Sir, – Your columnist Fintan O’Toole expressed the view that Ireland has now become a nation of inward migration while maintaining levels of emigration in his recent opinion piece (“Ireland has gone from an emigrant society to an immigrant-emigrant society”, August 6th).
To bolster his argument he pointed out that recent emigration levels of c60,000 per annum are on a par with those of the economically grim late 1980s.
It might behove Mr O’Toole to delve into the effects of Ireland signing up to EU Free Movement from the get go on May 1st, 2004 as I would argue that this was the primary cause of the population increasing from 3.997 million in 2003 to 4.49 million in 2008.
This increase in turn fuelled a construction boom that ironically delivered 80,000 houses and apartments in 2006 (mainly in the least populated areas of the country) before economic reality derailed the industry.
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As worrying signs emerge of economic trouble ahead in key sectors of the economy and as construction rates for housing remain dire compared with what is needed, the immigration policies of all political parties warrant scrutiny lest emigration levels accelerate again similar to 1950s and 1980s. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL FLYNN,
Bayside,
Dublin 13.