Journalist June Shannon and her family are leaving Dublin having sadly concluded they will “never be able to afford to buy a house” in the capital. 

The price of property in Ireland is now hovering around the same level as it was during the Celtic Tiger and rents in Dublin have surged by nearly 14% in the space of a year. 

For Ms Shannon and her family, it has all become too much. 

“I can’t do Dublin anymore - it’s too expensive,” she told The Hard Shoulder. 

“I’ve given it a good old whack; I’ve been here for a long time but I’ve gotten older and I’ve realised that I’ll never be able to afford to buy a house in Dublin. 

“I won’t be able to rent when I’m retired, so [there are] lots of reasons [why I want to buy] but the main reason would be for security in my older age and security for the family.” 

CB73HW View of the St James's Gate from the Guinness Storehouse, Dublin Ireland, St. James's Gate Brewery, Guinness

Ms Shannon has been offered a new job in Limerick and her husband can work from home. 

They spend a significant proportion of their income on childcare and have found they do not qualify for a mortgage because of this. 

“I knew that the early years would be hard when they’re very small but I thought that when kids got bigger you got a bit of a break - but the break wasn’t happening,” she said.  

“We are pinned to our collar every single month and it was just time to do something about it because it wasn’t going to change - unless we did.” 

Ms Shannon is 51 and with each year feels a greater urgency to buy. 

“I have always thought that we would eventually buy in Dublin - that was the aim to buy our own home,” she said. 

“People might say, ‘Oh God, why do you have to buy?’ - but actually you do because there’s no security for renters in Ireland at all. 

“You’re at the whim of a landlord… So, we had to buy. 

“And when my peers were buying, we were spending all our money on IVF because there is no public funding for IVF in Ireland. 

“That was just us - everyone has their own story.”

Main image: Homes in Dublin. Image: Roman Overko / Alamy Stock Photo