UK authorities 'concerned' about mass emigration from Ireland

Labour Party's Ruairí Quinn says Ireland needs to change its attitude to what migration means

Mark Hilliard

Ireland 'not providing employment opportunities for graduates'

MASS emigration from Ireland over the coming year has been identified as a key concern to UK authorities in a policy document drawn up to examine the future of immigration into Britain.

According to the briefing paper published by the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR), tens of thousands of Irish people unable to secure work could flood the British system.

Some 120,000 people are expected to leave Ireland between 2010 and this year, many of whom are likely to relocate to the UK in search of employment.

This has been highlighted as a primary reason the decline in immigration figures promised by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government will not happen, as the UK remains an attractive destination for job seekers.

This will be particularly the case in the run-up to next year's Olympic Games, which will be held in London.

The IPPR has said the potential for significant Irish immigration – which has been relatively low over recent years – is more of a political concern than a public one.

"It's just a numbers problem. Essentially the UK government has set a target to more or less halve net immigration into the UK so in that sense it doesn't matter if they are Irish, Polish or from anywhere else," said Sarah Mulley, IPPR associate director. "In general, Irish immigration is not a great cause of public concern here. There is a long history of immigration. We share a language and there are very close cultural ties."

Reacting to the document, the Labour Party's education and science spokesman Ruairí Quinn said Ireland needed to change its attitude to what migration means.

He said that while young educated Irish people are leaving the country, it is not necessarily a permanent measure and much of the professional experience gained abroad could benefit the Irish system on their return.

He added that in order to address the balance of labour exportation and importation, the education system in Ireland has to be addressed so that Irish graduates can avail of domestic job opportunities. He specified employment in the health and science sectors.

"It's a concern for us that we are not providing the employment opportunities here in order to employ Irish graduates and get back the income tax returns in terms of the investment we put into them," he said.

"We have a serious question to ask ourselves as to why we export nurses on the one hand and import Filipino nurses on the other."

He added that while forced emigration for Irish people is unwelcome, the issue is not as heartrending for families as it once was, "because we have a tradition of emigration going back to at least the famine, and certainly from independence and people going to the States and never being seen again.

"Emigration now has to be replaced with the word migration," he said.

"Very few people are leaving Ireland with the intention of permanently leaving. Quite a lot of people leave for a period of time, deliberately."

January 9, 2011

Comments

#1 Mick Kelly commented, on January 10, 2011 at 9:55 p.m.:

I left Ireland 30 years ago to live in Canada,one of 9 children of whom 3 are in Canada and 2 in England, the other 4 still in Ireland.There aren't as many big families in Ireland as in years before so the effect of emigration is much greater now as sometimes the only son and daughter have to leave the country causing hardship and loneliness for ageing parents.This is also having a profound effect in rural communities with reports of some GAA teams not being able to field a team anymore due to the loss of so many young men to emigration.Ireland's most precious commodity,the younger generation and lifeblood of the nation is slowly being depleted like in years past but with more serious repercussions this time around.The Government should not accept emigration as a solution to unemployment but should do all within it's power to keep the younger Irish at home.Ireland's loss may be Canada/Australia's gain but realistically like myself most of these young emigrants won't be coming back.

#2 Cottah commented, on January 11, 2011 at 1:45 a.m.:

Such a shame that the mentality engrained in some young people is to leave when the going gets a bit tough. Why not stay and help build the country back again by filling one of the hundreds of jobs posted on Irish job websites each day?

#3 phil commented, on January 11, 2011 at 1:31 p.m.:

#2
Do you mean the country that you screwed up?(I'm presuming you are from another Generation?)
Now,please tell me why the young people would want to pay the rest of their sorry lives for the disgusting Greed of their elders.It takes courage and confidence to leave home for a better life,as we all know only the fearfull choose to remain at home."when the going gets a bit tough"..Indeed.

#4 Hope commented, on January 11, 2011 at 8:59 p.m.:

#3,I would like them to stay for a different reason, forget the jobs.ie demonstrate, get those useless corrupt lot out, & the ones like FG, who looked on & did nothing, they can apply for the jobs posted on the web.I hope all overseas who have a vote here, to come back to vote this lot out on election day.

#5 Patrick commented, on January 11, 2011 at 10:03 p.m.:

I suggest Cottah you go to the rte i player and check out the programme called departure day.
It tells the real story of the many who have to emigrate from Ireland to find work and to save their sanity.

#6 jack meskill commented, on January 11, 2011 at 10:36 p.m.:

The disgusting truth is that the politician/builder /banker bastards who did this are not going to jail. They have stashed away personal fortunes and fixed up their offspring for lives of luxury, while the children of the nation are doomed to become second-class citizens of the world, like my parents generation.
If my children come to harm abroad, I will know what to do to some of these parasites, because the law will not.

#7 joe commented, on January 12, 2011 at 12:49 p.m.:

#2 - I and many like me left 20 years ago because we had no connections for the few jobs that did exist. Even if we got an interview we were dismissed right off the bat (with little or no pretending from the interviewer) as we all knew the job was already allocated for someone else. Very much a soul destroying experience. I have interviewed, lived and worked in 3 other countries and not once did I experience the same attitude that prevailed in Ireland back then. The good news is that I and others would leave build skyscrapers, channel tunnels, computer chips, and so on rather than shuffle some papers on a desk for a multinational or build roundabouts where none were needed.

#8 phil commented, on January 12, 2011 at 3:47 p.m.:

..and probably the best reasons to leave are nothing to do with the economic hardships,but more to do with a growing awareness of the inequality in this society as expressed by Jack;none of these Bs are in Jail and never will be-and highlighted by Patrick;who now with any sense of honour could remain in a country so corrupted that the frustration felt every day of seeing absolutely nothing change could only lead to,if not insanity then a severe mental illness.

#9 Hope commented, on January 12, 2011 at 6:46 p.m.:

No change then, I recall public service post adverts years ago, "canvassing will disqualify" All sewn up for themselves merchants, de cousin or de friend of a friend, so destructive, what is worse for me is we let them get away with it. Its still going on, in your face stuff, Harney appointing people to the HSE for obscene salaries. Well we will teach this lot a lesson, one they wont forget for a long time. The way in which FF abused the public purse & our country is akin to treason. They embarked on abusive behaviour, in old crook haugheys time, not one FF TD, addressed the wrongdoings of the party. The yachts, the mercs, the palaces, the shirts, the dig inns, & the dig outs, the brown envelopes, the staff with their paws in the FF tills to bail out relatives, scandal, all td's knew what went on. Worse FG allowed it to happen. 20 years ago one could not get a job, We allowed our brilliant chaps & girls to go, & we were left with the dumbos, dumbos in FF & FG.the patriots left. Well if you give enough rope, incompetents eventually hang themselves.

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