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« Previous Entries Next Entries »Barak Obama’s heritage challenges myths
Monday, November 24th, 2008A Queen’s University Belfast professor uses the election of Barack Obama as the launching pad for a discussion of Irish-American myths in an article in this weekend’s Irish Times.
Brian Walker points out that formerly held notions of Irish-American identity have been greatly challenged in recent decades, as studies have revealed the extent to which the Irish American community is Protestant. He points out that it had been assumed that the slight majority of Irish-Americans who are Protestant were thought to have been Scots-Irish, but the 1990 US census only showed about 5 million people calling themselves Scots-Irish, or 12% of the Irish-American community.
While there are several reasons for this, Walker highlights Barack Obama’s Irish ancestor, Fulmouth Kearney, who was a member of the Church of Ireland in Moneygall, Co. Offaly. Walker notes that the presence of Church of Ireland members among the Irish diaspora is too often overlooked.
Read the entire article on the Irish Times website:
No rise in new emigrants to Britain
Monday, November 24th, 2008Figures from Britain show that there is no significant rise in the numbers of new emigrants arriving from Ireland for the first time to Britain in the first half of this year.
The Irish Times is reporting that 5,100 Irish citizens registered for national insurance numbers between January and June. This is consistent with the 9,000 to 10,200 people who had registered during each of the four years
The report notes, however, that the numbers do not show emigrants who may be reactivating a number they were previously allocated. Any emigrants returning to Britain after working there previously would not be showing up in these figures.
Among those Irish registering, 58% were men; 44% were aged 18 to 24 and 43% were from 25 to 34. 40% went to London, 11% went to Scotland, and 8% were in southeastern England.
The article quoted Joe O’Brien, policy officer at Crosscare Migrant Project as saying that the figures reflected his organisation’s experience:
“I would think a lot of the people being let go at the moment are eastern Europeans, and there has been no increase among the Irish who come to us looking to go to England. We haven’t seen it, and we haven’t heard the organisations in London saying it either.”
See the article on the Irish Times website.
Irish in Australia increasing, figures show
Friday, November 21st, 2008The number of Irish nationals coming to Australia is rising substantially, according to Department of Immigration figures reported in the Irish Echo. The figures show increasing numbers of people immigrating to Australia under working holiday visas, employer-sponsored 457 visas, permanent residency visas, and through the Family Migration stream. If current trends continue, 87,000 Irish nationals will be issued visas this year, up from 81,070 last year and 75,246 the year before.
There were 7,332 working holiday visas issued between July 1 and October 31 this year, up 33% from the same period last year, when there were 5,535 issued. In the same period in 2006, there were 4,733 issued.
More Irish are choosing to stay in Australia at the end of their one-year working holiday: between July and October, 1,239 applied for an extension, a quadrupling from the 371 who applied last year. Over 10% of those on working holiday visas are now applying for a second year. Last year, there was a record total of 15,625 working holiday visas, and this number will increase for 2008/2009.
The number of 457 visas, which are employer-sponsored and valid for up to four years has nearly doublied in two years. For July to October, there were 1,220 visas, up from 670 in 2006. More people are immigating with partners and dependents: 900 of the 467 visas were to primary applications and 320 are secondary, up from 600 and 160 respectively last year.
The number of Irish people offered resident visas from July through October this year has jumped 60%, from 391 in 2007 to 633 in 2008.
Irish visitor numbers, however, are decreasing; the 16,730 who came to Australia on holiday visas between July and October represented a decline of 8%.
See the article on the Irish Echo website.
Irish Diaspora in Scotland group launched
Thursday, November 20th, 2008Irish organisations in Scotland are joining together to form a new umbrella group that will be launched this week. The group, the Irish Diaspora in Scotland Association, is aimed at bringing together Irish groups with members from multiple generations of Irish emigrants and descendents.
The IDSA includes among its members the following:
Gaelic Athletic Association (Cumann Luthcleas Gael), Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann IrishTtraditional Music Association), Gaelic League (Conradh na Gaeilge), Feis Glaschu, Celtic Supporters Association, St Patrick’s Festival Committee Coatbridge, Erin’s Ways Blantyre, An Sceal, Irish in Scotland History Group, Irish Famine Commemoration Committee, Coatbridge Irish Genealogy Project, Croy Historical Society, St Helen’s Irish Céilí Club Glasgow, Crois na Ceilti Set Dance Club, Glasgow Set Dance Club, Garngad Irish Heritage Group, Croy Welfare Development Trust An Coimisiún le Rincí Gaelach and Comhdháil Na Rince Gaelacha.
From their mission statement:
The Irish Diaspora in Scotland Association (IDSA) exists to preserve, esteem, promote and celebrate the past and ongoing history and culture of Irish migrants and their offspring in Scotland. The Association endeavours to provide support, direction and articulation for organisations and individuals who recognise and value their Irish origins, heritage and identities whether born in Scotland, Ireland or elsewhere. Further, the Association exists to contribute to a society where all national and ethnic origins and identities are valued and treated with equality of respect, recognition and representation. To this end the Association seeks to contribute to the efforts of individuals and groups in Scotland who are against racial and religious prejudice.
The group is being launched at a civic reception on Friday, 21 November 2008 in Glasgow City Chambers. The group says the launch will be attended by Irish government representatives, numerous MPs and local councillors, rerpresentatives from ethnic minority groups, and members of the business, sporting and academic communities.
See the group’s website at IrishinScotland.com.
Deportations from US increasing
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008The number of undocumented Irish people being deported from the United States has been increasing steadily, according to news reports.
So far this year, there have been 58 people deported from the US; This contrasts with a total annual figure of 53 in 2007, and 41 in 2006.
This increase in Irish deportees is in line with rising figures for total deportations from the US, as the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials increase enforcement and coordinate with other agencies.
See the full article in the Evening Herald.
Web tool traces emigration flows by name
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008A fascinating tool that can be used to help trace the Irish diaspora is now available online. The World Names Profiler allows searches by name, ethnicity, and area.
The database holds data for 300 million people in 26 countries, representing a total population of 1 billion people with 8 million unique surnames. The data is derived from publically available telephone directories or national electoral registers sourced between 2000 and 2005.
It’s great fun to type in Irish names and see them popping up in places like Argentina and India. (There was, of course extensive Irish migration to Argentina in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and there were also a substantial number of Irish who moved to India during colonial times.)
The site is a project of University College London, and organiers say they think the data provides a unique insight into world migration flows.
Visit the World Names Profiler.
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