Parents shepherding children around temporary buildings at a grade school in Laytown, Ireland, on the coast of County Meath, north of Dublin.
Posted on 01/25/2007 10:37:00 AM PST by aculeus
DROGHEDA, Ireland — Moving to a newly built seaside housing development north of Dublin seemed an obvious decision for Katrina Dooley and her partner.
Fast-rising property prices in the center of the city allowed them to trade their one-bedroom apartment for a three-bedroom, red-brick house in Laytown, a coastal enclave near here, within earshot of crashing waves. Central to the couple’s calculation was being able to concentrate energy and attention on their child, Ella, 5.
The problem was that hundreds of other people had the same idea, leaving a local school scrambling for space, to the point of using a basketball court as a classroom.
While many countries in Europe grapple with the difficulties associated with aging populations, Ireland and a few others face the opposite problems — and advantages — from an excess of youth.
Crowded schools, a labor crisis in child care and strained infrastructure in new commuter areas like Laytown are among the burdens faced by Ireland and other European countries at the young end of the age range.
Relatively low health care costs and a quick transition to a high-technology economy have proved to be blessings.
“Younger countries face different pressures from the rest of Europe,” said Claude Giorno, an economist in Paris who monitors Spain at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of 30 relatively prosperous nations based in Paris. “Common themes are things like a shortage of educational facilities and the doubling of housing prices, like we have seen since 1998 in Spain.”
Europe, despite something of a gray-hair image, is in reality a demographic patchwork. “Europe is definitely an aging continent, but there are a few pockets of youth,” said Antonio Missiroli, chief policy analyst at the European Policy Center, a research organization in Brussels.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Parents shepherding children around temporary buildings at a grade school in Laytown, Ireland, on the coast of County Meath, north of Dublin.
Over to you!
No more worries about Winscale in Drogheda these days?
I know, but this just sounds like it to me. Usually they name the partner, if it's a guy. and it's just awfully touchy feely on their part.
I know it could be a touchy feely but uncommitted Irish dad. :D
Katrina's "partner"? Is she a CPA or a lawyer?
~rolling eyes~
No reflection on how pretty she is. I simply said to my friends that I look more "Irish" than she does and I do.
Just curious. What does an Irish person look like?
Leave it to the pro-death New York Times to see a nation willing to reproduce as a problem.
Later on, we see the real problem the NY Times has with Ireland:
"Demographically, the births creating the Irish age bulge reached a peak 27 years ago, roughly nine months after the September 1979 visit to Ireland of Pope John Paul II.
The 74,064 births recorded by the Central Statistics Office in 1980 was the largest number in Ireland in more than 80 years.
“Ireland hit a perfect demographic storm,” said David McWilliams, an economist in Dublin and author of “The Pope’s Children: Ireland’s New Elite,” published in 2005. “The post-pope bulge combined with a booming economy to bring Irish home from overseas and attract even more young people from Poland.” "
Hmmm... I'd like to make an Irish citizen out of baker_girl someday! ;)
LOL, she'd make the prettiest Irish girl ever!!
They now have Irishmen who are Chinese?
I'll be proud to have her by my side! :D
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.