Ireland: Economic Collapse

Allied Irish Banks Dept: Hundreds of thousands of Irish have fled the country since the economic collapse in 2008 that saw Ireland slip from Western Europe s richest country to one of the poorest. But now Ireland s government is taking unusual steps to reverse the trend, appealing to both their own citizens and companies worldwide to bring foreign business to Irish soil as a way to boost the economy and create jobs, according to The Star. My family was of the attitude that if you don t go, you re going to be stagnant here. If we were to stay and pursue a career, we would be treading on thin ice, said Ryan, 29, a former Allied Irish Banks employee who lost his job several months before as a result of staff cutbacks and couldn t find work elsewhere and out of work and worried about their future, a young couple gathers their belongings and heads overseas in search of greener pastures. It s a tale told time and again in Ireland, where emigration is tightly woven into the country s cultural fabric. For Ivor Ryan and girlfriend Mary-Ellen Flynn, the age-old tale of Irish migration is now their own after the couple left their County Tipperary homes for Toronto in March in search of work. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.