Emigration as an economic policy betrays youth and nation, says trade union

A GOVERNMENT which uses emigration as a cornerstone of its economic policy is one which is "little short of committing treason by sacrificing children’s futures and betraying the nation", according to the UNITE trade union.

UNITE Regional Secretary Jimmy Kelly said at the weekend:

The current Government budget policy is based on hoping and planning for mass emigration unseen since the 1980s.  The Department of Finance pre-Budget statement from Thursday includes reference to net emigration being needed to restrain the pace of growth in labour supply.

In the 1980s, Brian Lenihan Senior was infamously quoted as saying emigration was a good thing for Ireland. That was alright for a man whose sons were effectively guaranteed a job in the Dáil.  For others, though, forced to see the departure of their children and to connect with families telephones, letters and then the internet rather than in person, emigration was a curse.

It is shameful that such an attitude is once more holding sway in government.

It is a betrayal of those people who have worked hard to build the country up but now face the prospect of their children being forced to go abroad for work.

The Government’s own estimates for job creation up to 2015 have been slashed from 155,000 in last year’s Budget speech to 80,000 in the current analysis. Yet still they forecast that unemployment will fall to below 10%. This cannot be achieved without large numbers of those sons and daughters of Irish people being forced from Ireland’s shores. The Government forecasts 80,000 new jobs and 100,000 emigrants in the next four years.

Job creation is paid lip service by this government. Their actual policy is one of forced emigration that could be considered as generation cleansing and one which will not be accepted by Irish voters if they are given a say in their future.