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LAST UPDATE | 19 Nov 2024
COULD WE COPE with a nation of teenagers? It’s what Ireland might be facing, given that our lack of affordable housing is forcing young people to stay in their childhood homes long after their teenage years should have ended.
The raging hormonal adolescent has become such a notorious stereotype that we might expect it has always been an accepted stage of development, but the concept was only introduced in Western countries at the beginning of the 20th century. Since then, researchers believe that the length of adolescence has been increasing due to societal changes. The housing crisis could be a critical factor contributing to prolonged adolescence in young Irish people, creating a generation who are forced to remain stuck in their childhood environment and cannot fully transition into adulthood.
We’re all watching the pre-election promises of political parties ahead of the General Election at the end of this month. The polling tells us that it’s a fait accompli, that the same parties will be back in, and that we can expect very little to change. Regardless of what outcome we may expect, it doesn’t change the frustration that young people feel witnessing political inaction when it comes to the housing crisis.
For the thousands of homeless in this country and the many of us trapped in the reality of never affording our own homes, it feels like housing hasn’t been discussed enough yet in this election. This housing crisis disempowers so many of us across society. It is a crisis, but we’ve perhaps heard the word for so long that it means nothing anymore.
We feel like this for many reasons; we fear the prospect of endless renting, fighting roommates for milk well into our 30s and using our wages to pay someone else’s mortgage. It may seem like those who have the option to live with their parents are in a superior position – they can save on rent and don’t have to worry about living at the mercy of a stranger’s whims. But what are the effects of staying in one’s childhood bedroom, or returning to the scene of adolescence after you’ve supposedly grown up?
I was lucky to return to the sanctuary of my family home during the first Covid-19 lockdown; I had a roof over my head, food in the fridge, and a room of my own. However, being back in this environment – one I curated for myself first as a child, and then as a teenager – made me feel like I was turning back the clock.
An incoherent collection of items from my life live in my room, from stuffed animals with worn-down ears, to tap dancing shoes that would only fit a nine-year-old. Makeup that I wouldn’t dare wear now sits untouched in a drawer, and my Transition Year hoodie haunts the wardrobe. Nothing about the room feels adult and, living in it, neither did I.
Returning to this familiar environment made me revert to old behaviours and routines I had long forgotten.
Despite being vegetarian for years, the only lunch option I could think of was a plain chicken sandwich on O’Hara’s sliced pan. Even though I didn’t have a pair in my Dublin home, I reached for black leggings daily like my hand was guided by teenage insecurity.
It’s well documented that our environment can influence our behaviour, and that returning to a familiar space can reignite old habits and mental states. For this reason, you may find yourself acting like a teenager again just by inhabiting the environment where you grew up. This regression is something I’ve discussed with friends, who say they must fight to get back into their adult headspace when returning to their childhood home. They related to feeling restrained by the choices they used to make as a teenager, and said they even fell into old argumentative patterns with parents and siblings, which never happened in their adult life.
If we feel this regression when we return home for Christmas or visit for the weekend, what must it do to those forced to live in their childhood homes because it’s the only option they have?
Staying in this environment could possibly create a prolonged adolescence. And what, really, is the difference between being a teenager and feeling as though you have no choice but to act like one? While we might consider adolescence to be a defined period from about 12 to 18, research defines adolescence as a period of developmental maturation which starts with biological changes and ends with social maturity.
This idea of adolescence is relatively modern, only entering the Western zeitgeist at the turn of the 20th century, with G. Stanley Hall characterising this “new” developmental stage as the period before full maturity. The Industrial Revolution and the advent of compulsory education allowed children to avoid labour, thereby prolonging their dependence on their families and offering them a slower transition into full adulthood.
Adolescence does not take place during a strict set of years but, rather, is an expanding period impacted by one’s environment. Children seem to reach biological maturation significantly quicker nowadays, and the age of social maturation is being pushed further into one’s 20s. Researchers believe that adolescence may be stretched out due to social factors such as labour and lifestyle, and it’s possible that the housing crisis could play a role in extending it even further.
Due to rising housing costs and stagnant wages, many young adults cannot afford to move out and live independently. While affordable housing is incredibly difficult to find for those who move to Irish cities to work or study, people who live within a commutable distance of their occupation are not necessarily better off in the long run. Students who live at home while attending college, for instance, relinquish the opportunity to step fully into adulthood after their teenage years. If they stay in the same city for work, sky-high rent prices will have them hard-pressed to find an excuse to give up the affordability of life at home.
By making staying at home the best option for young people, the housing crisis is preventing them from transitioning into fully autonomous adulthood, keeping them in a psychological adolescence.
Forcing young people to delay their adulthood also affects Irish society on a larger scale. Data from the Central Statistics Office shows that birth rates have declined in the past decade, while the age of first-time mothers has increased, suggesting that Irish young people are delaying starting families or opting not to. After all, how can you be expected to raise a child when your environment prompts you to still behave like one?
The housing crisis is keeping a generation of Irish young adults in a state of prolonged adolescence, physically stuck in their childhood homes and psychologically trapped in teenage mindsets. While there are countless reasons the government should be motivated to improve the accessibility of affordable housing, perhaps facing a generation of moody, teenage adults will be the push they need to take critical action.
But it’s clear on Friday, 29 November those of us over 18 can do one thing that younger adolescents cannot, we can vote. All parties, whether government or not, will make tantalising promises around housing. The housing crisis cannot be turned around overnight, but policy does make a difference. So do the research, speak to the candidates at the door and tell them your story. Then listen to the debates, weed through the waffle, and exercise your democratic right to vote. It’s all we have left.
Sarah Moran is a writer, editor and researcher. She graduated from English literature and psychology at Trinity College in 2022 and has since worked as a news verification journalist and communications associate.
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121k to design a hut. Pull the other one.
@Llennoc: and 190k to rent a temporary security hut during construction period. The Golden circle are allowed to plunder the tax take, with a nod and a wink. No wonder there’s such a gap in society, the range rover brigade get their money so easy, no work involved
Who got the job and let us see all the quotes
OPW is in cahoots wirh certain CCTV and security companies across the country at ALL OPW sites…. i know for a fact, as i’m in the game. This in itself needs investigating.
@Steve Davis: I think maybe you need to supply the information you have to the gardai and expose what is going on
@Tony Lyons: he’s snookered now…..
@JB Software: quality comment
No one is questioning the need for security… but seriously, the cost is ridiculous…. this is not government money, this is taxpayers money… there seems not to be any proper scrutiny from the opw on spending our money.
@R kelly: opw are just one state organisation. There’s others that spend vastly more money, the waste is incredible.
@R kelly: the cost for the equipment fit out isn’t unreasonable
@Pat Hazzard: Mr Pathetic trotted out by Fianna Fail to defend the indefensible. If Jimmy Saville was from FF, you would still come on here defending him, sad pathetic shill.
@Pat Hazzard: are you off your tree ?
Here’s the real breakdown.
Cost of hut 429k.
Cost of scam 1m.
The OPW has a ‘Panel’ of three ‘Approved Security Suppliers’. Palms have to be seriously greased to get on that panel.
Once you’re on the panel, you are in cahoots with the other 2 companies and everyone agrees to ramp their quotes up by 400%. (Thats actually how it works)….
The OPW then gets 3 quotes, one off each of their ‘approved suppliers’ so its seen to comply with tendering laws – regardless of the fact they are getting fleeced and could get it €100 of thousands cheaper elsewhere….
@Steve Davis: You seem to know a good bit about this. you should become a whistleblower.
Write to the Gards, to Journos, try take pics of documents that prove what you are saying and get the word out.
no point moaning about it in the Journal comments. Go do something about it.
It’s so easy to spend somebody else’s money. Disgusting.
Not their money so no one cares.
People responsible need to be held to account. It’s very close to criminal what has gone on here.
What’s the scrap value of the copper boss?
The Minister with responsibility for the OPW must be hiding in the HUT, no sign of him for the past fortnight.
I’m so fed up of this country.
The civil servants are running/ruining this country get them out,sack them all
@Paul: when there’s no accountability, they’ll do what they please.
@Paul: then you’ll have nobody to process your dole.
@Tony Murphy: it’s being happening for years, and did you think the days of the brown envelope was gone.
Where going off the rails on this gravy train
Some gig getting a government contract .
191k replacement security system
Would they need to build a fortress around them if they were a popular government? The lorry that rammed the gates of leinster House in 2010 was driven by a very frustrated gentleman,frustrated that this very pack of muppits drove the country of a cliff by refusing to listen to all the warnings given to them at the time. They will do it again and will need protecting.
Who signs off on these? Is there not a minister responsible for the OPW? After all it is taxpayers money they are throwing out.
It’s a thundering disgrace but they will have a right laugh at the christmas party about how they can do whatever they want and not have to worry about getting pulled up on it. Pissing away tax payers money is so deeply embedded in the civil service it will never change.
Government Contracts means Gravy Train for the chosen few. No questions asked. Sickening.
Did they never hear of Ring Door bells..
3 instances is a pattern
that’s just the tip of the iceberg !
these showers are not fit for purpose and should be inquired on everything they do, on everything they get (perks, advantages, money, pensions etc…)
Name and shame, get the money back, do not vote for them anymore …
Heads should roll at OPW. Crazy spending spree their on.
It’s a security hut, not MI5s headquarters. They must have some James Bond gadegts going on in that hut, or Sensori got the contract.
I’d like to see the security footage of the bike shed being built from this state of the art security building. As I hear there was robbery happening at the time.
In fairness, when the Russians come, we all know where to go. For that money, it should hold all 5 million of us and room for a pony.
https://jrnl.ie/6498460
All Sinn Féin’s fault though, and to a lesser extent the Social Democrats. You can see how the government have risen in the polls though
We need Monuments to the Largesse of our Elite that represent our entitled Govt, Civil Service & “Public Service Broadcaster RTE”. The Bike Shelter & Security Hut, as Stephen Matthews described as “Beautiful”, are representative of how the Elite regard themselves & a total disregard of those who work hard & pay their taxes. It has been ever so in Ireland for decades now, a country where the select Elite thrive in a country rotten to the core. Nothing will ever change, there will always be another NCH, Bike Shelter, Security Hut, followed by the faux outrage of the Elite & the oft used “Lessons Learned”.
If we stopped calling it a “hut” it would help. It’s a state of the art security office at the entrance to our highest government building.
@Martin O Connell: yes and the bike shed is the taj mahal. If this level of security is needed then why are the military not guarding it.
@Martin O Connell: OK, we’ll call it sorasoatetohgb for short.
@Martin O Connell: with a 60,000 euro roof ,stop trying to defend this shite givt
The d Hotel in drogheda was paid 5.3 million for the first 3 or 6 months to house asylum seeks why didn’t we buy it and city west and money hundreds of millions spent and nothing to show for it 190k to rent a security hut why didn’t opw buy it nothing to show for it
Hold on, eu 121,000+ spent on design ! Sounds like OPW engaged consultants for the design. Why? The OPW has their own architects, so why did they need consultants. What were the OPW architects doing, what are they being paid for? Scandalous.
Must have been a lot of brown envelopes involved
Great to see all the learned comments from all the security and construction cost experts here today………
@chris gaffney: that’s it !
Common sense tells you this is a totally overpriced POS.
But here comes Chris trying to tell us it’s all fine .
Feck off chris
construction industry needs to be regulated! Seriously!
have your say