Ciara Kelly: There was no money in the Ireland of my youth but not everything was a ‘crisis’. Is Gen X the last happy generation?

"Millennials and Gen Z genuinely believe they’re worse off than all previous generations, despite evidence to the contrary, and in a way I don’t blame them." Photo: Getty

Ciara Kelly

The recent National Youth Council of Ireland’s survey on the under-30s in Ireland has thrown up some stark statistics. Just 8pc of respondents were positive about their mental well-being and 50pc characterised their mental well-being as low — with women more likely than men to feel that way.

And notwithstanding the obvious issues around housing, largely related to supply — although there’s an unspoken issue in that we (and by we, I mean the Green Party) wiped out bedsits and small, cheap starter accommodation for renters in order “to raise standards” but then never replaced them with a better like-for-like. Instead, the bottom tier of the rental market just became the much dearer, fancier and less attainable apartment living.