Sinn Féin TD for Galway West Mairéad Farrell has said that the Central Statistics Office Ireland (CSO) figures which show that the number of people who have emigrated to Australia in the last 12 months has increased to 10,600 from 4,700 in the previous year comes as “no surprise”.

Teachta Farrell said:

“We have all seen the rise in young people leaving for Australia, so today’s CSO figures will not come as a surprise to any of us because we see it in our friendship groups, in our family circles and in our neighbourhoods.

“We keep being told that the economy is doing well but very clearly something is going wrong for young people here that they feel there is no alternative but to go to Australia.

“Rents are so high that many young people have no choice but to continue to live with their parents into their 30s.

“House prices show no signs of falling and with lack of affordable housing home ownership is out of the reach of ordinary working people.

“These are young people who have been forced to go abroad because they feel they have no ability to build a life here. We have heard again today that more young people are leaving our shores. This is the legacy of the government. Why is the government continuing to fail our younger generation?

“But there is hope. With the right leadership and political will, the housing crisis can and will be fixed. Sinn Féin would deliver affordable housing, reduce rents and ban rent increases.

“Things can change. Sinn Féin wants to build an Ireland that young people can see a future in, that they can stay in and can and want to move back to.”