaranmullooly
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