How will immigrants fare in declining economy?

THE other morning here in Seattle, National Public Radio ran a piece on what the reporter referred to, in a quizzical tone, as the flood of immigration into Ireland in the last five years.

The reporter’s tone implied a mystery as to the reason, but to your readers it is no such thing.

That aside, it is reported there is now an area in the centre of Dublin called Little Africa — home to hundreds of Nigerians — and that there are 150,000 Polish and 80,000 Chinese immigrants currently in Ireland, and that there are 40,000 new immigrants every year.

A young Polish woman was interviewed in Dublin. She said it was hard to meet an Irish person as you walked down Grafton Street. The reporter went on to say there were few incidents of tension between the Irish and the new immigrants.

Clearly, he did not venture outside the Pale during his visit. However, all of this makes me ask — what happens when (not if) the economy slows down and unemployment rises from the blissful 4% at which it currently stands? What will happen to all the new immigrants when the jobs go? How will the Irish treat them then?

How will the Government deal with the swelling ranks of the unemployed, both Irish and immigrant, when the economy slows down in the near future?

Will it become like America in the 1930s, where there were signs stating ‘No blacks and no Irish need apply’?

That was how American employers dealt with the crisis. I wonder if there will be signs in shop windows in Ireland saying ‘Only Irish need apply’, or will we simply be deafened once again by the heartbreaking sound of dusty suitcases being unzipped?

Gaye Walsh

827 NE 100th

Seattle

Washington State

USA.