The Bailout Babies - How Ireland's financial crash reshaped the next generation – and what it means for the future SHORTLISTED FOR THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS 2025

The Bailout Babies dives into the lives of a generation caught between Ireland’s crash and comeback. Born in the boom, they grew up in an era of good jobs, easy debt and leisurely brunches. But before they were old enough to benefit – the crash hit, the bailout came, and with it a decade of austerity. Now in their late 20s and 30s, The Bailout Babies are stuck in economic limbo: back in childhood bedrooms or paying extortionate rent, working gigs instead of careers, swiping for love and managing anxiety. But this is not a story of failure – it’s a story of reinvention, of how a generation is finding ways to earn, spend and live. This generation is rewriting what adulthood looks like in post-boom Ireland. The Bailout Babies is a sharp, empathetic look at the most populous age group in Ireland – and what it means to grow up when growing up no longer means what it used to.