Young Irish people who are now living overseas have been asked by the government: “Why won’t you come back?”

The National Youth Council wants the first-hand accounts from thousands of young Irish people who have left their homeland in recent years.

It is part of a fact-finding mission for the project ‘Home is Where the Heart Is’, which aims to find out what barriers are blocking the return of Irish people.

In the past decade, thousands of young Irish people have left in search of work. Many of them are skilled workers, who have been forced out by the lack of opportunities available within the Irish economy.

We want to ask our readers if any of them have had to leave Ireland in recent years. If so, was it because of a lack of career opportunities back home? What industry do you work in? Where did you go? How have you found your new life? Is it as good as you had hoped? Do you plan to ever move back home? And is there any one thing you miss most from Ireland that you just can’t find in your new home? (Other than your Mammy’s cooking of course).

Please take the time to fill in the boxes below, if you are one of the thousands of Irish emigrants from the past decade. We would love to hear your thoughts, and find out the general mood of Irish people living across the globe.