This document summarizes Dr. Shane O'Sullivan's presentation on migration issues from an Irish perspective. It discusses key patterns of immigration to Ireland, including higher concentrations of immigrants in urban areas and Poland being the largest country of origin. It also outlines the EU Youth Structured Dialogue process, which aims to incorporate youth perspectives into policymaking. Finally, it examines English language acquisition challenges among immigrants in Ireland, noting social and economic consequences like isolation, lower wages, and lack of access to better jobs without proficiency in English.
2. Overview
• Key Spatial Patterns in Republic of Ireland
• Age Profile of Immigrants in Ireland
• EU Youth Structured Dialogue
• Vernacular Language Acquisition
3. Percentage of Foreign Nationals in
General Population by ED - 2016.
1960s to 1990s
‘The Rural Idyll’
1990s onward
Economic Migration
4.
5. Source: CSO (2016) Census of Population
Proportion of Polish Nationals Living in Republic of Ireland (2016)
0 50
Kilometres
Proportion (%)
National Average: 2.61%
0 - 1.5
1.5 - 2.61
2.61 - 5
5 - 10
10 - 20
20 - 30
11. Structured Dialogue
• ‘The structured dialogue is an instrument to ensure that the
opinion of young people is taken into account in the
formation of youth policy in the EU’ (EU Joint
Recommendations Document)
• The structured dialogue takes place at three levels – local and
regional; national and EU.
• The structured dialogue is organised into 18 month cycles,
with each cycle being divided in three 6 month phases.
• Each cycle has one over-arching priority with each phase
having one sub-priority.
12. National Level
• The establishment of National Working Groups.
• Composition includes: Ministries for Youth
Affairs; National Youth Councils; Local and
regional youth organisations; interested persons
in youth work; diverse young people and youth
researchers.
• The national consultation. Example: We’re Here,
Hear Us Now organised by NYCI June 2012.
• The outputs from the consultation are compiled
into a national report
13. EU Youth Conference
• Compilation of background document by the European Steering
Committee based on views expressed by the national reports from
each EU member state.
• Prior to EU Youth Conference, Trio Presidency ministers; national
youth councils; EU Youth forum meet EU Commissioner for
Education and Youth to discuss ‘consistency and continuity between
agendas in the youth field’ (EU Youth Forum: 2012)
• Creation of thematic workshops based on outputs from background
document
• Formation of Joint Recommendations (presented to the Council of
the European Union in November 2012).
• The Council of the European Union may adopt a RESOLUTION based
on the results of the structured dialogue process. This is the highest
political outcome of co-operation between Member States in the
youth field.
14.
15.
16. English Language Barrier
Proportion (%) of Foreign Nationals
Who Speak English Not Well Or
Not At All in Co. Monaghan (2011)
Source: CSO (2012) Census of Population 2011
0 5
Kilometres
Proportion (%)
0 - 10
10 - 20
20 - 30
30 - 40
40 - 50
32% (2,110) of foreign nationals speak
English not well or not at all in Co.
Monaghan (Census, 2011).
‘I have noticed that all foreign national
students in my school have excellent
English and have been resident in
Ireland for a number of years’
(Household Questionnaire No. 44)
‘I am sure in my future life. I can go get
a good education and improve my
English. My daughter will have a good
choice of professions. She will get a
good education’ (Household
Questionnaire No. 271).
17. ‘There is a lot of people here a good while, their English has improved a lot but
how do you get in the door to get a better job, even though you be might be over-
qualified or have loads of experience behind you, it seems very difficult for people
to make that move’ (Monaghan Interviewee No. 15).
‘How can I get a job without English? I can’t even go for an interview without
English. There are some places – mushrooms, chicken factory. There you can go
without any language. It’s very hard jobs’ (Monaghan Interviewee No. 7).
Wage Penalty
BUT
‘Migrants are isolated within the community. Language in itself is a big isolating
barrier. If you don’t speak the language in the place you are living in, it’s harder to
access services within the community’ (Monaghan Interviewee No. 24).
Social Isolation
‘We found that a very high level of those people had little or no English, yet they were
in the country 7 or 8 years, so this indicates a lack of engagement with Irish people’
(Monaghan Interviewee No. 11).
Consequences
18. ‘Even today, there is still a lot of people who have not just recently come to this
country but might have been here 2, 3 or 4 years, who still have a major language
problem and that would be due, I would say to mixing only within their own
community. Now that’s not all of them but it is quite a number of them’
(Interviewee No. 21).
Lack of Immersion
‘In the past, there was so much work around, you didn’t need to be able to speak a
building site and if you did, there would have been 10 guys on the building site
who could speak English and translate for the others’ (Interviewee No. 20).
Lack of Necessity During Economic Boom
Lack of Engagement
‘I would have worked with a few clients whose English would have been a huge
challenge, but they have refused to attend English language classes because they
see their business ideas ….targeted towards their own nationalities’ (Interviewee
No. 18)
Causes
