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Irish emigration hits highest level in two decades

65.300 have left the country in 2010

By
ANTOINETTE KELLY,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Saturday, November 13, 2010, 7:31 AM
Updated Saturday, November 13, 2010, 7:31 AM

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New figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in Ireland show that thousands of Irish citizens are emigrating to other countries in search of a better life and employment opportunities.

Since the fall of the Celtic Tiger boom, thousands of Irish, mainly young, have made the life-altering decision to leave their homes, families and Irish lifestyles.

CSO statistics show that after 13 years of emigration into the country, more people are now leaving it than returning.

Preliminary figures for this coming tax year estimates that 65,300 people will have left the country.

Thousands of those leaving are emigrants returning to their own country, others are Irish citizens in search of better opportunities.

Consultant and former director of the Emigrant Advice Network  Noreen Bowden said "People really, genuinely believed emigration was over."

"If you look historically, there was a big period of return in the 1970s and also for the Celtic Tiger. But the Celtic Tiger's return was driven by huge staff shortages," she said.

Chief economist at Goodbody Stockbrokers Dermot O'Leary said initially it was Europeans returning home but more recently it's younger Irish people who have just completed college leaving to find a job in other countries.

The Department of Finance has said net outward migration "will restrain the pace of growth in labor supply, which combined with the increase in net employment will reduce unemployment to under 10% by the end of the forecast horizon."

The Economic and Social Research Institute feels the estimated 50,000 figure given of net outflow from the country up to April 2011 is more likely 60,000.

While in the past Irish people would emigrate to countries like the U.S. and the U.K it is now places like Canada, Australia and Asia that are becoming home for many Irish.

Bowden told the Wall Street Journal she worries about the places people are going and lack of support available to them.

"It's one thing to be in trouble in New York, where you have two or three Irish centers to help you out. It's another to fall between the cracks in South America or Asia," she said.
 

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17 Comments

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Whitham | Nov 17, 2010, 01:11 PM EST
Ireland's loss of its young educated population could be Canada's gain. They are still in good shape there economically and with a relatively open immigration policy, Canadian Immigration should pull all the stops to recruit the best Ireland, sadly, now has to offer the world.

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grnd10ka | Nov 15, 2010, 09:49 AM EST
80 million actually :D Stronger immigration policy to these countries: Ireland, UK, France, Germany, Scandinavian countries, USA...diversity is positive but everything in the world has its limits. I am tolerant but be carefull of muslim men..Thats it. (many pakistans or indians working in peenys-dublin are mostly the students.)I worked in Ireland and I like this country despite of recession and bank problems.

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GeorgeDillon | Nov 14, 2010, 03:03 PM EST
Antoman: "There are still 70 million abroad who claim to be of Irish descent." They don't claim Irish descent, you racist fool, they claim Irish ancestry. And there aren't 70 million.

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antoman | Nov 14, 2010, 10:18 AM EST
Shakes my cage...then flings my poo at GeorgeDillon :)

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maloney | Nov 14, 2010, 09:08 AM EST
antoman..don't change a thing, any of it. Diversity is a double edged sword. Some is grand & should be embraced, some is disasterous & should be stomped out.

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GeorgeDillon | Nov 14, 2010, 08:54 AM EST
Wounded Knee, DublinJas, you're wasting your time with racist nuts like antoman. I think he posts when drunk, for his sake I hope so, because if he writes such garbage when sober he really has a problem. Those jibes against the Romanys were really disgusting. Back to your racist cage, antoman!

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antoman | Nov 14, 2010, 08:51 AM EST
Dublinjas were the island of Ireland to slip beneath the waves seven years before the END as predicted by St.Malachy I believe(not that I believe such strange stuff).There are still 70 million abroad who claim to be of Irish descent.Ponder that.

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Dublinjas | Nov 14, 2010, 08:19 AM EST
antoman Can you supply any proof that "Diversity makes us stronger"? Or do you just repeat stupid statements that others have made. The actual reason we exist as the "Irish Race" is by virtue of the fact that we chose to be the opposite of Diverse. But since Cultural Nationalism gets in the way of Homogeneous labor exploitation it is to be shunned by every means and people like you help by paying lip service to this stupidity, antoman Go and educate yourself before posting anymore confusing bunk..

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antoman | Nov 14, 2010, 06:09 AM EST
WoundedKnee..Its Sunday morning.My girlfriend stayed overnight.She's gone home now.And because of Polish beer and Scottish vodka I fell asleep in my bed...ASLEEP,now I got to wait a whole week before,,well you know the rest..You betcha I'm racist!

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WoundedKnee | Nov 14, 2010, 05:15 AM EST
Antoman: First, I dont know why you won't address people by the ID they have chosen. It doesn't make you look smart, it makes you look stupid. Second, your posts are very hard to read--you should try to keep them simple, beacause they don't make much sense. Just to take an example, as far as I could understand you were calling another poster a "racist" (that's a dumb slur too) because he, like most Irish and American people, doesn't support unlimited immigration into their countries. You think that you're not a racist because you believe anyone and everyone should be let live in Ireland. So everyone else is racist except you? But then you go on to attack the "lazy Romainians" and the "lot with the gold teeth and forty skirts." That's ugly racist talk. It turns out that YOU are the racist, not everyone else you insult.

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antoman | Nov 13, 2010, 02:58 PM EST
not ghettoised*

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antoman | Nov 13, 2010, 02:57 PM EST
ScratchedKnee,My sources are my eyes.Curiously for someone like my myself that lives on an island I'm not bigoted or racist unlike your friend georgyboy that lives on a continent and a melting pot.Diversity makes us stronger.I'll agree we can't accept all and their dogs,particularly nowadays when we don't have two shillings to rub together but at the same time we must accept some,call it a quota if you want.Your buddy ShatteredKnee is exaggerating and being overly dramatic as usual.If I have a problem with any immigrant here its with the lazy Romainians,the French don't care for them either.Don't,unlike your buddy believe everything you read on the net,or from georgyboy himself.For sure there are Polish people here and many other nationalities but not in the numbers your buddy would have you believe.They are also,as of yet thankfully,ghettoised like they are in the UK.,and we've seen the results of that.Most here are professional cept for that lot with the gold teeth and forty skirts.

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yardley | Nov 13, 2010, 02:13 PM EST
Figure you owe 500k on your house thats now worth 250k and you are struggling now to help you out the gov is going to introduce a property tax because of anglo.If I were in my twenties I would run the hell out of there.There are nicer places to live the taxman is going to be like the gestapo over the next few years.Go west youngman.

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WoundedKnee | Nov 13, 2010, 01:11 PM EST
Antoman, it's impossible to understand what point you are trying to make. Do you or don't you agree with GeorgeDillon about the numbers of immigrants in Ireland. If not, how many immigrants do you say are in Ireland, and what is your source? Insults and threats just waste everyone's time.

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antoman | Nov 13, 2010, 09:35 AM EST
@Georgyboy.,or let me redress that,big boy foolish.You run the risk of electrocution what with salivating and dripping on your keyboard as you leave varietys of the same old spiel time after time after time.Not that I'd like to see you harmed by electrocution,despite your using the death of a seven year old girl to give your inner troll free reign.You prepare to dig potatoes by googling it whereas I go out back and dig them up.Do us and your mental health a favour mate and sling your hook.

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