Ireland - the lost generation

As the Irish Taoiseach delivers the first public address by a Taoiseach for 31 years on the eve of another savage budget, figures show that Irish emigration has exceeded anything seen since the 19th century. And this is mainly the young leaving.

A young Irish bricklayer now living in Australia has composed a bitter song about how he and his generation have been forced to leave by the actions of a corrupt political class – mainly the last Fianna Fail/Green government – who will be hated for a generation. Irish songs of emigration in the 19th century blamed the landlords and the British government, now they blame the banks and the corrupt Irish politician
Plus ca change. And this is the economic blueprint which Osborne praised several years ago and we are now rapidly heading down the same path. I left Ireland in the 80s during another ecnomic crash so I can sense what many of these young people are feeling. But I did not leave for economic reasons alone. However, being forced to leave your country, family and friends because of political corruption and incompetence is a bitter pill to swallow.

And with Xmas coming, many of these Irish families will be feeling keenly the loss of their young people.