Following the complete and utter implosion of the Irish economy –
Some 300,000 new dwellings now stand empty in the Irish Republic, a number whose equivalent in the United States would be approximately 21 million.
Unemployment is now 13 percent in Ireland; it would be higher if 5 percent of the working-age population (principally the young and well-qualified) had not emigrated over the last two years.
It looks as if the second decade of the 21st will see an Irish diaspora to rival that of of the late 19th century when between 1830 and 1914 some 5 million went into the US alone. In 1890 some 40% of all Irish born were living overseas.
