“It’s no country for young men or women,” according to a recent Sunday newspaper headline. This was accompanied by a poll indicating that 60% of people think Ireland has nothing to offer students graduating in the next few years. “Are we heading back to the 1980s?” asks another newspaper headline. One political party is busily touting an economic policy document promising ‘Hope for a Lost Generation’.

So is the country’s doom and gloom-o-meter in crazy overdrive or does Ireland really have a “lost” generation on its hands?
As of September 2009, there were at least 74,000 people out of work and under the age of 25. A quarter of the population aged between 20 and 24 is neither working nor studying.
The figures for youth unemployment are particularly striking because this is the best educated generation in Irish history. Back in the day, university education was for only the privileged few. In 1964, there were 18,000 students in Irish colleges; last year, there was over eight times that number, 147,000 (although the recent grade inflation controversy has called into question the quality of the education many students are receiving).
“If there’s a job where they’re looking for five specific things, and I have four of the five things, I won’t be looked at. They probably have 200 other people to choose from,” says microbiology graduate Caitríona Monaghan (25).
Caitríona has a research masters in pathology, but with so many science graduates hunting for so few jobs – many of them older and with plenty of industry experience –the search is increasingly frustrating.
“I’m getting really nervous. Previously, I was thinking of going back and doing a H.Dip [higher diploma] for secondary education. Then you hear rumours that they’re going to be cutting hours for student teachers and new teachers.
“I can go in the direction of getting something non-relevant [to science] and in the next few months,” she adds. “That’s probably what’s going to happen. I might try and upskill, Maybe do a FÁS course in basic office administration. However, there are so many skilled people already.”
For those forced into a job outside their area of interest, it could be tricky to make the transition back to the original career plan. Anne Marie McCarthy (22) graduated with an M.A. in journalism last year. Currently he is working in a call-centre as a stopgap.
“Obviously, I’m happy to have a job, because a lot of people don’t. It is kind of depressing because if I didn’t have a job, I’d have the time to look for work in the area I’m interested in. But I have to work full-time,” says Anne Marie. “All my friends are in the same situation. They have degrees. They’re basically all working in various call centres. We have to – we don’t have the luxury of living at home because our parents live too far away or are unemployed themselves. We’re not frustrated as yet because we’re still recent graduates. It might come to a point in a few years time where we’ll have missed out on what we wanted to do.”
So how does the class of 2010 feel about its prospects, post-graduation? I visited the final year studios in the National College of Art and Design.
“If you were looking to make money out of making paintings – actually selling work commercially – it would be very frightening because when there’s an economic downturn, decorative art is the first thing to go,” admits sculpture student Niamh Moriarty.
She adds that the recession has presented opportunities too. A group of 2009 graduates from NCAD and Dún Laoghaire College of Art and Design decided to be proactive: they got together and rented an empty unit in Dublin for next to nothing. The ‘OrmondStudio’ now hosts regular shows and events.
“There’s a lot of room to be confident and get things done now,” says Niamh. “Things are going to get cheaper and more accessible. There’s a lot of support here [Dublin], and a lot of young artists. I guess that’s because we’re children of the Celtic Tiger and we got to go to art college, whereas next year, maybe, it won’t be such an acceptable thing to do.”
Print student Darren Healy says he’s “a little scared” about the immediate future. Like everyone I talked to, he reckons all anyone can do is be pragmatic.
“I don’t mind doing a shitty job for a year. As long as I’m making some money and able to live. I’ll do anything – washing dishes or working in a nursing home – to have my head active.
“In the longer term, I am a little bit scared. I do want some sort of career. Once I’ve a bit of money saved I’ll do an M.A. OK, maybe you’re not going to get your dream career. But as long as you’re willing to try hard enough to look for a job, things will eventually turn around.”

Recession Virgins, by Darragh Kelly
As students, we are uncertain as to what the future holds. Will our degrees pay off? Or will they be a talking point at parties, used to impress strangers so they know that our ambitions didn’t stop after secondary school? The reason we are uncertain is because the majority of us students have never experienced a recession before. This is a first. We are recession virgins.

All through our teenage years we experienced the ‘boom times’. Houses were flying up left, right and centre; brand new cars were on the road before the year was even out. And all of this, to us, was a part of normal life. We bought things and then we updated them. We built things and then we vacated them. We thought of things and then we created them. Our limits knew no bounds. And neither did our wallets. We were by-products of our parents, who were making up for the things they didn’t have during the previous recession. We were brought on foreign holidays to help broaden our minds. These skills would help equip us for a future full of job prospects.
So, as students, we are now faced with a dilemma. Do we ride out the recession in third level education, surfing from one crest of a diploma to the next until things get better? Or do we take what we have and sail off in search of more fertile lands? And if we do, are we jumping ship?
During the last year, I have attended more leaving parties than Tiger Woods has had one-night stands. I have to admit, all of this does sound very appealing. Why stay in a country that isn’t going to reward you?
One positive to come out of the recession is that it has forced us to become more competitive.
As a design student I am taught how to solve problems creatively; how trying new things can give you an advantage and how communicating correctly is the key to being heard. During these times we all need to apply these techniques to everyday life. We need to be defiant. We need to stand up, look ‘recession’ right in the eye and hurl a stone at it.