Posted on 08/16/2006 10:46:10 AM PDT by lizol
Ireland – a Polish home from home
Even in the most distant parts of Ireland, a country which opened its labour market for new EU citizens only 2 years ago, any Pole will feel at home.
Iwona Lajmen reports
The streets, shops and offices are full of Polish people passing by, opening their businesses or assisting other Poles to help them order a coffee in Polish. This is how numerous Polish immigrants have made their way into a country on the other end of the European Community.
Ireland, one of the few countries which decided to open itself to all EU communities, claims it has taken one of the best decisions ever. When the Celtic Tiger develops and its people get better off there are still too few hands to work. Especially that this island is not among the most densely populated. Out of the 4 million Irish living there now every 10th is an immigrant. According to official statistics about 150 thousand of them are Poles, mainly coming for two or five years, just to make the money to have an easier start back at home. 'I had a job and my boyfriend had one too. I worked in an Atlantic shop with underwear and earned 300 euros a month, now I make 350 a week, so that's a big difference.'
'Yes, it's hard work, but not as much as people think... I guess here's the same like in Poland... not so different, but I still miss the family.'
Like many other young and dynamic Poles in their 20s Karolina followed her boyfriend all the way to Dublin. Now, working in Mc Donald’s and living with several other people in one apartment, she looks very positively into her future:
'I didn't plan this trip... I graduated in 2004. I had some friends here, so it wasn't so bad at the beginning. I applied for a few jobs and still being in Poland had three interviews. Then I came here straight away and had a job after three days.'
It’s not a secret that most of the hands are needed at construction sites and this is where Przemek found his work just within a week after he arrived in Dublin in June this year. Having spent 2 years in the same job in Germany, whose labour market is still closed, he says, that even if he’s further away from home now he feels, in a way, nearer to Poland in Ireland.
Many Polish people intending to emigrate that far away start searching for jobs while still in Poland before they leave. That’s what Szymon did around May 2004. Now he’s changed his job twice climbing up his chosen professional ladder in administration:
Far away from home, having a job, good money, and the craic, (or having fun in Irish) - this is what Marzena and Wojtek do. Running their own graphic company they have come up with the idea of publishing a free guide to Polish speaking places in Dublin, which they distribute at the airport and in the streets. Apart from that, they also edit an ad magazine Anons.ie, which helps those who are making their first steps in Ireland to find their way. Since still not all Polish emigrants speak English, it’s one of the first things they grab to survive, says marrzena Smousz.
'Today we have the second issue. It's every Monday in shops and we really think Poles need it. Yesterday we received a postcard from a guy in Cork who wrote down "Thanks Anons.ie!! I found a job!!"
Before EU enlargement hardly any of the Irish heard anything about Poland. Now the two nations work together and many a times live next door, getting to know each other better and showing a lot of understanding for - all together - similar traditions, religion and history. Even this elderly woman who coincidently stopped by in the street has an opinion about a country at the other end of the EU:
'I think they are very nice. And I listened to Radio4, which is an English radio station, the other day. They were saying that Polish work very hard, they are well respected for whatever work they do -they do it very well. And they are well respected in England and here.'
10 years ago it would have been unprecedented in Ireland, now it’s happening. A fully homogeneous Irish society has opened themselves for foreigners and it seems that Poles have found a common ground and language.
I'm getting married in Limavady next year. Fiance is from Fermanagh, but we found a beautiful resort in Limavady to have the wedding. Can't wait to go look at it when we are back there at Christmas.
Ooops! We seem to have touched a raw nerve in kellynla.
I was going to offer a few words about the matter in hand - Poles in Ireland, but we seem to have been hijacked.
True. I hate the way IRA propagandists use the Potato Famine as a political football.
He's completely mesmerised by Sinn Fein propaganda.
Good luck, elc! :D
I'm not going to even bother with some of these posts. Same crap, different day.
But, my fiance noticed that the on-line edition of his local rag (in Fermanagh) now has a Polish language section. He was shocked to see this. Not sure why with EU immigration polcies the way they are.
It's interesting that your posted article cites Marxist propaganda rags like the The Lumpen Times as if it were an authoritative historical source.
There might be a reason why The Irish Echo refused to run an article that was eventually run in The Lumpen Times - and the reason is probably that they didn't want to cheapen the quality of their publication by printing Stalinist claptrap as if it were true.
BTW, as an enormous fan of James Joyce I resent your source's attempt to illegitimately drag his name into this victimological folderol.
Vile, vile profanation of holy things for political purposes.
Hopefully the Poles can help re-evangelize Ireland.
Congratulations! I was only there once, in the early 1980's, but it's beautiful.
LOL, well said.
It's not the first time he has posted that map, either. It's from irishholocaust.org - I saw it linked on the Noraid website!
It makes a ridiculous claim that 5.2 million people died in the Famine!
I have to say that Ireland is too small a country to maintain its culture in the face of mass immigration.
Only 3.5 million people live in the Republic.
The EU has meant wealth, but it also will mean the disappearance of Ireland as a firm cultural center.
The 22nd century will see Irishness as a shared partial heritage among hundreds of millions of people, but full-blooded Irishness will be on its way out.
As the father of children who are half Irish and a quarter Polish, I am a bit wistful.
Yes - it's straight from Patrick Pearse's outlook - that psuedo-religious notion.
Sounds like Malcolm X's claim that more than 100 million Africans died in transit from West Africa to the US mainland during the 1700s.
Complete and utter balderdash.
Yeah, I've seen several newspapers with a Polish section. I'm not all that troubled with Eastern European immigrants - they are culturally compatible with Ireland.
My biggest problem wrt the EU's immigration policy is the Nice Treaty - Ireland has lost some control over it's immigration policy.
The Poles are here legally, others, such as Romanians, are not - it depends whether their native countries are EU members or not.
Malcolm X = Gerry Adams!
There is something wrong when a poster promotes that here as fact, even though it's from a completely unreliable source.
Shill springs to mind...
He has hijacked a lot of threads with his crap.
>>>A fully homogeneous Irish society has opened themselves for foreigners and it seems that Poles have found a common ground and language.<<<
Where did this writer get the idea that Ireland is a "fully
homogeneous society?" That is one thing it has never been. All sorts of people, including Viking invaders, wrecked Spanish sailors, and Norman conquerors have been fully integrated into Irish society within a generation of their appearance on Irish soil.
Welcome to the Poles! They are a good match, with their industriousness and their spirituality. Surely they will prove to be a good addition to the mix.
Thank you for educating people here about An Gorta Mor.
Cromwell, in particular, was very thorough in his extermination of the Irish People. He gave his soldiers orders to kill anything that moved, women, children, and babies included, because, said he: "Nits grow into lice".
Hitler made very similar statements about the Jews.
You need to read up on Irish History.
May I suggest Seamus Mac Manus's "The Story of the Irish Race" as a start?
It can be found in most libraries.
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