Economic prospects - Confidence sadly lacking

There is a frightening lack of confidence in our economic prospects, according to figures released by the Samaritans yesterday.

Some 27% out of 1,000 people interviewed ranked the past year as a “bad year” or as our “worst year ever”.

One in five people are worried about losing the roof over their head, and almost half of the people — a staggering 49% — are afraid of losing their jobs, or have difficulty finding work, especially with close to 450,000 on the Live Register.

Many people would already seem to have voted with their feet, as figures released by the Central Statistics Office yesterday showed that over 40,000 Irish citizens emigrated in the first four months of 2011. This is an almost 33% increase on the previous year.

Traditionally, emigration has provided a safety value, and it is probably inevitable that many young people would look abroad in the circumstances.

It could provide a short-term solution, but those who go abroad for work experience for a year or two should be rewarded with assured preferment for the jobs available when they return home.