No Cead Mile Failte anymore - what will happen to a generation of forced Irish immigrants?
By: Cahir O'Doherty | Published Thursday, July 12, 2012, 9:15 AM | Updated Thursday, July 12, 2012, 9:15 AM
 |
| David Monahan portrait of a modern immigrant |
Remember Oisin? I’m certain you do.
If you had an Irish childhood he was an inescapable part of it. He was the mythic young man who went on many exciting adventures, but his last and greatest involved a woman.
Niamh of the Golden Hair, as she was known, turned his head entirely. She was beautiful and beguiling and she led him happily into Tir na nOg, the mythical land of the young, where no one ever grows old or gets sick or dies.
Tir na nOg was a lovely place, full of laughter and good fellowship, but like every other Irishman who has found an earthly paradise he got heartily sick of it eventually.
Poor old Oisin secretly pined for home. He wanted to see his old mates, he wanted to visit his local, and he missed his old Ma’s cooking. Paradise be damned.
Finally giving in to his requests, Niamh gave him her white horse, Embarr, with a stark warning -- do not to dismount she said, because if your feet touch the ground it will be fatal for you.
Oisin nodded and set off for home. What he found broke his heart.
The hill of Almu, his ancestral home, had been abandoned and was in complete disrepair. All his old mates were long dead. Three years had passed for him, but 300 had passed in Ireland.
Later as he wandered about on his horse, stricken with grief and caught between two worlds, an event happened that ended his story. In an attempt to help some men working on a road, he accidentally fell to the ground and transformed from a beautiful youth into a dying old man in seconds.
As so often in life, how you feel about Oisin’s fate may depend on where you’re standing.
Oisin’s is the original Irish emigrant tale, one that comes with a dire warning -- what’s in your heart may not change but everything else will.
The ground Oisin once loved becomes literally toxic to him. He made his choice to leave and now he has to live with it, the story tells us.
There’s a hardness of mind about this tale that I always found very striking. Sure it was sad, but it was also needlessly cruel.
Oisin just wanted to see his old home, after all. What was the harm in that?
I bring all this up because I read with interest this week an in-depth report about the welcome the generation of Irish who emigrated in the 1980s experienced when they returned home for good during the Celtic Tiger boom.
They were returning to connect with a community they had loved and deeply missed during all their years abroad. They wanted to rediscover that sense of belonging to a wider national fabric.
They had missed that feeling living overseas. But what they found was that the country had moved on.
When they met their old pals in the pubs, the study says, they would most often be accused of having abandoned the ship when it was sinking. They were often subjected to unexpected and aggressive ridicule.
They found their motives for returning being put on trial. As welcome mats go, these were pretty threadbare.
And it’s happening again. A new generation is finding itself standing in Dublin Airport as they wait for flights that will take them far from home.
Like Oisin, they’ll probably imagine they’ll be coming back when things improve, and like the 1980s generation they’ll probably have their motives questioned when they do.
All those fond farewells in the departure gate may not make up for the ambiguous welcomes in the arrivals hall when that day finally comes. Ireland has long been caught up in economic cycles of booms and busts that our political class can neither seem to create or control, but it’s disappointing that we can’t seem to grasp that we can’t realistically blame young people for voting with their feet.
I have watched this new generation of the Irish try to keep the lines of communication open with the old country. I’ve seen them Skype to their relatives back in Ireland via the free WiFi at Starbucks.
I have seen the emotional toll that being pushed out of their own country due to lack of opportunity creates in them. To blame them for it seems as needlessly cruel to me too.
20 Comments
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.seanomelb | Jul 16, 2012, 01:01 AM EDT
I do not denigrate Ireland at any time I may criticise the ineffective government but I'll never be less than proud to be dublin born. Due to computer glitch I had to re-join and shortened to Seanomelb I never claimed to be from Cork Jacer.
jacersagain | Jul 14, 2012, 07:11 PM EDT
@seanomelb - like others on ICentral, I am slightly confused between seanomelb and seanomelbourne – are yez the same person? Seanomelb claims to be Dublin hospital Rotunda-born while seanomelbourne claimed he was a Corkonian. So answer us all please – D’ya you eat potatoes or d’ya eat potatoes skin an’ all? Or are ye schizo on ICentral? (With all apologies and respect to schizophrenics; this jacers is just using Dublin street talk for this post). >>> Seanomelb is right anyway about Dublin's Moore Street, it’s not a bit like what I knew growing up not far from the shadow of Charles Stewart Parnell’s monument… that’s the monument (I’m firmly placing this under ICentral’s ‘Entertainment’ section) that has a right arm stretched out, with a finger strongly pointing to the Rotunda hospital and the gold-imprinted words quoting from one of his most famous speeches saying “No man has a right to put a stop the march of a nation”. So, Seanomelb, if you were privileged to be one of Parnell’s nation's babies "marched" out of the famous Rotunda hospital door at the top of Moore Street, why did you desert your nation? And why do you denigrate it so much, yet return with yr daughters to savour yr birthplace?
Towngate | Jul 14, 2012, 06:22 AM EDT
Excellent article, Cahir. I feel though, that you have only scraped the surface of a very deep mine. 'Returners' were treated appallingly in the early nineties, in particular, by delusional 'Stayers' who thought the Celtic Tiger' was a result of their hard work - and no such thing! Borrowed Foreign Money. For over thirty years I have livedand worked equally on both sides of the irish sea, and was perfectly placed to see - and warn of - the decline of the Irish sense of community spirit. Natural warmth and friendliness disappeared even within families, as greed and self serving attitudes took over.Quote:" Look at all the Deserters crawling back now we have the Country running lovely!" ~ ~ ~ ~ The really sad thing ,Cahir, is that they got a taste of what the country could have been like if it had not been riddled and infested with incompetent and profoundly dishonest Polititians and Professional bodies who bled the country dry - even in the bad times! ~ ~ ~ ~ and not forgetting the 'great unwashed' who soaked up ridiculously high levels of welfare payments while blatantly operating a 'black economy' ~ ~ ~ ~ Quote: " My 'dole' money is hardly enough to pay for my petrol to get to work!" .... Sadly, even today ,there seems to be little awareness that Ireland is existing purely on the European Bailout Fund. Ireland has the potential to be a Dreamland - but the People themselves have turned it into a living Nightmare. ~ Cead Mile Fáilte i mo Thoin!
seanomelb | Jul 13, 2012, 08:00 PM EDT
I'll try not to, BTW can you please pass the tissues.
BrianO | Jul 13, 2012, 06:42 PM EDT
Seano, most places change and the places we have in our memories seldom hold up to time, but just as many new memories are started, please don't shed a tear over my sentimentality I think my listening to ABBA's greatest hits has affected me.
seanomelb | Jul 13, 2012, 06:06 PM EDT
I was in Dublin (Moore St.)2005 in a cafe having breakfast,a lady next to asked if I was a tourist I answersed no I was born up the road in the Rotunda hospital and just here with my daughters on a visit.She asked "Are you looking for dublin in the rare old times" and before I could reply she said "well you're not going to F##king find it .How right she was.
BrianO | Jul 13, 2012, 01:15 PM EDT
Sounds like some go getters enjoying their individual freedom and pursuing their dreams.
beodonne | Jul 13, 2012, 12:47 PM EDT
I meant almost 'free' college education.
beodonne | Jul 13, 2012, 12:44 PM EDT
@ephraimKibbey- I think emigration does make you strong. When you are away from home you have to make it without the security of your home a short distance away.. I feel bad for Ireland but honestly the kids for the past 15 years or so became very spoiled and their parents also lost the run of themselves. Money was no obstacle. So many lived on borrowed money, built new homes, or extended their homes. Trips to Europe and over here to the US for 'Christmas Shopping' Seriously while it's sad the economy in Ireland has really suffered I think it will now come back to a more realistic one. Kids also need to appreciate their almost college education.
irishcoffeekid | Jul 13, 2012, 08:49 AM EDT
its not all doom and gloom though. I moved from Ireland over 7 years ago and have lived in Washington DC since. The reality is that if you can get a good job here in the USA (and I was very lucky in that regard) and you are smart with money, you can get home more often than when our relatives moved here years ago. Skype, the internet, yahoo chat and phones are less expensive now. I probably talk to my family more now and see them more than when I lived in Dublin and didnt make as much of an effort. You miss home for sure but anytime i feel lonely and need to connect, I ring my parents and we have a regular skype session at my sisters house with them on to chat and my niece of 4 updating me on what's happening! yes, its hard being away from home but I somehow think my being here makes me appreciate them more, contribute more financially and more aware of staying close to everyone. When I lived in Dublin there was a laziness to my trips home whereas now its like a golden ticket going home. Flights are more expensive now than they used to be but it still doesn't stop me saving the funds to make sure I touch down a few times a year or route my business travel through Ireland. It's a matter of breaking the miles by staying in regular contact, knowing whats going on, calling to check on everyone and letting them feel like you're really on the mainland as opposed to in the USA!
angrypaddy | Jul 13, 2012, 02:26 AM EDT
Portia777: You are absolutely right about how toxic Ireland and its deluseional celtic cubs have become,but beware of Ciaradexy when she reads your comment!she will go for the jugular with her sharp FANG'S
connemaragirl | Jul 13, 2012, 12:41 AM EDT
I think where ever you grew up you carry it with you no matter where you go ,we're very sentimental us Irish ,more than most I think.At least now we have the internet and everyone has a cell phone so there's more contact between everybody so the young ones leaving today won't suffer the loneliness that we did who left in days gone by,never the less its still not what any of us really wanted.
EphraimKibbey | Jul 12, 2012, 04:32 PM EDT
@beodonne - Does emigration MAKE one strong or do only the strong SURVIVE emigration?
beodonne | Jul 12, 2012, 04:07 PM EDT
You know I get tired of the constant whining. I left Ireland 25 years ago for the USA. I am still here and have absolutely no regrets. Stop the crying, emigration is good for you, makes you strong!!
ancavker | Jul 12, 2012, 03:14 PM EDT
Cahir: I am Irish born (in the U.S.), but surely you know the Irish as much as we love who we are, are as an old relative used to say an odd bunch.
Searlit | Jul 12, 2012, 02:10 PM EDT
@Portia777, "leave it sink into the water as predicted"? Where did that prediction come from?
lokionline | Jul 12, 2012, 01:01 PM EDT
I'm familiar with this tale. I have experienced it's truths twice. As a child returning to Ireland at 12 with my parents from England. And again as an older adult attempting to reconnect with my school and university friends who still live in Dublin. I saw it happen to people I worked with in Dublin who had returned from Canada in the 70s and I have heard others tell a similar story may times. It appears that the oft quoted "you can never really go back" is as true now as it ever was.
Portia777 | Jul 12, 2012, 12:15 PM EDT
The ground Oisin once loved becomes literally toxic to him.Yes, the land of Eire is now extremely toxic.The vile energy is so bad that no one in their right mind would want to return. Tara and her energy destroyed, Bru Na Boinne energy all destroyed by the vile energy of greed before people. Leave it to sink into the water as is predicted.
WoundedKnee | Jul 12, 2012, 10:51 AM EDT
Good article, O'Doherty. One small sign of how the returned Irish are (mis)treated in their own country is the fact that their US driving licenses are not accepted, regardless of how much driving experience they have. Drivers from places like Latvia and Lithuania, in contrast, countries with huge rates of road accidents and drunk driving, are automatically issued Irish driving permits. This is bad enough, but under a recent law, drivers with American licenses don't just have to take the driver's exam again. They have to sign up and take a driver's ed course of 12 hours!!! I had a friend who found himself in this situation, even tho he calculated he had driven at least 400.000 miles accident-free during his time in the US. When he complained to the Irish official the idiot replied "Ah sure but you were driving on the wrong side in America"!
joan1954 | Jul 12, 2012, 10:30 AM EDT
Sad, but true.