RADIO

Members of Ireland’s ruling political party were incensed by popular Irish State Radio talk-show host Gay Byrne’s broadcasts from Sydney, Australia, last week. The shows were said to have boosted emigration queries at the Australian Embassy in Dublin by 20%, and a senior spokesman for the ruling Fianna Fail party told the Irish Independent newspaper: “The show is assisting emigration and that is against the national interest.” With unemployment reaching almost 20% in Ireland, about 30,000 youngsters emigrate every year in search of a job elsewhere, mainly to the United States, Britain and Australia.