KILDARE TV COLUMN: Exporting our young families
Kevin Dowling takes a look at the latest films, series and documentaries
“I love this town, I’ve called it home for five years now. I love the people and the buzz and how I’m never too far from the sea. I love all of the memories this town has given me.
“I love having pints in pubs that founded our most famous musicians, and I love Saturday morning coffees with a friend who just wants to listen. Dublin is everything you could possibly love. I give it my all but it isn’t enough. Because lately I’ve felt like Dublin is squeezing me out.
“Hungry for my money, my friends, my job and my house. And one thing I’ve learned after five years on this track, is that I love my home, but my home doesn’t love me back.”
Those are the words from a 54 second TikTok video called My Love/Hate letter to Dublin by Alice Kiernan. The video has gone viral, having been viewed more than half a million times.
It has struck a chord with people of Kiernan’s generation. Stuck at the coal face of the housing and cost of living crises, this young generation are certainly not ‘living the dream’.
No better time, then, for RTE’s human interest documentary Broke, which you can watch on the RTE Player.
In the programme, we meet the Cichocki family, who originally emigrated from Poland to Ireland with dreams of a better life.
Their aspirations swiftly evaporated, however, as the realities of the Irish housing market began to sink in.
Instead of realising their dream of owning their own home, they now stumble precariously from one rented property to another, each one more expensive than the last.
Their children are not immune to these pressures either. The Cichocki’s son hopes to rent a house with two other people. After the most recent in a series of futile house viewings, he returns to his mother, crestfallen.
The landlord he had just spoken to was looking for a €6,500 deposit up front.
Another pair who participated in the show are Aoife and Andrew, a couple living in Dublin.
Aoife explains that they had saved a €20,000 deposit in the hope of getting a mortgage. The couple quickly learnt that this wasn’t enough. After some consideration, they decide to emigrate to Canada.
The scene where the pair are having their going away party is genuinely sad. Aoife stoically tries to convince her parents that everything will be ok. The torn look in her father’s eyes tells a different story.
A recent RED C poll has indicated that over 70% of Irish people aged 18-24 are considering moving abroad.
This documentary doesn’t get bogged down in advising politicians on how to solve Ireland’s housing problems. Without dishing out any sage advice, though, the directors leave the viewer in no doubt that we cannot just do nothing.
Imagine it’s Christmas 2023. You’ve just finished your turkey, and you switch on the TV. On the screen you see crowds of people crammed into every nook and cranny of a departures hall. As the camera zooms in, you realise something is amiss.
The reporter is surrounded by red eyed parents and their adult children, sharing tearful goodbyes in front of the camera.
This isn’t a bunch of families heading off for their ‘Christmas getaway’.
It’s not a re-run of Reeling In The Years 1983. It’s a live broadcast from Dublin Airport.
It turns out Ireland is still the best little country in the world at exporting its young people. All that has changed is the hairstyles.
You can watch Broke on the RTE Player.