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« Previous Entries Next Entries »Northampton remembers Lucia at Bloomsday
Monday, May 21st, 2007An Irishman living in Northampton will lead a commemoration of Bloomsday at the grave of Lucia Joyce in Kingsthorpe cemetary in Northamption. Lucia Joyce, the daughter of exiled Irish writer James Joyce, spent many years in a mental hospital before her death in 1982. This will be the fourth Bloomsday the Irish Community Arts Project will spend at Lucia’s grave.
Organiser Peter Mulligan told the Irish Times,
The concept is that the Joyce family, like a lot of Irish people in Northampton, left Ireland for a better life elsewhere and we see Lucia as a focus for that. We relate her life to the Irish diaspora of which she was a part…
She’s buried among East Europeans, Serbs and Yugoslavs because she was born in Trieste. The nice thing is that she’s near the grave of (emigrant writer) Donall Mac Amhlaigh, who lived all his life here working on the M1, M6 and Milton Keynes.
For more information, contact the project.
US Senate makes deal on undocumented
Friday, May 18th, 2007Irish immigration advocates in the US have welcomed the agreement hammered out yesterday by Democratic and Republican senators, which would provide a channel for the 12 million undocumented immigrants to achieve legal status.
The proposals would allow for the vast majority of today’s undocumented to register, pay a fine of €5,000, and undergo security screenings; in return, they will get work authorisation, travel permission, and protection from deportation.
On the negative side, the bill includes a “touchback” provision, that would require undocumented immigrants to make a costly trip back to their home country to apply for adjustment. In addition, the deal will create a large number of workers with only temporary visas, which could lead to increasing numbers of undocumented in the future.
Perhaps the most dramatic change is the institution of a points system and the elimination of family ties as the foundation of immigration.
Sheila Gleeson of the Coalition of Irish Immigration Centers calls the deal “a major step forward”, and says that Senators Kennedy, Menendez, Feinstein, and Salazar are to be commended for getting this compromise hammered out”.
The bill will be debated in the Senate next week; once the Senate process is completed, the House of Representatives will take on the issue.
Franco-Irish conference aims to create continued interchange
Tuesday, May 8th, 2007“Migration, Culture and Politics: A Franco-Irish Dialogue” will be be hosted by the Humanities Institute of Ireland, UCD, on May 14, 2007. Conference organisers promise “a unique platform for a comparative Franco-Irish dialogue on the economic and cultural implications of migration and related societal change. ” The event aims to create a network of academics and policy-makers linking Ireland and France in continued policy and intellectual interchange.
Speakers include Dr Bettinna Migge, Dr Alice Feldman, and Dr Steven Loyal, all of UCD; Dr Isabelle Léglise, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris; Dr William Berthomiére, MIGRINTER, Université de Poitiers; Dr Christophe Bertossi, Institute Francaise des Relations Internationales, Paris; and Piaras MacÉinri, University College Cork.
More information is available on the UCD website.
Drogheda exhibition looks at lives of US undocumented
Wednesday, March 28th, 2007The lives of the undocumented Irish in the US are explored in a new photo exhibition opening at the Highlanes Gallery in Drogheda. “Far from home: A chronicle of the undocumented Irish in the United States” is a collection of images by Drogheda-born, New York-based photographer Seán McPhail. The exhbition is sponsored by the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform.
It runs from March 30 to April 27.
See more at the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform website.
Visit the Highlanes Gallery.
Calling returning emigrant children
Tuesday, March 27th, 2007Children and Irish return migration form the subject of a new research project being conducted in the Department of Geography, University College Cork, by researcher Dr. Caitríona Ní Laoire. The project focuses on the experiences of children and young people who have moved to Ireland in recent years with their return migrant parent(s).
Previous research on return migration conducted by Caitríona and her colleagues found that many return migrants moved back to Ireland partly in order to bring up their children there. This new research aims to explore this phenomenon from the perspectives of the children themselves. Caitríona hopes to talk to return migrant parents and their children, using participative research methods such as photography, drawing and diaries with the children and young people. She is also conducting interviews with adults who moved to Ireland with their families when they were younger.
She would be delighted to have the cooperation of Éan members who might be able to help her to make contact with families who have returned to Ireland.
For further information on how you might be able to help, please contact Dr. Caitríona Ní Laoire at the Department of Geography, UCC,Cork, 021-4903656, c.nilaoire@ucc.ie.
For more information see:
Emigrant perceptions featured on radio programme
Tuesday, March 27th, 2007Radio presenter Ryan Tubridy recently focused on emigrants’ perceptions of Ireland in his daily morning radio show. Reflecting Ireland’s emerging status as an immigrant nation, Tubridy referred to the Irish emigrant as “that most rare of creatures”.
He spoke to Paris-based journalist Greg Delaney, London writer Joe Ambrose, and New York journalist Niall Stanage. The men, all successful media professionals, shared the perception that Ireland’s smallness had led them to choose to emigrate. They commented on such issues as the Irish communities around them, the drive toward multiculturalism in Ireland and the perceptions of Ireland held by people in their host countries.
The discussion prompted a number of comments from listeners.
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