The Irish people demand a good explanation

It is amazing but we are the best part of four years into this man-made economic calamity, yet our senior ministers continue to act as if the savage austerity measures imposed on the Irish people are resulting in a minimal impact on our day-to-day lifestyle.

Michael Noonan, in a foot-in-mouth moment last week, said that very many of the young people who were leaving the country were doing so not because they had to but because they wanted to.

He called it a lifestyle choice. Sure, he said a few other things as well, but reading a transcript of his speech and the order that he discussed the issues around emigration clearly suggests that he believes that most are leaving because they are “driven by a desire to see another part of the world and live there”.