Dublin councillor to emigrate to Australia as she ‘can’t afford to live here any more’
https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2026/05/26/dublin-councillor-to-emigrate-to-australia-as-she-cant-afford-to-live-here-any-more/
Posted by gamberro
Dublin councillor to emigrate to Australia as she ‘can’t afford to live here any more’
https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2026/05/26/dublin-councillor-to-emigrate-to-australia-as-she-cant-afford-to-live-here-any-more/
Posted by gamberro
31 Comments
I’m sure it’s a lot more nuanced than the article makes out.
>Fennell said she could earn “almost double” her current salary by working in a similar youth and community role in Australia and that the typical starting salary for someone entering the sector in Ireland was about €28,000.
She’s absolutely right about brain-drain but she’s also 26, which is pretty much a perfect time to do the old boomerang to Aus for a few years like a lot of others have done the last 30+ years. This isn’t new phenomenon
Reading a between the lines I think it’s a decision she had always wanted to do but is making it into a political statement because of the party she represents.
That’s an excellent look for Sinn Fein. Really great candidate selection of politicians in it for the long haul.
>“Looking at what I’m earning at the moment, comparing it to going full-time into a youth worker [role] or similar, I would be earning almost double to what I’m earning today.”
Well yeah. Because you only work part time. Because your “second job” is being a councillor!
Like if you adjust for the exchange rate Jigsaw’s starting full time salary is just under 70,000 AUS dollars.
And she can’t live with family and save in Australia. So she’s going to be paying big rents (maybe a little smaller than Irish equivalent, but not smaller than zero!).
And Australian house prices are much worse than here. So it’s not a long term plan at all.
She’s just going for the craic. Which, good for her! But don’t milk your 2 year working holiday as a sad tale of you boarding a coffin ship for the promised land!
EDIT: I creeped and found her finsta and her boyfriend is Australian lmao. Mystery solved!
Well. I guess as with tens of thousands of other young people who have left our shores because they don’t see a future here, this is no surprise.
But hey let’s not focus on the government who have caused these issues that have resulted in the best of your youngest leaving our shores!
Instead let’s attack the sincerity and credibility of this woman because she represented the opposition!
Absolutely shameful stuff from several commenters on this post.
She’s going to Sydney
Average house price way higher than Dublin.
Making political hay , and seeking to do so on her behalf ,out of her departure is pure rubbish.
Now if she had chosen to go to Bogota or Kinshasa or Hull or similar – purely to get on the housing ladder , she mad have had a point.
But – she didn’t.
Bondi beach – here she comes.
Is she aware that the housing market in Sydney is far worse than it is here?
Cost of living well crisis continues…
After her Two year work visa expires she’ll be back home, and then what?
I’m sure the sun and lifestyle has absolutely nothing to do with it. So many people pulling the oz card as if they don’t have any remote interest in going there, it’s a kind of easy blame-Ireland-card
If she wasn’t a councillor this wouldn’t be news, it would be shining a light on how unliveable this country has become. That she is a councillor is only used to stir up the anti-government crowd instead of realising this is a class war.
26. Absolutely she should go. Have a good time. See you in 5-7 years
Bit more sunshine in Aus too
>In Australia, what I’ve been seeing is that the starting-off roles start at around 60,000 or 70,000 Australian dollars. It’s way higher.
60,000 dollaroos is €36k. It’s higher but not ‘way’ higher.
Australia is insanely rich with natural resources. We cant compete with that. People going to Oz in 20s for years. Lots come back. Some settle down there. Good on them. But we cant be lucky enough to live in one of the richest countries in world and give out an even richer country can offer more
Me moved from Sydney to Dublin laughing that people think aus is more affordable than Ireland.
She won’t find Australia much better.
If she’s working 2 jobs and living with her grandparents how the fook can’t she afford to live here, what’s she spending all the money on
Housing is unaffordable in oz and there is a massive backlash against immigration
G’luk don’t come back cheers
She got her arse absolutely handed to her by Shane Coleman on Newstalk when he forensically took apart all her half thought through reasons one by one and basically showed her she’d be not better off ….. great click bait headline stuff but as usual with our media when someone actually applies facts the substance exposes the sizzle ….
Everyone not tied down by family or health issues should have a go at living in another country once in their lives. Spending your entire life on this little rainy (usually!) island seems like a missed opportunity. And I mean really living somewhere else, in a job and paying taxes for a long period.
If you come back you’ll at least see the advantages and disadvatnges of Ireland with something to reference against, and not be one of those bitter people who just moan about how awful Ireland is without ever trying anywhere else.
Going to Oz is a massive gamble too. Unless you have residency and a good job, it is a tough place to live. She will be back in a spare room in Sydney. 60k was a small wage in Sydney 15 years ago.
She’s is correct about leaving Ireland, when you feel that you don’t belong in a place just go somewhere else. This being said, the solution is to find a better paid job, pretty trivial….
Don’t pay for newspapers so can’t see the rest of the article but what is she planning on working as? Does the anglosphere do political transfers again? Thought each country in it was pretending to be sovereign
The grass isn’t always greener. It really depends on the education and qualifications a person has. I’d sooner have a problem in Ireland than in Australia.
Shes in for a shock when she gets down here!
Cody of living too high
She won’t have a problem finding a well paying job in most capital cities in Australia, but our housing crisis echoes that of the Irish one. Expect to pay $800 per week minimum, for any kind of decent one bedroom apartment in Sydney
it’s a cultural thing in ireland to want to leave. All our songs are about leaving and yearning for home. English people will go to another English city, we only have one big city. We need to build up Cork and Limerick as an alternative, move more jobs and cultural possibilities there. Make them more attractive to move to as an urban alternative.
Love everyone piling in to throw digs at her for leaving when a whole lot more people who werent councillors have had to leave due to the current shit show. We have a black hole of a money pit for the HSE and yet all that money, our nurses still go abroad to better wages etc.
Just cos she’s SF doesn’t mean you can’t ding the current administration for causing the problems to begin with.