Life is getting harder for Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants in recession-hit Ireland, with some turning to desperate measures to survive. Ronan Anderson investigates
IT’S A DESPERATE scene: a woman rummages through the skips beside a Dublin supermarket to find scrap food for her and her six children. She is separated from her husband, who lives in Romania, and begs every day to buy nappies for her young baby.
Despite this grim reality, the woman – Maria – comes to life as she talks about the wonderful contributions of the Roma peoples to European culture. “There is much flamenco in the Roma people,” she says with a warm twinkle in her eyes, and there are “great accordion players with much folktales”.
Maria, an EU citizen by way of her Romanian nationality, likes Ireland because the people are kind, generous and have a lot of music in them, and she invokes blessings from heaven on those passers-by who give her some small change.
But the Roma woman says begging and rummaging aren’t her choice. “I can’t work without [a work permit] but I need to work,” she says, casting her eyes down at the two punnets of cherry tomatoes she has just retrieved from the skip.
The economic recession and strident work permit conditions are creating problems for Romanians and Bulgarian immigrants looking for jobs. Terms imposed on their entry into the EU require them to apply for a work permit before they can be employed in Ireland, and strict conditions must be met before the allocation of these permits.
However, now that Ireland’s economy is contracting, many are finding it impossible to meet these criteria.
A spokesperson for the Romanian Community of Ireland told Metro Éireann: “It is truly unfair for Romanians and Bulgarians, as these restrictions were imposed on us while we were EU citizens, the same as the 10 countries that joined EU in 2004, countries [whose citizens] were given the right to come and work in Ireland.
“It is creating a second class of citizens within the EU. Where is the equality in that?”
The accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU gave Ireland entry to their markets of 30 million people, but treaty clauses mean that Irish work permits are granted only in certain eligible areas and not necessarily on labour market demands.
If a Romanian finds a job and falls under the eligible criteria and the employer is willing to employ him/her, it is very likely that a work permit is granted.
However, the terms stipulate that permits will be granted only for a job that pays a minimum of €30,000 per annum, is advertised for at least two to three weeks and for which the employer is willing to wait up to three months until the permit is granted.
The drop in these highly paid jobs is now forcing some immigrants from these countries to resort to drastic measures to survive.
Only around 150 work permits were granted to Romanians bet-ween their joining the EU in January 2007 and the end of 2008, and the situation remains difficult as these restrictions have been extended until the end of 2011.
“There is no reciprocity as Irish workers are allowed to work in Romania without permits,” commented Alex Ivaner of the Romanian Embassy in Dublin. Ivaner is eager for the Government to remove the restrictions “as soon as it is possible”.
The Government says these restrictions were maintained due to the current global financial crisis, and that Romanians and Bulgarians are given preference for work permits over non-EU nationals.
