‘Ireland is becoming no place forthe young… we need brave people willing to be bad citizens’

It's 100 years on from the Easter Rising, but in the wake of economic crisis and deep uncertainty, Ireland faces huge challenges once more. Here, five young Irish novelists offer a personal view of their homeland today

Kevin Curran's first novel, Beatsploitation, tackled the subject of racism in Ireland. His follow-up, Citizens, takes the events of 1916 as its starting point. He works as a teacher and lives in Skerries, County Dublin

In the winter of 2014 I attended my first anti-water charges protest. But the march had already started - its smooth flow of bodies drifting cheerfully down O'Connell Street in Dublin - by the time I joined it. My train had been delayed. Such was the feeling of distrust with the government, whispers from passengers with their "No way, we won't pay" placards had spread giddy rumours through the carriage that it was a state-directed conspiracy to stop us getting there.

Cities, to my mind, are for people who like to do things in close proximity to other people

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Coffee used to be a treat to meet a pal for; now it's a polystyrene necessity to get through the day