‘The Irish are returning home – to Islington’
Published: 28 May 2010
by PETER GRUNER
THEY returned to Ireland in their thousands during the heyday of the Celtic Tiger, but with the country’s economic woes now worse than those of Britain, the Irish are coming back.
Furthermore, the new Irish immigrants are coming to Islington and Camden, where families already have strong connections.
So says Tony Murray, deputy director at the Irish Studies Centre in Holloway, at the launch this week of the centre’s new writers’ summer school.
“A lot of people went back to Ireland in the 1990s and following years, including my own parents,” he said.
“But as a consequence of the global recession fewer people are going back now.
“With about 13.4 per cent unemployment in Ireland what we are now seeing is more mainly young people coming back to Britain.”
About 9 per cent of the populations of Islington and Camden are Irish, which means the two boroughs still have very strong connections with the old country.
Tony, who was in Dublin recently, said that the recession is hitting ordinary people there very hard.
“The public sector has already taken a pay cut,” he added. “It manifests itself with fewer people spending money and shops closing. A few years ago people packed the pubs and clubs every night. Now it seems to be more of a weekend thing.”
Tony, who also has worked at the London Irish Centre in Camden, has met many of the Irish newcomers.
“I think many find it a bit of a shock looking for work in London. They thought that the Celtic Tiger would always look after them.”
And just like previous generations, new Irish immigrants are particularly interested in building work or nursing.
“It’s not like the 1950s and the 60s, when work on a building site or in the NHS was almost guaranteed,” Tony said. “There’s a bit of work on the Olympic Stadium, but not as much as people would like. And recently 150 nurses were recruited by Whipps Cross hospital in Waltham Forest.
“But many more of the new immigrants are seeking professional work in the media or marketing and business.”