A Changing Ireland Gerry OShea
“You talk
to me of nationality, language, religion,” Stephen Dedalus declared in Portrait
of the Artist as a Young Man. “I shall try to fly by those nets.” In
response, one of his nationalist friends asked Stephen the bottom-line question
“Are you Irish at all?”
According to
the most recent Irish census that question is answered in the affirmative by no
less than 23% of citizens who identify as non-white Irish. The number of Irish citizens
born abroad, increased in 2022 and now accounts for 12% of the population.
The biggest
non-native groups come from Poland and the UK followed by India, Romania,
Lithuania, and Brazil. In 2021, the year preceding the census, over 89,000
people moved to live in Ireland, with India and Brazil leading the way.
How do the
people feel about the big infusion of foreigners into the country? A 2020 Economic
and Social Research Institute study revealed a gap between the public and
private perceptions and attitudes toward minority groups in Ireland. The
results showed that 66% openly support more black people coming into the
country. However, this number dropped to 51% when those questioned were assured
of anonymity.
Similarly, 59%
offered a welcoming hand to Muslims with a small decrease to 53% when the
respondents were assured that their answers would never be revealed.
Ireland has
a diversified workforce and significant research shows that an open and inclusive
policy with immigrants enhances worker satisfaction and company profitability.
A major study
by McKinsey and Company published in 2020 surveyed 1000 employers across
fifteen countries, including Ireland. Companies rated in the top quarter for
fostering inclusion and diversity outperformed those in the bottom 25%, using
the sole criterion of company profitability.
In this area,
the 2019 Diversity and Inclusion Survey Report found that all of the
Irish companies surveyed stressed their high priority for inclusiveness in
their business planning and performance.
Census 2022 reveals
a total population of 5,149,139, the highest since 1851 and 8.1% more than five
years previously. The number holding dual citizenship has increased by a hefty 63%
during the same time period.
Housing
accommodation has become a major problem in Ireland and throughout most EU
countries and the United States. The average age at which people purchase their
own home has risen to 36, and there is a significant increase in the number of
families living in rented accommodation.
The average
weekly rent in Ireland rose by a hefty 37% to 273 euros increasing in some
cities to as high as 442. Not surprisingly, the number of adults living with
their parents has gone up by 14% since the last census in 2016.
More than
25,000 adults living with their parents are unpaid carers. This should be seen
in conjunction with the fact that about one in five of the population has a
disability of some sort. Overall, the number of people providing regular unpaid
care in the home has increased by 50% since the last census.
Catholic
Ireland is dead and gone. This is confirmed in a comparison between the numbers
in 2016 asserting that they have no religion and today where that figure has
increased astronomically by 187%.
Not
surprisingly the 2022 census results show a drop from 79% to 69% of citizens
identifying as followers of the Roman version of Christianity. The stories of
serious abuse by official church bodies added to the recurring publicity of deranged
sexual behavior by individual priests and brothers have left Catholic
institutions with a serious credibility problem.
Up to the
end of the last century, tobacco use was an integral part of Irish culture.
Around half of the people smoked Players or Carrolls or Sweet Afton. Today 80%
of the Irish population never smoked or are ex-smokers. Of the small percentage
still puffing, males outnumber females by one-third.
The
significant increase in Irish longevity over the last three decades may well
relate to this significant change in the Irish lifestyle – the upward movement
in this area in just the last five years comes to 15 months.
Those
interested in the revival of Irish as a spoken language will be pleased that a
significant 6% more use Gaelic now than in 2016, the date of the last census.
We have moved away from the perception of a native language confined to
minority communities on the west coast from Kerry to Donegal. It is no longer a
badge of inferiority, but fluency is now widely seen as a desirable cultural
accomplishment.
Datheangacas,
an easy facility with Irish and English, can no longer be relegated to a
distant dream of committed Irish nationalists. For growing numbers, it is a
matter of pride and a clear statement to their colleagues in Europe that we
have our own language with a long cultural history.
The Irish
census has an unusual feature that allows the person completing it to include a
time capsule with a message that will be stored securely for a century. About
one in five census fillers availed of this opportunity with Cork people providing
proportionately the biggest number of wisdom capsules for the people in 2122.
The overall picture
provided by the 2022 census is a positive one including a fair level of
optimism for the future and quiet pride that Ireland is now one of the most
stable and progressive countries in Europe.
Different
from William Butler Yeats who more than 100 years ago in his poem September
1913 expressed a dark and depressing view of the Ireland of his time. He
was particularly critical of what he observed as the excessive religiosity of many
people and the dominance of “greasy till” capitalists with no interest in the
finer things of life. He bemoaned in memorable lines the passing of heroic and noble
exponents of past Irishry.
And
Robert Emmet and Wolfe Tone,
All that
delirium of the brave?
Romantic
Ireland’s dead and gone,
It’s with
O’Leary in the grave.
Gerry
OShea blogs at wemustbetalking.com
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