As heard on Marketplace.

After Ireland joined the European Union, its economy roared to life in the 1990s, becoming known as the Celtic Tiger. Today it’s whimpering. The symptoms are familiar – credit is scarce, and joblessness is rampant. Young people in Ireland have been primed for jobs that are now non-existent. Youth Radio’s Pendarvis Harshaw reports on the difficult choices Irish youth must make about how they’ll survive the downturn.
 

 “So how are you, Ruth? I’m grand…”- Rosie Ward

Sound of cake being unwrapped...

Rosie Ward is 26 years old, and has big dreams. But for now, she's stuck working in a tiny coffee shop in the town of Ardee, about an hour outside of Dublin. The shop used to sell pastries to busloads of tourists and a steady stream of construction workers.  This year, business mostly comes from local customers.

“It's ok, a bit slow at the minute but hopefully things will pick up.” - Rosie Ward

Plates clinking together.

Ward eventually wants to find work as a bookkeeper, settle down with her boyfriend, and start a family. But she's finding it difficult to plant seeds on Ireland 's unstable economic terrain. Ward’s boyfriend is a plasterer… but construction projects are drying up.

He hasn’t had work since the end of November…and so he’s heading off to Germany next week for about three months working on a project over there.- Rosie Ward

This generation expected that getting -- and keeping -- a job would be a sure thing.  For most of their lives, foreign investment rolled into the emerald isle, creating jobs and expanding credit.

Cormack Lynch is a former investment banker who left Ireland in the 1980s, when career prospects were limited.
When Lynch returned a decade later, he saw many Irish living beyond their means.

“The government decided to lower taxes and let the Irish population have that money themselves. This, coupled with rampant house price inflation and very little investment in services, results in Ireland not being able to borrow any more money.”
-- Cormack Lynch

With the Irish economy now in a rut, Lynch says there's only one piece of advice he’d give recent college graduates.

“If it was me, I'd leave Ireland . I'd be outta here for a couple years, tour the world. I think it's going to be very difficult.”
-- Cormack Lynch

In Dublin, there are plenty of young professionals who’re having a hard time finding good employment.

Twenty-seven-year-old lawyer Keira Shaughnessey says salaries at her firm have been cut 30 percent. She says she knows plenty of young lawyers who plan to leave their country.

People are being forced to go abroad, and people are very well educated so their not going to be willing to stay here and … get handouts from the government. Keira Shaughnessey:

Today, Ireland’s unemployment rate is at ten percent…the same level as before the boom.

 Sound of door bell at bakery.

Back in Ardee, waitress Rosie Ward is saving her money for a summer trip to Australia, where she'd also be looking to find work until the Irish economy recovers.

“Luckily my job is safe at the minute. But who's to say this time next year if we're still going to be here?" -Rosie Ward  

That’s not something this generation thought they’d be asking themselves, after growing up during one of the most prosperous times Ireland has ever seen.  For now, their lofty dreams have been put on hold.

In Ardee, Ireland , I'm Pendarvis Harshaw, for Marketplace.