The Emerald Isle's startling economic rebound post-crisis

Dublin

COLM, a Dublin-born retired detective-turned-cabbie, must have been heavy hearted when his daughter, freshly armed with a nursing qualification, packed her bags and left for the sunshine state of Florida, where skills like hers are highly coveted.

Lured by higher starting pay and better job prospects, she is one of tens of thousands of Irish youths who have emigrated to the UK, Australia and the United States, especially in the past seven years as the curtain came down on the Celtic Tiger boom.

"Ireland has a long tradition of young people who finish college and go straight abroad for job opportunities," said Frank Connolly, head of communications at Siptu, Ireland's largest trade union.

Now, with an economy that's miraculously mending from a debilitating crisis and galloping past its European Union (EU) peers at a stunning pace of 6 per cent this year, the Emerald Isle is eager to woo its skilled young emigrants back home.…