Minimum Wage - How can you survive ?

Voting SF would change nothing. They're part of the same political system as the rest of them. Big on words, soft on actually doing anything useful.

Secondly, you don't need to learn a new language. English is useful all around the world, and you can get your start with TEFL, which after a year or two, you can easily earn enough abroad, to finance your need for an advanced degree, which leads to other options.

But I agree.. the best option for anyone on min-wage, (and likely to stay there), is to go abroad where being a foreigner is an asset. All the same, there are a variety of options in Ireland for further education, based on your income (or your gender) to allow the move into better employment positions. Alternatively, the internet provides a lot of scope for anyone who has the dedication to stick at learning, which sets you up for better employment.

People are responsible for their own situations. Yes, Ireland is expensive, but there are a wide range of supports available if someone is willing to jump through the required hoops.

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Still I'm curious to see the posts per the OPs question about how people survive on min wage. Ireland is an expensive country, and is going to become much more expensive as inflation seriously kicks in.

There's also those middle aged who are qualified in general degrees like business, and have past experience, but the recruiters ignore them.. leaving them stuck with min waged jobs. I feel their pain.. as I've been looking for work for the last year in Ireland (I work online atm, and wanted to transition to living in Ireland) and it's bloody hard to find anything outside of Dublin. Plenty of advertisements, but no response from applications (I have advanced degrees, but my experience in that area is sadly out of date). After a year of it, I'm ready to give up, and go back abroad again.

So I've often been told (at least that was the logic years ago)... but Ireland marches to a different beat than other countries.

I've spoken to a variety of old friends who are established here, and the response tends to be "it is what it is" rather than any practical explanation of how to get around it.. it's like as if people don't really know what's accepted anymore.

Dismiss and deflect without contributing anything. You're the first one to suggest Ireland as being a kip

Oh.. I've lived/worked in China, Japan, S.Korea, Germany... and travelled to a wide variety of other countries.

Smoke and mirrors. Certain aspects of the Irish economy, and standards of living in some areas have improved, but others have fallen significantly, or remained stagnant. You should take a look at some of the less developed regions of Ireland, and the general standards of living such as west Galway, or Kerry to see that little has changed in a positive way, and in other ways, things have declined. Then take a look at previously relatively prosperous towns in the midlands such as Longford or Mullingar, and once you move away from the busy town centre, you see problems all over. Population migration has remained a serious issue for these regions, but as long as Dublin is seen to be growing, then all is dandy.

There are similar problems with the Irish economy. You've pointed to three decades, which have included a banking crash, and two lesser recessions, in addition to increases in taxation for the government to "help" recovery. Throughout that period, we've seen a wide variety of small-medium sized businesses close both due to market forces, but also the costs of doing business in Ireland. Some of that has been offset by the creation of more jobs by multinationals, but go through most midland towns and it's easy to see a wide range of closed up shops, pubs, etc. The focus, as with many western nations, has shifted towards large corporations or businesses, with the smaller companies being squeezed out. Which is a problem, because outside of the cities, these smaller businesses tend to provide the most amount of jobs, both in themselves, but also in the networks they create to support themselves.

The simple truth is that the Irish economy is on shaky ground. Debt financing of business operations, and institutions using that debt to expand, has weakened their ability to resist big changes in the international scene. The reliance on foreign investment makes us particularly weak to movements by corps chasing after the lowest costs, and as Ireland becomes more expensive, that increases the risks of them leaving for cheaper pastures. Tax increases along with the introduction of rates, or the need to have regulated support services (solicitors, accountants etc) to interpret the maze of State rules, makes it more difficult for smaller businesses to operate.

This is not an attempt to paint Ireland as being in a hole, but there's been a lot of PR programming by the government to present Ireland as being so wealthy, when most of it is rather superficial. State infrastructure is woeful, and getting worse. Transportation costs are increasing each year, and quality of service or provision is dropping. The HSE is a mess, and is clearly underfunded especially when you look outside of the main population centres. Many schools are overcrowded, and underfunded... or relatively empty because the population has shifted so much.

Irish people need to take a long hard look at the economy, and the state of the nation, because it's not near as rosy as you want to make out. It's better in some ways, but we're seeing a decline in other areas. Doesn't help that RTE are hand in glove with the government and unlikely to invest any time showing the vulnerabilities of the economy.

Lastly, look at the other "top" countries. Most of them are struggling. The problem with being at the top, is the desire to increase your spending to show everyone how wonderful you are.. but in many cases, revenue has not increased to compensate for that increased spending...