Business

New Irish exodu$ rivals days of old

New York beckons again for Ireland’s latest lost generation, her sons and daughters fleeing their country’s battered economy on a scale not seen since the early 20th century.

After the spectacular boom years of the famous Celtic Tiger turned to bust in 2007, more than 350,000 emigrants have fled, more than half the number that left over a 20 year period between 1900-1920. It’s Ireland’s traditional safety valve during painful periods of economic distress.

Hundreds of Irish workers are streaming into New York every month, according to Irish community leaders. That reverses an earlier trend, when some Irish workers in New York went back home to participate in the Emerald Isle’s once blistering growth.

While the debt problems of Greece are well-documented, with rioting in the streets, the younger Irish are expressing their displeasure by packing their bags and hopping on an Aer Lingus flight.

The Irish government’s $113 billion bailout in November 2010 for its crippled banks was unprecedented in scope, according to Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics. The entire $750 billion TARP bank-rescue program in the US accounted for some 5 percent of America’s gross domestic product. By contrast, Ireland’s bank-rescue program hovers around 25 percent of GDP.

The International Monetary Fund and the European Union stepped in with the loan package to rescue Ireland from bankruptcy. After previously recording huge budget surpluses, the government was in deficit, running out of money to pay for daily operations and public servants.

Meanwhile, overall personal debt, including mortgages, had soared — and is at a staggering $190 billion.

Unlike Greece, though, Ireland is seen as the poster child of the IMF. It has slashed spending and raised taxes to restore stability. But some analysts don’t buy into it, saying Ireland’s debt burden is insurmountable without relief — and Irish luck.

The country is forecast to record GDP growth of only 0.9 percent this year. With unemployment at just over 14 percent, emigration is relieving pressure on the labor market.

When Ireland entered recession in 2008, people were already packing: 42,200 left in 2007, 45,300 emigrated in 2008, 65,000 in 2009, the same number in 2010, 76,400 last year. And more than 60,000 are forecast to go in 2012. That’s about 355,000 in six years — out of a population of 4.5 million.

Natasha Barnwall, 24, with a master’s degree in management consultancy, arrived from her native Dublin this past September. She found work as a project analyst, working for Pcubed, a Midtown consultancy. Barnwall sadly tells of how three of her pals recently had to emigrate to England. “There’s a much better economic climate here than in Ireland,” said Barnwall. “I will stay as long as possible.”

Many of the Irish arrivals have much in common with Barnwall.

Often they are multilingual, with special skills and advanced education of which earlier generations could only dream.

Shaun Kennedy, 25, emigrated from his native Mallow in Ireland’s south a few months back. Kennedy, who has a degree in public and media relations, recently started as a computer developer for Creative Virtual in Stamford, Conn. “The days of the Celtic Tiger are gone,” lamented Kennedy. “But if you work hard here, employers will reward you. I have a very keen 18-year-old brother who wants to come out to work after his [high school] exams.”

The new arrivals include a steady stream of construction workers, escaping Ireland’s stalled building sector. Nearly 3,000 ghost estates went up in Ireland during the boom time. These are deserted housing developments, wind whistling through their lonely and unkempt roads.

Vincent Healy, 57, returned to Ireland in 2006, having spent 20 years in New York as a unionized concrete laborer. “I went home to enjoy the good life after seeing things finally doing well there,” Healy said.

Then there’s Frankie McMonagle. An electrician by trade, McMonagle, 40, had worked in New York for 13 years. Last year, after returning to Ireland and searching unsuccessfully for work, he came back to New York six months ago with a heavy heart. He found work here through contacts. “The people are so depressed at home because of the economy,” he said.

Healy said Ireland is emptying out. “There are no teenagers left in parts of Ireland, that’s how bad it is,” he said.

Nobody doubts that. “I think it is Ireland’s loss,” said Niall O’Dowd, founder and publisher of the Irish Voice newspaper and IrishCentral.com in New York. O’Dowd supports a bill, championed by New York Sen. Charles Schumer, that would allow 10,000 Irish workers to come to the US annually.

Schumer told The Post that recent proposed changes to immigration law will make it “virtually impossible for Irish nationals to work legally in the United States in jobs where Americans are not available.” He said an “Irish E-3 visa bill” is a critical component of fixing “our broken immigration system to ensure that we reward legal immigration and deter illegal immigration from one of America’s strongest allies.”

Eyeing new sod

Irish emigrants are flocking to New York in search of a better life away from their EU ravaged homeland.

1850s potato famine: 1.6M left

1900-1920: 600,000 left

Since 2007: 355,000 left*

2012 Per Capita Debt

Ireland: $60,548

Greece: $46,381

Irish already here

US: 30.6M

NY state: 2.5M

NYC: 415K