Thread: Fleeing a troubled economy in Ireland

Fleeing a troubled economy in Ireland, young newcomers are not having the luck o' the Irish

BY Heidi Evans
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sunday, October 25th 2009, 4:00 AM

Nicola Lenehan, who recently immigrated to the United Staes from Ireland, is now having trouble finding work.
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The 24-year-old TV production assistant hasn't had the luck of the Irish - but she is determined to find work in New York and make a life here.

"It was very depressing when I left Ireland," said Lenehan, a communications graduate from Dublin City University and a professional Irish dancer. "The topic of conversation for everybody is jobs, paying bills, mortgages. I wasn't even able to get back the deli sandwich-making job I had all through college."

Irish civic groups say a growing number of Irish have come to New York in the last year, in what some call a new Irish diaspora.

The Emerald Isle Immigration Center says there has been a fourfold increase in the number of calls from people looking to come to New York for the first time, or to return here after going home to Ireland when the economy was booming from 1995-2007.

The center's director, Siobhan Denehy, said the center's two locations - in Woodside, Queens, and the Woodlawn section of the Bronx - get a combined 80 inquiries a month from Irish clients, not counting Web site hits.

The Irish government recently reported that for the first time since 1995, the country of 4.5 million people has seen more people going than coming.

"There is no question that Ireland's desperate economic situation has brought lots more people to our center," said Brian O'Dwyer, a prominent New York lawyer and chairman of the immigration center. "For the first time in many years, people are showing up at our doorstep that have left Ireland in search of work."

Newly arrived Irish immigrants are difficult to capture in the annual census surveys. However, a review of recent data suggests an uptick in Brooklyn and Manhattan, said Joseph Pereira, who tracks census data for the City University of New York.

Census figures for 2008 estimate there were 2,649 Irish-born residents in Brooklyn, compared with 1,469 in 2007. In Manhattan, there were 3,760 Irish-born in 2008, compared with 3,101 in 2007.

The figures don't reflect how many more Irishmen are working illegally, hoping for a green card.

A Bronx bricklayer who arrived a few years ago said there has been a flood of Irish people coming, with men working as carpenters, construction workers and painters and women as bartenders, waitresses and nannies.

Given the struggling economy, it's no picnic here either.

The married father of two said laborers compete with Mexican and Brazilians for construction work.

"It's a rough life when you first come. They live like refugees," one New York labor organizer said. "The economy is just as bad here at the moment."

Lenehan, who graduated with honors, is here on a legal work visa. The only job she's found in the States was an unpaid internship in Los Angeles with Dr. Phil.

She arrived at her aunt and uncle's home in College Point, Queens, last month hoping to find something here.

"We go to bars now and then to drink away our sorrows," Lenehan said, with a laugh.

Dave McGovern, 22, arrived from Dublin on July 6. Fresh out of college and with few job prospects at home, McGovern shares an apartment in Bushwick with two roommates while he pounds the Manhattan pavement.

His dream is to work for a fashion or music publication like "V" or "Interview" magazine.

"I love the city and I'm glad I came, but it's much tougher than I thought it would be to find work," McGovern said. "I send out hundreds of e-mails just to get one job interview. You have to sell yourself so hard it can be really exhausting."

Sheila Gleeson, executive director of the Boston-based Coalition for Irish Immigration Centers, said the new Irish exodus is being felt across the U.S.

"We are hearing it from all over the country," Gleeson said. "Ireland has historically been a country where, when things are dire economically, people leave. America, and New York in particular, has always been kind to the Irish."

hevans@nydailynews.com

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/1 ... z0V5aESOKR
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We have enough of our own economic problems and can't afford any newcomers, legal or illegal.

People from around the world have to realize that our streets are no longer paved with gold. Over the years that proverbial gold has been pulled up, brick by brick.