Just three years ago Mary McAleese, in an outburst that would have gratified Dev himself, was lamenting the downsides of the new prosperous Ireland where “conversation is all about property prices, salary increases and new cars”. As anyone who’s been back recently will know, that’s changing rapidly as the country gives way, to quote the Irish Times, to “an enveloping sense of gloom”. The housing boom has collapsed, banks have had to seek government guarantees, the stock market is increasingly shaky, exports are in decline (of which 40 per cent go to the US and UK) and jobs are disappearing. As one Kerryman, now retired here, put it to me, “It looks pretty bad and I wonder what will happen to those youngish people who gave up jobs abroad to return to Ireland and now possibly to unemployment.”

And what will happen to all those Poles (and others) who flew in to take the jobs the Irish didn’t want – for example, in the now ailing building trades? The battle for work could get very tough in a country where over one in three of the population is under 25. The cry is soon likely to be heard: “Poles (and others) go home.” On the other hand, any Irish immigrant here working legally who gets the push – like the roofer from Connemara we mentioned in our news columns last time – should stay put and take advantage of the superior social benefits. By the way, Taoiseach Brian Cowen has no worries at the moment. He takes home €310,000 a year and so is the EU’s highest paid head of government.

From Riviera Reporter Issue 131: Feb/March 2009

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