'Shame on us if young people are still forced to emigrate in 2016'

'Shame on us if young people are still forced to emigrate in 2016'

St Vincent de Paul head calls for more radical approach to job creation and a national debate on what type of society we want.

It will be a shame on all of us if in 2016 our young people are still forced to emigrate,” according to Geoff Meagher, the national president of the Society of St Vincent de Paul.

“Government has to do more to create the environment for job creation and calculated risks will need to be taken. It is better to take those risks than continue to export our youngest and best talent in the country,” said Mr Meagher.

He was speaking at the MacGill Summer School in Glenties, County Donegal, this morning on the topic: A Republic of Justice and Equality - How Stands the Republic?

“We need more radical approaches to job creation and stimulating growth, as well as a national debate on what type of nation we want as we begin to emerge from a difficult period,” said Mr Meagher.

In calling for a national debate on our future he said that everyone should be involved – government, politicians, employers, trade unions, non-governmental agencies, charities, other social partners and individual citizens.

“A by-product of the economic downturn we have suffered is that our lives are being controlled and managed by an increasingly smaller number of people. That cannot be good for democracy,” he said.
 
“As we approach 2016, what better way to celebrate our 100 years as an independent nation than to commence that debate now?”

Mr Meagher also said that social justice must be at the centre of a nation which cares for all of its people equally but that has been largely ignored while political and economic issues have been concentrated on.
 
“Now is the time to discuss what matters most to a nation - its people and the situation in which they live, work or, in too many cases, try to exist without work. Now is the time to discuss the changes needed and to prepare for when, hopefully, the nation begins to emerge from this difficult period.

“There are no easy answers, but that is no reason not to commence the debate. We must learn the lessons from the economic disaster caused by an unequal society.”