Irish Emigration At Highest Level Since The Famine

The tragedy of Irish emigration continues unabated. Over 46,500 Irish people emigrated from Ireland in the year up to April 2012. The rate of emigration is the highest in Ireland since the Great Famine in the middle of the nineteenth century.



The devastating recession and austerity measures being imposed in Ireland have made work very hard to come by. Unemployment remains above 14% in Ireland and at over 11% in the Eurozone. Little wonder then that so many Irish citizens are flocking to places like Canada, Australia and America.

More than half of the 6,350 working visas to Canada available to Irish people during 2013 have been taken up in the space of just a few days. Demand for the 2-year work-travel visas has been especially high as Canada is crying out for skilled workers in certain parts of the country. The high cost of living in Canada and particularly in the major cities such as Toronto and Vancouver has not put off the hordes of mostly younger Irish people who continue to escape from their recession-hit homeland.

by Michael Green
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Michael Green Michael Green is Manager of The Information about Ireland Site

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