My brother has several friends in Ireland and he's described their outlook similarly. They have a sort of government stipend and some of them can find odd jobs (odd as in strange, one of them is a part time fire eater) but for the most part they simply can't find steady work. The demand for low-cost work vs. the demand for a living wage is definitely at work all around the world.
Although not geographically, Ireland definitely is part of the "Southern Europe" of the parent's comment; it was one of the countries hit by the recession the quickest and hardest.
