Ireland: A crash course in immigrant integration

By Abel Ugba

University of East London, London

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:

Ireland’s rising international profile The ‘Celtic Tiger’ Citizenship/immigration policies Social/political unrests in parts of the world

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

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

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