JUST OVER FOUR in ten people aged 18 to 29 in Ireland live with their parents but Ireland bucks the European trend with this figure going down over the last number of years.
A new European study that was carried out with the help of the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI), found that 42 per cent of young people lived with their parents.
The latest 2011 figures are down slightly on the 45 per cent from 2007 and contrasts with a rise in the number of young people living with in their family homes across most EU countries.
Despite this, youth unemployment is having a significant impact on the perceived social exclusion of young people according to the NYCI’s Marie-Claire McAleer .
She argues that in addition to youth unemployment, cuts to social welfare in successive budgets have made it more difficult for young people to afford to leave home and live independently.
One area where Irish young people are far worse off than the European average is in accessing affordable health care.
The report indicates that 51 per cent of Irish young people cited cost as a difficulty in accessing health care, this is the fourth highest rate in the EU.
McAleer says that the cost of health insurance is a particular problem:
The availability of limited free healthcare in Ireland compared to other parts of the EU and the rising cost of health insurance is a significant barrier to young people’s access to health care and subsequently their unmet medical need. Obviously the current system is not working and needs to be replaced by a system that provides greater equity and access to health care for all.
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