Unemployment is a common theme among the entries of a songwriting competition for schools.
With unemployment directly affecting one in five Irish people, unsurprisingly it was a constant subject for numerous entries into a Trustee Savings Bank sponsored songwriting competition for schools.
Many sang of the sadness unemployment brought to the once-happy homes.
Some of the young people wrote about using their studies as an escape route from unemployment,
Others sang of the futility of study, still others attacked the politicians in bitter lyrics.
By contrast, there is a message of hope in the winning entry in the primary section of the competition, 'Job Creation' by 13-year-old Gavin Nugent from Sutton in Dublin.
To an audience of ecstatic schoolchildren, Gavin Nugent performs his prize-winning song accompanied on the piano by his father.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 26 February 1984. The reporter is Pat Sweeney.
