The Integration Centre - Connecting Communities Advancing Integration is committed to the integration and inclusion of people from immigrant backgrounds in Ireland. The Centre specializes in planning, monitoring and advocacy at city, local, national and international levels and provides regionalized information, advice and training services. Evidence-based research influences positive change in legislation, policy and practice. We have more than 250 affiliated organisations as part of our network.
If you would like to find out more about us or if you would like to support our work contact: Helena Clarke, Communications and Media Executive, The Integration Centre, 1st & 2nd Floors, 18 Dame Street, Dublin 2, Ireland; Tel: +353 16453070; Fax: +353 1677 0061; helena.clarke@integrationcentre.ie; www.integrationcentre.ie
Contents
- The Integration Centre Launches First Annual Integration Monitoring Report
- Ireland from an Immigrant Perspective
- Letter to An Taoiseach
- Census 2011: Why Migrants Can't Risk Not Being Counted
The Integration Centre Launches First Annual Integration Monitoring Report
The Integration Centre will launch its first Annual Monitoring Report, in a series of four, May 4th 2011, in the Oak Room of the Mansion House.
The Report aims to provide a comprehensive and concise picture of the state of Integration in Ireland and to identify where in employment; education; social inclusion; and active citizenship; Ireland can increase the potential for integration. This report – the first of its kind in Ireland – is produced in collaboration with the ESRI and is framed within the four categories for assessing integration proposed at the EU Zaragoza Conference in April 2010.
The Monitoring Report on Integration will be the cornerstone of The Integration Centre’s work on monitoring and planning integration at both local and national levels.
Ireland is recording some successes in integration. In the area of education, immigrant children from English speaking backgrounds are performing as well as their fellow pupils. In political participation – in comparison to other EU countries – Ireland has a progressive and inclusive approach to the participation of immigrants: non-Irish nationals may vote and stand in local elections. However, these successes in the field of integration often have counterbalances and these counterbalances constitute our challenges.
For example, in education, while children from English-speaking immigrant families are faring well, children from non-English speaking backgrounds are struggling. Whether non-English speaking children ‘catch up’, in terms of achievement, remains to be seen, but language is the key issue in the education of non-Irish nationals in Ireland. In education, the barriers experienced by children from non-English speaking immigrant families illustrates the intergenerational dynamics of integration as well as the permanency of diversity in Irish society.
Integration benefits society. As Ireland works to recover from challenging economic times through continuing engagement in a European framework, the Annual Monitoring Report on Integration sets out opportunities for the full participation of immigrants in the labour market and illuminates Ireland’s failures to conceptualize and capitalize on integration as part of a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth strategy. Such a growth strategy would be accompanied by increased employment, productivity and social cohesion.
We in The Integration Centre hope that this report – and those that follow it – will be a valuable resource for policy makers and other stakeholders in Ireland and outside of the country.
Ireland from an Immigrant Perspective
This section of our e-bulletin is dedicated to understanding immigrant perspectives of Ireland. This month we interviewed a lady that prefers to remain anonymous. She is originally from Cameroon and has lived in Ireland for nine years. For the purpose of this interview she will be called Jane.
Jane has a first-class honors degree in Marketing, is a married to a Cameroonian business man and has two Irish-born children.
She left Cameroon due to the political and economic crises hoping to live a better, more peaceful life. She chose Ireland because it is small and English speaking, envisaging that Ireland would offer opportunities because it was still developing and located in the West.
Discussing integration she said “Ireland is welcoming, but integration can be difficult due to the negative impressions some Irish people have about African migrants”.
Jane believes employment, and information which helps immigrants attain jobs, is an important part of integration. Having lost her job with the recession, after working in Tesco for 4years, she is currently looking for work but feels that it is not easy for African migrants to get jobs in Ireland.
The major issues affecting immigrants, she said, are “language barriers, employment, Irish citizenship for Irish born children and discrimination. When migrants arrive in Ireland, it is difficult to get information which helps them settle in. Often we do not even know where to seek help”.
Speaking about the difficulties of discrimination she gave the example “Once I went into a jewellery shop with a friend but did not buy any jewellery. When leaving, we were told our bags must be searched. We were the only Africans in the store and it was only our bags that were searched”.
She finished by saying “life can be difficult as an immigrant, financially and socially, but Ireland is my home, and myself and my family will remain here. Ireland is quiet and safe for bringing up children. I prefer Ireland to Cameroon or the U.K”.
Letter to An Taoiseach
Dear Taoiseach,
First of all let me congratulate you on your successful election to the highest political post in the State.
We in The Integration Centre are anxious that the lack of appointment of a Minister for Integration is an oversight. While we are aware of your pre election pledge to reduce the number of Ministers of State and a we see the justification on the coalition’s priority on economic growth we feel that a lack of distilled focus and Ministerial responsibility for integration will only plant the seed for future social disruption in the country.
During the economic boom Ireland was the recipient of the most rapid demographic transformation in Western Europe since World War II. The country quickly went from a relative homogenous Irish, White and Catholic population to a diverse multinational, multiracial, multilingual country due to the arrival of almost half a million immigrants according to CSO statistics.
Contrary to conventional wisdom the vast majority of these immigrants remain in the State, they work, marry, use public services and strive to integrate fully into Irish society.
The Integration Centre’s Annual Monitoring Report 2010, to be launched next month, finds that immigrants report higher rates of discrimination than non-Irish nationals in a range of domains from services to the work-related. Even after accounting for factors (comparing non-Irish groups with Irish groups sharing similar characteristics) non-Irish nationals are more likely to report discrimination in looking for work, in seeking accommodation, in accessing financial institutions and a range of other services.
Integration affects all facets of life. Society as a whole cannot progress successfully without ensuring the social inclusion of all its members. Employment and the economy are seen to be the biggest issues of the current government. However as unemployment affects immigrants to a far greater extent than the native Irish population, we are convinced that surely a targeted supported approach is necessary. This cannot take place without a Minister for Integration.
The previous Minister for Integration, Mary White, achieved a surprising amount in her short time in office. With the creation of the Ministerial Council for Integration, ethnic minorities had access to a government Minister enhancing the possibility to influence policy for the first time. Minister White also showed a willingness to address integration issues at the local level. In the recent past, the Office of the Minister for Integration channelled funding to Local Authorities to promote integration at a local level and to address racism. This funding has been used for a variety of initiatives, including developing integration strategies, supporting awareness raising activities, as well as developing integration events and intercultural training.
We are concerned that this coalition may inadvertently regress some of this progress in the absence of the appointment of a Minster for Integration.
We would strongly encourage you to review this ministerial vacuum with a view to appointing a Minster that we and others in the sector can constructively work with. We believe that focusing on integration policy and strategy now is a wise investment for the future; an investment that will pay off in terms of developing our economy and securing social cohesion.
I would be delighted to meet you at your convenience, or another relevant person from your office to further outline our concerns and the benefits of the appointment of a new Minster for Integration.
Thank you for your time on this matter.
Is mise le meas,
Killian Forde
Chief Executive Officer
Census 2011: Why Migrants Can't Risk Not Being Counted
The next Census will take place in Ireland on Sunday 1oth April 2011, and census-forms are currently being delivered to each household nationally.
The census is one of the primary tools which provide essential details of the make-up of the Irish population.
The Integration centre, as an organization which specializes in the planning, monitoring and advocacy of integration and inclusion of people from immigrant backgrounds in Ireland, would like to encourage all migrants to participate in the coming census.
As well as being able to guide national developmental plans for improved social and living conditions, the census is also significant to Integration plans and the promotion of an inclusive society.
Census 2011 offers an opportunity to determine the current population of migrants in Ireland; it is another vehicle through which people can make their voices be heard and should be utilized as a means to affect positive policy change.