This article is from page 10 of the 2012-02-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
THE amount of racism being experienced by migrants living and working in Clare has increased over the past 12 months – but the vast majority of people still do not report racist activity to the authorities.
The Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) released its 2011 statistics last week which showed that they received 155 queries from people in Clare over the last 12 months. As the vast majority of people who contact the ICI do not identify their county of origin, the number of Clare-based people contacting the organisation is believed to be closer to 500.
According to Brian Killoran of the ICI, the recession has increased the pressure on migrants – most of whom will lose their legal right to reside in Ireland if they lose their job.
“There is a definite noticeable increase in the numbers who have been reporting racial incidences over the last year. There is still not a huge amount but there has been a very noticeable increase in the negative experiences that people are having on a day-to-day basis. The big hill that we are facing in terms of racist abuse is that people are reluctant to report an incident,” he said.
“The people will speak about it to their own family and friends but will not report it to the authorities or to the Guards. They just get on with it. The results of that is that statistic across the board for racism are still relatively low but all the anecdotal evidence suggests that racism is quite high but people are just not reporting it. They just don’t think that anything will happen if they do.”
According to the ICI figures, the type of questions being asked by Clare-based migrants has changed also – with people now more concerned with what will happen to them if they lose their jobs and how they can apply for full Irish citizenship.
“The tone of queries has changed. Originally it was about family reunification but it is now much more about dealing with people who have been here for five or six years and the questions that they would have about gaining citizenship and things like that. People are very insecure about their jobs – most of the people we deal with are from outside the EU. So they have a work permit that is tied to their job but a lot of people are afraid of what will happen if they lose their job. Will they also lose their home,” continued Brian.