Documenting Ireland's brain drain

Ireland is losing talent; at a rate of around 1,000 people every week to be exact.

Financial services professionals are among those seeking pastures new amid a dearth of opportunities locally and, if you're one of the throngs of emigrating Irish, there's a new chance to express your anger about the country's situation on the web.

Ireland's Lost Wall is the brain-child of Dublin web-design company The Social House, and seeks to document the whys and wheres of the emigrating masses.

There's little evidence of an exodus of financial professionals on the site (aside from one accountant who moved to London because she was "inputting receipts all day" back home), but the site's creator Colin Hart insists the sector is well-represented.

"Professional people - bankers, accountants and solicitors - have been unable to find work in Ireland and have been forced to choose between retraining or leaving the country. It's been a nightmare for them as well as other sectors of society," he says.

Around 300 people are now on the list since the its launch last week, but Hart says around 4,000 have visited the site. The aim is also to project the virtual list on to prominent buildings around Dublin until the Irish general election on Friday.

So far, the Fine Gael building (pictured) has been targeted, but expect the same on the Fianna Fail and Labour Party HQ as well as potentially AIB and Anglo Irish Bank before the end of the week.

Bankers be warned, however, you're unlikely to be a particularly popular addition to the list.

"There's a certain Irish wit to the messages on the wall, but there's really a deep underlying resentment. Not just to bankers, but politicians and other businessmen who landed us in this mess," says Hart.

Such barbed banker-bashing messages include:

"You have no idea how much I wanted to stay at home, but thanks to our banks, politicians and businessmen, I'm here." - Cráinne Tornáir, Amsterdam

"Politicians, bankers and business men. Most other places in the world they are respected, but in Ireland they are a bad word" - Dane King, Vancouver.

Of course, all of the above makes this concept seem rather bleak. However, the idea is that you put your name on the list when you leave and take it off again when you're (hopefully) able to return home again.