Emigrant writer inhabits “Ireland of the mind”, says poet
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008Irish-born, British-based poet David Wheatley has been featured in The Age, an Australian publication, speaking about his poetic life. The occasion was his winning of The Vincent Buckley Prize, which commemorates the late professor of English at the University of Melbourne; the prize allows alternate Irish and Australian winners to spend time in the other country.
David Wheatley, who currently lives and teaches in Hull, says that he has recently in his poetry been drawn to themes of movement and migration.
“Irish poetry may seem a lot more globalised today than in the 1970s, but emigration and diaspora have always been at the centre of Irish identity anyway. Vincent Buckley is a good example. To someone of my generation, his book Memory Ireland is, at first glance, a strange and even shocking kind of document.
He visits Ireland during the IRA hunger strikes of the 1980s, and can’t understand why Irish poets aren’t writing poems in praise of the hunger strikers. I remember this striking me as incredibly out of touch with political reality.”
But having lived out of Ireland myself for almost a decade I can now appreciate better how the emigrant writer inhabits an Ireland of the mind, for better or worse, and it can be too easy and smug not to take that into account.”
But although the emigrant writer inhabits an Ireland of the mind, he refuses to be limited in his consideration of the world around him:
A lot of Irish writers, particularly the ones who live in the US, leave home only to have a kind of born-again discovery of their Irishness,” he says. “I’d like to think I’m more interested in discovering the places I go to in their own right, and hereby authorise anyone in Australia who finds me in a state of born-again Irishness to put me on the first banana boat home.”
Read the entire article on The Age website.
Read more about the Vincent Buckley Prize.
Rose of Tralee celebrates global Irishness
Monday, August 25th, 2008The annual Rose of Tralee festival, that glorious celebration of global Irishness is taking place tonight and tomorrow.
This year’s 31 contestants are, as always, an intriguing mix of locals, emigrants and descendants. London Rose Belinda Brown has garnered much media attention; the Jamaican-born accountant moved to Antrim when she was three and has been living in London for a few years. Tipperary rose Aoife Kelly is the bookie’s pick; 40% of all the bets – including some from Spain and London – have been on the occupational therapist, and her odds are now 2/1.
Roses hail from many counties in Ireland, as well as traditional emigrant locals such as Boston, Darwin, Perth, Liverpool, Coventry, Toronto and more in Britain, the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Dubai, France and Luxembourg are also represented.
The women are competing to take the crown currently held by New Yorker Lisa Murtagh, who has travelled the world since winning the contest last year; she has represented the charity Concern Worldwide and has visited a Concern project in Kenya.
Visit the Rose of Tralee website.
UK figures show no first-quarter increase
Monday, August 25th, 2008Figures from the UK show that there has been no increase in the number of Irish people registering to work or access benefits in the UK, according to the Irish Times. The newspaper reports that 2,530 Irish nationals registered for national insurance numbers in the first quarter of 2008. This is similar to the figures from last year; a total of 10,500 people registered last year. The numbers ranged from 9,000 to 1,200 in the four preceding years.
The newspaper quotes Joe O’Brien, the policy officer at Crosscare Migrant Project, who notes that the CMP has not seen any significant rise in the numbers going to Britain.
“There’s no noticeable increase in the number of people coming in there. There is maybe a slight increase in people asking about what their options are, but it wouldn’t be motivated by unemployment – it would largely be people who are in work and are wondering, because they have heard a lot of talk about recession, what their options are.�
Mr O’Brien noted that there has been a steady stream of emigrants to the UK even during the boom years, adding, “That’s a reflection of the fact that immigration is not just about economics.â€?
Anecdotal accounts of emigration have risen in recent months, but these have proven difficult to quantify. Recent CSO figures show that emigration rose to 45,300 in the year to the end of April. Centres in the US have been reporting an increase in the number new arrivals since the autumn.
Link with Argentine diaspora, says Fine Gael TD
Thursday, August 21st, 2008Fine Gael Foreign Affairs spokesperson Billy Timmins is suggesting that the Irish government should take a more pro-active approach in developing links with the diaspora – and says that setting up a pilot project with Argentina’s half-million strong Irish community is the way to start.
The TD says in a press release:
“At present the Department of Foreign Affairs operates a dedicated unit that aims to maintain and strengthen links with Irish communities living abroad. However, I believe this brief should be expanded to include the establishment of links with people of Irish extraction.
“Rather than attempt to contact the entire Irish Diaspora, the Department should target one country — say, Argentina, which has an Irish diaspora of more than half a million — as a pilot project. There is already superb contact with citizens of Irish extraction in countries such as the United States and UK but links with other nations are often less than ideal. Argentina would act as a superb country due to large number of Irish diaspora and existing links with Ireland.
“A dedicated part of the Department of Foreign Affairs website could invite people of Irish descent living in Argentina to submit details of their ancestors including the part of Ireland where their family came from.
“Compilation of such a database could encourage the Irish Diaspora to establish internet links with a range of Irish websites that deal with areas such as tourism, genealogy and trade.
“The benefits would cut both ways. Other countries such as Italy and Japan take a much more proactive approach to their diaspora, and we should do likewise.”
CSO to include nationality in emigration figures
Thursday, August 21st, 2008The CSO has said that it is hoping to include the nationality of those emigrating to its annual population reports. Currently, incoming migration figures show nationality, but outflow figures do not.
The news of the change is included in an Irish Independent report on yesterday’s release of population figures, which showed increasing emigration and an decrease in incoming migrants. The report also noted that experts expect emigration in continue to increase due to the economic slowdown.
The inclusion of nationality in emigration statistics is a positive development because currently it is impossible to track emigration patterns accurately: we don’t know how much of the outward flow of migrants are immigrants returning to their home countries, or to a third country, and how many are Irish-born people migrating abroad.
Ean and the Crosscare Migrant Project had both written to the CSO to ask for nationality statistics to be added to the migration outflow figures.
Read the report in the Irish Independent.
Job opening: Manager, Irish Commission for Prisoners Overseas (London)
Thursday, August 21st, 2008The Irish Chaplaincy in Britain is seeking a manager for the Irish Commission for Prisoners Overseas in London.
Manager – Irish Commission for Prisoners Overseas
Acting under the auspices of the Irish Bishops Conference, the small but established faith based charity, The Irish Chaplaincy in Britain (ICB), works to care for Irish emigrants in the UK. An exciting opportunity is now available for a manager to take on the demanding post of leading and building our renowned national prison visiting and advocacy project for Irish prisoners (Irish Commission for Prisoners Overseas).
Both self-motivated and keen to take on significant responsibility, you’ll be well equipped to lead the project forward. With strong management skills you will play a significant part in ensuring the effective delivery of the service to Irish prisoners and their families across the UK. 60% of the post will involve you in direct pastoral outreach, 30% in project/staff management and 10% exercising senior management responsibility within the ICB. Based in London NW1, the post will involve some travel throughout the UK. More than anything, all your work is motivated by your commitment to social justice.
Application packs are available from the Irish Chaplaincy in Britain, 50-52 Camden Square, London NW1 9XB. Email: steph.dardis@irishchaplaincy.org.uk, or call Philomena Cullen for an informal chat about the post: Tel 0207.482.5528
- Salary: 30-32k
- Hours: Fulltime – 35 hours per week.
- Closing Date: 29th September 2008
- Interviews: 9th October 2008.
Registered Charity No. 280742
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