Una Mullally: A new wave of emigration is upon us. This one will be different

What happens when people change but the systems that affect their lives don’t? I think we’re about to find out. Many people’s work and life throughout the pandemic did not include seeing a lot of people or interacting a great deal with the world. Now, as people begin socialising again and essentially work to resocialise themselves, the radical internal changes that have happened for many are not being matched with an equivalent response in the political, economic and the urban sphere of Dublin many live in.

Collective experiences beget collective emotions. What we’re seeing now is what happens when those personal changes butt up against the deeply flawed and inadequate context of Irish systems. This is bubbling up as frustration. The public is on watch, and political missteps are being met with an absolute battering.

Emotions are high as a result of stress, but also because of a feeling of exposure. We were made vulnerable throughout this time, and that vulnerability doesn’t just make us more raw, it allows us to access a new vernacular to privately assess where we’re at and a public honesty to let others know. Many have removed barriers of shame or embarrassment, becoming much more honest about their emotional state and mental health when they meet up. We are accessing conversations and interactions now on an emotional level almost immediately. This is new for most people. Casually mentioning one’s low mood, increased level of anxiety, social awkwardness or stress levels is the real new normal.

Frustration, resentment and scrutiny have become dominant forces that are shifting us all

People have assessed their direction in life, their values, their priorities. Many have made huge changes in careers, relationships and how and where they live. Perhaps these changes would have occurred anyway – this “thing” has been going on for a while. But how the pandemic has jolted us, and the introspection and existentialism it instigated, was certainly a catalyst for the majority of people who have made big life changes. We cannot remove ourselves from our context, or be so arrogant as to think it has not had a profound impact on how we plan to move through the world from now on.

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Central node

I always anticipated that the generational shift in political engagement in Ireland would instigate political change in multiple ways, including in electoral politics – which has happened and will continue. But I did not foresee how intense public scrutiny would become the central node of that change, at least right now. This scrutiny has been exacerbated by the pandemic, not just because people are on edge, at the end of their tether and displacing anger. It has also happened because people were forced to engage with national and local government as the distance collapsed between decision-making and the immediate impact on the individual.

We may have blithely ignored the amenity crisis in Dublin, for example, because there was always stuff “on” or “to do” to distract us. But when there wasn’t, the baldness of the city as a place to hang out in was acute. We may not have given much thought to public space until it became vital.

Now, seeing the inadequacies of these systems up close, the calibre and competency crises in our political systems that led people to have to campaign for basic things, such as public toilets and pedestrianisation, are enraging and confusing to many.

So what will happen? Frustration, resentment and scrutiny have become dominant forces that are shifting us all. The cycle of public outrage leading to panicked reaction exposes the myopic, inadequate and often incompetent state of those within the political sphere, across our national government and local councils. So I’m not convinced everyone who has already been having these conversations for years will hang around for another go.

New wave

We are going to see a new wave of emigration, begun already, that is not necessarily about people leaving the country for employment or professional opportunities, but because they want to live somewhere better, with more amenities, a richer and more diverse cultural and social life, with a lower cost of living and a better quality of life. That people believe they can’t have that in Ireland’s cities is a very sad failure of Irish society. Obviously this drip-drip of departures is driven first and foremost by the housing crisis.

They still can't afford rent, they still can't buy a house, and they are looking around at the capital in particular and wondering why it's so badly run

While people may not see this new emigration trickle as significant in terms of numbers, it is significant in terms of who is actually emigrating, which right now is primarily artists and younger creatives, who otherwise would have contributed to the cultural health of Dublin and other Irish cities. Instead they are taking their ideas and initiative to a context that wants them, instead of engaging in the enraging Sisyphean task of trying to make good stuff happen here. Those who remain have the money to stay. You cannot live a decent quality of life in Dublin any more unless you are rich or have the safety net of family wealth.

More deeply, there is a sense of betrayal among a generation whose opportunities were blown up by crash-era Fianna Fáil but who stayed to imagine and initiate great social change, yet now find that change marketed back to them by the political sphere as a veneer for progress. They still can’t afford rent, they still can’t buy a house, and they are looking around at the capital in particular and wondering why it’s so badly run. While they were marching, their futures were sold from under them. Whether they’ll keep on marching may become a question of personal desire, rather than an obligation to a society that keeps failing them.