Ireland awaits economic rescue

A financial aid package is expected to be drawn up for Ireland in the next week by eurozone nations, and on Tuesday the Irish Government will outline its plans to get the country back on its feet, including a series of austerity measures.

It hopes to make 15bn euros of savings by 2014. The Irish public has so far stoically endured the economic pain caused by the debt crisis in Ireland, but trade union leaders warned today that the latest cuts could be the “tipping point”.

There’s a planned protest in Dublin calling for greater fairness in budget cuts on 27 November, and there was further pressure on the Irish leadership today when French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he expected Ireland to raise its treasured corporate tax rate – set at a low 12.5 per cent rate – even if it wasn’t a condition of any rescue package.

Read more from Channel 4 News on tackling the Ireland deficit 

Tipping point

Jack O’Connor, General President of SIPTU, Ireland’s largest labour union, told Reuters: “I think we’re close to the tipping point…The kind of policies that have been pursued to date, which have been seen to fail and have discriminated very severely against the people on middle and low incomes, will not work. And there will be a reaction to those kind of policies.”

“The talk now is of the budget…I think there is going to be huge civil unrest as a result of that.” General Secretary of TEEU, Eamon Devoy.

General Secretary of the 40,000 Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU), Eamon Devoy, said: “A lot of political leaders have been saying that they can’t understand the calm about the Irish citizens at the moment, but I think it’s the calm before the storm.

“People are enduring it, but just about. It’s bubbling to the surface. Any further attacks on working people and social welfare systems and pensions and so on just won’t be tolerated. The talk now is of the budget, and effectively destroying the social welfare system. I think there is going to be huge civil unrest as a result of that.”

Exodus

There are now fears of a major exodus from the country as people go further afield to find work.

According to its Central Statistics Office, this year will see the worst migration for 20 years in Ireland. In the year from April 2009 to April 2010, more than 65,000 people emigrated from Ireland – and only 30,000 came in. A further 1000,000 are predicted to leave over the next four years.

Many of those leaving are students and young professionals prompting cries of a new brain drain – Julian Tung and Shane Fitzwilliam both decided to leave Ireland in search of better prospects.

Julian Tung told Channel 4 News: “I graduated, I went into full-time employment in Dublin and then I was made redundant nine months later. Then I was looking for work anywhere in Ireland and I couldn’t find any.

“I’m a civil engineer. So basically, I decided to pack up and move here and I found work within two months.”

Shane Fitzwilliam, who studied economics, said: “Quite quickly after graduating I felt I needed to get out of Dublin as I felt there was a real drought of opportunities there.”

We cannot find work in Ireland, we need to go abroad for other opportunities. We don’t have much choice. It’s that or go on the dole. Julian Tung, Irish graduate.

Both agreed their friends were also in similar situations, and that there was major anger in Ireland over the bail-out.

Mr Fitzwilliam said: “We want to work. We feel like we were promised a good career during the Celtic Tiger years and now we’re going to take it, whether that is in London or anywhere in the world.”

He added: “There is quite a lot of anger about the bail-out. We don’t feel like we have been told the truth – this week is the first week we have been getting a clear picture of how bad it is. And I think a lot of people, especially young people, feel that the people who caused this mess aren’t being held to account.”

Mr Tung said he felt Ireland had given him a lot, such as free third level education.

“I feel like we were invested in – and it’s just wasted talent,” he said. “We cannot find work there, we need to go abroad for other opportunities. We don’t have much choice. It’s that or go on the dole.”