ALL our communities have experienced – and indeed been enhanced – by new people from different countries and continents coming to live here seeking new opportunity.
Not so long ago, our economy depended heavily on immigrants coming to our shores in order to fuel the record employment opportunities that were available in the boom years of productivity and plenty.
Thousands of Eastern Europeans came to live here because of our high wages and good lifestyle.
However, there was a cost at a personal level to many of these people. Deep down, many were lonely, missed their families and support systems and longed to return home.
Emigration is a deliberate decision to find opportunity elsewhere. The cubs of the Celtic Tiger, now young, talented adults, find themselves in a terrible predicament where there is no real opportunity at home.
Often it is with heavy hearts and with great reluctance that, after graduating from third level, their only hope for employment is to get on a ship and sail to far-off shores in search of something new.
According to the Economic and Social Research Institute, the number of people leaving Ireland this year and next is predicted to reach 120,000. This is much more than a shocking statistic, it is a national disgrace. These 120,000 people are our greatest national product, and our government has nothing to offer them.
It is so sad to hear talented, articulate, bright, professional and highly-skilled young people resigned to the fact that career opportunities are almost non-existent in Ireland.
By the time a young graduate purchases a one-way ticket for Canada or Australia, so many resources, time and energy have been invested in their talents and intellects, talents that will now be harvested in foreign lands. Our government has failed to create an adequate response to creating employment opportunities in light of this dreadful recession, which continues to inflict so many burdens on the lives of those we know and love. The number of unemployed people continues to grow, and without emigration the statistics would simply cripple the economy. While this is an economic fact, it’s not good enough and does not make sense.
I can’t get my head around why, in this time of extreme crisis, there seems to be such a lack of vision in building a new creative and imaginative environment, where opportunity and hope can be offered in abundance. In our enslavement, have we become accustomed to fear and accepting second best? Have we become slaves to establishments and economic systems that have failed us, because there is nothing to replace the tired, old and burnt-out failed policies and practices that tell our young graduates to head off, we don’t want you?
Our recovery must begin by utilising the fantastic skills and keen intellects of young, highly qualified people. Surely, if the country nurtures such talents through education, it also has a fundamental task to harvest it?
There is a fundamental need for a new and inspired vision in our country. The wellsprings are in our midst and it is through the creative and spiritual that they will bring us all to a brighter and more hopeful place.