Thread: New’ Ireland’s changes go more than skin deep

New’ Ireland’s changes go more than skin deep

Country long known as a land of emigrants is transformed by migrants

By Daniel Strieff
Reporter
MSNBC
updated 1 hour, 39 minutes ago

PORTLAOISE, Ireland - As revelers worldwide celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a pint of Guinness, dyed-green milk or visions of red-bearded leprechauns, it’s a good bet that few of them will have Rotimi Adebari in mind.

But, for those seeking an authentic vision of today’s Ireland, perhaps they should.

The election last year of Nigerian-born Adebari as mayor of Portlaoise is the most prominent manifestation of the changes sweeping this island, which is rapidly evolving from a land of emigration into one of immigration, where at least 1 in 10 people is foreign-born.

This transformation — fueled by a decade-long economic boom and relatively liberal immigration laws — means Ireland has gone from Western Europe’s poorest and most homogeneous country to one of its wealthiest and most cosmopolitan in little more than a generation.

For the first time in its history, Ireland, which sent hundreds of thousands of emigrants to the United States, Britain and elsewhere, is wooing large numbers of migrants.

That has forced the country — and communities like Portlaoise, a commuter town of 14,000 residents 50 miles southwest of Dublin — to get a crash course in integration.

“When I came into this town in 2000, I could count the number of people that are born outside of Ireland that live in Portlaoise,â€

I have been to other sites where the native people from many UK countries....especially Ireland and England.....say they have no clue what country they live in anymore. Thier culture has been erased and people wonder what the big deal is. I mean it's one thing to be a tourist and go and visit another country.....it's another when you never left and watch your entire world change right before your eyes in a decade and you are suddenly the tourist. The unwelcome visitor in your own country. They have to fight to keep a neighborhood in their own culture and they aren't happy about this drastic change. Kind of welcoming and training your replacements and no one has you given you someplace to go.

Under the most generous immigration laws in Europe, Ireland until 2003 automatically granted citizenship to foreign parents of Irish-born children and, until 2004, gave citizenship to Irish-born children whose parents were not Irish nationals.

This is very important. Ireland ended birth right citizenship in 2004. Even ireland, who is quite tolerant of legal immigrants, understood they could not longer afford as a nation to continue granting citizenship to the children of non-citizens.

I hope our country is listening!