A rally was held at Galway Airport yesterday by local members of Ógra Shinn Féin who are calling on the Government to take action to stop the brain drain and increasing emigration, and to get the country back at work.
Ógra Shinn Féin, which is the youth wing of political party Sinn Féin, organised a number of rallies nationwide this week “to highlight the fact that thousands of people are leaving Ireland due to a severe lack of employment opportunities within the State”. Organisers say: “Continuous inaction from the government in response to the jobs crisis is, without a doubt, the major factor behind these incredibly high figures. Despite headlines in the media heralding the end of recession, the reality is that there are now more young people leaving Ireland than any other European country, more than 70,000 people are predicted to have left Ireland in the 12 months before April 2010 and 120,000 are expected to leave over a two year period”.
Similar rallies were held at Sligo and Knock airports last Monday, Dublin airport yesterday, and rallies are due to be held at Rosslare Harbour today and finally Cork Airport tomorrow.
Ógra Shinn Féin is demanding that the Government takes action by initiating a stimulus package to get the country back to work. “What we need to see is a push by Government to stimulate economic growth and to put in place comprehensive job retention and creation strategies so that we can dramatically reduce the flow of able and willing people out of the country. We need to see real commitment to job creation. We feel it is time for young people to get angry and get active, and Ógra is intent to be on the side of young people in their fight against unemployment,” say members.
