34 Comments

• CEILIMAN | May 31, 2011, 04:06 AM EDT

  It is very sad that our young people are forced to leave their country to find Work.Sadly the government has not done enough for them but look after "themselves alright,Plus the greedy bankers" who get away with it,There is always a welcome @ our sunday nights Ceili @irish centre camden town,Cant say I have seen many new Imigrants yet.Anton

• tcenname | Feb 05, 2011, 08:44 PM EST

  It would be very interesting if someone or some organization did a follow up study or research into what really happens to people when they immigrate from their homeland. Not the taking it for granted attitude that the "world is their oyster"as voiced in a letter by some yoyo a number of years ago in a letter to the " Irish Times" Sometimes more than you think it can be their disaster. I'm acquainted with some tragic tales of Irish immigration since the 1950's of course you never hear their tragic tales in the hype stories of Irish immigrant success from Irish clubs and organizations or newspapers. Lets investigate the other side of the coin for a change instead of the blitz proimmigration menu.

• gregoryny | Feb 02, 2011, 05:35 PM EST

  Laura wilson what makes you think these illegals are any different than the illegals in az. tx. ca.? or maybe only brown skin people are illegal is that it?

• tcenname | Feb 01, 2011, 02:15 PM EST

  For Ireland revolution would be better than continuous immigration wouldn't it. How many people bleeding of one small nation can be toleratedjohnymac60 before it dies off but you don"t have to worry about a revolution in bogland johnymac it won"t come. Nations are only benefited by those who stay and hunger and fight for it not by aholes who leave and pin their whole personal future and their descendants future on a job elsewhere .Anyway read the book and heres another good one to read"Marx Engels and Lenin on the Irish Revolution"published by the Cork Workers Club' Ralph Fox Editor.One last word before I leave JohnnyMac60 you can"t have a revolution until you have a population base that can sustain one. Immigration drains off ones native ethnic population base. Can you grasp it JohnnyMac or are you thinking thru a shitefilter

• johnymac60 | Jan 31, 2011, 03:31 PM EST

  OK, so...because it's tough times in Ireland, your conclusion is that we should have a Marxist Revolution? That ideology was soundly disgraced by it's practitioners in the 20th century. Ireland needs a change - not a murderous power-hungry revolution.

• yakimak | Jan 28, 2011, 12:18 PM EST

  It was nearly 40 years ago that I read the book and now I can't find it in my storage. However through an old Books in print I have the correct title. It is"Ireland and the Irish question:a collection of writings" by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels published in New York 1972 by International Publishers. R. Dickson editor. The quote as I remember comes pretty near the end of the book and it is a statement taken from one of the early poliburo meetings in the 20's after the Bolsheviks seized power or one of the early party congresses where the need of some people to go ethnic and nationalist first and then after they got on their feet internationalist. Marx and Engels had both lived in England during the 1870's and 80's and were keenly aware the damage the great famine had done to the Irish language and people and the need for people to reconstitute themselves. As a matter of fact Ireland and what British Imperialism and Capitalism had done to it was a chief-case- in-point in their study of exploitation in human history

• yakimak | Jan 25, 2011, 09:48 PM EST

  yes wounded knee I can. Please check back to this comment section in two or three days I will give you the exact page and the circumstances it was formulated. Must go to storage locker Better yet after I give info asked for read the book.

• WoundedKnee | Jan 25, 2011, 01:56 PM EST

  yakimak: Interesting quote. Can you tell us where we can find the full quote and context? Thanks.

• yakimak | Jan 25, 2011, 10:51 AM EST

  Not immigration but revolution in Ireland. Karl Marx internationalist that he was said in the work "Marx and Engels on the Irish question "that Ireland because of centuries of British imperialism is one of the few cou ntries in the world that must go nationalist and reestablish itself as an ethnic nation with its own language etc.before it goes internationalist joining groups like E.U. etc

• ancavker | Jan 25, 2011, 09:28 AM EST

  George: I travel to London on business, and the economy is weak at best. There are many English people out of work, and any available jobs should be going to them in my opinion. I ahve to agree with you on England's towns and cities, so many of them look to be right out of a Dickens novel. I rememberr the first time I saw Liverpool, what a sad and dreary looking place.

• GeorgeDillon | Jan 24, 2011, 02:18 PM EST

  ancavker: London is a good place for a young "single" to spend a few years. And I think you're wrong to downplay the economy there--you'll always find a job in huge cities like London and New York. But England is full of horrifically ugly towns and cities, mostly in the North or Middle of the country. Places like Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Sheffield etc. Even the accent in those places is ugly. Any Irish person who would emigrate to such places is crazy.

• ancavker | Jan 24, 2011, 01:27 PM EST

  I cguess I can undestand leaving to some point but leaving for the U.S. what life is there living as an illegal? London?? I treavel there for business, and teh economy is incredibly weak, and inflation is rampant. Australia? Ok, but an awful long way form home. New Zealand? Ok, but the whole country is a huge sonnze fest.

• ancavker | Jan 24, 2011, 01:24 PM EST

  semper. Hold off there on Texas, they budget is a mess. Huge tax increases coming soon.

• IrishCanuck | Jan 24, 2011, 12:37 PM EST

  I've been to Ireland 4 times and have not wanted to leave. If I could talk my wife into moving there I would live there in a flash, but being so far from the kids and grand kids I can see her point. Having said that, I was over just this last September and found a huge difference but I agree with Skinnyryan I don't think that things are as bad as the media and people are making it out to be. We in Canada lose talented young people all the time but they usually find there way back home. So I say good luck to these youngsters no matter where they go or what they do. It is a sad time but I'm confident that it will turn around. The Irish are a resilient people.

• GeorgeDillon | Jan 24, 2011, 12:29 PM EST

  Another correction of Seagreen: S/he speaks of tenured professors teaching 18 hours a week. Nonsense. Most tenured professors would teach maybe six hours a week.

• GeorgeDillon | Jan 24, 2011, 12:22 PM EST

  CitizenWhy: You are correct to clip Seagreen's ear for his erroneous estimate of tenured college professors' salaries. Outside of maybe two dozen high flyers (not all of them Ivy League, some Ivy League pay poorly) that 175k is an unrealistic figure. It's hard to set generalizations as regards average faculty salary. A Professor of Marketing will pull down far more than a Professor of Art, for example. Schools in the NorthEast pay far more than schools in states like Wyoming or Utah or the South. Private colleges (especially "faith-based" and Catholic) pay much less than state institutions. And so on. A fairly conservative rule of thumb, one that could be challenged in any state, would be Assistant Prof: 50k, Associate Prof: 70k, Full Professor: 90k. That is less than the averages in Ireland, but then the tax regime is much greedier in Ireland, and the cost of living is higher. I know college faculty who have taught in the two countries, and they universally say they had a better standard of living in the US. The problem in Ireland is that the rat pack in Fianna Fail are comparing Irish university salaries with those in England, which happens to have some of the lowest quality colleges in the Europe.

• skinnyryan | Jan 24, 2011, 10:36 AM EST

  Hang on a second lads,you paint a picture that Ireland is a total disaster,it is not,sure its going through a hard time economically, [ as are most developed countries ] but it will work its way out of the situation.Without getting into economic stats and politics.I believe Ireland has a lot going for it and will get back on its feet faster than people may think, percentage wise most Irish people are a very positive, entrepreneur-al and a forward thinking lot who are well educated and love a challenge.With the political change that's about to happen probably on February 25th next or thereabouts changes definitely need to be made and get Ireland Inc back on the road to recovery.Ireland as we know is a very small country with a population of approx 4 million we will always have a percentage that will emigrate to see the world and spread there horizons as the good old Irish clique goes, nearly everyone knows someone who knows someone in the four corners of the earth, at least in this era they are well educated and very confident and will do very well in there new destinations and may very well return home at a later date with great experience and nous.I left Ireland in 1980 and lived in Switzerland,USA,New Zealand & Australia over a 26 year period without ever been back to Ireland until i returned to live here 4 years ago. So in my opinion Ireland is not the basket case that's been portrayed at the moment. I find it to be a very modern sophisticated and mature country which has come a long way in a short space of time,and a great place to live. PS. yes there is poverty as there is in any country but the joke that goes around here sometimes is your on the poverty line if you dont have a flat 32" TV screen or a second car, how things have changed. Is Mise

• CitizenWhy | Jan 24, 2011, 10:08 AM EST

  Seagreen: Tenured college professors in US earn $175,000? You must only know Ivy League professors, or economics and business professors at lower ranked institutions. I know professors with families and modest homes struggling to pay the bills. I know many professors who are paid less than high school teachers. ... If you're talking about average salaries , that's deceptive. There is an elite of highly paid professors who will push the average way up. ... Interesting that populism in the US now praises the rich and attacks the educated.

• semperfidelis | Jan 23, 2011, 09:26 PM EST

  meant to write Texas size failte at end there.Anyhow, ya'll come.

• semperfidelis | Jan 23, 2011, 09:21 PM EST

  Sad story that seems to repeat itself all to often. Must respectfully correct something a earlier poster said regarding opportunities in 3 border states. California is clearly a basket case and Arizona not far behind but Texas is doing very well, so I encourage those you can to come to Texas. 1 of every 2 jobs created in USA last 2 years was created here. Low taxes, low cost of living, decent weather, weak unions, free-market, pro-business attitude still prevails, so come to Texas. It's like a whole other country and if your willing to work you'll be greeted with a Texas size faite.

• olddocman | Jan 23, 2011, 07:41 PM EST

  Sad indeed!

• Laura Wilson | Jan 23, 2011, 05:37 PM EST

  Good luck to the Irish, always the hardest workers that help build this country breaking thier backs with very little thanks just like My great grand parents did. NOT looking for a hand out but opportunities for a better life stay away from az, tx , & ca. these border states are destitute due to the Illegals bringing over drugs & comitting crimes

• BARNEYKX | Jan 23, 2011, 03:57 PM EST

  They should put the Irish polititions,bankers property tycoons etc in a boat to know where and sink it in the deepest part of the oceans

• seagreen | Jan 23, 2011, 12:57 PM EST

  Houses in Dublin with two bedrooms, kitchen,1 bathroom and living room, and no land still sell for $410,000 ? Are the Nigerians going to buy these houses, or the well to do of dubious background ? The euro is still strong against the dollar, yet much of western Europe has no natural resources other than coal in Poland, and Norwegian oil. The only thing that has saved the US to this point are the vast natural resources. In spite of the morons running this country, we have still survived to this point. The college educated Irish are just that! The people surviving in America now, are the auto repair guys, govt employees,cops,welders, and UPS drivers, yet we are still filling colleges and universities with young people incurring $80,000 debt to enter a job market that does not exist. Oh, I forgot one group. The tenured college professors that teach 18 hrs a week and knock down $175,000

• GeorgeDillon | Jan 23, 2011, 12:17 PM EST

  joanmoody: I hate to tell you this--but most young Irish have no interest in Irish traditional music and would run screaming out of a ceili dance session. The idea that the young Irish who are emigrating are bearers of the old gaelic culture is nonsense. We're coming up to Feb 1st. Try them--ask them about Imbolc and see the blank empty faces. They know a lot more about Lady Gaga than St Brigid.

• GeorgeDillon | Jan 23, 2011, 12:13 PM EST

  MarthaAnne: "Now that the tables have turned again Ireland must hope that countries threat Irish immigrants better than Ireland has treated theirs". I assume you mean "treat". Would you care to expand on your note--it appears that you are suggesting Ireland hasn't treated its foreign settlers well. Give us some details, please. After all, Ireland has one of the highest Immigration rates in the world, we wouldn't want to think they're mistreating dem Immigwants!

• MarthaAnne | Jan 23, 2011, 11:44 AM EST

  It's very sad when you hear that young woman say she hopes to come back -"I love Ireland". I can't help but wonder if it is absolutely necessary for the Irish to leave - if only there was some way they could stay and help rebuild the economy of Ireland - but I suppose this is wishful thinking, given the huge debt burden. Again, very, very sad. I am sorry, Ireland! Also, for Americans whose contact with Irish immigrants has been mostly with those who did not have the good fortune to have had a university education and professional skills, it will be interesting to meet these "new Irish".

• MarthaAnne | Jan 23, 2011, 11:13 AM EST

  One more thing. Now that the tables have turned again Ireland must hope that countries threat Irish immigrants better than Ireland has treated theirs. What's good for the goose...

• MarthaAnne | Jan 23, 2011, 11:10 AM EST

  As a product of emigration in 1987 there is no excuse whatsoever that Irish people have to leave to live. Government should be stripped bare, public salaries cut and incentives sought form the EU to ensure that Irish people can stay in their home land. Politicians have been using emigration as a safety valve for unemployment for decades.

• Liamkeyes | Jan 23, 2011, 11:05 AM EST

  Well, I left way back in '62 without much fanfare, there was only my parents(God rest them), My brother in law(God Rest Him) and my young sister. By 1969 when my parents came out for my wedding, I had a steady job and a new house (that was unthinkable for the ordinary people in Ireland at the time. Shin a bfuil agus slan go leir.

• joanmoody | Jan 23, 2011, 11:03 AM EST

  Come to San Antonio, Texas and help us build a stronger Irish community with GAA teams et al. There are two schools of Irish Dancing with ceili dancing,Comhaltas Ceoltoir Eireann and an attempt to develop the GAA here. Be part of us.

• oldboreen | Jan 23, 2011, 09:48 AM EST

  When those young Irish touch down at JFK they cease to be emigrants and become immigrants GeorgeDillon-just thought I should point that out. With 12 million unemployed in USA, will they be greeted with open arms? Many will make it-some won't.

• cillowen | Jan 23, 2011, 09:36 AM EST

  ireland of the welcomes and concern for others due to famine shame - are leaving to make room for a jesus' mongrel plan.

• GeorgeDillon | Jan 23, 2011, 08:27 AM EST

  "There's a huge new wave of immigration going on in my country at the moment, it's palpable". Ain't that the truth. But how come there's no photographer at Dublin Airport to photograph and welcome the Pakistanis, Indians, Bulgarians, Nigerians etc. as they arrive to settle Ireland? For every emigrant there's an immigrant.