Young people in Dundalk talk about unemployment, emigration and the outlook for their town.
With a lack of employment in Dundalk, for many young people the only option is to emigrate. They leave in search of job opportunities not available to them in their home town.
Robert says that from his own class, he knows at least 15 people who have emigrated in the last two years. While Robert himself left the country and then returned, he believes that in the long term it is better to stay. Having spent time in the United States without a visa, he felt it was better to find work in Ireland rather than work for minimum wage and poor conditions in the US.
Others among the group feel that their future in Ireland is uncertain. One young man says that there is a disparity between what people are doing as a job in Ireland and what they would actually like to do as a career. Many young people can not find work in what they are qualified to do.
A lot of people are not doing what they want to do.
One young woman says that when people emigrate, they will do jobs that they would not dream of doing at home working in pubs, bars and hotels.
There's sort of stigma attached if they were working in a shop at home, they wouldn't like to admit to it.
Cormac spent the summer in England working repairing the roads. He worked 12 hour shifts and would never dream of doing similar work in Ireland. Another says that this is a natural progression and that you do these kinds of jobs until something better comes along.
One woman says that people are prepared to do pub or bar work overseas but not in their hometown but points out that,
It's not more glamorous anywhere else than it is in Dundalk.
For many people from Dundalk, they leave for a few years, work hard, make some money and then return to set up home.
This episode of 'Facts of Life' was broadcast on 1 July 1987. The presenter is Carolyn Fisher.
'Facts of Life' was an eleven part series in which young people talked frankly on issues that affect them in their daily lives.
