1 Children, Migration and Socialization
Poles in Ireland: Long-Term or Temporary Migration?
According to Tadeusz Szumowski, Polish Ambassador to Ireland from 2006 to 2010, one view of current Polish migration to Ireland is that it is a temporary phenomenon (personal communication to Debaene, October 2007). However, more anecdotal evidence obtained by Debaene (2007) from 30 Poles (aged 20–45) has indicated that the vast majority (20 out of 30) claimed they would stay in Ireland for ‘up to 5 years’ and then return to Poland. ‘I don’t know how long I’m going to stay in Ireland’ was the most common answer among the study’s informants. Moreover, proof of the existing demand for services such as the internet and low-cost phone calls indicates the importance of maintaining contact with relatives and friends in Poland (Kropiwiec & Chiyoko King-O’Riain, 2006). It is also a strikingly mobile population: the ease of travel between the two countries – nine Polish cities are served by direct flights from Ireland and the number of scheduled flights on different routes offered by at least seven airlines is increasing – suggests that migrants can make regular trips home relatively inexpensively.
Schömann et al. (2007) suggests that in contrast to old waves of migration from Poland (more political than economic in character), most of the current Polish immigrants in Ireland perceive their departure/emigration from Poland as temporary – mainly to earn money and gain experience that can be used in Poland in the future (English language fluency is especially valued among Poles). As Schömann et al. (2007) points out, this way of thinking along with frequent visits to Poland, which are no longer limited by political and economic factors, may slow down or even slightly impede integration (which is no longer perceived as a pressing need).
However, the picture emerging from various studies, including questionnaire data for a project funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS), does not entirely support this perspective. Some sources indicate, for example, that as many as half of the Poles in Ireland intend to stay permanently (Scally, 2007) and Warsaw-based agency Kinoulty Research found that 50% of the Poles questioned would like to live in Ireland for as long as possible, while 18% want to stay permanently. Data gathered by the Polish market research agency Irish Times (2007) from research conducted in Ireland shows that 49% of their survey participants have no intention of returning home (at least not within the next 5 to 10 years). As Pelowski (2007) points out, migrants who stay in Ireland for more than 10 years are very likely to remain in Ireland permanently. It is a fact that the decision to return to Poland is less likely the longer the Polish immigrant stays in Ireland:
As I know the language better, as I stay here longer, I want to live here. I got used to it. Or rather, I got unused to Poland. I don’t know if I will find myself back there. When I go there for a month for the summer, many things disturb me. I didn’t have that feeling before. Before, there was only homesickness. And now, when I’m in Poland I think that I’m coming back home when I come here. (Female, 34, administrator, cited in Kropiwiec & Chiyoko King-O’Riain, 2006: 34)
Due to the 2010 economic recession (increasing the unemployment rate by 11.0%) and the continuous outflow of immigrants from the EU 12 (the 12 accession countries that joined the European Union [EU] on or after 1 May 2004) representing 19.1% of total emigration from Ireland in 2010, Poles’ long-term plans and intended duration of stay in the host country were highly unpredictable. According to reports by Ruhs (2005) and Kinoulty Research, Polish migrants were employed across a wide range of sectors such as restaurants, hotels, offices, agriculture and health care, and as the data from the IRCHSS-funded project suggest, the art and publishing media. Many of these migrants lost their employment (approximately 9% of all non-nationals came from the EU27 states), yet those entitled to social welfare benefits may have been reluctant to return home until their benefits ceased. Additionally, as Monaghan (2007) observed, many Poles expressed the hope that the job situation was only temporary and that it might improve over time. As anecdotal evidence suggests, many Poles are ‘increasingly rooted in the Irish soil’ and established in their localities. ‘After 12 years we can see that the discussion about whether to go back to Poland pretty soon is mostly just talk’ (Rakowski, 2016). According to the 2011 and 2016 censuses, the Polish community is overwhelmingly young and well educated, with 92% under the age of 44. Polish peoples are concentrated in urban areas, but many sources suggest their presence in almost every Irish town and village. At some point in 2016/2017, the Polish government launched numerous campaigns encouraging young skilled Poles to return home, but with very limited success (Rakowski, 2016).
The sociolinguistic situation of Polish immigrants in Ireland has unique features. On the one hand, Polish immigrants are from large cohesive communities and have well-established links with their home country, but, on the other hand, evidence suggests that there is a widespread desire to become fluent in English and to be part of Irish society (Kropiwiec & Chiyoko King-O’Riain, 2006). In Poland, such fluency is perceived as a major asset in career planning as English is widely taught in Polish primary and secondary schools and is highly valued in many workplaces and various social situations. Gal (1979: 37) states: ‘social changes change social networks [and] relationships between people… social networks are extremely important and are needed to create the opportunity to use the language’.
Poles experience many language and culture difficulties (Drinkwater et al., 2009; Kropiwiec & Chiyoko King-O’Riain, 2006: 45–46). The children of immigrants are also affected by the language barrier, especially when beginning their education in Ireland. As Guidera (2007) reported, one in five immigrant students in post-primary schools in Dublin had little or no English on beginning their education. Language support for immigrant children, then, is considered a significant step in fighting against social disadvantage (Drinkwater et al., 2009; OECD, 2007). As the same study suggests, social disadvantage among first-generation immigrants can be difficult to overcome as children who do not speak the same language at home as during school assessments are two and a half times more likely to be in the bottom quarter of performance indicators.
The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD, 2018) recommends that more should be done to train existing teachers in order to provide inclusive and multilingual education. Despite the obvious need for more resources to help migrant pupils, funds for the coming years are forecasted to be reduced. There is also a significant lack of resources and in-service training for teachers in schools with pupils from immigrant backgrounds with the response to the phenomenon varying from school to school (Lyons & Little, 2009). Nevertheless, a variety of institutions serve the Polish community in Ireland, promoting the Polish culture and helping newcomers to settle in Ireland. Polish ethnic institutions include the Polish Information and Culture Centre, the Polish Social and Cultural Association, the Polish House and the Polish-Irish Society. Such institutions provide free English tuition and offer free information services for newcomers in their native language. The Polish Social and Cultural Association promotes libraries with Polish books as well as organizing various cultural events. According to the National Economic and Social Council of Ireland (NESC, 2006: 235), Polish migrants who have language problems can turn to these associations or contact the Polish-Irish Society for advice on learning the English language or enrolling their children in culture courses.
The Polish (Catholic) chaplaincy in Ireland was established in 2006. It offers religious worship in the Polish language and runs Polish weekend primary schools across the country. As regards education, there are several Polish government-sponsored Polish-medium schools in Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Cavan and Waterford, where Polish, Polish history, geography, mathematics and religion are taught. Additionally, there are a number of private and community-led