Wexford Sinn Féin councillor Anthony Kelly has called for immediate action to deal with rising emigration figures, which the ERSI has predicted will hit 120,000 by the end of 2011. Cllr. Kelly, Sinn Féin’s General Election candidate in county Wexford, has described emigration as being the biggest threat to this county since Cromwell.
“Recently I was talking to a member of a prominent Wexford GAA club, who told me that their minor team would have trouble fielding a side next year due to the loss of so many young players to emigration,” Cllr Kelly said, “Over the Christmas period I was also approached by a number of concerned parents whose sons and daughters have been forced to leave their homes to look for work abroad. They fear that their children will never come home. I don’t want to live in a country where our number one export is our children.”
Cllr. Kelly went on to condemn the Fianna Fail/Green government, and the Fine Gael/Labour opposition for not giving the people who are emigrating an alternative. “Neither Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Labour or the Greens have put forward any realistic job creation plans. Our young people are leaving because there is no work here for them, yet these political parties have put no emphasis on job creation. We in Sinn Féin have put forward detailed, realistic job creation measures in our recent pre budget document. We want to transfer €7 billion from the National Pension Treasury Fund and use it to employ Irish people in the construction of much needed infrastructure like schools and hospitals.”
“Fianna Fail would prefer to pump this money into toxic banks. This is unacceptable. It’s time for our politicians to put the needs of the Irish people before the needs of failed banks, NAMA protected property developers and European bond gamblers.”
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