The Irish island that children learn to leave
The economic crisis of
2008 drove hundreds of thousands of young Irish people from their
homeland in search of work - as a result some rural communities are on
the verge of dying out.
"Regan's pub has gone. Paddy Jordan's has gone. The one
across from the station has gone." Nicola speaks quietly as she
carefully pours a pint of the black stuff, and paints a picture of
business decline. "Two, no, three hotels have gone into receivership,"
she adds.Nicola is 26 and has completed her degree in heritage studies. She went to university in Dublin and came back to Ballina in County Mayo, in the west of Ireland, because her mother was having an operation. But she plans to leave again soon - in her case meandering along canals in a boat called Rumdoodle.
"Aren't you putting off the inevitable, when you have to find a proper job?" I ask.
"I guess so but there's nothing here," she says. She didn't really notice until she came back from her studies that half her friends had gone and she doesn't expect many of them to return.
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