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STEVE CHIOTAKIS: The Irish people are voting for a new government today. An election that comes just months after a big bailout from European governments. Voters aren’t happy about the bailout, or the economy, as the BBC’s Nessa Tierney reports.
NESSA TIERNEY: Ireland was widely admired for its dynamic growth during the boom years. But its housing market crashed even harder than in the United States. And that sent income and growth in the country downward as well.This has meant that young, educated Irish workers are looking outside the Emerald Isle to live and work.
Emmet Creighton is a law student and trained carpenter from Galway in the west of the country. He went back to college to retrain and wait for things to get better. But for his brothers it’s a different story. One of them has already moved to Australia to find work and his other brother is likely to follow.
EMMET CREIGHTON: I have a brother and going back to University for him isn’t really an option. You know, things are pretty bleak out there, there isn’t that many opportunities. So he’s thinking of going down to Australia as well.
The ballot boxes today will be full of paper airplanes. An online campaign is encouraging young people to fold their voting papers this way, to show their anger at having to leave the country to find work.
In London, I’m the BBC’s Nessa Tierney for Marketplace.
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