While I acknowledge that the unemployment rate is declining, I point out to Senator Cáit Keane and others that 1,600 people are emigrating from this country every week. We cannot just accept the public relations spin and gloss over such statistics. Of the 1,600 emigrating every week, 800 are Irish, while the other 800 are from abroad.

Did I say anything about emigration?

According to the CSO figures for last year, 1,600 people were emigrating from Ireland every week, which is a frightening statistic. We need to talk urgently about why so many Irish people are leaving the country, many of whom actually have jobs. Why are they leaving? I would like to have that issue discussed. The culture of austerity and negativity is driving people away. We need people like the Greek Prime Minister and Minister for Finance. They are being ridiculed in the British and Irish media, but they will fight their cause at the highest level. We need leaders like them who have the fire and the passion to lift the spirits of the people. That is why 1,600 people are leaving our little country every week and most of them are not coming back. Last autumn the ESRI published a report which found that many of the mothers of the young people who had emigrated were suffering from depression.

I question the figures given by Senator Mary White. The level of emigration was down by 20% last year. To say 1,600 people are leaving the country weekly gives the very wrong impression. At least half of that figure is accounted for by the normal population flows one would expect in a given year. The number of Irish people leaving the country, while appallingly high, is not 89,000 but approximately 40,000. The figures given by Senator Mary White give a very misleading impression.

I call the Leader.

If I may-----

Please allow the Leader to respond.

The unemployment figures are coming down because people are emigrating.