Abstract thought about the Irish...

[Manji]

I wonder what kind of population and economic strength Ireland would have if every person who claims to be "Irish" was to suddenly move back there...

[TrailerParkJawa]

Everytime someone in my family talks about being Irish, I ask them to name 10 cities in Ireland. They never can, and it pisses them off.

[MKSheppard]

I wonder what kind of population and economic strength Ireland would have if every person who claims to be "Irish" was to suddenly move back there...

Considering that about 2/3rds of the US population (maybe an exaggeration,
but only slightly so, probably) claims to be descended from the Irish, well,
Ireland would become a Superpower overnight.....either THAT, or implode
in a mess of overcrowding and starvation.....again

[Sea Skimmer]

The population would rapidly die of Dehydration. With the US mostly deserted I'd seize an ICBM complex and nuke the place the save the rest of the world from the plagues brought on by the vast corpse mounds.

[Acclamator]

And Manji again proves his stupidity.

Economic strength?

Bleh.

According to the CIA world factbook, the population of Ireland is about 4 million.

The population of the United States is almost 300 million. About two thirds of that claim Irish ancestry. So lets say that from the US alone, Ireland gets deluged with almost 200 million people.

Then there are the irish living everywhere else. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, et al... lets say another 100 million.

We'll use 300 million as a figure for the number of people who would descend on Ireland.

Math time:

300/4 = 75.

So, Ireland overnight has its population increased to seventy five times what it previously was. A 7,500% increase in population.

Now I'm not dissing Ireland or anything, AFAIK they are a decent first world western nation, but no nation on earth has an infrastructure that could support a 7500% increase in population over the population that said infrastructure was meant to serve.

In other words, within a very short time of all these people arriving in Ireland (a couple of day tops), you would get very nasty things.

EG:

FAMINE

MASS STARVATION

MILLIONS OF DEATHS

It would be a humanitarian catastrophe the like of which the West has not seen since the Black Death of the middle ages.

[Lord Pounder]

I wonder what kind of population and economic strength Ireland would have if every person who claims to be "Irish" was to suddenly move back there...

If all the wanna-be's came "home" the fecking place would sink. Reminds me of one time when i was in Belgium, Some american guy started talking to me coz he heard my accent, he was blathering about wanting ti visit the mother land etc. I got a wee bit anoyed and asked him what part of Ireland he was born in and he said "well i wasn't actually born in Ireland but my great great great great great..... grandfather was". I gave him a look of distain and walked off.

[Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi]

If all the Irish descendants moved back, there would be famine, which was the reason they left in the first place.

[C.S.Strowbridge]

So, Ireland overnight has its population increased to seventy five times what it previously was. A 7,500% increase in population.

It's not overnight, it's just suddenly. You're not going to move somewhere if you don't have a house to move into. So they could only move there as fast as the housing could be built. And that economic boom should allow them to import as much food as they need.

[Patrick Degan]

I wonder what kind of population and economic strength Ireland would have if every person who claims to be "Irish" was to suddenly move back there...

Considering that about 2/3rds of the US population (maybe an exaggeration, but only slightly so, probably) claims to be descended from the Irish, well, Ireland would become a Superpower overnight.....either THAT, or implode in a mess of overcrowding and starvation.....again

That's not our plan at all. We're simply going to make the entire world Irish.

[MKSheppard]

So they could only move there as fast as the housing could be built. And that economic boom should allow them to import as much food as they need.

<Thwap> CSS Clone strikes again.

[haas mark]

Ireland would sink.

[Evil Sadistic Bastard]

[quote="C.S.Strowbridge]

It's not overnight, it's just suddenly.
[/quote]

Suddenly translates into overnight in this context. He didn't say gradually either.

You're not going to move somewhere if you don't have a house to move into.

While that is wise Manji meant SUDDENLY move back. i.e. no time to construct new houses. Equals people living in the streets.

So they could only move there as fast as the housing could be built.

Again, that is an idealized scenario, not what Manji proposed. Remember it's a sudden mvoe, not a gradual one.

And that economic boom should allow them to import as much food as they need.

More people does not equal more jobs. More people DOES equal more demand of food, more use of space, more conflicts, and more usage of utilities. There may be no boom - in fact there may even be a bust as the government scrambles to suddenly cater to all these people and fails.

And even if there WAS a boom its effects would be absorbed by the expenses of SUPPORTING all these people, and possibly deporting the scum to make room.

And that's not even counting IRA resistance to immigrants (Don't know if they have any, though).

[haas mark]

More people does not equal more jobs. More people DOES equal more demand of food, more use of space, more conflicts, and more usage of utilities. There may be no boom - in fact there may even be a bust as the government scrambles to suddenly cater to all these people and fails.

We see examples of this when the Irish moved to the US.

[C.S.Strowbridge]

[quote="C.S.Strowbridge]

It's not overnight, it's just suddenly.

Suddenly translates into overnight in this context. He didn't say gradually either.[/quote]

I thought he said, 'suddenly decided.' That does change things.

However, I still think the intent of the question was not overnight population boom. I could be wrong, but only Manji could answer that.

And that economic boom should allow them to import as much food as they need.

More people does not equal more jobs.

More housing starts does equal more jobs.