The notion that being on Social Welfare is some kind of holiday that never ends is exposed as a fallacy in a new documentary series that begins next Sunday on RTÉ.
Dole Life looks at how unemployment is affecting twenty-somethings in today's Ireland. With the odds of getting work stacked against them and money increasingly scarce, it's a life with few opportunities.
This three-parter focuses on young people whose potential is lost on JobBridge, dead-end courses, and minimum wage jobs as they find themselves on the social welfare treadmill.
Union of Students in Ireland president Kevin Donoghue said: "The first episode of the Dole Life series outlines the very real and difficult situation many young people in Ireland find themselves in.
"Being on the dole can be incredibly discouraging, isolating, and emotionally and physically exhausting. It has an extremely negative effect on young people’s mental health.
"Many of the case studies in Dole Life face adverse stereotypes and prejudices but despite this, rise above it all with obvious desperation to change their situation, get a job and commit to real progression."
Dole Life, Sunday, RTÉ2
