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(Speaker Continuing)
[H.E. Azwindini Jeremiah Dingaan Ndou:] He dedicated his life to attaining justice for his people in South Africa. His gentle yet unyielding determination for freedom and dignity for every human being earning him love and respect throughout the world, particularly in Ireland. Having overseen the transition from apartheid to a society built on the pillars of democracy and freedom, his legacy lives on in our commitment to ensure a just and fair society for all, including the rights of dignity and freedom of expression.
Although we mourn Madiba's passing, we will take this time to celebrate his life and acknowledge his unwavering commitment to the principles of justice, equality and a non-racial South Africa. To celebrate his life we need to stay true to his ideals. All South Africans and all humanity have a responsibility to promote freedom and defend democracy in honour of Madiba's lifelong commitment to those ideals. We shall continue to address the difficult issues that we face by engaging in dialogue but be mindful that any solution must be of benefit to all.
We say a special thank you to Madiba's many great friends in Ireland, especially the former members of the anti-apartheid movement, the Dunnes Stores workers, the unions, media, artists, poets and the many ordinary Irish people who campaigned tirelessly for the rights of ordinary people in South Africa. His friends and comrades in Ireland helped to change our future and our thoughts are with them as they share our loss of a great leader with us.
Nelson Mandela inspired us, as a nation, to look towards a brighter future. Most importantly, he taught us to understand the power of forgiveness. We salute our beloved hero as we bid him farewell with love and peace in our hearts. Our greatest gift to the father of our nation is to continue to work together, continue his legacy of peace and reaffirm his vision for equality and dignity for all of the people all over the world. Let us be true to Nelson Mandela's legacy and remain committed to forming a society based on that principle.
Lastly, we give thanks for his life, his leadership, his devotion to humanity and humanitarian causes. We salute our friend, colleague and comrade. We thank him for the sacrifices that he made for our freedom. May his soul rest in peace in eternity.
Chairman:   I thank the ambassador for his thoughtful words. I shall summarise what has been said here today. Nelson Mandela showed the same graciousness to a democrat as an enemy and that sums up his life. I thank the Members and the ambassador for attending to pay tribute to this great hero. I ask Members to stand for a moment's silence in his memory.
Members rose.
Chairman: I thank the ambassador. I ask him to convey our condolences to the Mandela family and the people of South Africa. In addition, I wish him well in his new appointment in Pretoria and hope that he continues to be a successful diplomat.
H.E. Azwindini Jeremiah Dingaan Ndou: I thank the committee.
Chairman: I thank him for joining us this afternoon. I know that he has a busy schedule at the embassy at this time and we appreciate the time that he has spent with us.
Business of Joint Committee
Chairman: The draft minutes of the meeting on 4 December have been circulated to members. Are the minutes agreed? Agreed. As there are no matters arising we will proceed with the main business of the meeting.
Report on Impact of Emigration on Youth: Discussion with National Youth Council of Ireland
Chairman: I welcome Ms Mary Cunningham, director and Ms Marie-Claire McAleer, senior research and policy officer, National Youth Council of Ireland. I apologise to the delegation for keeping them waiting. The delay was due to an additional item being added to the agenda, namely expressions of sympathy on the death of former President Mandela. His death occurred after arrangements had been made for today's meeting.
The main purpose for meeting the council is to hear about its report entitled Time to Go? which explores the social and economic impact of youth emigration and its implications for the future. The council has carried out an in depth study on the subject. Emigration has been part of life for many in the State, to such an extent that everyone here and their families have been touched by emigration. Over the past number of months the committee has touched on the issue of emigration reform. I call on Ms Cunningham to make her presentation.
Ms Mary Cunningham: My colleague, Ms McAleer, will make the presentation.
Ms Marie-Claire McAleer: I thank the committee for the opportunity to make a presentation on the theme of youth emigration. I will base my input on the research referred to by the Chairman and published last May entitled Time to Go? It is a qualitative research study that explored the experience and impact of emigration on the current wave of new young emigrants who left Ireland in the past two years and emigrated to the UK and Canada.
The study identifies the push and pull factors influencing Ireland’s young to emigrate and explores the policy implications of sustained emigration of young people from Ireland. For details on the background to the research, the research methodology, the key research findings and all of the report's recommendations, I refer the committee to the report that was circulated to Members in advance. Given the time limitations I shall focus on the most salient and relevant aspects of the research. There are seven report recommendations but I shall focus on the three most relevant to the work of the committee. They are as follows: the appointment of a ministry with responsibility for responding to and connecting with the Irish abroad; the need to develop and adopt a new strategic approach to meet the needs of new young emigrants; and the needs for centralised and ongoing data collection on emigrants.
As the Chairman has said, we all know emigration has become a prevailing part of Irish society. It is worth reflecting on the statistics in this regard. According to the most recent estimates compiled by the Central Statistics Office have revealed that 177,000 young people aged between 15 and 24 years of age have left the country over the past five years, and 89,000 people left the State in the year up to April 2013. At the start of the recession, outward migration was mainly accounted for by workers from new EU member states. Since 2010 emigration by Irish nationals has increased significantly and now accounts for more than half of total emigration.
Data collected by the NYCI have revealed that over the past two years over a quarter of the population has been affected by the emigration of a close family member and 51% of 18 to 24-year olds would consider emigrating. It is widely acknowledged that the number of people emigrating is concentrated heavily on the youth population.
Despite high levels of unemployment, poor labour market status and increasing emigration by Irish nationals, Ireland still receives significant immigration.
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