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Next Entries »Irish-born Londoners decline in number
Wednesday, November 15th, 2006The number of Irish-born people among London’s 7.3 million people now stands at 114,000, according to the Office for National Statistics. This makes the Irish the third-largest migrant group in the city, but is a dramatic fall from 1997, when there were 185,000. The Irish were at that time London’s largest migrant group.
Indian-born residents now comprise the largest migrant group, with a population of 206,000, up from 144,000 in 1997; Bangladeshis came next, at 133,000.
Similarly to Ireland, the number of Eastern Europeans has risen dramatically; there are now 70,000 Poles in the city, nearly all of whom have arrived in recent years.
The number of foreign-born people in London rose from 1.63 million in 1997 to 2.28 million in June of this year.
More information on the Independent (UK) website.
President lauds extension of Centenarian’s Bounty to Irish abroad
Wednesday, November 8th, 2006A strong interest in the centenarian’s bounty was highlighted during a recent members’ conference call with the Coalition of Irish Immigration Centers in the US. People who reach their 100th birthday are entitled to an award from the President; the scheme has been extended recently to allow people born in on the island of Ireland but resident outside the state to be eligible. On reaching his or her 100th birthday, the recipient receives a letter of congratulations signed by the president and a cheque for €2,540.
President McAleese has paid tribute to the success of a scheme’s extension to the Irish abroad. In her most recent newsletter, she says,
“This year the Centenarian’s Bounty scheme has been extended to Irish centenarians living abroad and I am absolutely delighted to say that already it includes over one hundred centenarians who previously didn’t qualify. Almost half of those live in the USA, one quarter in Northern Ireland, almost another quarter in Great Britain and a small number elsewhere throughout the globe. What a wonderful thing it is for this very successful Ireland to remember in such a real way those who were born and raised in much harder times.”
Download the application form.
Free travel still under discussion
Wednesday, August 9th, 2006Minister for Transport Seamus Brennan said that the Government was considering the introduction of a free travel scheme for the elderly and the disabled between Ireland and Britain; he made the comments as he revealed that the current peak time restrictions on the use of travel passes for public transport would be lifted. There was apparently no further discussion today on the issue of extending the free travel programme to emigrants.
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2006/0809/breaking35.htm
RTE’s Morning Ireland featured a story on Australi…
Tuesday, August 8th, 2006RTE’s Morning Ireland featured a story on Australia’s changes to its “Working Holiday� and “Work and Holiday� visa programme. Ireland has the third-highest proportion of participants in the programme, behind the UK and South Korea, with 12,500 to 13,000 a year. The main change is that now participants on the programme can work six months with each employer, up from the former three-month limit. The seasonal work for second“Working Holiday� visa applicants has been expanded to include plant and animal cultivation, fishing and pearling, and tree farming and felling.
More information is available at http://www.immi.gov.au.
http://dynamic.rte.ie/av/228-2163537.smil
http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0808/morningireland.html
More information on the changes is available at:
http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/working-holiday/whats-new.htm
Minister invites emigrants home at FAS NY event
Wednesday, January 25th, 2006Minister of State for Labour Tony Killeen spoke at the launch of the FAS Jobs Ireland New York event. He gave a background of Irish emigration and told the story of Ireland’s economic success in recent decades. He declared:
If you are an Irish person who emigrated to the United States ten or fifteen years ago you will find that the Ireland of today is dramatically different from the country you left. To Irish people who are thinking of returning to Ireland we say: Now is the time to come home. Instead of the depressed country you left behind you will find instead a wide range of jobs and opportunities. There has never been a better time to live and work in Ireland.
His entire speech is on the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment’s website.
Irish lawyers heading Down Under
Irish lawyers who are losing their jobs at home are looking for jobs in Australia, according to The Australian newspaper. The report is one more indicator that the recession has hit at all sectors of society.
Australian recruiters are reporting that both Irish lawyers and Australian-trained lawyers working in Ireland have been contacting them for work. The article quotes Anna Murphy who moved from London to Melbourne:
I have friends who are lawyers in Dublin asking me about moving over here and if there are some areas that are easier to move over in than others. Quite a few of my friends have been made redundant and some of them have taken quite serious pay cuts.
Traditionally it would have been London or even New York but they’re gone so we’re looking at other English-speaking common law jurisdictions. I think that because there’s so many Australians working in Ireland a lot of people in their late 20s and early 30s would have friends from Australia and have some knowledge of Australia so there’s that tie as well.
Read the article:
The Australian: Scores of Irish lawyers hoping to land a job in Oz