Madam, – Dean Moore (April 19th) argues that choosing to emigrate shows “undue self-entitlement and cavalier disdain” to the country. However, during economic hardship which has befallen our country every 30 years since the 1950s, the youngest and most talented have left. Why should this group be stigmatised for so doing by an older generation that caused the economic crisis?
The people of my generation face a choice, but it is a constrained one. The prospect of gainful employment abroad or unemployment at home. It is ridiculous to decry the rational choice to leave made by an estimated 1,000 people a week according to the ESRI. If there were any substantive policies for seriously tackling youth unemployment beyond a vague internship plan and a similarly illusory “jobs budget” in the Programme for Government, we might be convinced that our potential contribution to the rebuilding of this Republic is valued. – Yours, etc,