In search of US adventure

Dermot Stokes, National Co-ordinator of Youthreach, the State and ESF-funded education and training programme for early school leavers

I went to Atlantic City, on a J1 visa in 1970, with my then girlfriend who is now my wife, Mary. At the time there were tales of people who had come back with large sums of money but I was there mainly for the adventure. I worked at a fairground, testing the roller-coaster every morning and selling tickets for rides such as the Octopus. It was life in the raw and there was an atmosphere of personal, social and sexual learning and liberation. We learned a lot about America, gained new perspectives on Ireland and learned about ourselves. It was enormously significant that we were exposed to a multicultural society. Two of my sons have since gone on the programme and continue to dine out on their stories.

Dick Spring, former Labour Party leader

It was the summer of 1969 and we were the children of hope heading for the land of opportunity. I worked in a company on Long Island that received Philips goods from Holland. It sticks in my head because Eindhoven was written on every single crate and the warehouse was bigger than Croke Park. I was there to make money to keep myself during the college year and I did. The main culture shock was travelling on the subway which was a bit different to getting the 8 o'clock train from Tralee. The experience is to be recommended, it was great craic. One day I was asked to play for a hurling team who said they would make it worth my while. They paid me $50 dollars but it was only afterwards that I realised they had signed me for the season.

Fergus Finlay, writer, broadcaster and former political adviser

I went to make money but came back in debt even though I worked very hard all summer. It was 1969 and I was in New York, working 16-hour days in a restaurant and enjoying wild weekends. It was a summer of discovery. We had come from repressed old Ireland and in America I discovered the sexual revolution, rock music and some unmentionable things. The second time I went I lived in a rat-infested flat in Queens and worked at JFK airport cleaning the planes. I bought my first, and cheapest car on that trip to America. I got it from a policeman for $1 to buy but it cost $110 to insure.