Sir, – Isn’t it time that we were honest with ourselves as a nation on the topic of emigration? Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has walked into a hornets’ nest in his depiction of it as a lifestyle choice for many young people (Home News, January 20th), but is he actually wrong ?
For a country that seeks to base its recovery on exports and trade, our attitude towards gaining valuable experience of other countries and cultures is surely odd at best. Many of our neighbouring European countries highly prize time spent abroad mastering another language and broadening one’s horizons. Ask any young French or Spanish person about the most valuable addition to their CV and it will often be their stint working overseas. The simple fact is that even in the good years, there was a constant flow of young people in and out of the country to the same destinations as now.
For reasons of history, we appear to have a completely irrational attitude towards the beneficial aspects of emigration and a knee-jerk reaction to being reminded that it is a large part of who we are.
There are times when one needs to get over history and deal more dispassionately with the future we want to provide for our young people. Of course we should seek to provide for them in Ireland – as we did during the boom years. However, a trading nation needs people who know and understand the world. Speaking personally, when I am bombarded with negativity on the airwaves day after day about how bad things are in Ireland, I am hardly alone in wishing sometimes that I could go and ride out the storm in a more pleasant harbour. Alas, my mortgage makes me a real prisoner of the Celtic Tiger. – Yours, etc,
A chara, – That the criticism of the Minister for Finance’s remarks on emigration comes from Messrs Martin, Adams and O’Dowd is risible. It is people of their ilk that have created an Ireland in which so many Irish choose, of their own volition, not to live.
While being proud to be Irish, this pride does not bring with it a desire to build a life in the State whose passport I carry, moulded as it is by the hands by generations of Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin. – Is mise,
A chara, – Minister for Finance Michael Noonan should be fired for his insulting, offensive, hurtful and ignorant comments regarding emigration as “a free choice of lifestyle”. I hope he doesn’t take my letter “out of context”. – Is mise,