A SOCIAL MEDIA campaign shared by the Department of Housing, which offers advice to young people moving back in with their parents, has been met with shock and fury.

“A very bad joke”, “embarrassing”, “patronising”, “dystopian” and “tone deaf” are some of the ways housing spokespeople from opposition parties have described the campaign.

In the video posted online by the Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage over the weekend, two young people offer advice to anyone moving back in with their parents. 

“Sharing a home with family members as an adult is very different to doing so as a child,” one of the young women says before advising people to take the time to set up some “house rules” such as “paying rent and doing housework”. 

“Moving back home might be enjoyable at first, but over time, it’s possible you might have some conflict. This is completely normal,” the second young woman says in the video. 

Among the advice offered in the video is for young people to “help out around the house” by agreeing to take on some “household chores”.

One of the women in the video says “not only will it lighten the workload for your family, but it will also help you feel more independent”.

Reacting to the video, Social Democrats TD and housing spokesperson Rory Hearne said: “I was falling over myself laughing, going ‘is this Waterford Whispers?’.”

“Oh my God, it is is so cringe and embarrassing. One of the most embarrassing things I’ve seen the Department ever produce. Are they serious?,” Hearne said, adding that it was “just so out of touch”. 

“That this is the Department’s message to the tens of thousands of people who have to move back home with their parents while the Department is changing rules which are leading to people being forced to move back home. It’s dystopian.

“It’s incredibly insensitive and tone deaf, considering the Department of Housing’s role in this,” Hearne said.

Similarly, Labour’s housing spokesperson Conor Sheehan agreed that the tone of the video “is terrible”. 

“I really think it is incredibly distasteful,” Sheehan said.

In his view, the video is a “very blatant admission of failure” by the government in terms of their housing policy.

“It’s absolutely stunned me that they have essentially given up on delivering affordable housing and cost-rental housing, and instead they’ve decided to essentially start lecturing young people.

“It’s the most patronising thing I’ve ever seen.

“Who came up with it, like? They’d want to give themselves a good shake,” Sheehan said. 

In his view, the Department need to pull the campaign.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin TD and housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said it had to be “a very bad joke”. 

“Does the Minister really believe that his Dept should be ‘advising’ adults about how to cope with moving back in with their parents?,” he wrote on X. 

Ó Broin added that maybe if government policy didn’t “push up house prices & rents” then fewer young people would have to move back in with their parents. 

In a statement, the Department of Housing said the campaign was not created by them and that it is an initiative developed and funded by the Housing Agency in partnership with Ireland’s youth information and support platform, Spunout. 

“Consisting of four videos, the campaign is an element of the Support Guide for the Youth Homelessness Strategy. The videos were posted from the Housing Agency and Spunout’s social media platforms and also shared across the department’s channels. The campaign was developed by young people and based on their experiences,” a spokesperson for the Department said.