Bye bye Ireland

The Irish Episcopal Council for Emigrants has published its information pack for 2017. It's an informative and attractive booklet.

Over 150,00 Irish citizens left Ireland in the last four years and more than 300,000 people of all nationalities left our shores during that time.

Figures published by the Central Statistics Office in August 2016 show that 76,000 people emigrated from Ireland in the 12 months prior to April 2016. Of these, 35,000 were Irish nationals.

The number of Irish women emigrating outnumbered men 40,300 to 35,900.

The UK continues to be the most popular destination for emigrants of all nationalities leaving Ireland with 16,600 choosing to make it their first home, a decrease of 2,600 on the previous year.