Union highlights teachers’ emigration
Monday, March 30th, 2009Teachers are the latest profession to be in the emigrant spotlight, with the news that the Association of Teachers in Ireland has said that new teachers will be more likely to find work abroad.
The Sunday Business Post says that 2,500 to 3,000 temporary or part-time teachers would have ordinarily expected to find full-time work in Ireland; secondary school teachers generally spend between five and seven years before getting a full-time post. With cutbacks and an increase in the pupil-teacher ratio, however, there will be fewer jobs available to move into.
ASTI general secretary John White said,
So, your bright young person coming out from college will almost certainly be only able to get hours by filling in for people on career breaks, maternity or sick leave, or taking up the other half of a job-sharing position.That represents a very significant reduction in their standard of living and we are very concerned abou that. This is a very significant issue.
We are very concerned for them. It seems particularly sad as our teachers are in demand. From September, they will be going to work in England and other countries where there is a shortage of teachers.
Read the article:
Sunday Business Post: ASTI: Teachers may have to emigrate
Irish nun recognised for work in India
Monday, March 30th, 2009An Irish nun has been recognised in Carlow for her fifty years of working with the poor in India.
Sister Cyril Mooney (72), A Bray native who moved to India when she was twenty, runs programmes in Calcutta aimed at helping street children.She was honoured in Carlow by the Friends of Calcutta group, who organised a “This is Your Life” tribute. It was attended by over 200 people including the Indian ambassador.
Sr Mooney has previously received one of India’s highest honours, the Padma Shree; she is one of the few foreigners to be so honoured.
Read the report in the Irish Times:
Irish nun honoured for 50 years of helping street children of India
Mystery of immigrants’ mass grave may be solved
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009The mass grave of a group of Irish railroad workers who died in 1832 during a cholera outbreak may have been located at last, thanks to the efforts of researchers in Pennsylvania who have spent six years searching.
The 57 men had arrived from Derry, Donegal, and Tyrone, hired by fellow Irishman Philip Duffy to build the railway. They were all dead within six weeks, felled by a cholera outbreak – and researchers believe some men may have been murdered. Their families were never notified, and the men would have been forever forgotten had Immaculata University professor William Watson and his historian brother Frank not discovered a mention of the deaths in a file owned by their late grandfather, a former railway worker.
The men were believed to have been buried somewhere in Duffy’s Cut, an area near Philadelphia, but the exact location of their remains was unknown until a team led by the Walsh brothers and professors at Immaculata University began a search in 2003.
It wasn’t until last week that the team discovered human remains. Researchers are now hoping to match DNA recovered from the bodies with that of families in Ireland in order to identify the remains and re-bury them in Ireland. They have used ships passenger lists to discover fifteen of the 57 men’s names.
News of the find has been widely reported in the US. The men’s story has been told in a film, “The Ghosts of Duffy’s Cut”, which is available on the Duffy’s Cut project website.
Related webpages:
Should there be diaspora representation in Seanad?
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009Representation for the Diaspora should be included in Seanad Reform, says Irish Times columnist Elaine Byrne.
Yes, there is a place for a second chamber of democracy in modern Ireland. But not in its current configuration and not with the current reforms on the table. Seanad representation must be extended to third-level graduates from all our educational institutions, the almost 500,000 unemployed, the diaspora, our ethnic and religious minorities and our Northern neighbours.
Emigrant representation in the Seanad has been proposed before, of course – the most relevant recent document covering the matter was 2004 Report on Seanad reform, which agreed “in principle that emigrants, and indeed immigrants, should have a voice in Seanad Eireann”. It suggested that the emigrant voting posed “major logistical and administrative problems”. Instead, it said,
“The Subcommittee is therefore of the view that the Taoiseach, when selecting his nominees for the Seanad, should include people who can represent the interests and perspectives of both emigrants and immigrants.”
It will be interesting to see if calls for emigrant political participation – elected or appointed – increase as the number of emigrants rise and Irish engagement with the diaspora continues to strengthen. Ireland is unusual in giving its emigrants no opportunity to participate in the political process; there are over 150 countries and territories that give their emigrants some form of elected political representation.
Related webpages:
- Irish Times: There is a place for a second chamber of democracy
- Ean.ie: Factsheet on emigrant voting
- Powerpoint presentation: “Political participation by emigants” by Noreen Bowden
New Irish in London face hard times, says paper
Monday, March 23rd, 2009The Irish Times has carried a bleak article on recent Irish arrivals in London. Reporter Carl O’Brien points out the dramatic change that has occurred with the downturn:
For many younger people, the maudlin emigration songs with their tales of yearning and aching loneliness felt like stories from a distant era. Suddenly, they don’t feel so remote anymore. As the shutters are pulled down on job opportunities at home, the harsh prospect of having to find work abroad is all too real for thousands of young people.
This statement is from 29-year-old who has left his four-year-old behind in Portlaoise and now working 12-hour shifts six or seven days a week:
“You miss home, you miss your family, you miss your friends. I was training a soccer team at home. Every time I ring my son, it’s, ‘are you collecting me today, Daddy’, so that’s tough. Any chance I get to go home, I take it to try and see him and the family. With the job here, though, it’s hard to know when you’ll be free.�
The article highlights a few reasons to be optimistic about this generation of emigrants. Today’s young people tend to be better educated and more confident than in the past. Danny Maher, chief executive of Cricklewood Homeless Concern told the paper,
“I think this is a totally different group of people. This generation is better able to adapt and they’re more globally-minded. If someone is in a vulnerable position, through drink or drugs or whatever, this is the last place they should be . . . These days, the Irish are more likely to be in the wealthier suburbs – they don’t need safety in numbers anymore. That can only be a positive thing.�
Local GAA clubs report that they are assisting people with jobs and contacts, while the London Irish Centre in Camden reports getting four or five people a week in need of emergency assistance. Peter Hammond says,
“In the old days you could just turn up at a construction site looking for ‘the start’. Those days are gone. You need accreditation, training, national insurance numbers.
“We always had a trickle of vulnerable people with drink or drug problems here during the boom. But now there are jobless people ending up homeless or in need of emergency support. We have a fund for repatriations. I’d say we’re putting someone on a Ryanair flight back to Ireland on a weekly basis.�
Read the article on the Irish Times website: Hard times for Irish in London.
GAA hopes to keep players with jobs drive
Monday, March 23rd, 2009The GAA is working to prevent the emigration of its players through a jobs drive, reports the Irish Independent.
The Gaelic Players’ Association has started a jobs board website to link up players with job vacancies, while Limerick GAA has started a directory of players outlining their job skills in the hope that employers may see their potential.
GPA chief Dessie Farrell said yesterday that “The next couple of months will be very telling and once the Championships begin you will have a better gauge of what players will be available and whether, because of the recession, names are missing from squads.”
Irish Independent: GAA gets to work on saving its players from dole
Galway Independent: GAA boss Doherty fears wave of emigration
Gaelic Players Association Jobs Board
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