Generation Rent: How Housing Costs Are Exporting Ireland's Future

The David McWilliams Podcast

David McWilliams

News & Politics

4.6 • 643 Ratings

🗓️ 31 July 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week we talk to Matthew Ruddy, a young Dublin entrepreneur who did everything right - built his first business at 17, worked alongside the lads at Dogpatch Labs. Except he's now living in Brisbane, not Dublin. Matthew's story captures what's happening to an entire generation. These aren't traditional emigrants heading to London building sites, they're highly educated risk-takers who desperately want to stay home but can't afford to take entrepreneurial risks when rent costs two grand a month. The statistics are staggering: home ownership among 25-34 year olds has fallen by 48% since the mid-90s; the highest decline in the world. This housing catastrophe is causing a mental health crisis among young adults in English-speaking countries, with Ireland leading the pack. It's creating a vicious cycle where young talent either takes safe multinational jobs or emigrates entirely, starving Irish startups of the people they need. Meanwhile, we're left wondering where all the young entrepreneurs have gone. They're everywhere but home.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Mac, just before we start, I was on Amazon looking for a little beach read, you know,
0:06.5	and lo and behold, look what I see.
0:10.1	David McWilliams, money, a story of humanity at number one, beating the likes of J.D. Vance
0:17.0	and his hillbilly elegy and Ezra Klein.
0:20.1	Dave McWilliams, number one, boom.
0:22.4	This is the economics version of Top of the Pops.
0:25.5	You can have a whole lot of love soundtrack in the back.
0:29.0	But yes, no, you're right.
0:29.9	It's great to see that money is number one in the Amazon bestsellers in the UK
0:37.3	under the area of economic history, which is fantastic.
0:42.4	Again, thank you so much listeners for supporting the book, for buying the book, for buying the
0:47.2	audiobook. It's really great to see. And it is kind of nice to be number one ahead of the likes
0:53.0	of J.D. Vance and even Ezra Klein,
0:55.8	who I respect in New York Times, but who comes with a massive, massive audience.
1:00.1	So again, thank you very much.
1:02.2	And if you haven't bought your summer, read if in August you're heading off now to the beach,
1:06.6	you're thinking, what should I grab?
1:08.6	What should I read?
1:09.8	Grab money, a story of humanity. You will not
1:12.8	be disappointed, and that is from an unbiased reviewer, the fellow who wrote the bloody thing.
1:21.4	Hey, it's Adam Grant from Worklife, a podcast from TED. This episode is brought to you by FreshWorks.
1:27.8	Freshworks believes the complexity is the enemy of efficiency, so stop wrestling with bloated
	...

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