Cost of living conditions allied to endemic housing scarcity and unaffordability is forcing a generation of young people to contemplate taking the lonely path to airport departure gates in search of a better life, according to Independent Ireland TD Ken O’Flynn.
The Cork North Central TD was reacting to research conducted by Red C on behalf of the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI).
The research indicated that an astonishing three in five young people under-25 are considering emigration based on the impact of the cost-of-living accommodation crisis, Deputy O’Flynn said.
“Ireland is now a cold country for our young people. That is the unambiguous judgement they are making; be they our graduates, our apprentices, our children, or our grandchildren,” he added.
“In fact, the pathway toward what would have once been considered the fulfilment of a fairly basic set of ambitions and expectations; a decent home, a good job, has all but been obliterated by the toxic policies of successive Governments who have now made it all but impossible for them to stay here.”
He said that “governments can top the charts when it comes to delivering obscene housing costs, expensive energy, a discriminatory educational fees regime and a political system in hoc to vested interests, but God forbid they actually achieve or deliver a way of out of this emigration emergency that might require some difficult choices.”
“Young people can also see, along with middle Ireland and a growing, if silent majority, that while their dreams and hopes lie in tatters, Government is working at full capacity to deliver an infinitely better standard of live for the tens of thousands who have arrived here in recent years through the immigration process. That disparity in commitment and outcomes is a source of enormous frustration.”
“People arriving here illegally get handed a golden ticket to a better life. Our young people get a ticket for Ryanair or Aer Lingus. Explain to me how that makes sense.”
“Forced emigration is acting like a safety valve or a route out of the pressures our young people are experiencing. But their parents and grandparents are watching, often with tears in their eyes, and it is only a matter of time before they cast that anger back at the main political parties in the ballot box.”
“Our parents and grandparents built a country worth staying in. We have no right to squander that achievement. Young people deserve a stake in Ireland’s future. Without urgent action, they will continue taking their energy and their talent abroad, and we will all be the poorer for it,” Deputy O’Flynn concluded.