How many romanians in ireland

As secretary of the Romanian Community group he has seen a lot of changes in Ireland and the status of Romanians in Ireland. The positive aspect for Romanians is that it is possible to have a deceent life in Ireland even though the cost is high.

The negative aspect is that there are stereotypes that people have about us believing that we are gypsies and also our qualifications are not recognised here so we are not doing work accoring to our qualifications. Romanians began to move to Ireland initially in small numbers following the collapse of the Ceaucescu regime and as the Irish economy grew so too did the numbers of Romanians moving here.

The majority are in Dublin and probably male aged years old. There is an organisation called the Romanian Community in Ireland which is run on a voluntary basis with is own website and monthly newsletter, Zori de Zi Daybreak. However, the development of a sense of community spirit among Romanians has been hampered both by the innate suspicion many have of each other.

This is one of the lasting legacies of a harsh communist regime famed for the ubiquity of its secret police or Securitate. The fact that many Romanians in Ireland have a dubious or temporary legal status also means few have the confidence to involve themselves in community-building. Mr Romeo Gamulescu 35 , from the organisation Romanian Community in Ireland, says a civic sense is slowly growing among fellow nationals here, much of it revolving around churches.

In the meantime, they meet each Sunday in the Catholic church in Belvedere College in north inner city Dublin, bringing with them traditional icons and thin candles. They still believe deep in their hearts about the value of the church.

Mr Gamulescu, a computer software developer currently studying by night at Trinity College Dublin, said funding is a problem for small voluntary groups such as his. Because we aren't an anti-racist organisation we don't get grants, but if you help a community to integrate it will benefit the whole wider community," he said. Although few Irish people make the distinction between Romanians and the Roma or Gypsy community, the two groups identify little with each other and interact even less.

The Roma are a traditionally nomadic minority ethnic group who live throughout Central and Eastern Europe, facing widespread discrimination. Most Roma in Ireland come from Romania, although their primary allegiance is to their ethnic group.

Non-Roma Romanians in Ireland tend at best to ignore their Gypsy country people, while the estimated 2, Roma here are accustomed to their marginalised status.

The high illiteracy levels and poor English skills of many Roma in Ireland suggests they are doomed to repeat the pattern of exclusion from the mainstream in their adopted country. However, modest efforts are being made to address this isolation. In , the Roma began entering Britain after a television show depicted the UK as a country with a generous welfare system and lax regulations.

The flow stopped after the British home secretary: 1 pressed for tightened regulations at French ports; and, 2 reduced the period of appeal for refugees refused the right to stay from 28 to five days. There are about two million Roma, most in Romania.

One observer said that there is strong evidence that the movement of gypsies is seasonal, in part related to a shortage of agricultural and other work in the rest of Europe. The "flood" of Czech and Slovak gypsies to Britain in stopped almost as quickly as it started. Most of the Roma arriving in Ireland use tourist passports to travel to Hungary, then move to Poland, cross illegally into Germany, and then go to France and Ireland by hiding in containers that are taken by ferry.

The ferry companies blame French immigration officials for not taking appropriate action to prevent foreigners from entering containers at French transit points. An Irish official says that "It is no secret that a large number of Eastern European nationals have set up shanty towns close to Le Havre and Cherbourg, using them as jumping-off points to get out of France.

This can be partially explained by the rules governing the accession of several Eastern European states to the European Union, states that funnily enough have high populations of Roma. When the Accession was negotiated, EU member states were given the right to restrict some employment rights of new member citizens for several years. Add to that what can only be described as institutional discrimination in the form of excessive requirements for documentation, arbitrary refusals that are then overturned on appeal, long delays in decision making, and sometimes even outright racism from service providers, means that some members of the Roma community live in extreme poverty, without access to social welfare, medical cards or social housing.

These are all rights that as EU citizens and ordinary residents of Ireland, they are entitled to. Rights that exist on paper but are not accessible are hollow indeed when your family is starving, or living in one room with no heat.

When you are forced to beg on the street and run the risk of a cycle of arrest and incarceration just to survive. Nasc has been working to support members of the Roma community in applying for Irish citizenship and passports for eligible Irish citizen children.

Naturalisation and recognition of Irish citizenship will significantly improve access to rights and services for this community, to guarantee and vindicate those rights, which will also help promote their participation and integration into Irish society. As a migrant to Ireland from the US, Jennifer is committed to raising awareness about and promoting positive changes in relation to immigration and integration. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.

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