The bailout babies: 'There's a feeling of anger among this generation: this is happening and it's not their fault'

"Just as Adam Maguire prepares to release his first book, The Bailout Babies, the very generation he is writing about appear to have been bestowed with their first major anthem. CMAT's Euro-Country reflects on the 2008 financial crash, from a child's perspective, and features the lyrics All the big boys/All the Berties/All the envelopes/Yeah, they hurt me/I was 12 when the das started killing themselves all around me."

"In writing his book about those who were children at the time of the Celtic Tiger crash, Maguire - a business journalist for RTÉ - interviewed a number of young people about the realities of their lives. Much as the name of his book suggests, the 'bailout babies' are those who were children during the final days of the Celtic Tiger, and around the time of the International Monetary Fund bailout, agreed alongside the European Central Bank and European Commission to the tune of €85bn in late 2010."

A generation that were children during the 2008 Celtic Tiger crash matured amid austerity and the €85bn IMF–ECB–European Commission bailout, producing altered life paths and expectations. Cultural touchstones such as CMAT's Euro-Country capture childhood trauma and widespread frustration. Young adults confront constrained housing markets, reliance on side incomes, changed dating dynamics, and significant emigration decisions. Interviews with people from this cohort reveal pervasive economic insecurity, long-term fallout from the financial collapse, and a redefinition of adulthood driven by limited opportunities and structural obstacles in housing and employment.

Read at Independent