Emigration numbers - Minister’s attitude is worrying

FINANCE Minister Michael Noonan has a regrettable tendency to put his foot in it.

His observation that some people had left our shores as a “lifestyle” choice flies in the face of Ireland’s exodus of tens of thousands of young emigrants seeking work abroad.

It is apposite to quote his remarks on emigration at a press conference yesterday: “There are always young people coming and going from Ireland. Some of them are emigrants in the traditional sense. It’s a small island, others simply want to get off the island for a while. A lot of people go to Australia. It’s not been driven by unemployment at home — it’s driven by a desire to see another part of the world and live there.”