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« Previous Entries Next Entries »No escape from recession, says college student
Monday, December 15th, 2008There’s no escape from the recession, writes a Dublin City University student in “The College View”, a campus publication. Sabrina Ryan notes that, “Emigration has been a dominant factor in Irish society over the past four centuries for many reasons including famine, job opportunity and more recently for the experience.“
That may be changing, she notes, as the traditional emigrant destinations of the US, Britain and Australia are also threatened by recession.
Ryan interviews three emigrants:
- a man who left from Mayo in 1971 to head for Cleveland, and who returned after a brief stay to take advantage of the improving conditions after Ireland joined the EU.
- An undocumented immigrant living in the Bronx, who left for adventure and appreciates the life experience New York has given him.
- A recently unemployed cabinet-maker who is planning to emigrate to Australia. His brother left for Dubai earlier this year.
It’s an interesting insight into the emigrant experience of three different eras – made poignant by the fact that it’s written by a member of a generation that few would have believed would need to consider emigration as a matter of economic necessity.
Related link:
The College View: Au Revoir to Fair Ireland?
Car hire hikes affect emigrants home for holidays
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008Car rental companies have once again come under criticism for doubling and trebling their rates over the Christmas holidays, in a move that disproportionately affects emigrants returning home to visit relations.
The Irish Independent reports that most firms are at least doubling their early December rates for Christmas week. The largest hikes are for small economy-class cars. The worst examples cited by the newspaper were the prices of renting a Ford Fiesta from Budget Car Rental, which costs €69 a week in early December, up to €216 for Christmas week – a 213% increase.
The Labour spokesperson on consumer affairs, Senator Brendan Ryan, said
At a time when we should be doing everything we can to attract visitors to Ireland, we have car-hire companies engaging in this kind of gouging. This is profiteering plain and simple. Not only do these practices make it more expensive for tourists to visit Ireland, they also make it expensive for family members who may be returning to Ireland from abroad.
Senator Ryan suggested that customers could save money by booking though the internet using American branches of international hire firms.
Related articles:
Irish Independent: “Car-hire firms accused of festive rip-off as prices soar”.
Unemployment hits 7.8%
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008The latest unemployment figures show that unemployment rose sharply last month, as the CSO estimates the unemployment rate has hit 7.8%, up from 6.3% at the end of the third quarter.
The number of people joining the Live Register rose by nearly 17,000 – this is the largest increase yet. The vast majority of those joining the Live Register were men, with 13,600 men and 3,300 women joining.
Several economists quoted in media reports say unemployment was on course to reach 10% by the end of 2009.
Fulbright scholar for UCC’s Diaspora studies MA
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008A noted historian who has done important work on the Irish diaspora has been selected as a Fulbright Scholar and will lecture in spring 2009 at University College, Cork.
William H. Mulligan, Jr. is professor of history at Murray State University. He will work with UCC to develop and promote their new master’s degree programme in Irish Diaspora Studies. He developed and taught one of the first university-level courses on the Irish Daspora in the US. His research has focused on the nature of Irish identity in the diaspora, and more specifically, migration from copper-mining areas in Ireland to the Michigan Copper Country from the mid-19th century.
The Fullbright programme is America’s flagship international exchange programme, operating in more than 150 countries worldwide.
Related links:
- Willam H. Mulligan’s website at Murray State University
- Irish Diaspora Discussion link
- MA in Contemporary Migration and Diaspora Studies at UCC
- Press release: Mulligan selected as Fulbright Scholar
Homecoming Scotland welcomes Scottish diaspora
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008Deomonstrating the increasing efforts of nations to reach out to their global communities, Scotland is welcoming home its diaspora this year with a series of events comprising “Homecoming Scotland”. It’s Scotland’s first-ever “homecoming year”, and organisers are celebrating poet Robbie Burn’s 250th birthday as a focal point. They are also highlighting “some of Scotland’s great contributions to the world: golf, whisky, great minds and innovations and Scotland’s rich culture and heritage.” It’s a dynamic programme: there’s a “Celtic Connections” programme featuring a concert of traditional songs that have crossed the Atlantic with Scottish and Irish emigrants over the last 300 years, as well as a Jamaican carnival celebrating Burns Night. The website also includes information on the contributions of the Ulster Scots around the globe. May will be “Whisky Month”. The world’s biggest clan gathering will take place in July in Edinburgh. There is also a “My Special Place” competition, inviting visitors to photograph their favourite place. The director of the Scottish Centre of Diaspora studies, Tom Devine, however, has criticised the event for focusing too heavily on the North American tourist market. Noting the scale of Scottish emigration throughout 700 years to mainland Europe and Ulster, Professor Devine told the Times,
They should have had an over-arching umbrella statement about the sheer scale of migration. This was a golden opportunity to demonstrate to the world and to the Scottish people themselves what is a remarkable global experience. If you go back to the 13th century, right up to the present, the really enormous Scottish diaspora has been to Europe, but Europe hasn’t been invited to this.
Professor Devine also noted, “American Scots have not retained the same level of expatriate ethnic identity as Irish Americans. They assimilated quickly.” Homecoming Scotland is a Scottish Government initiative managed by EventScotland in partnership with VisitScotland. Related links:
- Homecoming Scotland 2009
- Diaspora in Europe ‘real homecoming story’ (The Times)
- Heritage, homecoming and haggis (Boston Globe)
New immigrants have better emigration options, claims “Economist” mag
Monday, December 1st, 2008Irish unemployment could be reduced by a percentage point with the emigration of 20,000 workers, says a report in the Economist. The report speculates that emigration is most likely to affect the 15% of the population that is non-national – mainly due to enhanced opportunities in the home countries of eastern Europeans, and declining economies in traditional Irish emigrant strongholds.
In truth, with the economic crisis hurting such traditional boltholes as Britain, America and Australia, as well as newer hotspots like Dubai, the options for laid-off Dublin lawyers or builders from Cork are limited. For now, though, things look brighter for those from Eastern Europe. Polish banks may be shedding staff, but this is a good time to be a Polish engineer or builder of big infrastructure. A torrent of EU regional aid is about to hit the ex-communist countries: across eastern and central Europe there are plans for new airports, fast trains and motorways. Poland has stadiums to build for the European football championship in 2012. The Polish and Lithuanian governments are actively trawling for workers in Ireland.
Think-tanks like the ESRI now forecast a net outflow of migration from Ireland of some 30,000 over the year to next April. Harder numbers are difficult to come by: Ireland is not a police state, and seasonal workers are tricky to monitor. Some emigrants will be Irish, or non-EU nationals. But the political significance is clear: if 20,000 workers from eastern Europe left Ireland, that would reduce unemployment by about a percentage point. Departing Poles would take their spending power with them, admittedly. But on balance, if they leave, it will be another reward for open labour markets. For the first time, a jump in Irish unemployment may be offset by non-nationals leaving the country.
In the most optimistic scenario, skilled Poles, Balts and others will head home to wait out the storm, finding secure (if lower-paid) jobs there, but then return when Ireland picks up again. This would be a big step forward for Europe as well. For such dynamic and flexible migration has been an economic grail in the EU for years, as politicians looked enviously at Americans’ willingness to move from one state to another in search of work. (In contrast, EU countries that impose curbs on foreigners give migrant workers already in them a reason to stay during downturns, for fear that it will be hard to return.)
Read the entire article at the Economist website..
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