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Shock survey shows 20 percent of Irish looking to emigrate

By
JANE WALSHE,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Sunday, February 7, 2010, 8:20 AM
Updated Monday, March 8, 2010, 4:33 PM

 

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Canada and Australia are favored destinations for Irish emigrants.
Canada and Australia are favored destinations for Irish emigrants.

Twenty two percent of people in Ireland now see emigration as a possibility for them and their loved ones because of the ongoing economic crisis. The shock figure is released in a new Sunday Independent newspaper poll.

Opposition parties have long maintained that unemployment is being held lower than the 500,000 mark because of forced emigration. Canada and Australia have become the destinations of choice for emigrants.

Meanwhile the level of personal debt has reached record levels according to the survey, with 27 percent saying they feel ashamed because they cannot pay a bill while 20 percent are worried that they may lose their homes.

There are now 16 full-time sheriff's bailiffs employed to seize goods and force evictions, the highest number ever. However, the newspaper reports that even in posh homes they visit there is usually very little left to take.

Now the Sheriffs’ Association has asked the government to come up with new laws that they say are needed to deal with the current crisis.

"A lot of the rules we are working on date back to 1926. We asked for powers to deal with the modern-day situation. The main thing we wanted was to get the information on what is owned, such as properties and bank accounts," said a spokesman.

Mainly they want to be able to distinguish between those who can afford to pay back but won't and those who are unable to.

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Posted by nygalwaygirl on Aug 09, 2010, 07:49 PM EDT
Joker790's "job offer" is bogus spam, in case anyone cares. He's spamming Twitter to get views to this page. Sneaky b.
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Posted by WoundedKnee on Aug 09, 2010, 05:30 AM EDT
moderateBob: "Also, a spate of anti-immigrant sentiment in the American south has made it a felony to so much as travel in a motor-vehicle with an illegal immigrant". I live in the South, and I know nothing of what you allege. So if I catch a Greyhound bus from Savannah to Atlanta and there's an illegal alien riding the bus also, I am guilty of a felony? Get a grip of your inane fantasy--don't try to scare people. Or maybe you're thinking of Arizona? Of course if you think Arizona is part of the South you need a geography & history lesson.
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Posted by jacersisityourself on Aug 08, 2010, 07:04 PM EDT
It is true that close to 450,000 are unemployed in Ireland, representing about 13.5% of the workforce. That means about 86% of workers still have jobs, keeping the economy going, even at the cost of reduced wages and salaries, even reduced work hours. At the start of every summer, there is always a jump in the numbers of unemployed as students leave school or college and immediately head for the SW payments offices - the worst start in life that any young person can opt for. Eventually, they will get jobs, go abroad or sink into unemployment statistics. Where the figure of 20% wanting to leave comes from beats me. My guess is that a huge number of those are foreign immigrants of the ‘Celtic Tiger’ years going back home or onto the next ‘Tiger’ economy.(There was upwards of 300,000 Polish people in Ireland during the Celtic boom, so many that the Irish media saw it profitable to publish sections of their newspapers in Polish). Meanwhile, the rest of us, lucky to be amongst the 86% working, hate watching our taxes going to bleeders of the Irish Welfare system.
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Posted by battlefront on Aug 08, 2010, 04:17 PM EDT
There is no light at the end of the tunnel in Ireland for a lot of people the Government are looking after their cronies in the Banks and Developers. The Sherriffs Assocation looking for new ways on how to evict people how low can they go. These people who work as Sherrifs are the scum of the earth they seem to pick people who are the very dregs to do these jobs. It is such a pity there a lot of young people in Ireland who did not live through any bad times so they find it hard to accept that things have gone so badly wrong. I feel sorry for them because at long last they were able to drive a nice car and do all the things that young people enjoy. Our Government seem to be intent on not trying to find a solution to the work problem. Seemingly our Minister For Finance took a trip to Derry and to Great Britian in the Govenment jet which cost over one hundred thousand euros because the jet costs €4500.00 while it is idle on the ground. Where does that money come from. They are talks about cutting old age pensioners and for people with disabilites because it is easy to do this so they go for it. I'm am sick to the teeth of our idiots in Government not seeing what they are doing to the ordinary people in Ireland.
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Posted by moderateBob on Aug 07, 2010, 03:20 PM EDT
I'd certainly caution any Irish thinking of immigrating to America. Legal immigration quotas have been reduced to near-zero levels for years, and the green card process currently takes over a decade. Also, a spate of anti-immigrant sentiment in the American south has made it a felony to so much as travel in a motor-vehicle with an illegal immigrant. If an American citizen takes pity on you and offers you work, they risk losing their entire business during a now-common immigration audit. Although enforcement of these laws is primarily selective racial profiling of non-whites, be very cautious. The penalties are quite severe, and usually involve incarceration and fines.
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Posted by joker790 on Aug 07, 2010, 02:52 PM EDT
I'm sorry to hear that the economy is doing so poorly. I remember when all of the big tech. companies were opening offices in Dublin faster than you can blink. My web design company is looking for writers and editors, and I'd be more than happy to help the economy by accepting applications from people in Ireland. Please send your resume and a writing sample to jason@domaindesignshop.com . The jobs are all from home, so you must have a steady internet connection. J
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Posted by RthrBHistCorr on Feb 09, 2010, 05:14 PM EST
Watchman: Two points (A) I agree with your analysis, as an American who spent every summer vacation/holiday with my Grandparents in Ireland, I was shocked during the heyday of the Celtic Tiger of the attitude of the younger generation and their attitude. I remember telling a young cousin who was selling a farm to drive around in a BMW that I hope the time never came that he had to eat his BMW. I take no satisfaction in being right but both the farm and the BMW are gone. The way that overnight being "Irish" went out the window so to become "Eurotrash" was amazing. 2) As far as the Irish in America, they are always welcomed. History has shown that Ireland's loss as always been America's gain.
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Posted by mylesie on Feb 09, 2010, 04:15 PM EST
So what - that's par for the course for most Irish people, compare that to the 41 per cent in Britain who want to depart!
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Posted by nnugent1951 on Feb 09, 2010, 01:34 PM EST
does the government ever try to bring in companies from other countries? Give these companies tax credits what ever to get companies to come to Ireland? So people can have jobs to take care themselves and there families.
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Posted by Watchman on Feb 08, 2010, 09:15 PM EST
To those that offered support: thanks!
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Posted by JBRAFTREE on Feb 08, 2010, 06:59 PM EST
Watchman, it's a damned shame more people couldn't read your inciteful comment on all the economic messes we all are facing, !!!!!
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Posted by Christisall on Feb 08, 2010, 02:28 PM EST
We Americans always welcome the Irish!
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Posted by IrishAndProud on Feb 07, 2010, 06:57 PM EST
Kickstar and Watchman, excellent posts. This whole economic mess in Ireland is truly heartbreaking. My personal concern is that while the real Irish leave, the foreigners stay...making Ireland inherently less Irish. I'm sorry, say what you will, but Asians and Africans (the latter largely live off the dole, anyway) will never be fully Irish -- and whilst their numbers increase, the Irish populace itself ages and decreases. Ireland is becoming less and less Irish, the more of this that happens. Ireland needs to A) stop all immigration for the time being, B) give incentives to all foreigners living there to return home, and C) encourage family growth amongst its own. Barring this, Ireland will disintegrate away. Just look at what's happened right across the channel, in Britain. MOHAMMED was the most popular baby boy's name there...I kid you not. Just think of the implications of that. Do we really want to see that in EIRE, too? Not I...not ever.
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Posted by TomSwinford on Feb 07, 2010, 05:49 PM EST
I am reminded of a remark that Brian Lenihan, Sr. (father of the current Irish Minister of Finance) made back in the 1980's when he, himself, was a government minister. "Sure we can't all live on a small island," said Brian, extolling the virtues of immigration. Brian explained, seemingly oblivious to his own senior position in government, that immigration was Ireland's safety valve. meaning that without it - the impoverished masses would take to the streets and hang folks like Brian from lamp posts. To Lenihan it was simple math, with the safety valve wide open he and his ilk could continue to rule the country as they had since independence - where the hallmark was incompetence and corruption - and a complete lack of accomplishment in anything except becoming personally wealthy. Sadly, the Celtic Tiger was largely an illusion, a house of cards. I remember my mother saying, "We Irish love the easy pound," the one that comes without too much hard work. When I left Ireland in the 1960's the four economic basket cases of Europe were Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Greece. Today, these same four have returned to that unhappy position.
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Posted by Fionnuisce on Feb 07, 2010, 04:07 PM EST
Watchman I couldn't have put it better myself. Kickstar has another valid and frightening theory as well.
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Posted by Watchman on Feb 07, 2010, 02:49 PM EST
I'm sorry to be banging on so much .. but this is a fraught subject. Ireland can't have it both ways. It really can't. On the one hand, it has greatly resented the arrival in Ireland in recent years of lots of foreigners – mostly from Eastern Europe, courtesy of the European Union. On the other, as soon as thing get hard in the Republic, everyone starts rushing to get out, as if other countries, like the U.S., which have problems enough of their own, have a bounden duty to give jobs to the Irish. When are we going to grow up? When the Celtic Tiger was roaring, we swanked around, telling the world "who's like us?" and buying up property in Manhattan, Spain, the UK and (for God's sake) Dubai) like there was no tomorrow. We were arrogant and full of ourselves, believing that, by dint of our own genius, we had ended up at the top of history's heap. But then tomorrow came, the way it was always going do, and we were off. Pausing only to blame the Government and the banks for behaving in exactly the way they themselves had behaved, the Irish were suddenly knocking each other out of the way in their rush to climb aboard the emigrant ships. Can you imagine what would happen in the unemployed of America suddenly decided that Italy, Russia, China and Germany had a duty to give them homes, jobs and work permits? There would be global chaos. Ireland thinks it can get away with just about anything because it's a small country and, begob, we're charming and hard-working and you'd be bloodly luck to get us. Well, it's time we grew up and cleared up our own mess. If we're so great, all we have to do is apply ourselves and rebuild our economy along more sensible lines. Or could it be that we're still adolescents in the big world and continue to look to others to dig us out of the hole we dug for ourselves?
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Posted by calirishvet on Feb 07, 2010, 10:58 AM EST
11.9% of Americans claim Irish Ancestry. This figure does not include those who claim Scot/Irish ancestry from Northern Ireland. I am not surprised that more contemplate emigration. Ireland's difficulties have always benefited America,Canada and Australia.
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Posted by kickstar on Feb 07, 2010, 10:13 AM EST
Just a few short years ago people including myself were tempted and sucked into returning to Ireland and joining the Boom but some of us remembered the late 80s when interest rates went from 8% to 15% overnight and wiped out so many people and robbed them of their properties because people held mortgages like margin buying stockholders in the crash of 1929 and were wiped out.Also I predict In a few short years Ireland will be taken over by foreigners it will no longer be the home of the Irish as all who now can are leaving and those leaving are Irish.
 


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