35,000 emigrating faces bear Ireland’s shame

There are 35,000 reasons why senior policymakers and politicians should hang their heads in shame each day in Ireland.

There are 35,000 questions as to why a small, open economy like Ireland cannot look after its own, and there are 35,000 reminders that all of us are not doing enough to make our country a better place.

After a short period before 2007 when net immigration was briefly a component of economic behaviour, we are back shipping them out in truckloads. The ESRI is assuming in its medium-term models that 35,000-40,000 people will emigrate each year. Over the next decade that could push 400,000 out, most of them young.