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Emigration plague grips Ireland – soaring unemployment and relentless pessimism forcing Irish to seek a future abroad | Danny Boy | IrishCentral
Almost two percent of the Irish population left the country’s shores last year in search of a brighter future abroad, according to shocking new figures from the Central Statistic Office, Ireland’s national compiler of official governmental data.
The stark figures, which represent an eight percent increase on the previous year’s emigration numbers, underscore the drastic nature of the mass exodus of Ireland’s best and brightest, in what is fast becoming a brain drain without historical precedent.
An overwhelming sense of pessimism at the ongoing economic distress, and an unemployment rate hovering close to 15 percent have been cited as two of the main reasons for the ongoing export of young college graduates, newly qualified professionals, and others in search of greener and more prosperous pastures overseas.
The Union of Student in Ireland (USI), among other young persons’ representatives bodies, have made repeated attempts to raise the issue with government , but push factors like joblessness, media negativity, and appealing opportunities overseas have proved the stronger sway for many members of what’s been dubbed the emigration generation.
One marketing consultant interviewed by The Telegraph, a UK newspaper, for comment, said that Ireland was ‘steeped in pessimism,’ a sentiment echoed by many young Irish graduates that have made the short trip across the Irish Sea in search of better job prospects in England, Scotland, and Wales.
The US, Australia, and Canada, all retained their status as key host countries for young Irish emigrants, although Britain remained the predominant choice, with 22 percent of migrants choosing to settle there.
A Dublin based migration agency, meanwhile, told the paper that it had been inundated with requests for information about the Visa processes for relocating to the US, New Zealand, and Canada.
Even for those yet to graduate, it seems, the prospect of emigrating seems like an inevitable reality.
Ireland will have to depend on emigrants for funds
The specter of the immigrant ship lies in wait once again according to Martin Hughes.
Mr. Hughes a leading financial expert has warned that Ireland’s enfeebled economy will soon be dependent on payments sent homes by emigrants.
He is predicting that by 2020, the collapse of the economy will force emigration to levels that will see the country’s population drop to figures last seen in 2004 that in turn will pull down consumption levels and real estate prices.
“The new norm for Ireland and others across Europe will be quite literally living on reduced means and relying on a quite different economic model from their recent pasts.
“Quite different but not, we must add, altogether new. Having not depended on remittances for many decades, Ireland, like Portugal, will come to rely on these once more.”
If this grim scenario is true, it would seem like we are wasting our time repaying the bankers debts. Perhaps the better option is to repudiate the debts and suffer on our own terms. This option might be a brutal but swifter option in getting the country back on a firm financial basis.
Whatever the case it looks like a return to the sad,bad old days of the 50’s where Ireland depended on immigrant money to keep the country ticking over
