Emigration & British army – 26-county state solution to mass unemployment

éirígí Tír Chonaill spokesperson Micheál Cholm MacGiolla Easbuig has claimed that the 26-county states solution to the unemployment crisis appears to be a combination of forcing young people to emigrate and encouraging people to join the British army.

MacGiolla Easbuig said: “We are in the midst of an unemployment crisis on this island like we have never seen before. More than 500,000 people are jobless, more than 21,000 here in Donegal alone, yet the Fianna Fáil led coalition has failed miserably to tackle this crisis and create any sustainable employment.”

He added: “Instead what we have seen is a deliberate attempt by this administration to force young people to emigrate. In what can only be described as shameful comments, Tánaiste Mary Coughlan told BBC's 'Hardtalk' programme in February that emigration was 'not a bad thing'.”

“Government policy has been aimed at squeezing young people who are out of work. If losing their jobs was not bad enough, young people then had their dole reduced to €100 a week and €150 a week for under 21's and 22-24 year olds respectively, making it virtually impossible to survive on the dole here. Thousands of people signing on are forced to wait up to 16 weeks before they recieve this pittance. All of these measures are aimed at forcing young people to emigrate in order to hide the true extent of unemployment in the country.”

“A further shameful move was the revelation that FÁS were involved in the sending of letters to unemployed people advising them of job opportunities in the British army. Aside from the fact that what was done is illegal, it is appalling that a state agency such as Fás believe it appropriate to become a recruiting agency for the British army.”

“The British army is responsible for slaughtering thousands of civilians in Afghanistan, Iraq and here in Ireland. British troops continue to occupy the six-counties. They are using the skies above Fermanagh and Tyrone as a training ground for their pilots to prepare them for the ongoing occupation and war in Afghanistan. Undercover British army units, most notably the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR), have also been re-deployed and are operating once again on Irish soil.”

He concluded: “Fianna Fáil and the Greens have failed the unemployed miserably. Emigration and encouraging young people to enlist in the British army murder machine is not a solution to the unemployment crisis. The fact that Mary Coughlan and her colleagues are happy to see thousands of our young people emigrate or serve as cannon fodder for the British military exposes both the moral and political bankruptcy of this administration.”