Taoiseach mourns ‘wasted years’ of emigration

THE Taoiseach has expressed his frustration at the “wasted years” Ireland has been left with through the thousands of young people emigrating from its shores.

Enda Kenny has told all the young emigrants travelling back to Ireland for Christmas that he wants to create opportunities for them here, but there is no easy fix to bring them home.

He said he has regularly been contacted by Irish people in Australia, Canada, the US and other parts of the world.

“My preference obviously is to have a situation where they can have jobs and careers here.”

The latest figures show 40,200 Irish passport holders emigrated in the 12 months to April.

“This is something I have seen as a child on so many occasions,” said Mr Kenny.

“Where I come from emigration was endemic, unfortunately, for economic reasons.”

As thousands of young people arrive home from far-flung destinations such as New Zealand, Australia and Canada for the Christmas period, the Taoiseach said everyone was aware of the painful reality of emigration.

“In many ways the public are ahead of the political process and they want it sorted out.”

However, he said nothing will be solved until the public finances are back on track, and that would involve tough decisions.

“You can’t just walk in and say, ‘I am going to fix this.’ It is only going to get worse unless you deal with it and the choices are unpalatable.”

Only when the massive gap in public finances was narrowed would the Government be able to “sort out” the issue, he said.

“You are then going to be in a position to give vent to that flair and creativity of so many young people, the entrepreneurs and initiators of so many things.”

Mr Kenny said he accepted that “young people will always want to be where the action is”, and that was not in Ireland at the moment.

“I don’t like to see people having to go away and unfortunately hundreds a day leave and they are texting and communicating with their colleagues and saying ‘come out here, there are opportunities’.

“Talking to young people with PhDs and master’s degrees, I still get excited by the extent of the potential we have here.”

As he celebrates his first Christmas as Taoiseach, he told how it was “not easy personally” to face the rigours of the job while mourning the death of his mother, Eithne Kenny, who died last month aged 93.

However, he said she would have wanted him to “get on with the job” because she believed “politics is a privilege so get on and do it”.

Picture: Peter O’Connor, Model Farm Road, Cork, being greeted by his daughters Ellie and Ciara on his arrival from Singapore at Cork Airport.