Cork Politicians Disagree on Emigration Numbers Amid Housing Crisis Impact on Young People

A war of words has erupted between two Cork TDs over the number of people emigrating as the housing crisis continues to take its toll.

Colm Burke took exception to a speech made by Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould at a housing rally in Cork where he told the crowd that 'Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have driven over 150,000 young people' out of the country.

The Fine Gael TD responded with CSO figures which show that since 2020, 143,900 Irish citizens have left the country compared to 147,600 citizens who have returned.

Looking solely at the number of people leaving the country and not acknowledging those who are returning does not give an accurate portrayal of the situation, Mr Burke said.

There is also a need to look beyond the figures at the people included in them such as non-Irish citizens who arrived to study or work in Ireland on a temporary basis and are now returning home, he noted.

In any country, you will have young people who move abroad to experience other cultures and those - for example, doctors and nurses - who get work experience abroad for a period of time before coming home, Mr Burke added.

However, Mr Gould has said he stands over the figure he quoted at the rally saying he believes it was actually a conservative estimate. He cites data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics which showed over 103,000 Irish-born people were living there in June 2024.

That figure does not take into account the number of Irish people who have moved to other countries around the world nor those who have moved to Australia over the past year.

Mr Gould said he has young people in his constituency that are coming to him every week telling him that they are leaving the country because they cannot afford a home.

One young working couple, for example, came to his office as they had received a notice to quit and are earning too much to go on the social housing list.

Thomas Gould cites data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics which showed over 103,000 Irish-born people were living there in June 2024.

'They have applied for affordable housing but there are so many people applying so they are going into a lottery and if they don't come out of the lottery, they are going to be homeless,' Mr Gould said.

Mr Burke said there is no question there are challenges in relation to housing that need to be resolved.

'I have a very strong view that we should bring in tax incentives again to get money back into investment in housing,' he said, although he would not like to see a re-introduction of incentives seen around 2008.

According to the source: Irish Examiner.