Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
21 February 2011
02:2993592#1
In March 2011 Ireland will be voting; meanwhile, it is being said that 50,000 people could emigrate from Ireland this year, owing to a lack of available jobs.
The country not only needed a bail-out, but is expected to pay the borrowed money back with the interest. So, with the economy in turmoil in Ireland, and officially almost half a million people unemployed (official unemployment figures are usually a lot lower than the real ones in most countries), and tens of thousands of skilled people expected to emigrate, how will Ireland be able to pay back borrowed money?
I wouldn't press the Irish to do so either. I feel sorry that they fell for the EU carrot on a stick promise after having voted: NO! to the Lisbon Treaty, and then voted the opposite way a year later.
I would consider it fair for Britain to privilege Irish people to find work in Britain - together with the British. But Brussels would probably oppose this. For all that Belgium hasn't even got a government.
What does Ireland gain from the EU? I mean, sincerely speaking. The Irish people who emigrate do not go to Europe, they emigrate to other continents.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
21 February 2011
08:0293599#2
You could also ask what does Britain gain from the EU Alexander.
I understand that Britain loaned Ireland £7 billion - plus a healthy interest.
It may be a sweeping statement to say that when people emigrate from Ireland they don't move to other EU countries; they can now, it's easier, but many (EU) countries are in the same boat as Ireland (lack of employment opportunities), so that may be a good reason not to go within the EU.
Language can also be a barrier, so is the USA and Canada, South Africa, Oz and New Zealand, also most people in Cyprus (in the EU) speak English.
Roger
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
21 February 2011
08:5393608#3
Ireland boomed for years in the EU. They hit the high times and their economy roared ahead earning the nickname Celtic Tiger. Alas the global banking crises put paid to the boom and once everything began to quake the economy went down like a pack of cards in Ireland.
So much of these economic good times are just based in belief...in confidence...if the markets are confident everything rattles along well. But once confidence is lost you are in big trouble.
The Irish Banks were badly hit, even worse than here...the American shockwave really hit them. I have a few bob in the banks over there and for a while it looked as though the few bob was to be scattered on the four winds. However the day was saved by the loans from the EU and Britain.
There is now a failsafe idea embedded in the EU constitution to protect against these hard times in future...so I understand anyway.It seems the Euro will continue too.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
21 February 2011
11:0193619#4
there was still emigration from ireland during the celtic tiger years, mainly the well educated bilingual people.
germany was a popular destination.
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
21 February 2011
13:2193628#5
The impression I receive is that many Irish are unhappy with the economic situation in Ireland.
It doesn't seem to me that the EU constitution can do anything to help unemployed people find work in the West and is more interested in keeping the West and the East of the EU area divided into two distinct sectors, where the average national income in one part is about three times higher than in the other.
This makes it highly unlikely that Ireland could find any opportunity to export to eastern Europe, as is the case with Britain too. And because in Britain employers in factories tend to prefer employing people who are accustomed in their own country to a salary much lower than in Britain, who are willing to work hard without complaining in order to get £5.93 an hour, the Irish, who are used to the same salary as the British, don't stand a chance of finding work here.
Exactly the same applies to most other western countries in the EU. The people who take advantage of job opportunities in western EU countries are those coming from the East: as they earn much less in their own country, they go in large numbers to western countries to find work.
So what chance does the unemployed Irish or British citizen stand?
And what chance does the Irish citizen stand of finding some employment in Britain for a few years to make ends meet?
As far as I am concerned, the EU paralyses relations between western countries, between neighbouring peoples, and here in Britain it looks as though we have forgotten our historical relationship with the Irish, and are stuck on the date 3 September 1939!
Now I know I will be cautioned, but still, I think it is time that Eastern Europe moved on and looked after themselves, and let us get on with attending to our relations with our close neighbours and seeing to our own interests.
From a very personal point of view, all I know about the EU is that I haven't got a penny to spare to go and visit Ireland, or to go for a trip to France or visit Belgium and Holland. That is the EU!
I do believe that many millions of people in Britain and Ireland, and many millions more in western Europe, are in the same situation, and probably haven't got the spare pennies to even catch a train and visit a place in their own country.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
21 February 2011
13:3093631#6
on the news this morning they had extensive coverage of this week's general election in ireland.
they asked the boss at the waterford chamber of commerce whether he expected the days of the celtic tiger to return.
he replied that it had never boomed in the south east corner of the republic in the first place.
21 February 2011
21:3793712#7
My part of the world. And it is true that it didn't boom as loud, but it did boom!!
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
21 February 2011
21:4793714#8
panorama is on at the moment highlighting the crisis in ireland.
house prices rose by 270% in 10 years partly due to 100% mortgages being freely available and the government encouraging people to buy despite warnings from economists that it was beng irresponsible.
interestingly waterford crystal have brought back home their manufacturing after out sourcing abroad.