THE ILLS affecting the economy in Ireland show no sign of alleviating.
Since this time last year the Republic is €30billion further in debt, 60,000 more people are out of work, and roughly the same number have left Ireland to find work elsewhere.
With unemployment continuing to rise, the numbers leaving the country will inevitably grow, with Britain being one of the main destinations.
The demography of the Irish in Britain community will consequently change.
However, if experiences of the past are anything to go by, our community will benefit from this influx, our ties with Ireland re-invigorated.
But immigration also brings its own problems — many who arrive are not fully prepared for the challenges of life in Britain.
The English novelist and art critic John Berger once said: “Emigration, forced or chosen, across national frontiers or from village to metropolis, is the quintessential experience of our time.”
It certainly seems to be a defining feature of Irish life, and one that the community here in Britain know all about. But we must be ready, willing and able to play our part in giving a helping hand to those who need it.
If the economic situation in Ireland continues to deteriorate, the new influx of immigrants will be a challenge to all Irish organisations, including ourselves here at The Irish Post.
Welfare bodies in particular will have challenges ahead in making themselves relevant and supportive to new emigrants, and indeed the Irish Government should be lobbied to ring-fence grant money — from the cuts they’ve made back home — to aid this endeavour.
Ireland missed the World Cup... and it missed us
MAN is never more ingenious than when trying to invent games. Which is probably why the World Cup has transfixed us for the last three weeks.
Sport is a uniquely human endeavour, and its beauty is that it doesn’t matter. It has far more drama and excitement than real life, and for the most part, none of the grinding misery.
This tournament has fallen down in some expectations; we’d hoped to see Brazil or Argentina playing with cigars in their mouths, strolling about the park.
However we ended up with Uruguay as the sole South American representatives.
England departed early on in the tournament — to the delight of some of our readers, and the dismay of others.
However most will have been delighted at the early exit of France — in disarray and ignominy.
Ireland of course should have been at the World Cup, and to some extent our team were a presence.
The Henry handball was bracketed with the disputed Frank Lampard goal in an attempt to get FIFA to see sense over using modern technology.
But in the end we missed out on the world’s greatest sporting occasion.
Looking at the standard of some of the football on offer from other sides we probably could have given a reasonable account of ourselves.
And maybe the sound of The Fields Of Athenry might have drowned out the vuvuzelas.