A person emigrates from Ireland every six minutes according to new figures released by the Central Statistics Office.

That figures show 240 people a day, the equivalent of  ten people an hour, or one every six minutes leave.

The government admitted the numbers were at crisis point with a spokesman saying  that emigration was “at an unacceptable level”

Deputy Leader Eamon Gilmore admitted he was deeply concerned.

"One of the things that we are trying to do is to ensure that we create employment and attract investment so that as many of those people as possible will have an opportunity of coming back and working in this country," he said.

The Central Statistics Office reports that “among Irish nationals, net outward migration is estimated to have increased significantly” with the majority of Irish moving to the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, Canada and the United States.

Their statistics show that 24.6 percent (21,900) emigrated to the United Kingdom, 17.2 percent (15,400) went to Australia while, according to their graphs,  6.2 percent emigrated to the United States. One third of these emigrants are aged between 15 and 24.

The figures show that the gap between those leaving and coming back rose by one third in the year to April 2013.

The number of people moving to Ireland to live dropped by almost 4,000, to 15,700, on the previous year. Most of these are foreign nationals coming to find work.