Jennifer Horgan: We are separating mothers from their kids, so they can care for us instead

Ireland's harsh new rules on family reunification reveal a wider disdain for caring and care workers — and it betrays our emigrant past 

Healthcare assistants gathered outside the Dáil last month to protest the changes that will see them needing a higher wage to bring their children into the country to join them. Photo: Sam Boal/Collins Photos

One of the things I found difficult about living in Abu Dhabi was seeing the separation of families.

I was there only a few days when I noticed the difference between me and other economic migrants — people from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and the Philippines.