We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
NEXT FRIDAY, 29 NOVEMBER, is polling day in the General Election, 2024. By now, the parties vying to run the country in the next Dáil have released their manifestos and gone head-to-head with their political opponents to set out their stalls.
Polling will take place in schools across the country in 43 constituencies and turnout often depends on the weather, the day of the week and the level of frustration of the electorate at the time. With this week’s cold snap and stormy conditions impacting candidates’ ability to canvass on the doorsteps, they’ll be hoping for plain sailing next week ahead of the big day.
Housing, health, the cost of living and immigration are showing up as the top line issues in this election cycle, with polls so far showing that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil look set to retain their lead, with Independents showing healthy support then ahead of Sinn Féin. As any election followers in this country can testify, though, it’s often the transfers that can ultimately dictate the shape of the next Dáil. So every vote counts.
One of the big issues springing from the housing crisis is that of the emigration, of young people mostly, to different parts of the world like Australia, the US, the Middle East and Canada. With near full employment in this country, many of them cite the cost of living and difficulty securing housing as the main reasons for their decision to leave.
So, with a week to go until polling day, we’d like to hear from those of you living abroad and ask if there’s anything that the next government could do that would encourage you to come home to Ireland.
Please share your views with us by emailing a paragraph or two (around 200-250 words max) to answers@thejournal.ie or by clicking the button below.
Please include your name, county, the country you’re now living in and your thoughts. You can also of course share that information but tell us too if you would like to remain anonymous in the article afterwards.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
An affordable property, a decent wage and reliable public transport
@James Carolan: that rules out Spin Fein so
@Johnny Wilson: Because Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour have done such a great job, especially in rural Ireland.
@James Carolan: Unfortunately, no party have the ability to get even one of those right.
@Brian D’Arcy: yes they have done an amazing job, hence the reason they will get five more years and your beloved pedos will be outcasts as alway. Karma is a beautiful thing :)
Rental accommodation under €1000 per month,
A house that could be purchased for under €250k,
Cost of living to get back down to pre-covid levels,
Income tax to be significantly reduced,
Total abolishment of all punitive green policies.
@Marvin Dollery: You’ve emigrated? What a shame.
@Marvin Dollery: you won’t ever be returning then so
@Brendan O’Brien: Nasty nasty. Sums you up perfectly behind the toxic veneer of “caring leftism”.
@Marvin Dollery: This from someone who has described me as a degenerate subhuman?
@Marvin Dollery: we can all keep dreaming because it’s never going to happen
@Brendan O’Brien: I know what I’ve said previously. Zero apologies for it. My point here is you aren’t much different, when pushed to the point of being exposed.
@Marvin Dollery: Income tax in Ireland is average compared to other European or EU countries, especially the threshold for the lower tax band.
To be honest safety on the streets and send back the majority of migrants that are pouring into the country would be a big one to me! Healthcare and the price of living housing of course
@David Theman: so send back the migrants who are the backbone of our healthcare system?
@Hibernicus: that’s not at all what he’s suggesting and you know it. There are plenty of areas in Dublin and beyond where you see groups of these immigrants hanging around, up to no good. Agreed, we have plenty in our health system that we’d be lost without but we have a much higher proportion standing on street corners drinking and looking sketchy. We have enough of our own to contend with. No need to import more.
@David Theman: Go for the low lying fruit. The immigrants and the illegal ones are not the biggest problem in this country.
They are a problem and it is not one that our laws were made to deal with.
As a country that sent immigrants all over the world, but never had people want to come here. We simple did not have the laws or they systems in place to deal with it. Sort that out and we are fine. Blanlket extradition does not work!
FG/FF drove people to emigrate to other countries. FFG housing policies resulted in over half a million adults living in their parent’s today. Even renting is out of reach for the ordinary workers. Where are people supposed to live? Privatised childcare isn’t working. FG are wasting public funds with their overspends on bike sheds and a hospital. A change of direction is needed. Vótail Sinn Fein, the only other party running enough people to change the government.
@F1rYnpWc: SF won’t be part of any future government, so you may as well keep pissing against the wind lol
@F1rYnpWc: another Shinner who can’t do basic maths, Spin Fein aren’t running enough candidates to get an overall majority, plus with their support level halving they’ll be coming back thankfully with less seats, not more.
@Tired Jim: enjoy blue xrismas old panda…
@Tired Jim: “trollin’ trollin’ trollin’… jim just keeps on trollin’…
(Why can’t the man advocate his favourite candidates that will def come up bigly?) You looking forward to next Fri jim? Voting AND your scratch on the same day… Big outting for little jimmy .
@F1rYnpWc: And the headless lemmings that we call the Irish electorate will vote these fuc kers in again.
@Tired Jim: is that what your at In your profile pic or ye having a tug
The toxic shinners will be out in the cold for another five years. Karma is a beautiful thing.
@F1rYnpWc: It was a green bike shed with blue stripes! Get it right!
Why can the not hold the voting day on a sat when lot of people are off work why on a school day
@Paul Kiely Kiely: I agree, but teachers would be up in arms.
@Paul Kiely Kiely: The last one in 2020 was held on a Saturday
@Paul Kiely Kiely: voting halls are near your home. Unless you’re working a 12 hour shift there’s no excuse. Get out and vote if you want change.
Lower the tax bracket across all level for middle earners, we always get shafted, The hard working joe soap goes to work and ends up living week to week, it’s the most taxed country in Europe, from road tax to property tax etc etc, the list is endless with tax.
@paul dutton: Yes, the taxes are extortionate, the weather is crap, the people are the most depressing bunch of sods in the world!!! The social welfare system has the working class screwed, the healthcare system is an abomination and the cost of living is horrific!!! They need to completely revamp the welfare system and force people back to work, legalize cannabis to remove the criminal element and save € on policing and cut income tax as a result! But they won’t do ANYTHING because they are so “woke” they are afraid to ruffle feathers!!! It’s a joke!!
@paul dutton: We are not the most taxed country in Europe. We just waste the money on projects that are badly managed and departments that are badly managed.
We have wasted millions on transport due to the ministers rules. We have wasted billion on the HSE and Dept of Health because of the Doctors cabal. Nobody wanted the children’s hospital in James Street, except the doctors! they pulled a similar stunt over Beaumont Hospital and kept it closed for a year as they wanted the government to build them a private hospital for their private patients, they got a wing instead!
Lower the retirement age back to 65. Have a housing minister who’s not playing golf with his developer mates at the weekend. Have a female Taoiseach. Have a proper plan in place to reunite our country.
@Anthony Curran: this being the same Spin Fein who voted to increase retirement as age in NI ?
@Johnny Wilson: Westminster decided that, learn about the assembly in the north
@Johnny Wilson: well SF are the partitionist party. North and south it’s the same evil from them
@Anthony Curran: A female Taoiseach, what difference would that make. The woman who is considered the greatest failure as PM in UK, and that is a low bar is a woman. Truss.
Another has her policies taught as the way to crash ab economy over the long term Thatcher!
Have you anybody particular in mind?
I left in 2009 to go to Oz, came back 6 years later for family and with the hope that things would have got even slightly better, biggest regret of my life I should have never come back to this backwards kip, ran for the decades by rich men and woman who just want look after their own interest, I would say every single politician has private heath care, a nice house in a nice area with little to no mortgage, great pay and pension no matter how bad a job the do, sure the main man is a master of failure, the children’s hospital is his best work, if a normal Joe soap made a mess of his job like that he would get his p45 not a poxy promotion. If you emigrated do yourself a favour and never come back.
People coming here from Africa and the Middle East get full dole and free houses
@Tired Jim: They don’t. You’re tired – and old
@Sean Hayes: ah bless him, tis his auld memory… he even forgot to blame SF and thank FG for it .. ;)
@Tired Jim: just started to come, just started. Population of Nigeria 223 millions, Bangladesh 173 millions… Politicians promise to build 50/60 thousands of houses a year but it’s not catching with the demand for free houses. Last old jihaddi in Somalia knows better than Irish people how to get council house in Ireland quickly. Send your wife with one child first. When she gets refugee status she must NOT take HAP/Homeless HAP under any circumstances but live in a hotel to stay on homeless priority list. Than she applies for family reunification – bringing husband and other 7 kids, adds them all on priority homeless list and as she already spent couple of years “homeless” in about one more year 4/5 bed house worth 600k minimum given to them for free. Not rocket science really. Every person in Bangladesh, Nigeria, Somalia… know that.
@Michale Kane: have you shinners not enough to deal with by covering for pedos
@Tired Jim: were good like that
@Tired Jim: No they do not.
Emigrated in my 50′s (never to late folks). In The Netherlands. Rent 1/3 the cost, health care second to none, transport superb, cost of living manageable. Crime and safety, don’t have to worry. I only go back to that corrupt cess pit to see family and get sausages.
@Shelly Levine: and spin.
@Shelly Levine: and to read Irish news. Still sort of miss the place, or a little bit bitter at having to leave, despite the new place being the best place ever. I returned home, I had a great life abroad, but….. There are pros and cons to everywhere. No such thing as the perfect destination.
I would never run my country down, only the people who govern it ,and not all of the time.
Free gaffs. Cheers, Mary Lou.
@Hibernicus: They’re not free numbnuts.
@Hibernicus: need also decent living standarts, or like entertaining not only lokobingo…
@Anthony Curran: Ok, ebeneezer
@Anthony Curran: that’s not what the pedos are saying on the doorsteps
Really sad reading some of the posts, our Political Class have failed young people & continue to do so. It’s a shameful indictment on Micheal Martin, Leo Varadkar, Simon Harris, Eamon Ryan, Roderic O Gorman, that they are happy to drive out our young educated people not giving them a chance to own a home, but will prioritize the thousands arriving weekly, these guys should be jailed for destroying any hope for young working Irish people.
stay away lads much brighter opportunities abroad
Talk about trying to solve a non-existent problem. Most of our emigrants go to countries with even worse housing problems than here and most come back. Knowing the government they’ll probably give tax breaks to emigrants who will return putting even more pressure in the housing market. They should be targeting tax breaks to professions that can contribute to housing output
@Mick Duvanny: Even worse problems than here? The real world awaits you.
@Mick Duvanny: which countries are they?
@lesidees: Australia and Canada get a lot of Irish emigrants. Property prices in their big cities make Dublin look cheap
@Mick Duvanny: totally agree. It’s hilarious. They leave Ireland because of property rent prices and arrive in countries like OZ & Canada that are 50% more expensive than Ireland. Yeah , great plan there haha
@Brian D’Arcy: yea just look at the state of that Kip to the north all thanks to the shinners
I wouldn’t ever go back to Ireland, not even to be buried. Small minded greedy country.
@offside again:mate, just tell us we’re to go to the dream land a d we do indeed …
@offside again: that’s fantastic news
Hope.
@Michale Kane: forget it all it’s all talk
My money back. Build usable roads. Lock up the skangers.
Affordable economy. Better service s. Less taxes. Esb and electricity 42 percent more expensive here. None of parties are great could built two hospitals cheaper then one building if built in right place on the more reasonable land s Privatisation of everything is pushing more irish people into poverty.
A plot in Glasnevin.
@Phillip Smyth: no seriously I would never leave Ireland tried that not for me.
Apart from the depressing weather and it being a full blown nanny state, Ireland isn’t too bad in fairness
@Tired Jim: lonely old pandos like u sud alow themselves until not too lato get moment to see biger things then justbogvilagio…
@Tired Jim: A full blown Nanny State, not this country, not even close!
My sister emigrated in mid 2010s, her family couldn’t afford to get a mortgage, I don’t see that drastically changing for whoever is in government so I don’t expect she’ll ever return home, successive governments failing young people from owning a home
Id move only for the sunshine and if they could guarantee a few weeks unbroken sunshine
@Tim Brennan: Ireland is more northerly than much of Canada. We are more Scandanavian than Central European. Our climate makes more sense when you realise our location.
@Numinous20111: I love the country despite all its challenges
I’d love to emigrate to Oz or NZ but now I’m too old….I can see the way this country is going and one thing for sure it’s far from bright, thanks to our reckless Gov happily supported and unchallenged by MSM, all the left leaning parties and NGOs which are funded by this Gov and foreign extreme left billionaires….!
Will only come back if Mary Lou is Taoiseach
@Kevin O Brien: then please encourage everyone to vote SF. We need a change.
@Kevin O Brien: thankfully you will never be returning :)
One would be crazy to back here. So many came home and regretted it almost immediately.
Have to say, The Journal is shameless in their constant research and data collecting on behalf of the sitting government
@martin lawlor: Are the Indo at it as well with the surveys etc.
The Journal want articles that people will read and get involved, this does that.
The Big Bad Government already has data, this data would be useless to them, as there is no benchmark set!
Cheaper rent, accessible/affordable public transport, better wages, less barriers to entry for teaching. Hard to see why I’d return when I currently have a free apartment in Shanghai city centre, accessible subway, great teaching job at a leading school, and cheaper overall cost of living…
Nothing would ever make me go back.
@tony hilton: fantastic to here. Good riddance
@Paul M Doe: what does “fantastic to here” even mean?
Isn’t it obvious? Without a roof over your head of a decent quality and reasonable price you can’t really live properly. It will obviously cost this country dearly in the years ahead.
Sunshine, lower taxes on wine, a functioning housing market
Ireland would be a great little country if they could only roof it!
I’m 75. They want to give us free money. What’s worse is all the people new baby families, welfare recipients of every hue & kind. Mens shed groups, Resident Association groups (I’m a Chairman of one)Sporting groups etc etc etc , the list goes on & on and are all willing to take this free money
All over the country our waters are polluted, Galway, Dublin rivers & lakes throughout the country
Money invested correctly would stop all of that, all our waterwork pipes could all be repaired . Everyone would benefit!!!!!
Sunshine and better looking women.., the pull factors are just as strong as the push factors. We are a small island , we should go travel and work in our early 20s. We have great travel agreements with other countries . Live life and see the world . Immigration is no longer from dole queue to the boat to England or boarding a coffin ship style story…
Lower taxes and a better health care system
Good private health coverage
A lot of these comments are a bit strange.
U can’t have lower house prices, lower taxes and better services.
People will come back in time. A lot leave to experience something outside our limited culture and try their hand in proper economies, they will come back for the space, the less people, usually when kids happen, hard for those who build something elsewhere, you do have to lower your standards a lot coming back. (just my experience)
Running as a hypocritical anti-immigration election candidate (bringing your foreign born wife and her foreign born children with you back to Ireland)? That’s what he decided to do on his return.
I haven’t gone away you know
We to complain about public transport in Ireland, you should try to use public transport in Lanzarote, it is brutal, never runs onetime, most buses never show up
@Peter Byrne: only chavs would even holiday there
Planty of money
I thought Enda brought them all back ha ha
@Brian D’Arcy: Remember FG/Lab and their failed attempt at “The Gathering” in the 2010s?
@Adam J: that was a resounding success :)
If I emigrated I would not be planning to come “home”. I would be making a hew home.
]Nothing as sad a listening to Irish people away from many years going on about how they would be home tomorrow if they could.
Some have come back are realised they were looking through very rose tinted glasses. The big they forgot and they came back from Australia was the weather!
If I had emigrated I’d come home if the public servants whose incompetence and corruption have caused such damage to the country would themselves emigrated.
A vain hope as the only country that would.let them in would be North Korea!
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say