Ireland: A crash course in immigrant integration

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Ireland A crash course in immigrant integration

• By Abel Ugba
• University of East London, London

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From Emigrations to in-migrations

• Nation of emigrants until the 1990s
• Immigrants/a minority ethnic group present before
  dramatic increases in in-migrations
• Greater/diversified in-flows from mid-1990s.
  Reasons are manifold
• Irelands rising international profile
• The Celtic Tiger
• Citizenship/immigration policies
• Social/political unrests in parts of the world

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Categories of immigrants

• Workers (work permit/visa/authorisation)
• particular nationalities dominate particular
  professions
• Asylum seekers/Geneva Conv. Refugees
• Rapid increases from mid-1990s to early 2000s
• Students - burgeoning English Lang. Market
• Post January-2004 Influx from the former
  communist bloc

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Crash courses in immigration policies

• Adhoc measures meant to discourage
  long-term/large scale presence of immigrants
• Asylum seekers/refugees
• Migrant workers
• Students
• Migrants from new EU countries

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Crash courses in citizenship and integration
policies

• Residence permits and immigrant parents of Irish
  children
• The Citizen Referendum and the IBC fiasco
• Amnesty and respite for hounded immigrants
• Racism, anti-racism and equality measures