Irish migration at all time high with unemployment soaring

Recently released Irish migration numbers between April 2011 and April 2012 stand at 87,000, with unemployment figures still soaring at 14.6 per cent.

Migration from Ireland has been its population’s traditional safety valve for centuries, with the recent figures reflecting the economic condition of the country since the financial crisis erupted in 2008. It is believed that the present unemployment figure of 14.6 per cent would have reached at least three or four points higher had not migration dampened down the number of people unable to find jobs.

The staggering numbers who left the country total more than the numbers of students who took the Leaving Certificate examination during the same period. Should emigration continue to rise, it will be on scale resembling that during the Great Famine, an unbelievable scenario for 21st century Ireland.

At the recent World Economic Conference in Davos, billionaire financier George Soros blamed the mishandling of the crisis by the Irish government, comparing its actions with those of the Icelandic government’s handling of that country’s financial troubles. Iceland, he said, had a more serious banking crisis than Ireland, but chose not to accept the banks’ liabilities and is now flourishing.

Residents of a tiny Cork town would agree wholeheartedly with Soros, as they’ve been demonstrating once every week for 100 weeks against the terms of Ireland’s EU bailout. The citizens of Ballyhea are united in protest against payouts to bondholders of Ireland’s failed banks, and will, they say, continue their protests until someone takes notice and discontinues the austerity measures which are wrecking lives.