Senator John McGahon- speech from 28 Sep 2022

Thank you very much, Lasky-Hurlock. Lasky-Hurlock, I am 31 years of age, so I am the youngest member of this House, and I was just thinking back to 2009 when I did my leave insert, and I was coming out at the height of the economic recession, the height of some of the toughest financial times, not just this country, but the world had seen. And when I think back to people I know that emigrated back then, they were emigrating for an absolutely economic necessity, because there were absolutely no jobs in this country, and it wasn't just young people, it was people who had been in employment for 20 or 30 years in construction, etc., had to then move themselves, so it affected all age groups in society back then. But when I fast forward now, 10 or 12 years, and I look at some of my friends who have emigrated throughout their mid-20s to places like the UK, to places like the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and I look across the board, and it is safe to say that the amount of people who emigrate for economic necessity today is a lot less than it was in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, when this country and this economy was rock bottom. And of course people still emigrate today for economic necessity, that's absolutely the case, I'm not trying to say that's not, but they also emigrate for other reasons, like advancement in job opportunities, the ability to experience another country, the ability to live and learn in another country, experience a different type of culture. And I have seen it now myself at the age of 31, where most of my friends have spent their 20s abroad, that they're now making that decision to come back to Ireland. And they're coming back to Ireland much more rounded, much more educated, much more professionally, with professional ability, and they've been able to come back into Ireland and get good jobs. Now, obviously, it is a difficult situation with the cost of living, it's a difficult situation with housing. But there is no other country around this world, Minister, where there is an abundance of, where there is, sorry, the point I'm trying to make, there is no other city or country around the world where everything is great, and it's a promised land of milk and honey and that type of stuff. That's not the case. Everywhere has its own opportunities, but everywhere also has its own, just, if it's all right, I'm just trying to speak here without the theatrics, if that's all right. You know, we're all allowed to point different points of view across here. People who have quite rightly put this motion forward have a point of view, but people on this side of the house have a point of view as well. And that's what, that's, there's no, there's no speaking here, unfortunately, it's only members, if you want to put your hand up or not. But the point is, last year, look, without the theatrics, what I'm trying to say is that I'm putting forward a point of view of my own experience as a young person in this country. Someone who came out at the height of a recession in 2009 and has seen what my own friends have done in their 20s throughout it, and what they're coming back to this country for now. And I think that's important to recognise. I'm not trying to say that everything is well and good, but it is important to recognise that that is the case. When we look about the cost of living for students and young people in this country, and just the things that we've done in the last couple of weeks, as you know yourself, Gairlock, one of the big issues that I've talked about is transport. And where I come from in Dundalk, the vast majority of people, and it has always been the way, the vast majority of people commute to Dublin, whether that's getting on the bus to go to DCU, Trinity College, or wherever else, that's the way they do it. What we have done now is reduce public fares by half. But one thing that we didn't do was reduce public fares for private transport. And the biggest way you get from my town to Dublin is through private transport. We listened to the young people around this country who get those private transports, and in the last couple of weeks, we've now introduced that 50% to include not just public, but private as well. And I think that, and to give you the real term difference of it, someone three weeks ago getting private transport from my town of Dundalk to Dublin was paying 17 quid to get a return ticket. They're now paying 5 euro 50 cent. Real term money. So that is a very small example, but a key example of something that we are doing to try and tackle an example of the cost of living crisis as well. And when we look at it, and I've actually said this previously in the Senate, when we were at the height of COVID, I really felt that young people got a terrible rap from certain sectors of society, certain sectors of the media during the height of COVID, for doing nothing more but enjoying themselves. Whether it was being in public spaces and being told to move along, whether it was whatever else. And we have to understand and realise that through no fault of anyone's own, it was a worldwide pandemic, but young people lost two years of some of the best years of their life. Years where they get to, you know, make lifelong friends, have really good experiences that then shape their adult outlook, that shape their 20s, etc. And those two years were taken away from them. And I felt that sometimes we should have cut them more slack throughout the whole COVID situation, and we didn't. And it is very, very clear. And I talked to my sister, Ruth, who's 21 years of age. She's just finished her in UCD. She's now spending a year doing work experience to get 400 free hours before she can go in and do a master's, because she wants to become a social worker. And I listened to her and what she says to some of her friends. And when I was 18, 19 and 20, the concept of mental health wasn't even spoken about among people my age. It absolutely wasn't. And when I speak to Ruth now and people of her age, it is. Because people are really prepared to speak out about mental health, about issues they're facing, about finance and funding that's going into it at the same time. Ten years ago, when I was 17, 18, 19, it didn't exist. It was still a taboo to talk about mental health. It really was. And that's only less than a decade ago. And I think our young people in this country today are to be commended for their courage, their ability to stand up, their ability to call things out, whether they agree with it or not. And it's perfectly entitled for people to agree or disagree. And the whole process of this debate that we're having today is so we can test opposing opinions and we can see what we really think young people need and want in this country. And last, Cahillac, just to finish up, I think this has been a very good debate and I'd like to commend my independent colleagues for bringing this motion forward and I look forward to the rest of the contributions.