| dc.description.abstract | There are few questions in political economy on
which a greater diversity of opinion has prevailed, than the one
which I have selected as the subject of my paper this evening.
Thus, some allege "that absenteeism is not prejudicial to the
prosperity of a country; that Ireland, for instance, would suffer
no detriment if all her proprietors should reside in foreign lands,
and would derive no advantage from their return home to pass
their lives, and spend their incomes in their own country." Whilst
others contend "that the poverty of Ireland, the absence of capital
and enterprize, her dilapidated resources, her unexplored
treasures and unworked mines, her barren wastes, and, above all,
her unemployed population, must be referred to the enormous sums
of money withdrawn from the country in the shape of absentee
rents;" in short, that absenteeism is "the monster evil of Ireland,
from which almost all the evils that afflict the country either
directly or indirectly arise." And between these extremes there
are many intervening shades of opinion which it is unnecessary to
notice. | en |
