Irish emigrants sang rebel songs, Polish immigrants have karaoke sessions. We drank too much. They might too - though they do stop and eat occasionally. Davin O'Dwyer visits two new Dublin pubs that offer a taste of home to the city's Polish populace
Back when we had to leave Ireland in droves to find work abroad, every town had a full church and a full pub. We no longer have to go abroad, and we've largely left the church behind, but the pub isn't going anywhere. Whether filled with fiddles or fitted out in chrome, the pub is the centre of our social universe. But there's a new kid on the Irish bar scene, and it can match us for the warm welcome while drinking us under the table in the time it takes our Guinness to settle.
In the past six months, Polish bars and special Polish nights have begun to spring up not only in Dublin, but all over the country. Two such bars in central Dublin, Kanal on Capel Street and Zagloba on Parnell Street, are great examples of Polish hospitality, though they could hardly be more different in style.
Kanal used to be an Italian restaurant, and from the street it still has the look of an eaterie, though now the menu is filled with hearty fare such as bigos (cabbage, mushroom and sausage stew) or fasolka po bretonsku (bean and sausage stew). A friend and I enter, thinking we can handle the lack of pizza.
On this particular night, karaoke has been given a thoroughly Polish makeover. A keyboardist plays the tunes, the screen throws up the lyrics and a girl who could be a Polish pop star is giving it loads. It's hard to tell with an untrained ear, but the jaunty lyrics are probably something to do with the simple trifles of love - no mournful ditties about the evils of the emigrant ship for these guys. A round of applause goes up from the dozen or so customers, mostly men in small groups of two or three. Photographs of Cracow and Gdansk line the walls.
Behind the bar, Justyna Cuchcinska and Aga Ogorzelec are quick with a smile and a greeting. Any questions about Polish beer or eastern vodkas, and Cuchcinska has the answers. "Tyskie is the most popular beer, but there's also Lech and Okocim and others. Of course, we have lots of vodka, too," she says. "During the day, it's a restaurant, but we get Irish people eating here too. They like the food; it's good value." Cuchcinska is from Gdansk; the previous week she had returned home to complete some exams for a master's degree she is working on there. If anything defines the new world of European economic migrants, it's studying in one country while working in another .
The karaoke singer, Magdalena Osiadla, takes her place behind the bar with Cuchcinska and Ogorzelec. The bar would normally be much busier at this hour, they tell us, but a popular Polish band, Kult, is playing the first of two packed nights at the Village, a venue more used to hosting Irish, British and US musical talent. As a result, a sizeable chunk of Dublin's Polish population is in Wexford Street. Despite the alternative attraction, Kanal is gradually filling up, and the musical entertainment from the keyboardist is offering reminder enough of home.
Bogdan Wojcik, a truck driver from southern Poland who has been in Ireland for nearly a year, persuades us to switch from Okocim beer to vodka and orange juice. "That's what we drink: vodka and orange," he says. And drink it they do. Wojcik is also keen on apple juice and Zubrowka, a bison-grass vodka, each bottle containing a long blade of grass, but we stick to the orange stuff. The vaguely guilty acknowledgment that, as a nation, we drink too much is being somewhat assuaged by the revelation that, heck, so do the Poles. We're perfect for each other.
To prove the point, the keyboardist starts calling out: "Hey, Irish, sing us a song." My friend skips the Polish pop and goes for some old-fashioned Irish balladry - One, by U2. The applause and handshakes turn into another round of vodka and orange juice.
"Nastrovya," the whole place cheers as we toast the increasingly warm Hiberno-Polish relations. "Sláinte," we say in return.
"You had England, we had Russia and Germany," Wojcik animatedly explains, just so we know the kinship goes deeper than a fondness for a tipple. We might have to learn their rebel songs next.
But the similarities do go deeper. An emigrant community yearning to create a home from home is nothing new, yet it's hard to look at the Polish pub scene and not think of Irish bars abroad, with Guinness ads or photographs of Gaelic football teams - or maybe Connemara ponies - on the walls.
"I did that, took the boat to England in the 1980s," says David Nolan, the Kerry-born owner of Zagloba, on Parnell Street. "And it's the small things, like the packet of Tayto crisps in the bar in New York, that's a big deal. It makes the difference."
Nolan works in construction, and all the Poles he works with said they really needed a bar of their own. "I heard the lease was up on this place, so I took it. We opened the first week in December. It's been doing quite well, especially at weekends.
"They like it because it's a taste of home; the bar staff and management are Polish, we have three Polish beers on tap, 12 types of bottled beer, 40 different types of vodka, and we've started serving Polish food. We have Polish movie nights, and Polish TV with over 40 channels, the football and everything. Even the background music is Polish."
Nolan feels their economies will catch up, but it will take time. "I don't see any slowdown in the number of workers coming from Poland, not for the time being. They are suffering the same sort of brain drain as we had 20 years ago, with their educated young people - good educations in IT, medicine, engineering - all moving away. It does remind me of that time, and their attitude, the air of enthusiasm to get work and work hard. It's very similar, except their economy is also 20 years behind ours."
Zagloba is more rambunctious than the homely Kanal, with dimmer lights and louder music - aptly, the bar is named after a fictitious Falstaffian nobleman renowned for his carousing. The spacious back room houses an energetic DJ, the dance floor full of appreciative Poles.
"We have lots of live music," says Nolan. "There are two or three Polish jazz bands in Dublin; one of them got together through playing at the bar. We have jazz on Sunday afternoons, but also Irish acts on Fridays, multicultural music nights on a Saturday; it's far more than just Polish music. We do get Irish customers in, maybe 20 per cent of our custom. They say: 'God, isn't it great to have a choice, with different beers and different sounds.' " That said, this part of Parnell Street is becoming a Little Warsaw, with two eastern European food stores in the area and a Polish-language newsletter, Polska Gazzetta, printed above Zagloba.
So far, neither of the big Polish bars in Dublin is Polish-owned, but it's only a matter of time. Already, a Slovakian couple are planning to take the lease on a traditional Irish pub in Tuam, Co Galway. Ivana Skopova and Milos Suran hope to keep the regulars in Canavans pub while also appealing to the large eastern European community in the town with a range of Polish, Russian, Ukrainian and Slovakian food and beer. "We hope also the Irish will try our cuisine, and we hope they will like it," says Skopova.
Michael Mshannon, the Italian-Libyan-Irish owner of Kanal and the Little Sicily restaurant on Parliament Street, says: "They are very friendly and hard-working but very into their own culture; that is why we are doing well. They miss home, and every two or three months they want a week off to go home and visit friends and family."
"Yes, I miss home," says Lukasz Kowalczyk, a bricklayer from Rzeszów, in southeastern Poland. "But here I can get €20 an hour for my work while, at home, nothing. I had to come here. It's nice, but I miss home." His Lithuanian friend, Anton, agrees. "I would rather be at home, of course, but places like this are good; you can have fun here. And we have some money to have fun."
Lucas S, 21, from Warsaw: 'I'm enjoying every kind of Polish beer here. It's great'
"I have been in Ireland 16 months. I am studying business studies in the institute of technology in Tralee. This is the first time in my life in Dublin. It's amazing. There's Polish pubs, beer, food. You don't get that in Tralee. I want to study here for four years. I live with my girlfriend; she came to Ireland because she couldn't live without me. I come from a rich family in Poland - Poland for rich people is one big party. I wanted to grow up, do something different. My parents are not supporting me here. You have to do that yourself. I'm enjoying every kind of Polish beer here. It's great. Some people say people in Dublin are rude and that Polish people don't feel welcome, but I don't think it is true."
Renata Nowak, 26, from Nowa Ruda: 'I want to finish college in Poland and then come back here'
"I played Olympic handball for the Polish national team for three years. Also I was a snowboard instructor. I am in the third year of college in Poland, at the Academy of Sports. I came over here to learn English for a year. It's worth it. I am very happy. I want finish college in Poland and then come back over here. I have been here six months. I have found it very good here. I like the people, and things will improve when my English improves. This is my first job in Ireland. There is a super atmosphere and super people. We are treated well. I managed a bar in Poland. The atmosphere is similar between staff and customers, but between the staff and manager it is much better here. My sister, Dorota Idzi, was a world champion. She is a vice- president of the Polish Olympic Committee and a TV presenter."
Michael W, 38, from Warsaw: 'Two weeks ago, I started boxing'
I have been here 10 months. I do security in Zagloba only on the weekends. I work in a factory too. I worked in a bank in Poland as a financial analyst, but the capital was foreign; they left, so I was fired. There is no good job for me in Poland. My mother is sick in Poland with Alzheimer's. I get more money working here - I send her money back every week. I try to go back home every six months. I might try to go to New Zealand or Norway at some stage. I came to Ireland because of better salaries. I studied economics in Poland, so I know where is good for jobs. I'm probably too old for jobs in banks here now. Irish life is good. People are very gentle and helpful. I didn't know anyone living here. I came over with my best friend; she works in DCU as a kitchen porter. I like going to Temple Bar and Zanzibar. Two weeks ago, I started boxing. I go two nights a week; it improves my health."
Irena Kuryj from Cracow: 'In Poland I'm a photographer. Here I'm a cleaner'
"I cook Polish dinner in Zagloba on Saturday and Sunday. The special dish is bigos, a stew of beef, cabbage, mushrooms, sausage, chilli. Cooking is my hobby. I work in Intel as a cleaner. In Poland I'm a photographer. Here I am a cleaner . . . C'est la vie. I live in Maynooth. I have been here for a couple of years. Now here is very good for me: nice people, good pay. In Poland: no work, no pay. Here I'm going to school, learning English. I knew David, the boss here. He helped me when I came first."
Peter Padiaset, 25, from near Katowice: 'My English isn't good'
"I have been here a few months. I live in Bray. There are a lot of Polish, Czech and Latvian people in Bray. When my girlfriend is finished school she might come over for a while. I work for a delivery company in Bray. We deliver pizzas, newspapers, things like that . . . I like it. My boss is very nice. I really like my job. I worked as a hairdresser in Poland. I'd like to do it again here, but my English isn't good."
Leszek Mikulski, 27, from Warsaw: 'We want to create a network for Polish in Ireland'
"I work for Sonic Agency. We organise Polish parties and charity events in Dublin. We have just had a big event at the Ambassador. I have been here four years. I came to Ireland because it is English-speaking. My first job was on Henry Street, with a billboard on top of me for an Indian restaurant. It was a very, very crap job. We want to do something for the Polish crowd - and to make money - but we want to create a network for the Polish here. There are lots Polish people working in building sites. They are not good jobs, so it is good that they can come to Zagloba, meet people from Poland, hear Polish music and get Polish drink and food."