A Sinn Féin councillor in her 20s has resigned from her role and is emigrating to Australia as she says she “can’t afford to live here any more”. Niamh Fennell (26), from Clondalkin, was a councillor on South Dublin County Council for the Palmerstown-Fonthill electoral ward from 2024 until her resignation on Monday. She also works as a youth and community engagement worker with the mental health charity Jigsaw. She lives in a spare bedroom at her grandparent’s home. “I think it is a disgrace that people like myself, stuck in the middle, where you can’t get social housing but you can’t afford to buy or rent, are literally just being left behind,” she said. “The only option we have is to leave.”Fennell, who graduated from Maynooth University with a degree in youth and community work in 2021, plans to make the move in August, having travelled to the country previously. “It’s a decision that definitely wasn’t made lightly and there was a lot of stuff happening in the background to not come to that decision and not have to step down in a role that I’ve really enjoyed over the last two years,” she said. “I’ve looked at moving out, renting in Dublin. It’s not something I can attain, it’s not affordable and even trying to find somewhere is very difficult. I’m obviously lucky in that I have somewhere to live but many like me don’t and I’ve been working with people in very similar situations to me.”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. “The biggest thing in Ireland affecting a lot of youth and community workers is the contracts,” she said. “The contracts typically only last a year and they’re rolling contracts and dependent on them getting funding from the Government. “Even for someone who had a lot of savings and a partner to help secure a mortgage, you’re not going to get a mortgage, it’s not going to happen because the contracts aren’t permanent. 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.“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.” Fennell added she would “absolutely” stay in Ireland if she felt it was financially viable. Yet she said she was in a “privileged” position compared with other people her age. “It’s a huge decision but it has come to just not being able to see a future here. If I was earning a little bit more, if the cost of living was starting to come down, if I could see more investment in the places and spaces I’m in – mental health, youth facilities – I would stay here,” she said. “But I feel like in the last number of years it’s actually gone the other way. There’s been cuts in youth work and mental healthcare and the faith in seeing a change in Ireland is starting to dwindle for me personally ... I shouldn’t be in the circumstances that I’m in. I shouldn’t have to be struggling the way I’m struggling and there are thousands of others who probably aren’t earning as much as me or aren’t in positions like myself.”