February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
First the taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, appealed to Irish entrepreneurs
and industrialists living in the U.S. to come back to Ireland and start
businesses there.
He said he would “strongly encourage” such ex-pats to look at their
homeland for future projects.
Next the minister for the environment, Dick Roche, further
outstretched the hand, ordering local authorities to give priority to
returning emigrants seeking planning permission for houses on family
land or in their old townlands.
Roche stressed that in the past many people from the Irish
countryside faced a choice of the dole or emigration.
“This hemorrhage of the young from rural Ireland not only denuded the
countryside of its people, but also put many towns, villages and
communities into decline,” he said.
Ensuring that those wishing to come back were not thwarted by planning
laws preventing “one-off” houses was only fair, he said.
Quite apart from righting historic wrongs, there are very sound
economic reasons why the government has stepped up its campaign to
encourage expatriates to return.
The Irish economy is still expanding rapidly, and foreign and domestic
firms continue to seek investment opportunities. But with a limited
population – 5.5 million on the entire island – it is simply running
out of workers.
In particular, companies desperately need skilled, experienced staff.
And as they, and the government, look at the work ethic, and
spectacular success, of Irish-Americans, they will no doubt redouble
their efforts, and inducements, to tempt them back.