The only question that remains for me now — is it Fine Gael ... or Oz?

THIS is the country I have inherited. Left in a will from by a dying breed of politician that tried to squander everything on its death bed before leaving the estate to its foreign mistress.

I was brought up as a Celtic Tiger child — born into relative privilege to west of Ireland parents who had immigrated during economic troubles at the age of 16 on a ship to England, only to return in better times. Not a lot seems to have changed, except that I will be emigrating on a plane.

From a family of seven with a rural agricultural background, I am a benefactor of Europe and like many of my generation I am in third level education in order to secure a job that I love.

I never knew hard times — at least not to the extent my parents did. I’ve never had reason to complain. Every one of my aunts and uncles had emigrated from this country by my age — some would never live here again and some would return when things improved. In days without Facebook and email, families were torn apart, divided by the Atlantic and Irish Sea.

Today I see friends flinging themselves all over the world in a desperate search for work. I used to always say I wanted to travel after I finished college. I didn’t realise I wouldn’t have no choice. We are told 40,000 of us are expected to leave in the next four years — many of my friends have already left.

Facing four years of cuts and economic turmoil isn’t a prospect many people relish, so it is not surprising that rather than stay for the show, we are leaving in large numbers.

When I started my degree it was the height of the boom, with prospects of employment everywhere. I worked as an unskilled labourer on building sites during the summer before college. A year later I went back to find half my old work mates gone and there was no summer job for me.

I voted yes to Lisbon; I welcomed the euro and my passport says I am a citizen of Europe. ‘The troubles’ of my era is not the loss of six counties it is the loss of our monetary sovereignty. My parents often say how fortunate my brother, my sisters and I were to have the opportunities afforded to us, but I am left wondering if my country holds a future for me.

It is said that we need political reform but do we really expect politicians to instigate reform in a system they have thrived in for so many years. Maybe we need a new republic — a second republic — to take this country from the brink.

I’m lucky though, I can leave before the water line gets too high. At least now with an election to be called in the New Year, I will have a choice. The only real question is if I will pick Fine Gael... or Australia.

* Rowan Gallagher, 21, is a journalism student at University of Limerick who writes regularly for the Mayo News.