The Independent still trying to make us believe that the housing crisis is not that bad and that living at home with your parents at 40 is actually a good thing. What is happening to our country?

38 comments

  1. “Mum and Dad are only delighted to see me go on dates” Yeah, cos they’re hoping you’ll move in with whoever you’re dating and leave their house!

  6. I’d only be interested in reading this kind of article if they were anonymous and brutally honest and balanced out the people who say they couldn’t be happier. Like Mary says she loves her adult kids but would probably love them a little more if they got out of her face sometimes or cleaned up after themselves. Or John says he feels like he’s a child again stuck in his bedroom and he’s not allowed to cook because mam said he’d burn the house down.

    It can be shit for the adult child and be a huge imposition on the parents. I know some of my mam’s friends would be singing [this song](https://youtu.be/Uqi7LzRoaBQ) if they thought their child had anywhere to go.

  8. I am so Lucky that I live with a friend in Dublin so my rent is manageable. He owns the place and I rent a room. Half my wages still go to my rent and I am unable to save anymore because of inflation and our bill hikes. But I am in a better position than most friends in Dublin.

    I could theoretically live with my folks as I mostly work from home but even the thought of it depresses me. I love my folks but they live in the middle of nowhere. All my friends are here in Dublin and I feel like I have independence.

    I would feel I have no privacy, no friends, and would just be working and not much else. I can’t afford a car and the nearest town is a 40 minute walk. I’m 29 years old. I should be planning my future but most of my time is trying to survive. I would save money living with my folks, but I would have no life. Feel like I am choosing between being poor and having bad mental health, or saving some money and having even worse mental health. Living with parents is fine if you want to, but having it be your only choice as you are approaching 30 is miserable

  11. It is grim. It’s not much better for couples. I know of two separate couples who had unplanned pregnancies and now they are living and raising the child in glorified sheds in their parents back garden. I know of another couple who broke up probably partly due to their housing situation.

    However, these are not the stories you will read about in the Irish Times or Irish Independent.

  14. Christ, this one Erica Bracken must be friends with the editor or something. I tried to find a copy of this article without a paywall and there are previous articles about her spending habits, her iron deficiency and her house-cabin of her dreams (a caravan in the end of her parents garden)

  16. It also isn’t a *trend* but a *necessity*. Saying it is a trend implies it is elective.

    It sometimes makes you wonder how journalists can be so tone deaf to the challenges facing people.

  20. “There’s no way that moving in with your parents is a sign that your life is right on track. There is no way you could fake this, even. “Yeah, things are great. I met a terrific girl, I got a great job, I’m making a lot of money, and if everything goes according to plan, I’m gonna be moving back in with my parents soon.”

  22. That’s how propaganda works. It tries to make people think things are better than they are.

    Propaganda isn’t just a tool of right-wing despots, FF/FG frequently weaponise the Irish Independent and Irish Times to spread their viewpoints. RTE News also has a decidedly pro-government stance as well.

    I’m not saying it is Fox News levels of bad, but articles like the one here help keep the older generation less than sympathetic to the rest of us.

  26. “…and can be a hugely positive experience for all involved”.
    I’m sure it CAN be, and it can literally make people hang themselves.

    These 3 would fit right in in that Black Hole Sun video by Soundgarden. Stupidly grinning to mask the pain and weirdness of their situation.

  27. Media trying to manipulate opinions and thoughts of people to protect and hide government’s inability to govern and lead a country properly, even if its a country of prosperity and opportunity such as Ireland.

    Who would have thought that media is full of shit. I thought only russian and chinese media is full of propaganda and crap. What a surprise.

  28. This actually makes me feel gaslit like. The very last of my “youth” is disappearing, and I’m in the same room I’ve been in 32 years. I actually earn ok money at last, but can afford nothing unless I want to piss away that money into renting a room in a house share. Making that transition from child to carer with no independence in between. Partner and I are “saving” for a “mortgage” (lol – c’mon crash). I would love to have a child someday, but it would be nice to house and feed it too, if I’m being a bit demanding. How is this real.

  29. The only way single Irish people in the 20s-40s to live on their own is do one of the following:

    * Move abroad and rent a place for the amount you’d rent for a room back home.
    * Move in with friends, if you’re lucky.
    * Move in with strangers, which can be a nightmare depending on who you get.

  30. “There she goes now, off to get the ride.”

    – Mammy, standing at the kitchen window with a teatowel as the daughter heads out.

  31. Lived at home for the majority of my 20s and it honestly felt like I had them robbed from me stuck in a state of pre-adulthood. It’s a real buzz kill telling a girl you’re still at home.

    I can honestly say the sweetest feeling is leaving the gaf at anytime now and no one asking me where I’m going or when I’ll be back

  32. I’m about to move back in with my Da in Dublin. Landlord is selling the house and there are literally no others in a 60km radius of here that I could rent that are suitable. 5 houses on the road for sale. I’m trying to find a school for my kid and I’ve been told the chances are 0 so I’ll probably have to drive her an hour each way to one she currently goes to. Every school I’m applying to wants a utility bill in my name from where I will be living and obviously I don’t have that yet because I was only told last week the house was going up for sale. When people ask me why I only have 1 kid this is why. The country has been a disaster since the end of the Celtic Tiger days. We’ve a housing crisis, a health crisis, a school crisis, a cost of living crisis a fucking everything crisis.

  33. We need to have a national conversation about the society we want to build for the future. We should be prepared to completely reimagine how we provide for housing infrastructure in this country. China built a hospital with 1000 beds in six days- obviously we’re not china, but what is it about our system that stops us from urgently providing homes that we can change? This problem is only getting worse.

  34. I’ve seen articles saying the energy crisis is a positive because living in a colder home can be beneficial for your health.

  37. This is such a ridiculous article. I contacted the editor to complain that this drivel is being published as “premium content”;

    I refer to the above article,

    This piece of “premium content” is tone deaf at best and grotesquely patronising at worst. In the current housing crisis it beggars belief that something like this has gotten past the editor.

    As a paid subscriber, I expect and usually enjoy a diverse selection of articles but this is extremely offensive to anyone like myself within the age bracket referred to in the article. How about you rename the article “You’ll never get on the property ladder so why don’t you just make the most of living with your parents and stop complaining”.

    Can you tell me who this article is aimed at? Perhaps the over 50s who already have their homes and want to bask in the misery of those bearing the brunt of housing crisis for some sadistic reason?

  38. This made me feel sick to read. What person in their teens/twenties is reading this with hope for their future? Who is excited and happy to live in a place where their future of spending the next 20-30 years with their parents is seen as a “growing trend” like it’s some kind of great scheme?

    I am unbelievably lucky to be living out of my folks’ and on my own at my age, but I’m one of few. All of my mates are still living with their parents, and I’m starting to see which ones are going to be there for the foreseeable future, and not because they have to look after anyone at home or stay for some other important reason, but because the thought hasn’t even occurred to them. It feels like more and more of them aren’t even seeing it as an option anymore.

    I love a lot about Ireland, but I’m godawfully depressed seeing the state of things lately, especially for us younger folks, and the current teenagers who’ll be in our shoes soon.

    Please, please, please, go out and vote, and force each and every single person in your life to do the same. We can’t keep looking at a mess with a nonchalant attitude anymore, this is borderline insane.

Leave a Reply