Wednesday, July 3, 2002
Dublin, Ireland: Comin’ Home
As I suspected, coming back to Dublin was like comin’ home. I was born in Pittsburgh, and now live in Hollywood, Florida. But Dublin is my other home.
I went there first on the bus tour; then back for a whole summer, which ended with me meeting Tony Dixon. Two more trips and I enrolled in Dublin City University to get my Ph.D., and went to live there with Tony for a year while I began my research. Since then I have been back once, to defend my dissertation —carefully timed to coincide with the exhibition NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears—and most recently for the bringin’ in of the new millennium in 2000.
Tony and I got married last St Patrick's Day, so now I guess Ireland is my second home. Last week, as I was falling asleep, looking forward to the next port, I thought, I have a husband in Ireland. How odd. Oh my God, I have in-laws in Ireland.
The four days allotted by Semester at Sea in each port seems like enough to get to know a city. But for me in Dublin it’s barely enough time to do the shopping and see the relatives.
Amazingly the weather was great the first two days in port; it rained a little but the sun came out and sometimes it was quite warm. The students would think I was just whining when I described how bad the rain and wind are. However, the next two days supported my complaints. Gray and lashing.
Tony had already been there for about three weeks, visiting with his two grown daughters and our flower girl, three-year-old Erin. Semester at Sea lets family members visit the ship in ports, so we got passes for them. Erin treated the whole ship as her toy and went running up the steps and across the decks, exclaiming, “I've never been on a ship like this before.”
Unfortunately, the ship was in an out-of-the-way part of Dublin docks, and it didn't make for a pleasant introduction to the city. Instead of a 10-minute walk to town as we had been told, it was more like a 15-minute—and not cheap—taxi ride. The administrators made an arrangement with a local cab company to ferry people to City Centre for €3 a head, but coming back you were on your own. We certainly made the Dublin cab drivers happy.
Despite the unexpected expense, the students loved the city. They quickly discovered Temple Bar, full of cafes, artists’ galleries and pubs. They did their part for the Irish economy by dropping lots of euros in shops on Grafton Street and in pubs. They drank Guinness at the brewery and in pubs. They could walk in the parks in the little bit of sunshine, and when the weather got bad, duck into pubs. Some signed up for the one or two day trips to the south, or the south east, or, most interesting, Northern Ireland, across the border in the United Kingdom. They got to see quite a contrast in cultures. And more pubs.
But the real story of Ireland in 2002 is off O'Connell Street, on the side of the River Liffey where not as many tourists go. What a different Dublin from the one I saw two years ago, when the Celtic Tiger was just beginning to roar.
That Christmas and New Year’s I was amazed to see and hear advertisements seducing the Irish Diaspora, visiting for the holidays, to put their foreign college degrees to good use and get a job back home in Ireland. The Economics class watch a 60 Minutes video about how the Irish, defined for centuries as immigrants sailing to the western world in search of prosperity, were now coming home to live and work, and recruiting their former hosts—British, Australians—to come and work as well. “English workers on Irish job sites?” exclaimed the reporter.
Since that story ran, the Celtic Tiger, along with the rest of the world economy fueled by the high tech boom, has taken a rest. The Irish economy is still better than ever before, as evidenced by high retail prices and soaring real estate values. The influx of European Union investment, along with capital from the US finally paid off in the late 90s, and the educated workforce has less to complain about.
But, as the United States learned in the late 19th century, when a country thrives on innovation and technology, and opens it borders to capital and materials from the rest of the globe, in comes foreign labor. As 20th century America was formed by waves of immigrants—my great grandparents included—coming for opportunity, so Ireland tomorrow is being formed by a whole new phenomenon. Not just guest workers from the rest of the EU, but asylum seekers from all over, especially Nigeria, China and Romania.
Walk just west of O'Connell Street to Moore Street Market, the original home of the legendary Molly Malone, who plied her wares by calling “cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh.” The old Irish women who used to call “Lighters, five for a pound” and “Tobacco, five for a pound,” have been replaced by international phone calling centers, Internet shops, and the African-Caribbean grocery store. All advertise specials targeted specifically at their Nigerian, Chinese and Rumanian customers.
In addition to the entrepreneurs, mostly Indian, who have started businesses to cater to these groups, there are sign boards with handwritten notes tacked to them. Rooms for Rent; Workers Wanted. Some in English; most in Chinese characters or Cyrillic. These are the same messages my great grandparents read on the South Side of Pittsburgh in the 1880s.
Tony introduced me to a German chain store called Aldi that is the Wal-Mart of grocery stores. We went there to stock up on supplies and were surrounded by Nigerians and Romanians, well dressed, thrilled to find Romanian wine for only €5 a bottle (so were we!). This was just a few blocks from Palmerstown Place, the street where my husband was born, in a different Dublin 50 years ago. That street has become part of one of the newly gentrified Dublin neighborhoods.
I decided to interview Tony, as an observer who recently spent three weeks back in his hometown, to get his impressions of how the old place has changed, and how the Irish are handling their new place in the world.
Gypsy Teacher: Welcome, Tony.
Tony: Hello.
GT: You were away for two years and you had the chance to be back for a good three weeks or so, with your family. So what are your impressions of how Dublin changed in that period?
T: Firstly, I think there is more, much more money since the time I left. There are more cars on the road. More new cars on the road. And there is also a certain, more of a self confidence about Dubliners than there was before I left.
GT: Besides the money, what have you noticed? I mean, there's got to be some sort of downside to the money. There's high prices—what else do you find? Are Dubliners dealing well with their new prosperity?
T: I'm sure they are. Prices have gone through the roof as regards basic commodities—which means Guinness. But I think with the introduction of places like Aldi, you can actually live pretty well.
GT: Traditionally Ireland has always been one of the most homogenous populations. When I was there, everyone was white; it was rare to see an African, or anyone who was visibly from a different culture, unless he was a tourist. So with the immigrants coming in, how do you think the Irish are handling that?
T: They're handling it pretty well. There is a problem with asylum seekers who cannot work but who can collect some social welfare. It's not actually called social welfare. It's called an assistance program for people who come here from Eastern Europe and Central Africa. They get a certain amount of money per week to live on and they’re housed in pretty nice bed and breakfasts around the city. This is one aspect of this new influx that’s causing problems because Irish people don't particularly like it. They're dealing with it, but they don't like it.
GT: Did you hear much about immigration in the newspapers or on radio? I know Ireland has radio call in shows like we do in the States with people calling in with opinions about the new asylum seekers.
T: Sure. One thing I'll say is that they’re discussing their problems. They're not just getting angry; they’re discussing their problems. They’re discussing them on early morning talk shows. For the three weeks I was there, there were at least three or four call in shows that dealt with this influx of Eastern Europeans and Africans.
GT: When I was visiting my former campus I saw that there had been a rally that was labeled as an anti-racism rally. They were afraid that there was more racism and bigotry popping up. Did you notice either the racism or the anti racism side?
T: I did notice that there were a lot of people who you could consider racist. They didn’t like these people coming in here. They didn’t like them being looked after in regards as the assistance aspect of it. I can't say that I've seen 100%; there was a small minority of people who I would consider racist. Not them all. But there was a small minority.
GT: And what do you think in the long term that is going to do to Ireland? They're good at talking about their problems, but what about doing something? How do you think it will change the culture?
T: I think that eventually they are going to have to deal with not being on their own and realizing that there are other cultures, other people, who may or may not be a different color than they are. And they will just have to deal with it. It’s going to take them a while, but eventually they are going to have to deal with the fact that there are other people in the world who want to come and live there because it offers them a better life. You have to remember that 150 years ago Irish people were the ones who took the boats to America to England to Canada to Australia to find better lives. It’s our time to help. And that's what I can say about that.
GT: And God bless them for doing it. Also, our ship was docked in the docks area and that's not far from where you used to work. What kind of differences did you notice in that area of Dublin?
T: When I worked there eight or nine years ago, it was a very depressed area. There were no businesses except for trucks that passed through from the Dockland area into the west of Ireland or on their way out of Ireland to England. Now it’s become a very upscale area of the city. The International Financial Services Center is there; most of the banks of the world have offices and buildings there. There’s a Jury’s Hotel on the docks which is quite amazing to me, having seen that block every morning when I walked to work compared to what it is now. There are also a lot more taxis that go down to that particular area of the city. That’s a good thing, because it has breathed new life into that part of the city that needed it for so long.
GT: So you think you want to move back?
T: No. Hollywood, Florida, is where I live now, in the United States and that's where I'm going to live. That's where my home is now.
GT: Your wife thanks you. And don't forget to pick up the laundry, honey.
I was thrilled to be back in Dublin, such an easy town. And pleased that most of the students were finding it as comfortable as I do. But on our last night, in the Palace Bar, home to Irish journalists for decades, when the young Japanese woman I was talking to described the whole city as “Brilliant!” I decided maybe it was time to move on.
Ireland is on its way to becoming integrated in the world market, and we need to get back on the ship and head off to the next European stop, Norway, which has managed to become a wealthy country without being a member of the European Union.
For the WLRN Radio Reading Service, this is Kathleen Dixon Donnelly—and Tony Dixon—at Sea.
As I suspected, coming back to Dublin was like comin’ home. I was born in Pittsburgh, and now live in Hollywood, Florida. But Dublin is my other home.
I went there first on the bus tour; then back for a whole summer, which ended with me meeting Tony Dixon. Two more trips and I enrolled in Dublin City University to get my Ph.D., and went to live there with Tony for a year while I began my research. Since then I have been back once, to defend my dissertation —carefully timed to coincide with the exhibition NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears—and most recently for the bringin’ in of the new millennium in 2000.
Tony and I got married last St Patrick's Day, so now I guess Ireland is my second home. Last week, as I was falling asleep, looking forward to the next port, I thought, I have a husband in Ireland. How odd. Oh my God, I have in-laws in Ireland.
The four days allotted by Semester at Sea in each port seems like enough to get to know a city. But for me in Dublin it’s barely enough time to do the shopping and see the relatives.
Amazingly the weather was great the first two days in port; it rained a little but the sun came out and sometimes it was quite warm. The students would think I was just whining when I described how bad the rain and wind are. However, the next two days supported my complaints. Gray and lashing.
Tony had already been there for about three weeks, visiting with his two grown daughters and our flower girl, three-year-old Erin. Semester at Sea lets family members visit the ship in ports, so we got passes for them. Erin treated the whole ship as her toy and went running up the steps and across the decks, exclaiming, “I've never been on a ship like this before.”
Unfortunately, the ship was in an out-of-the-way part of Dublin docks, and it didn't make for a pleasant introduction to the city. Instead of a 10-minute walk to town as we had been told, it was more like a 15-minute—and not cheap—taxi ride. The administrators made an arrangement with a local cab company to ferry people to City Centre for €3 a head, but coming back you were on your own. We certainly made the Dublin cab drivers happy.
Despite the unexpected expense, the students loved the city. They quickly discovered Temple Bar, full of cafes, artists’ galleries and pubs. They did their part for the Irish economy by dropping lots of euros in shops on Grafton Street and in pubs. They drank Guinness at the brewery and in pubs. They could walk in the parks in the little bit of sunshine, and when the weather got bad, duck into pubs. Some signed up for the one or two day trips to the south, or the south east, or, most interesting, Northern Ireland, across the border in the United Kingdom. They got to see quite a contrast in cultures. And more pubs.
But the real story of Ireland in 2002 is off O'Connell Street, on the side of the River Liffey where not as many tourists go. What a different Dublin from the one I saw two years ago, when the Celtic Tiger was just beginning to roar.
That Christmas and New Year’s I was amazed to see and hear advertisements seducing the Irish Diaspora, visiting for the holidays, to put their foreign college degrees to good use and get a job back home in Ireland. The Economics class watch a 60 Minutes video about how the Irish, defined for centuries as immigrants sailing to the western world in search of prosperity, were now coming home to live and work, and recruiting their former hosts—British, Australians—to come and work as well. “English workers on Irish job sites?” exclaimed the reporter.
Since that story ran, the Celtic Tiger, along with the rest of the world economy fueled by the high tech boom, has taken a rest. The Irish economy is still better than ever before, as evidenced by high retail prices and soaring real estate values. The influx of European Union investment, along with capital from the US finally paid off in the late 90s, and the educated workforce has less to complain about.
But, as the United States learned in the late 19th century, when a country thrives on innovation and technology, and opens it borders to capital and materials from the rest of the globe, in comes foreign labor. As 20th century America was formed by waves of immigrants—my great grandparents included—coming for opportunity, so Ireland tomorrow is being formed by a whole new phenomenon. Not just guest workers from the rest of the EU, but asylum seekers from all over, especially Nigeria, China and Romania.
Walk just west of O'Connell Street to Moore Street Market, the original home of the legendary Molly Malone, who plied her wares by calling “cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh.” The old Irish women who used to call “Lighters, five for a pound” and “Tobacco, five for a pound,” have been replaced by international phone calling centers, Internet shops, and the African-Caribbean grocery store. All advertise specials targeted specifically at their Nigerian, Chinese and Rumanian customers.
In addition to the entrepreneurs, mostly Indian, who have started businesses to cater to these groups, there are sign boards with handwritten notes tacked to them. Rooms for Rent; Workers Wanted. Some in English; most in Chinese characters or Cyrillic. These are the same messages my great grandparents read on the South Side of Pittsburgh in the 1880s.
Tony introduced me to a German chain store called Aldi that is the Wal-Mart of grocery stores. We went there to stock up on supplies and were surrounded by Nigerians and Romanians, well dressed, thrilled to find Romanian wine for only €5 a bottle (so were we!). This was just a few blocks from Palmerstown Place, the street where my husband was born, in a different Dublin 50 years ago. That street has become part of one of the newly gentrified Dublin neighborhoods.
I decided to interview Tony, as an observer who recently spent three weeks back in his hometown, to get his impressions of how the old place has changed, and how the Irish are handling their new place in the world.
Gypsy Teacher: Welcome, Tony.
Tony: Hello.
GT: You were away for two years and you had the chance to be back for a good three weeks or so, with your family. So what are your impressions of how Dublin changed in that period?
T: Firstly, I think there is more, much more money since the time I left. There are more cars on the road. More new cars on the road. And there is also a certain, more of a self confidence about Dubliners than there was before I left.
GT: Besides the money, what have you noticed? I mean, there's got to be some sort of downside to the money. There's high prices—what else do you find? Are Dubliners dealing well with their new prosperity?
T: I'm sure they are. Prices have gone through the roof as regards basic commodities—which means Guinness. But I think with the introduction of places like Aldi, you can actually live pretty well.
GT: Traditionally Ireland has always been one of the most homogenous populations. When I was there, everyone was white; it was rare to see an African, or anyone who was visibly from a different culture, unless he was a tourist. So with the immigrants coming in, how do you think the Irish are handling that?
T: They're handling it pretty well. There is a problem with asylum seekers who cannot work but who can collect some social welfare. It's not actually called social welfare. It's called an assistance program for people who come here from Eastern Europe and Central Africa. They get a certain amount of money per week to live on and they’re housed in pretty nice bed and breakfasts around the city. This is one aspect of this new influx that’s causing problems because Irish people don't particularly like it. They're dealing with it, but they don't like it.
GT: Did you hear much about immigration in the newspapers or on radio? I know Ireland has radio call in shows like we do in the States with people calling in with opinions about the new asylum seekers.
T: Sure. One thing I'll say is that they’re discussing their problems. They're not just getting angry; they’re discussing their problems. They’re discussing them on early morning talk shows. For the three weeks I was there, there were at least three or four call in shows that dealt with this influx of Eastern Europeans and Africans.
GT: When I was visiting my former campus I saw that there had been a rally that was labeled as an anti-racism rally. They were afraid that there was more racism and bigotry popping up. Did you notice either the racism or the anti racism side?
T: I did notice that there were a lot of people who you could consider racist. They didn’t like these people coming in here. They didn’t like them being looked after in regards as the assistance aspect of it. I can't say that I've seen 100%; there was a small minority of people who I would consider racist. Not them all. But there was a small minority.
GT: And what do you think in the long term that is going to do to Ireland? They're good at talking about their problems, but what about doing something? How do you think it will change the culture?
T: I think that eventually they are going to have to deal with not being on their own and realizing that there are other cultures, other people, who may or may not be a different color than they are. And they will just have to deal with it. It’s going to take them a while, but eventually they are going to have to deal with the fact that there are other people in the world who want to come and live there because it offers them a better life. You have to remember that 150 years ago Irish people were the ones who took the boats to America to England to Canada to Australia to find better lives. It’s our time to help. And that's what I can say about that.
GT: And God bless them for doing it. Also, our ship was docked in the docks area and that's not far from where you used to work. What kind of differences did you notice in that area of Dublin?
T: When I worked there eight or nine years ago, it was a very depressed area. There were no businesses except for trucks that passed through from the Dockland area into the west of Ireland or on their way out of Ireland to England. Now it’s become a very upscale area of the city. The International Financial Services Center is there; most of the banks of the world have offices and buildings there. There’s a Jury’s Hotel on the docks which is quite amazing to me, having seen that block every morning when I walked to work compared to what it is now. There are also a lot more taxis that go down to that particular area of the city. That’s a good thing, because it has breathed new life into that part of the city that needed it for so long.
GT: So you think you want to move back?
T: No. Hollywood, Florida, is where I live now, in the United States and that's where I'm going to live. That's where my home is now.
GT: Your wife thanks you. And don't forget to pick up the laundry, honey.
I was thrilled to be back in Dublin, such an easy town. And pleased that most of the students were finding it as comfortable as I do. But on our last night, in the Palace Bar, home to Irish journalists for decades, when the young Japanese woman I was talking to described the whole city as “Brilliant!” I decided maybe it was time to move on.
Ireland is on its way to becoming integrated in the world market, and we need to get back on the ship and head off to the next European stop, Norway, which has managed to become a wealthy country without being a member of the European Union.
For the WLRN Radio Reading Service, this is Kathleen Dixon Donnelly—and Tony Dixon—at Sea.
posted by Kathleen at 8:49 AM
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