The first of these details the story of Roger, a father of three from Dundalk who worked as an electrician for twenty years and retrained as a computers based designer after hurting his back. After working in a local company drawing electrical diagrams for four years he was let go due to the recession. He has been unemployed for two years and discusses the difficulties of finding suitable training opportunities which will lead to employment, the relevance of providing more help to those who wish to start their own companies and the practical difficulties of maintaining a family of five on the social welfare. You can read Rogers story here.
Laura is in her thirties and a social welfare recipient. She lost her job in 2006 due to her company downsizing and decided to return to education, graduating with a higher diploma in 2009. She has found it difficult to find employment since then but remains hopeful that higher education will pay off in the end. Laura discusses the difficulties of facing into the current employment market as a broke student and what the cuts to the social welfare payments past and future mean to her. ReadLaura’s story here.
The third story in this series of interviews details the experience of a single mother in Cork living on disability. Fiona is currently doing a community development course and gaining work experience in that area. Fiona discusses the difficulties of coming from a disadvantaged area and the need of education in breaking inter-generational poverty. Click here for Fiona’s story.
The final story in the series is from the point of view of Shahim, a South African asylum seeker placed in Galway. Shahim is a computer technician and web designer who arrived in Ireland in July 2004. He discusses some of the difficulties surrounding the hostel system, the lengthy process of seeking asylum in Ireland, and the difficulties of living below the poverty for a number of years. Clickhere for Shahim’s story.
For further information please contact aine@eapn.ie