Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister says emigration is a good thing

The Tanaiste is partly correct,emmigration from Ireland is beneficial, too the nations these immigrants settle in. I graduated in 1989 I attended an Irish University. Only two out of the one hundred graduates ( from my course ) had already found work. The rest relied on, further education family, friends or non graduate work. I assume the majority emmigrated. Ireland has one of the largest under 21 poulations in Europe, why does the Taniste want another wave of emmigration or has this administration finally admitted that they have not planned to care for the future of its citizens. The

I am a very proud Irishman living in Australia. Ireland didn't want my wife and I (both tertiary educated) and 2 babies in the 1970's so we emigrated. They didn't want us back when we tried to return with our teenagers in 1990 and couldn't hasten us back out of the country fast enough. We were insulted by visiting Irish Government Minister Noel Dempsey in the 1990's when he declared to us emigrees that we were all mad Republican supporters and wouldn't support our claim for Votes For Emigrants. It's dull, lazy Fianna Fail politicians like Mary Coughlan that have brought Ireland down to the mire with their wasteful practices in government. I say kick the politicians out of the country and make them fend for themselves on the world market. Trouble is, outside of their comfort zone they'd perish and anyway, no other country would accept them as they have no useful skills to contribute to any other country.

The world does not exist to act as a safety valve for the Irish economy. If the US sent its millions of workless overseas, there would be chaos. It would be unworkable. Ireland thinks it can get away with because it's small and the numbers are bearable. But that isn't the point. If the Irish economy is ever to grow up, it has to learn to take responsibility for its mistakes. Every Irishman or woman who turns up in the US or UK looking for a job is denying that job to an American or Briton. Why should the US or Britain look fondly on that? When the Celtic Tiger was roaring, we were advertising for our "sons and daughters" to come home to help build a new Ireland. Now that the Tiger's dead, we're kicking them all out again. Have we no sense of national pride? And how are we ever going to build a better country if we can't even take care of our own? If we don't even try?

Yep, I agree with Mary. When things were tough for me and my young family in the '80s I was sent abroad to work. It was the best thing I did: I gained massive work experience over 10 years, a broader business education, a look at how other countries' peoples live, think and interact. Working and travelling abroad is an exceptional education for your lifetime and I encourage it strongly. Many Irish employers look to young people who have used their gap year to travel and work abroad because they know these potential employees are better balanced than stick-at-home no-outlook ones.

I got a good laugh out of Chris' post re politicians; he's right... at the head of the queue I would put Inda Kinny, ‘Aimin nowhere’ Gilmore, and ‘gormless’ Gormley... they all need a good world education before they could be trusted to run our country in good times, never mind bad times. The economies of the world’s countries wave up and down – some have good crests and need immigrant workers (as we did in when we had a crest) and others need us when their crest arrives. When you’re in a trough, there’s only one way to go and that’s up, which we’ll do in time.

I don’t agree with Watchman’s post. Unemployed young people are that way precisely because there aren’t enough jobs around for them and without work they can’t gain experience. Jobs go only when a company can’t sustain employment or even its business. Young people have to go elsewhere. It is far better that they be abroad and working while picking up a lifetime’s broader education. We’ll be delighted to see them come home (and they will be delighted to be back) when things improve.

I just wish they would take the politicians with them. Things might improve.

Pascal Donohoe is right. Ireland cannot simply export its unemployed, recalling them when times are good and encouraging them to get the hell out when things get tough. That is tantamount to saying that other countries should shoulder our burdens, not us. No wonder the country's going to Hell.