Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for tabling these questions because this is a space where we do not have enough time as a Parliament to debate and plan for future projections and the country’s direction. The idea behind the national development plan is to look at where people will be living and what type of demographics we will be dealing with.

Many of our young highly skilled, highly qualified and highly educated people left over the past ten years. It is complex. From Donegal, I know anecdotally that over the past four years many people were moving back from Australia but not as many from Canada. Reasons included that they were well paid and there was a good quality of life and long-term opportunities in Canada. That is anecdotal and not definitive to explain the movement.

As a former sociology student, I thank the Deputies for the chance to delve into the figures again. Ten years ago, we had net migration of more than 104,000 people which compares with 19,000 this year. We had net immigration of 151,000 versus net emigration of 46,000. In 2007, 90,000 houses were built which suggests a massive influx of people to pick up the trades and do the work required.

It is important we identify the skills shortages. That is the job the CSO can do. In fairness to the CSO, while it is strict about its independence, it welcomes input from politicians to look at a piece of work. The CSO could be identifying the skills shortages.

In the past year, 64% of inward migrants had third level education qualifications. This is pointing to recruitment in the health and financial services sectors which are looking for highly qualified and highly trained people. Up to 56% of those inward migrants get work straight away.

In planning for the future, we have to be conscious that the birth rate since 2014 has started to decline. Another peak was at the time of the visit of a very famous person in 1979. Maybe in the next month, we might be looking at a peak again.

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