IRELAND’S CHANGING economic fortunes have forced the cancellation of a summer samba which has brought colour and festivities to a south Co Galway town over the past few years.
The Brazilian Festival, held each in the town centre in Gort, has had to be cancelled because so many Brazilians have had to go home. At one point, more than 800 Brazilians lived in Gort, having come to the town to work in a local meat plant.
Each summer, they staged a festival of music and dance, and showcased Brazilian food. However work has dried up over the past year and many Brazilians have gone home, forcing those still living in Gort to cancel the festival.
There are hopes of staging a smaller event later in the year.
There has been a significant rise in the past year in Brazilians returning home due to the economic situation. The International Organisation for Migration in Dublin last year reported a significant increase in immigrants applying for its voluntary repatriation scheme, with Brazilians accounting for some 40 per cent of the total.
The scheme, funded in Dublin by the Department of Justice and the EU, offers asylum seekers and undocumented migrants a flight to their country of origin and “reintegration assistance” to the value of €600 for each person or up to €1,200 a family. People from more than 30 countries availed of the scheme last year, with Brazilians the biggest group.
Isaias Silva, a local interpreter, said the typical applicant was a recently arrived man who spoke no English and had not been able to find a regular job. “The main reason is the economy is very bad,” he said. “We had a meat factory in Gort but, when that closed, a lot of Brazilians lost their jobs. They went into construction, but then there was the slowdown there.”