The Country That Runs on Side Gigs

There’s a truth about Ireland that you only really understand when you’ve lived long enough, watched enough people struggle, and paid attention to the stories behind the smiles: this country runs on side gigs. Proper jobs, decent qualifications, years of training — none of it guarantees stability anymore. And it doesn’t matter if you’re a teacher, an actor, an athlete, or a volunteer; everyone is juggling something extra just to survive.

You’d see it everywhere once you looked. Take some of the teachers Josephine knew over the years — fully trained, doing one of the most important jobs in the country — yet they held an Equity card on the side. Because after a full day of shaping classrooms and futures, they were heading into RTÉ studios for a small part or background role in Fair City just to top up their wages. Not for glamour. Not for fame. For survival.

It was the same story with musicians. Some of the best talent you could ever meet — people who should have been touring the world, recording albums, living off their skills — ending up pulling pints, stacking shelves, or doing irregular TV work just to bridge the gap that their art alone couldn’t fill. Nearly all of them carrying that Equity card because, in Ireland, everyone in the arts knows you need a backup plan.

In most countries, the entertainment industry is respected. It’s seen as a career. A craft. Something you can build a life around. But Ireland is different. We applaud talent — but we don’t support it. We celebrate our musicians and actors — but we don’t fund them. The payslips from Irish TV would shock people. A day on set might barely cover groceries. A week’s work might not even touch rent.

And this is exactly why we don’t see many of our own Irish musicians, singers, or groups on Irish TV every day. It’s not because we lack talent — we have more than enough. It’s because the Irish system makes it nearly impossible for artists to show up without losing money.

Look at the difference between here and the UK. On UK television, entertainers get proper travel allowances, accommodation support, and payment that respects their time. If you’re invited onto a UK show, you’re not left out of pocket.

In Ireland, there’s one standard fee. No travel allowance. No overnight support. No extra for long-distance journeys or equipment. For many artists, appearing on Irish TV actually costs money once you add the petrol, the tolls, the parking, and the day taken off the real job that pays the bills. So they turn down opportunities — not because they want to, but because they can’t afford the visibility.

And again, it mirrors the same pattern we’ve seen across our entire story.

Because what struck me, looking back over the years, is how familiar this struggle felt. The exact same thing was happening in the Special Olympics world we lived through. Athletes stretching every euro to stay involved. Volunteers digging into their own pockets. People scraping, saving, and skipping meals just to keep up with fees and expectations.

Josephine was part of that reality in her own quiet way. We saw how careful she was with money, how she put club commitments before her own needs, how she quietly sacrificed meals to make sure she could stay involved. The structure around her demanded everything while offering very little in return — the exact same imbalance artists face in the entertainment world.

Different worlds, same struggle.

Ireland is full of heart and talent. That part never changes. What changes — and what needs to be said out loud — is that the people carrying this country forward are the same people sacrificing their own comfort to keep things going. The teachers moonlighting as actors. The musicians balancing day jobs with their craft. The community volunteers doing unpaid work that the State should be supporting. The athletes pushing through hunger and exhaustion just to belong.

Maybe that’s the harshest truth of all:

Ireland doesn’t lack talent — it lacks support.

Talent is everywhere.

But support is what’s missing.

And every part of our story — from Bray, to Dublin, to the Special Olympics chapters, to the TV studios and rehearsal rooms — has been shaped by that one stubborn fact.