Timeline : Dublin Airport departure lounge 10.45 Wednesday -- Once more leaving on a jet plane
Posted on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 at 06:50 PM
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I had noticed the two young girls in front of me in the U.S. immigration line at Dublin Airport were red eyed and teary. I got as close as I could when they reached the head of the line.
“Where are you heading girls?” asked the immigration inspector
“New York they said, “we have a one year work visa.”
Aha I thought the new ‘super J’ visas as it is called that allows persons within one year of completing a student course to spent 12 months working in the states.
"Why so soon before Christmas?" asked the inspector in a decidedly friendly fashion.
“Don’t remind me said the first of the two girls. “It is breaking my Mam’s heart”
Do you have job lined up yet?” he asked.
“Yes she said, “we have good prospects.”
A snapshot of Ireland today, another two young people taking the emigrant plane.
In the departure lounge at Dublin Airport you are reminded of the history of this leavetaking ritual.
The Famine ships and the people who created the Kennedy dynasty and Reagan presidency are all remembered here.
So too are the half of the Irish population who have left the country since 1840.
These days the departure halls are thronged again.
The two women whose brief exchange I had just witnessed must be pretty desperate I thought, to be leaving this side of Christmas, a sacrosanct holiday with so many Irish families.
On the radio on the way to the airport the story on the news was student teachers being asked to effectively teach for nothing for an intern year even after they had qualified.
A young woman trainee teacher, ready to qualify next spring asked the pertinent question “Why can’t I be paid as a professional for what I have trained three years to do,”
It is a very good question at a time when many such issues are being raised in a country where greedy Allied Irish bankers tried to hijack a $60 million bonus for themselves even though the bank is bankrupt.
Finally the government discovered the gumption to stop it.
The elephants are trampling the grass in Ireland these days, with bankers, politicians, developers at each others throats.
But the people getting hurt the most are the little people who have to accept the consequences of the greed of others.
Old age and blind pensioners had their allowances cut in the recent budget. The minimum wage was cut. The Irish Times reported that the poorest in society take the most savage cut.
And tens of thousands like the two young women I encountered take the emigrant plane.
Think of the money sent educating so many Irish to such a high standard and now all that training will go to help whatever country they are leaving for.
They will be very lucky to have them.
“Where are you heading girls?” asked the immigration inspector
“New York they said, “we have a one year work visa.”
Aha I thought the new ‘super J’ visas as it is called that allows persons within one year of completing a student course to spent 12 months working in the states.
"Why so soon before Christmas?" asked the inspector in a decidedly friendly fashion.
“Don’t remind me said the first of the two girls. “It is breaking my Mam’s heart”
Do you have job lined up yet?” he asked.
“Yes she said, “we have good prospects.”
A snapshot of Ireland today, another two young people taking the emigrant plane.
In the departure lounge at Dublin Airport you are reminded of the history of this leavetaking ritual.
The Famine ships and the people who created the Kennedy dynasty and Reagan presidency are all remembered here.
So too are the half of the Irish population who have left the country since 1840.
These days the departure halls are thronged again.
The two women whose brief exchange I had just witnessed must be pretty desperate I thought, to be leaving this side of Christmas, a sacrosanct holiday with so many Irish families.
On the radio on the way to the airport the story on the news was student teachers being asked to effectively teach for nothing for an intern year even after they had qualified.
A young woman trainee teacher, ready to qualify next spring asked the pertinent question “Why can’t I be paid as a professional for what I have trained three years to do,”
It is a very good question at a time when many such issues are being raised in a country where greedy Allied Irish bankers tried to hijack a $60 million bonus for themselves even though the bank is bankrupt.
Finally the government discovered the gumption to stop it.
The elephants are trampling the grass in Ireland these days, with bankers, politicians, developers at each others throats.
But the people getting hurt the most are the little people who have to accept the consequences of the greed of others.
Old age and blind pensioners had their allowances cut in the recent budget. The minimum wage was cut. The Irish Times reported that the poorest in society take the most savage cut.
And tens of thousands like the two young women I encountered take the emigrant plane.
Think of the money sent educating so many Irish to such a high standard and now all that training will go to help whatever country they are leaving for.
They will be very lucky to have them.
9 Comments
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irishcoffeekid | Dec 17, 2010, 10:11 AM EST
I hope those coming with visas understand they have to go back when the visa runs out! This country which is great for those of us here legally is not so hot for those illegal - stick to the rules and you've a far better chance in the USA than you do illegally. Things have changed here now and being illegal isn't as well received now with the economy down here too! You also risk being banned indefinitely if you overstay your visa!
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DrTrelawney | Dec 17, 2010, 09:13 AM EST
I wouldn't overstate the miserableness. When I left for New York in 1988 I was delighted to get out of bleeding Ireland. I remember the flight as a truly joyous experience. It was a great experience -- as was my decade in London. Immersing yourself in those exciting cities (while staying well away from the depressing Irish bars and grim shops selling Jacobs Cream Crackers) did none of us any harm. Most of us came back. Most of these kids will, I suspect, do the same. We've moved on from the era when emigrants huddled together in mournful home-away-from-home communities whining about the peculiar food and strange accents.
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Johnnyclash | Dec 16, 2010, 10:53 PM EST
Plenty of work in San Francisco.
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Fionnuisce | Dec 16, 2010, 01:17 PM EST
Well put, just what so many are thinking. Thank you for publishing. One of the commenters below stressed a very good point: MAKE SURE you have it in writing; a guarantee of employment letter before you come here to the US. We certainly don't need anyone else on the dole on this side of the water.
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irishwriter | Dec 16, 2010, 12:59 PM EST
A brilliant perspective, Niall!
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allicat4u2 | Dec 16, 2010, 12:58 PM EST
America has Affirmative Action which has dictated the few jobs we have left in Education and technology...I dont think the Irish people fit this category...so if I were them, I would be asking for a guarentee letter of employment before I hopped on any jet and left my homeland.
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allicat4u2 | Dec 16, 2010, 12:57 PM EST
"Prospects," are not jobs...I wish them luck...but there are no jobs here either.
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Towngate | Dec 16, 2010, 08:27 AM EST
Yes indeed, the human tragedy of the children of 'The Land of the Sad Goodbyes' continues....and although not as terrible as other famine and want events, the powerful words of Shakespeare ring out and apply to the suffering Irish today: " Did Heaven look on - and would not take their part?"
Happy Christmas - and God Bless us - EVERY ONE!
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