We get the statistics first and foremost. This is what we are pelted with day after day. A staggering array of numbers and facts, figures and percentages.
60,000 people left Ireland in 2010. A further 40,000 will leave in 2011. In June 2010, the unemployment figures were 450,000. This will rise.
The national unemployment rate for men under 25 is 45%. The national unemployment rate for men over 25 is 23%. The national unemployment rate for women over 25 is 14%.
In 11 counties half to two thirds of young men are unemployed.In only 9 counties, including Dublin and its 3 neighbouring counties, is the proportion of young unemployed males below 40%
There are worse figures than this. And it will get worse.
That is why we must keep smiling and turning corners. That’s it! Turn as many corners as you can until you bump into yourself. Maybe give yourself a concussion. Like banging your head off a wall, yes? Good.
Will voting work? Did it work the last time? Tick tock…tick tock… tick tock…
Don’t get pissed on. Get pissed off.
Scratcher opens on February 17th in the Project Arts Centre, Dublin as part of The Theatre Machine Turns You On: Vol II. It then moves to Kilkenny where it opens as part of our In The Future When All’s Well season in No. 76 John Street between February 22nd – 26th.
