Discourses of diasporic responsibility in Ireland: The modern moment and the discursive costs of moving

2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-47
Author(s):  
Aaron Thornburg
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Irish Society ◽  
Republic Of Ireland ◽  
The Republic

In this paper, I offer a critical reflection regarding the rhetorical employment of an analogy between mid-nineteenth-century, Famine-age emigrants from Ireland and non-Irish-national immigrants that have been increasingly present in the Republic of Ireland since the mid-1990s. While this discursive device is considered to be politically correct, cosmopolitan, and/or accepting of recent migrants to Ireland, I maintain that drawing the comparison between Famine-age and earlier emigrants from Ireland and current-day immigrants to the island supports the characterization of non-Irish-national residents as less than modern and incapable of integration into Irish society. 

Responding to the Racialisation of Irishness: Disavowed Multiculturalism and its Discontents

2001 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 68-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronit Lentin
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Cultural Imperialism ◽  
Irish Society ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Politics Of Recognition ◽  
Liberal Politics ◽  
Republic Of Ireland ◽  
Irish People ◽  
The Republic

This article begins by discussing the specificities of racism in the Republic of Ireland. Critiquing multiculturalist and top-down antiracism policies, it argues that Irish multiculturalist initiatives are anchored in a liberal politics of recognition of difference, which do not depart from western cultural imperialism and are therefore inadequate for deconstructing inter-ethnic power relations. Multiculturalist approaches to antiracism result in the top-down ethnicisation of Irish society, and are failing to intervene in the uneasy interface of minority and majority relations in Ireland. Instead of a ‘politics of recognition’ guiding multiculturalist initiatives, I conclude the article by developing Hesse's (1999) idea of a ‘politics of interrogation’ of the Irish ‘we’ and propose disavowed multiculturalism as a way of theorising Irish responses to ethnic diversity. Interrogating the Irish ‘we’ cannot evade interrogating the painful past of emigration, a wound still festering because it was never tended, and which, I would suggest, is returning to haunt Irish people through the presence of the immigrant ‘other’.

scholarly journals Public attention for private concerns: intellectual disability parents’ organisations in the Republic of Ireland, 1955–1970

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 483-491
Author(s):  
David Kilgannon
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Intellectual Disability ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
Irish Society ◽  
Intellectually Disabled ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Republic Of Ireland ◽  
The Republic

This article examines the influence of intellectual disability ‘parents and friends’ organisations in the Republic of Ireland between 1955 and 1970, a period that coincided with the emergence of parental disability activism internationally. Drawing on their publications and activities, it argues that Irish groups adopted a significant, if circumscribed, response to ‘learning disabilities’ that was reflective of a broader political and social policy approach during the midcentury, with local organisations supporting parents of ‘deficient’ children and establishing key services across the country. It highlights the way in which these pioneering actions align with existing norms in the state and explores the effect of this voluntary-driven response for the intellectually disabled. Approached in this way, the actions of these learning disability organisations complicate international research on postwar disability activism while furthering an emergent body of research into the complex realities that precluded transformative change in Irish society during the mid-20th century.

scholarly journals Opposition to Irish Travellers’ halting sites in the Republic of Ireland: Realistic group conflict or symbolic politics?

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-206
Author(s):  
Joel S. Fetzer
Keyword(s):  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Group Conflict ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Symbolic Politics ◽  
Irish Society ◽  
Election Study ◽  
Republic Of Ireland ◽  
National Election Study ◽  
Perceptions Of Crime ◽  
The Republic

Widely reviled by even well-educated citizens of the Republic of Ireland, Travellers rank at the very bottom of today’s multiracial Irish society according to most any attitudinal measure. This research note uses multivariate ordinary least-squares regression of the 2007 Irish National Election Study to test two prominent explanations of such prejudice. Overall, data analysis confirms the theories of realistic group conflict and symbolic politics about equally. In particular, unemployment, occupation, and perceptions of crime support the first interpretation, while results for conservatism and multiculturalism lend credence to the second.

scholarly journals https://studiabas.sejm.gov.pl/Journal.nsf/pubBAS.xsp?view=1&seria=4&lang=PL

Studia BAS ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 31-50
Author(s):  
Weronika Kloc-Nowak
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Data ◽  
Polish Population ◽  
Irish Society ◽  
Housing Crisis ◽  
Republic Of Ireland ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Limited Visibility

The article looks at the origins and scale of migration of Poles to the Republic of Ireland and the characteristics of migrants in light of various statistical data. It outlines the characteristics of the Polish population in Ireland on the basis of 2016 census, taking into account the main directions of changes in relation to previous censuses. Polish immigrants, very few in Ireland before 2004, have since become the largest group of non-Irish nationals, stable in size and spread all over the country. Despite its size and multiple ties to Ireland such as the growing number of Polish-Irish citizens and the increasing share of homeowners, it is argued that the Polish community has limited visibility and impact on the Irish society and politics. The author also points out the housing crisis and Brexit-related risks as important challenges for the Polish community.

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