Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

At the last Question Time, the Minister of State, Deputy John Perry, stated that emigration was matter of choice for many people leaving the State. Choice is about options and having the ability to choose between working here or working abroad. With the level of unemployment here, for many it is not a choice. In the two years to the end of 2012, 25,000 people under the age of 25 lost their jobs. In those two years, 38,000 people under the age of 25 left the workforce. It is clear that a significant sector of Irish society and the youth cohort have lost their jobs and left the workforce entirely. They have been forced to emigrate. I do not know if the Minister of State has had the opportunity to read the excellent report from the National Youth Council of Ireland in the past ten days. It states that 300,000 people have emigrated in the past four years.

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