BUDGET 2016 Case Study: ‘Not enough to entice Ireland’s sons and daughters home’

It may be the first positive budget since I left Ireland but it’s still not enough to lure me back home.

In 2009, I “temporarily” moved to London, confident I’d be back on Irish soil the following year having completed a master’s degree.

Six years later London is still my home and the truth is I don’t know when, or even if, I’ll return.

Admittedly, the motherland does looks a bit more promising these days, especially in the aftermath of Budget 2016 — the universal social charge has been cut and the minimum wage gone up.

These are undeniably attractive improvements, especially when considered against the backdrop of falling unemployment and a rise in job creation.

But the truth is this budget barely even balances out the huge increases in taxes since I first left — the universal social charge, property taxes, water charges, as well as changes in PRSI have all come through in the last few years.

So while the latest changes may seem attractive, they are simply not enough to entice Ireland’s sons and daughters back home.

The idea of granting a special rate of tax for returning emigrants would have been an offer many would not have been able to refuse, since it would potentially offset the cost of moving back to Ireland, but this is one idea Minister Noonan has, unfortunately, refused to implement.

Personally though, I’m most interested in spending on healthcare. Some €3.3bn has been sucked out of the Irish health system since I left and, as a person with cystic fibrosis, the idea of understaffed hospitals with overworked personnel and occupancy levels closing in on dangerous levels is one of the main reasons keeping me from Irish shores.

A couple of years ago I returned home for a visit and ended up in A&E. I waited on a trolley for more than 10 hours.

Serious changes must be made in healthcare before I will even consider returning. Having experienced the efficiency of the NHS here in the UK, I would be foolish indeed to return to a healthcare system as fundamentally flawed as the one operating in Ireland.

Separately, unemployment may be falling but it’s still at 9.4%. I would only consider returning to Ireland if I had a concrete prospect of a job. I have far more opportunities of employment and progression in London than I would in Ireland.

In terms of housing, Dublin seems to be going through a housing crisis right now with a shortage of affordable rented accommodation.

London isn’t much better in this regard, however, and the idea that I could ever buy a property here is laughable. I fear facing the same problem in Ireland unless the Government steps in.

From afar, it doesn’t look like the country can cope with the current population, let alone with the high level of returning emigrants.

Roughly 250,000 people have left Ireland in the last six years and I, for one, genuinely don’t believe the country is ready for us to return.

Healthcare, unemployment, and housing all still encompass serious problems that need to be urgently fixed. So while yesterday’s budget was a positive step on the road to recovery, it was only an initial one. More needs to be done before I, and others, will consider moving home.