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Tough times for Poles in Ireland


Deise 07  3 | 76  
12 Apr 2009 /  #1
Extract from Google article (link provided below) pointing to a change in circumstances for many Poles living in Ireland.

DUBLIN (AFP) - Drawn in by its booming economy, thousands of Poles once flocked to Ireland. But as recession hits, they must decide whether to stick it out or return home -- where things risk being worse.

"I'm fed up with Ireland. The economy is going down," said Marcin Kaminski. The 33-year-old truck driver says his "Celtic dream" is over and he is heading to Canada to seek a better life there.

"I've got friends there. All of them left Ireland. They're happy now."

Four years ago, Kaminski hoped Ireland would provide the future he wanted, saying: "You were choosing the company you wanted to work (for) and the salary was four times better. It was a dream."

But the days when the Celtic Tiger was the envy of Europe, with 10 percent growth in 2000, are long gone. This year the economy is forecast to shrink by seven percent, with the government set to unveil Tuesday an emergency austerity budget.

Kaminski has just lost his job, after his transport company collapsed when its main client, US computer manufacturer Dell, moved its production lines from the central town of Limerick -- to Poland

google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jDk7wPA9xVxqDl4xbl8 oV3_9paRg

It should be noted that Irish emigration has also begun to increase once again and 2009 is the first year since 2000 that the island is expected to experience net emigration as opposedf to immigration. The Irish population decreased every year for a century and a half between 1845 and the early 1990s and only began to grow again in the last years of the 20th century, so this trend could be seen as a reversion to normality.
Mister H  11 | 761  
13 Apr 2009 /  #2
Unfortunately, in life, stuff happens.

Sometimes you have to ride out the bad times and wait for the good ones to return. This business of upping-sticks and moving countries seems a little bit extreme and maybe Marcin Kaminski might find a non-eu country more difficult when it comes to the paperwork ?

Going to Canada in search of a "better life" ? Good luck and all that, but why do some people think everything will be ok and all their problems solved simply by moving to another country ?
HAL9009  2 | 323  
15 Apr 2009 /  #3
Tough times for everyone in Ireland these days.
Much of the country's recent prosperity was built on a property bubble which has now burst leaving the economy starved of funds. Ireland is worse off than most countries. Still not as bad as Iceland though :) Membership of the Euro zone made all the difference.
mafketis  38 | 10921  
15 Apr 2009 /  #4
Bubbles =/= true prosperity, sooner or later _every_ bubble busts. You'd think people would have learned that much by now....

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