As the Jewish community celebrates its New Year today, Georgina O'Halloran reports on why most young Irish Jews plan to leave this country

Almost before their first day at school, the majority of young Irish Jews know that they will cross the water to the UK, or travel further afield, on completion of their Leaving Cert.

Three-quarters of the Irish Jewish population is now estimated to be over the age of 65. There is a long-established trend of young Jews leaving Ireland when they finish school, often followed by their parents at a later date. It appears to be a trend that is impossible to reverse.

Tanya Ross (16), from Rathfarnham, Dublin, who was leader of the Jewish youth group, B'nai B'rith Youth Organisation (BBYO), last year, has no doubts as to where her future lies.

"I will definitely move to England, where I can be a bit more free and observant in practising my religion, where there are more Jewish people, more Jewish schools and more kosher restaurants," she says.

While increasing numbers of young Irish Jews are choosing to travel abroad during gap years, fewer have the intention of ever returning to live in Ireland. Sometimes it's the need for a more fulfilling Jewish life which impels them to leave, but the community's youth rabbi, Dr Zalman Lent, says the key reason for this departure en masse is to find a partner.

In Ireland, where approximately 1,700 Jews live today, finding an Irish Jewish spouse is almost impossible. This presents a problem when most young people feel strongly about passing their faith on to their children and believe that, to do this properly, they must marry within their religion.

Simon Harrison (22), from Terenure, Dublin, has just completed his final year of a degree at Trinity College Dublin.

"I have gone out with non-Jewish girls, but there is always something at the back of my mind in terms of how far things could really go," he says. "My parents feel strongly about me marrying within the community. It's not a case of non-mixing. We see it as an obligation to continue the traditions."

Some people do manage to stay in Ireland. A young married Jewish couple, Daniel and Amanda Miller, from Leopardstown, Dublin, have a young son called Jacob and are very much the exception to the rule. Amanda says that although she does not consider herself particularly religious, marrying a Jewish man was important to her. She was just lucky to marry Daniel, who is both Jewish and Irish.

"I feel that you need somebody from the same background and similar upbringing to you to make a recipe for a good marriage," she says. "We want to bring up Jacob as Jewish as possible but traditionally more than religiously, and I do believe that the religion aspect of it comes from the home. On a Friday night we light the candles and have a meal. It's more a tradition, but I think that's what gives you the feeling inside. It really comes from the home."

However, both Amanda and Daniel are sceptical about the assumption that if people move to Manchester or London, which have relatively big Jewish populations, they will meet a Jewish partner.

"I know half a dozen people who have gone to live in London because there is no Jewish life here, and none of them have gotten married," says Amanda. "They don't have Jewish boyfriends/girlfriends and they don't mix in Jewish circles. But they say they are moving because there are no Jewish people here."

"This notion that you can just pick up sticks and go to England and then you are in a ready-made community, that's all well and good, but it's very hard to break into a community," says Daniel.

Although the Millers are happy to remain in Dublin for now, Amanda worries about what the future holds.

"The majority of families are moving and what scares me the most is that we will end up living here, having our children here, and then they'll go and we'll be left behind," she says.

The Millers also admit that another downside of the community's small size is that being part of it is like living in a little town where everybody knows everybody else's business.

Indeed Danielle Collins's sentiment that "I just couldn't live the rest of my life in this community" finds resonance with many. Collins (23), also from Rathfarnham, is currently studying medicine at TCD and says that virtually all of the people she socialises with are non-Jewish.

"As regards going out with the other Jewish people, I just can't be bothered," she says.

She is also critical of the fact that many young Irish Jews who move to England have a tendency to mix exclusively with other Jewish people.

"I think that's a bit sad," she says.

However, she explains that she could only ever consider marrying within her religion and admits that had she secured a place to study in an English city with a big Jewish population, she would probably have gone there instead of staying in Dublin.

For some young Jews marrying within the religion is not the most important thing.

"I would like to marry within the Jewish community but if I fell in love with someone who wasn't Jewish, it wouldn't be a thing that would stop me," says Fodhla Cohen- MacDermott (16) from Goatstown, Dublin.

Although Cohen-MacDermott's mother is Jewish, her father is not and, unlike the majority of Irish Jews, she belongs to the progressive rather than the orthodox Jewish community. Many people are unaware that there are two distinctive Jewish communities in Dublin. The progressive community, made up of 200 households, is much smaller than the orthodox one and, while there are exceptions, it is generally true that those young people with two Jewish parents belong to the orthodox community while those with only one Jewish parent belong to the progressive or liberal community. While the orthodox community is not managing to keep many of its young people in Ireland, the progressive community is growing marginally because it recognises mixed marriages between Jews and non-Jews.

Cohen-MacDermott feels no need to go abroad in order to meet someone Jewish.

"My plans for the future aren't different to anyone else's plans because I'm Jewish," she says. "I'm thinking about going to college outside Dublin, perhaps in England, but that's more to do with having an away-from- home college experience, and living somewhere bigger, than anything else."

But while there are differences between them, almost all young Irish Jews feels that religion plays a greater part in their lives than those of their non-Jewish friends.

However, many young Jews find that non-Jewish friends are receptive to their religion and respect it traditions. "They pay attention to what food I can't eat when I come to their houses," says Tanya Ross.

Unless the tide of emigration can be stemmed, though, there will soon be few Jews left to share their customs with others. A turning of the tide does not look likely. According to Rabbi Lent, young Irish Jewish people find the idea of life abroad attractive.

"They usually find a huge social network, with thousands of Jewish people and lots of kosher establishments," he says. "They love it and they stay."