Budget 2025 needs and desires of those roaming Dublin city on Friday varied from a cut of the Apple tax billions to increased investment in the Health Service Executive due to traumatic 12-hour waits in emergency departments.
Most, if not all, however, had one primary concern: housing.
Days before the budget is realised, The Irish Times asked people aged 35 and under what they would like to see come Tuesday.
“It’s just not fair at all, I have absolutely no hope, I don’t even think about moving out because there’s no possibility. They’re driving young people out of the country because there’s nowhere to stay,” says 22-year-old store manager Anna Farrell.
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“I think it’s awful that young people feel they have to go away to Australia or the Continent, there’s no housing for young people. What’s the point in saving? It’s so expensive, you may as well have the coffee,” says 24-year-old Rosie McLoughlin.
For young parents, meanwhile, the cost and availability of childcare should be a priority.
“Everything is challenging these days with the cost of living,” says Darach Lacey, a 35-year-old father of two. Lacey, who works in marketing, spends about €2,000 a month on childcare for his 10-year-old saying he would take “any help” he could get that might be targeted towards parents.
“It’s stressful, it takes a lot of planning, you’re always looking at your budgets, what’s coming in and what’s coming out, so anything extra that can help take a little bit of that pressure off,” he says.
Alongside student accommodation and housing in general for their future, the most pressing matter for students is the cost of public transport.
The majority of those living at home with parents while studying say it is their largest expense, with some suggesting that it be free for students, or at least capped at a lower figure.
Some describe their public transport expenses “almost doubling” on turning 19, from 65 cent to €1 for long journeys.
Stressing the need for more student accommodation, Ciarán Dunwoody from Galway describes “desperation” among students searching for accommodation each year.
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He lives in purpose-built student accommodation in the Liberties, Dublin 8, and spends €1,100 per month in rent which “handcuffs” him financially.
Other students describe feeling “depressed” at housing prospects, with the majority from Dublin and other counties saying they plan on remaining at home with their parents after they graduate due to rental costs.
Ella Corrigan, a 19-year-old studying chemistry at Trinity College Dublin, awoke at 5:30am to make her 9am lecture from Wicklow and already knows she is going to emigrate once she graduates due to the “extortionate” costs.
She works as a bartender at the weekend and tried to secure student accommodation, but to no avail.
“Couples in their 40s are working full-time, mad hours, and still can’t afford to own a home which is just stupid because everyone is just going to move out of Ireland,” she says.
“You hear about people in the old days, getting a house in their 20s but you won’t be doing that now until you’re 40 if you’re lucky,” says her friend, Ava O’Dwyer.
