Posted on 02/25/2011 8:45:58 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Irish voters go to the polls this week as an ailing economy is forcing record numbers of disillusioned citizens to flee the country in search of a better life overseas.
Less than three months after the government accepted an international bailout worth $115 billion to rescue an economy on life support, the public is furious with the entire political class.
Fianna Fail is the centre-left party which has been in government for 60 of the 89 years of Ireland's independence.
Polls indicate they will be trounced in Friday's election and will be lucky to come away with 20 seats out of a possible 166.
Until three years ago, the little country the size of Tasmania was experiencing 6 per cent growth and was the envy of Europe.
Low taxes kept foreign firms investing, but the people who became known as the I-rich became obsessed with property - not buying and selling, but building.
Banks and developers, encouraged by the government, got so carried away in some areas that they built more houses than there were families to fill them.
Now there are 300,000 homes lying empty in what have come to be known as "ghost estates".
Finance minister Brian Lenihan admits it was wrong to allow the construction sector to become so big.
"We had an unsustainable building boom, construction boom in this country from 2003 to 2008," he said.
"My party leader has taken full responsibility for this. So have I."
History repeating
In a case of history repeating itself, residents of County Mayo in the west of Ireland are emigrating in what is expected to be record numbers.
It is the same place from which many of the famine boats left back in the 1840s when a wave of emigration washed 1 million people away from the country.
(Excerpt) Read more at abc.net.au ...
There is much truth in what you say. People who choose to emigrate sometimes under-estimate the impact on both their families and their nations.
My parents fled Europe when their home fell to communism. While there were many advantages for us here, and I am grateful to have grown up in freedom, there were also many drawbacks. Emigration shattered our extended family. My brother and I met our paternal grandparents for the first time when we were 11 and 8, and our maternal grandparents when we were 15 and 11. After that, it was several years before we saw them again. We grew up barely knowing any of our cousins, aunts or uncles. We missed each other's birthdays, weddings, christenings and funerals. My mother missed having help with her babies or advice from her parents as she and dad made their way in a new world. My grandparents grew old without the comfort and aid of their son, daughter and grandchildren.
Communication and travel are easier now than during the Iron Curtain days, but distance creates separate lives. My brother and I grew up in a culture which was unfamiliar to our parents, and their grandchildren speak another language. My parents always thought they'd return when times improved, but it took too long, and our roots here grew too deep. Nonetheless, two generations of my family ended up feeling halfway at home on two continents, but fully at home nowhere. My children lack the security and enjoyment of their large extended family, since they are basically strangers. Now that liberty has returned to 'the old country' our extended family back there has new opportunities and the young people are flourishing. The older family members missed out on many things, but they always had one another, and in their old age, they continue to be surrounded by the loving family that 'stayed home'. This is a lot to give up to emigrate.
I've seen family after family come to America for its opportunities. Once they become citizens, many of them vote for the same overspending government stupidity that killed economic opportunity back home. While I'm not opposed to immigration, I am opposed to naive long term solutions to short term problems. The cost is too high.
I like the way you think.
La Raza will demand their immediate repatriation back to Ireland.
I guess we are going to have to dust off the “Irish need not apply” signs again.
All around the world.....Ineffective leaders being bounced on their heads....
“These numbers are hardly a record Irish Exodus. My ancestors came here in Black 47 with a million + between 1846 -1855.”
Mine too.
I’m not Irish. I’m an American.
“Those who leave the country no longer have a say in Ireland’s future.”
I don’t think that’s true. I believe Ireland grants citizenship to anyone who can prove at least one of their grandparents was born in Ireland. My friend was born in the US, but has Irish citizenship as well, and can vote in their elections if he wanted to.
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