So 2009 is upon us, as is Ireland’s new recessional reality. This year promises to be an extremely difficult one for those who have come to Ireland from abroad – for the obvious reason that job losses are affecting us all, Irish and immigrants together.
For sure, a minority of Irish people will attempt to make immigrants’ lives difficult, and shouts of ‘Go back to your country’ will probably begin to echo more frequently. Some non-Irish may even heap guilt upon themselves, and feel as though they should just pack up and leave. The more sensitive ones will question their right to be here, and throw themselves into an emotional crisis. ‘Where are you from and when are you going home?’ they are asked day-in, day-out. And they will wonder whether it is time to go back to their real ‘home’, even if they have made one here.
The message that Ireland has a permanent diversity, that not all immigrants have to – or are going to – pack up and leave, is a really important one in 2009. It seems that even many of those who support a multi-ethnic society cannot get their heads around the fact that some immigrants are just not going home and never will. They are a part of Ireland now, whether people like it or not.
Do the Minister for Integration and his associates have the capabilities to spark this necessary mental shift? It is not a high-cost task. If Minister Lenihan can convince his Fianna Fáil colleagues, for example, to help him with this message – and they will have ample opportunity through national and local media channels – then it is one that can be effectively communicated for free.
President Mary McAleese speaks on Ireland’s immigrants better than anyone, of how an evolving Ireland with some new faces is our new reality, one that widens the definition of Irishness without eroding any of it. But in 2009 – a year of European and local elections – let’s hope that hers is not a lone voice in the wilderness.
editor@metroeireann.com
