NY Times article on Irish immigration

[Quant]

Link

The battle over the “I.B.C.’s” — Irish-born children — stems from a decade of head-turning change that has brought this island of red-haired Marys and blue-eyed Seans the demographic version of an extreme makeover.

For centuries, Ireland was a racially homogenous land of emigrants. Now it is a multicultural nation of immigrants, whose share of the population, 11 percent, is nearly as high as that in the United States.

Years of Irish prosperity have drawn Polish plumbers, Lithuanian nannies, Latvian farm workers, Filipino nurses, Chinese traders, and sub-Saharan asylum seekers. The town of Portlaoise, about 40 miles southwest of Dublin, has the country’s first African-born mayor. The Synge Street School, where George Dimbo says his Hail Marys beneath a plaster Virgin, is walking distance from the city’s first mosque and rents classroom space to two Chinese academies.

Ireland’s dash to diversity has so far provoked little of the conflict found elsewhere in Europe or the United States. There are no major anti-immigrant political parties and little anti-immigrant violence.

Government officials here often credit Irish history for the tolerance. “There’s an emotional sense of understanding about what immigrants are going through because of our experience as immigrants,” said Conor Lenihan, the minister of integration.

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Even after tightening its rules, Ireland remains more generous than most of its European peers.

Interesting article.

[storybud]

Yep , just behind an 08 Passat TDI , driver does a U-Turn on a busy street, , takes about 5 minutes, clearly cannot drive what so ever and would fail any driving test in the world, I am patient and bide my time, driver then parks on the path ( really on the path ) out pops a jolly little African lady ( tribal gear on ) and walks across the road stopping the other drivers ?

Pretty much most motorway roundabouts in Dublin have a Roma gypsy begger,

Now there are fantastic African people and Romanian people working here so do not get me wrong but the numbers are frightening when you travel around the Country. The numbers I refer to are the ones who will never integrate ever,

We all know some who have integrated fine (married etc) but the issue is the culture not the skin colour of course,, will Muslims/Hindus/Roma/Sikhs/Baptists integrate ? not really and I can understand their point , but on a large scale which is now often it is the Irish who must adapt to the immigrant culture not the other way around.

There are 1200 Mosques in the U.K. and counting, big plans for Oxford ( Town of Spires) so I would like somebody to point out how many Christian Churches there are in Saudi ( none) Iran,Iraq,Turkey, very few for large populations.

The change is enormous and I hope we can all get along but the future is not Irish it is multiculture so we better get used to it.

[Squire Allworthy]

the future is not Irish it is multiculture so we better get used to it.

It is potentially a lot better than that, diversity can enrich and bring different skills and outlooks. It can force us to challenge many of our own assumptions.

[LDF]

Government officials here often credit Irish history for the tolerance. “There’s an emotional sense of understanding about what immigrants are going through because of our experience as immigrants,” said Conor Lenihan, the minister of integration.



The "kebab" man said that? The phrase street angel, house devil comes to mind.

[LTGuy]

Pretty much most motorway roundabouts in Dublin have a Roma gypsy begger,

Who is it precisely, a ROMA Gypsy? And how is s/he different from non-Roma Gypsy? Or you mean Romanian Gypsy?

Just for your education - Romania is a country in south-eastern Europe, EU state, whose name is derived from the name of eternal city Rome, as Romanians are thoroughly Romance-speaking (their language is very close to Italian, much closer than, say, is French).

"Roma" is a self-preferred designation and actually it is a Hindi word (Gypsy language is Hindi based) which means "a cast of dancers and musicians"

Gypsy is a common name, based on a false belief that Gypsies stem from Egypt

[FutureTaoiseach]

This does not mean we have not got concerns about immigration. The Citizenship referendum being a case in point. Also I think a large part of the reason we don't have immigration-based parties yet is the rigid, family-history-based determinants of how most of us vote.

[Twin Towers]

The sociological changes are indeed staggering.

What is even more staggering is that the only people with nothing to say on the subject are our 'Public Representatives'.

People trousering 100k+ a year with nothing to say on the biggest demographic change in this country or any country's history are nothing but thieving frauds.

If you think Africa is corrupt. Look around you.

[bobbysands81]

Pretty much most motorway roundabouts in Dublin have a Roma gypsy begger,

How many "motorway roundabouts" does Dublin have? Probably none, are there roundabouts allowed on motorways?

Racist drivel.

[TradCat]

Immigration is unstoppable and inevitable. The trick is to make sure the immigrants are compatible. that is why the decision to allow citizens from the accession states in without restriction has been a blessing. They will assimilate in a generation. African Christians or secularists are also fine by me. What we need to avoid is having too many Muslims.

That will change society.

[Munion]

Pretty much most motorway roundabouts in Dublin have a Roma gypsy begger,

How many "motorway roundabouts" does Dublin have? Probably none, are there roundabouts allowed on motorways?

Racist drivel.

I think the M50 has at least 12 of them.

Personally I can't stand the window washer guys. I saw them kick a large dent in a woman's car door because she refused to pay them after they dirtied her window for her.