20 reasons why even people with jobs still want to quit this country

AS hundreds of thousands of people have come to live in this country, tens of thousands of Irish people have been leaving it. Emigration has not ended. It just gets missed in the net figures we’ve taken as one of the soundest indicators of our economic boom.

Apparently about 17,000 people have left this year, despite the availability of jobs. Why?

Only this week a guest on my radio programme The Last Word went into a sudden attack on modern-day Irish society when explaining why so many people turn to drugs. It was an escape, he said, from the drudgery and demands of modern-day Irish life. He seemed to strike a chord.

To my surprise, the number of people who texted the show to agree with him was as large as the number of those who contacted us to tell him to realise we’ve never had it so good.

It’s true there are more jobs than ever before and that most people enjoy a level of prosperity beyond the dreams of previous generations.

But… here are 20 reasons why people, particularly in their 20s and 30s, think they might be better off elsewhere.

1. House prices: If you have bought in recent years you might feel like selling and moving away, but you won’t be able to do that in the current market circumstances. Houses and apartments only shift if sellers are prepared to drop the prices substantially. Many young people have 100% mortgages — and other secret loans — on houses that are now worth less than they paid for them. But that isn’t necessarily good news for potential buyers. Interest rates — despite popular predictions — may still rise next year and the banks are less willing to lend. Prices may have to fall far further before they become affordable to many.

2. Rents: The price of rented accommodation is still rising, if surveys are to be believed. This seems odd, given that there are 260,000-plus empty houses in the country and only 50,000 are reckoned to be holiday homes. Such surplus supply should drive rents down. Unfortunately, many of the empty houses are in remote areas unsuited to young people, especially if they don’t have cars. The failure to build up in our cities means a shortage of suitably priced rented accommodation — although the word is that, in the suburbs, rents are falling if you negotiate.

3. House/apartment sizes: More than 600,000 units have been built in the past 10 years, but buyers haven’t necessarily received value for money. Many are small and pokey and built of poor quality materials, despite often very high prices.

4. Overdevelopment: There is a lack of proper facilities in many new estates. No nearby schools or shops. Traffic jams trying to get out of estates where footpaths, green areas, etc., have been left unfinished by greedy developers. Small villages being transformed into inappropriate towns.

5. Stamp duty: If you want to move to a bigger house for family reasons as children arrive, you pay hefty stamp duty (a tax) for the privilege of providing more living space. But if you want to invest speculatively in properties for others to rent from you, or that you may leave vacant in the hope that it will increase in value, then you will get tax breaks for becoming a landlord!

6. Low-paid jobs: Jobs are far easier to come by, but many people feel pay rates do not adequately compensate them for their training or experience. Ask science graduates in particular what they think of the pay they get for their jobs. Many multinational employees haven’t received a pay rise in years and don’t think they’re going get one now during an economic downturn. Foreign workers are driving down rates of pay in many industries, too, not just simply taking jobs that the Irish reject as too menial or too low paying.

7. Job security: Many people are more fearful for their jobs than they have been for years. Foreign multinationals — especially those struggling because of the fall of the dollar — may lay people off. The construction sector is heading for a major crisis as the excessive amount of new house starts slows dramatically. Some will get work on infrastructure projects, but there’s not as much work for many tradesmen on house projects such as plumbers, carpenters and electricians on road-building.

8. High taxes: We’ve been fed the myth that this is a low-tax economy. There are low taxes on capital and corporate profits, but for most individuals once income tax, health levies and PRSI are factored in, then a large chunk of earnings is confiscated by the State. The Government’s pre-election promises to reduce the burden are about to be binned.

9. Traffic jams: Every city has them. Every morning. Every evening. Often in the middle of the day, too. Lengthy commutes are unavoidable because of the lack of effective public transport. People are being forced by prices to live too far from their places of work and where they grew up.

10. Public transport: Whatever public transport is available is often overcrowded and overpriced and runs to schedules that often do not fit into work requirements. Promises of the delivery of new infrastructure are made very often but — and the irony here is intended — they consistently run behind schedule.

11. Vehicle Registration Taxes (VRT): People buy cars either through their after-tax earnings or from loans that’ll have to be repaid from the same source. VRT ranges from 22% to 28% depending on the size of the car but, on top of that, the State also levies a 21% VAT charge. No wonder people take years to pay off the loans.

12. Motor taxes: Whether you buy your car new or old you have to pay large motor taxes each year and these are likely to increase next year as Environment Minister John Gormley attempts to punish people for using their cars in the name of combating carbon emissions.

13. Voluntary contributions in schools: The constitution guarantees free primary education, but many schools require parents to stump up funds to cover shortfalls caused by under-provision by the Department of Education.

14. Chaos in A&E departments: The present emphasis may be on cancer care, but long delays before being offered treatment in A&E departments remain the norm, as do hundreds of patients each day being kept on trolleys, often in corridors, as they await a hospital bed.

15. Prices in general: A cup of coffee, €3; a pint of beer, €5. Highest mobile phone charges in Europe. Add your own examples.

16. Drink culture: We always drank heavily, but now that we have more money all the statistics suggest we are drinking more than ever and from an earlier age. We’re doing it more often at home, too. The consequences are obvious and scary.

17. Drug use: The heroin problem was contained in urban pockets previously, the use of hash was among a relatively small number. In the last decade the use of drugs, particularly cocaine, has mushroomed throughout all areas of the country.

18. The weather: You never know what way it’s likely to be, but even with climate change there are few enough sunny days.

19. Career opportunities: It can sometimes be better for people’s personal and career development to go abroad for some time before returning later in life. This is one positive reason for emigration.

20. This list: The fact that this list offering reasons why people might emigrate, at a time when the economy has never been so prosperous, is so long. These are reasons to change things and make them better for those of us who want to live here and make things better. But can you really blame those who choose to go?