‘I miss the sun . . . the heat in the morning’.
Six people of different nationalities featured in Census 2011 outline their experiences of living in Ireland…
‘I miss the sun . . . the heat in the morning’
October 20, 2012
Irish News Immigration, People & Society, peter singhateh, West Africa Leave a comment
Ireland’s demograpics shaped by migration
October 8, 2012
Irish News People & Society, peter singhateh 1 Comment
Ireland’s demograpics shaped by migration.
ANALYSIS: IRELAND IS the only territory in the world in which the population today is smaller than it was two centuries ago. Migration is the reason for this unique decline. Coinciding with the beginning of the first era of globalisation, the Famine caused a tradition of emigration to arise that changed this island forever.
If outflows of people have made Ireland stand out from all other countries over two centuries, the pattern of arrivals over the past decade has made it exceptional among its European peers.
Almost one in eight people resident here last year was not Irish. That is more than double the proportion a decade ago and far above the proportion in pre-Celtic tiger times.
By the standards of the rest of Europe, Ireland was one of the most homogeneous societies in the early 1990s. By last year it had become one of the continent’s most heterogeneous countries…
Lessons in early education from New Zealand
October 2, 2012
Irish News Early Education, People & Society, peter singhateh Leave a comment
Lessons in early education from New Zealand.
When it comes to early childhood care and education, Ireland is, in ways, where New Zealand was in the 1980s, according to Prof Linda Mitchell of the University of Waikato in Hamilton. She was in Dublin recently to explain what a 10-year strategic plan, which was started in New Zealand in 2002, meant to children under the age of six and their families.
“We’ve moved on – at least it shows you can move,” she says, sitting in the basement offices on Merrion Street of Start Strong, an alliance of organisations and individuals advocating improved early care and education in Ireland.
With New Zealand and Ireland sharing certain similarities, such as population size, climate, landscape and importance of agriculture, its work in developing services for children aged zero to six is seen as offering valuable lessons.
During her visit, which was organised by Start Strong, Mitchell met the expert advisory group appointed to help draw up the National Early Years Strategy. She also briefed members of the Oireachtas, although, ironically, publication of the wording for the children’s rights referendum that same morning affected the numbers attending her presentation.
Back in 1986, New Zealand became only the second country in the world, after Iceland, to integrate early childhood education services into its ministry of education…
Trocaire calls for EU ban on goods from settlements
October 2, 2012
Irish News People & Society, peter singhateh Leave a comment
Trocaire calls for EU ban on goods from settlements.
Trócaire has launched a campaign urging a ban on goods produced in Israeli settlements across the European Union.
Trócaire executive director Justin Kilcullen said the goods, which “are produced on the back of house demolitions, land confiscation, racial segregation and military occupation”, must be banned so as not to provide economic support to the illegal settlements.
Asylum children go hungry, says report
September 19, 2012
Irish News Asylum, People & Society, peter singhateh Leave a comment
Asylum children go hungry, says report.
MANY CHILDREN in the State’s asylum process are living in extreme poverty in overcrowded accommodation with inadequate food, according to a report published yesterday.
The Irish Refugee Council report paints a grim picture of the State’s system for accommodating asylum-seekers, known as direct provision. It documents frequent instances of malnutrition among children and expectant mothers, as well as illnesses related to diet among babies and young children….
Of the 5,098 people residing in reception centres for asylum-seekers, over one third, or 1,789, are children.
Families are given an allowance of €19.10 per week for an adult and €9.60 per child.
The system, which was set up in 2000 by the Department of Justice to deal with the increasing number of asylum claimants, was intended to house applicants and their families for six months.
However, the report says asylum-seekers in Ireland typically spent four years in the system, and in some cases over seven years, awaiting the processing of asylum claims….
New IMF list of cuts hits our pocket even harder via @independent_ie
September 11, 2012
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New IMF list of cuts hits our pocket even harder via @independent_ie.
PENSIONERS, parents and homeowners are targeted in a stinging new report by the IMF.
The international monetary watchdog recommends a host of new taxes and cutbacks which would hurt ordinary households in the pocket…
Families split as fathers migrate to work | Irish Examiner
September 4, 2012
Families split as fathers migrate to work | Irish Examiner.
Many emigrating Irish families are often split up for months at a time as one parent heads to the destination country to organise the move.
Visa First, a company that facilitates moves to countries such as Australia and Canada, said an analysis of their customer database revealed that more Irishmen are leaving ahead of their partners and children in search of work than ever before.
Analysing the figures for Australia, the company said that, since the start of last year, there has been a 58% increase in the number of “primary” applicants leaving ahead of dependants in seek of work. Of those applicants, 75% are male…
First steps to a rewarding future via @independent_ie
August 22, 2012
Irish News Dublin, peter singhateh Leave a comment
First steps to a rewarding future via @independent_ie.
More students than ever before — mostly successful Leaving Certificate candidates, but also thousands of others who have entered the system in a variety of ways — have received offers of places in third-level education from the Central Applications Office this year.
Unquestionably this is very good news, an indication of our country’s social health and economic hope. It is also good news that according bonus points for mathematics has helped to generate a record number of applications — and that there are sufficient places for all those who have qualified. …
Peter "Just Loves Flying" 
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