Majority say society now at immigration 'limit'

CONTRADICTORY ATTITUDES towards immigration are revealed in a new study which has found that a majority of Irish people believe society has “reached its limits” in accepting other races, religions and cultures.

“Problems” could arise if there was further immigration from people within these minority groupings, preliminary results of the survey indicate.

The analysis by sociologists from Mary Immaculate College (Mary I) and University of Limerick (UL) is based on a survey carried out late last year of people living in the west, midwest and south. It was presented at this weekend’s annual Sociological Association of Ireland conference in Galway.

Significantly, a majority of respondents had also agreed that it was a “good thing” for any society to be made up of people from different cultures and religions, the study by Amanda Haynes and Eoin Devereux (UL) and Michael Breen (Mary I) noted.

Some 86.6 per cent agreed with this thesis, compared with 74.4 per cent in a Eurobarometer study of 2003.

Almost 70 per cent questioned also felt that diversity added to Ireland’s strengths – a rise of over 10 per cent from a similar Eurobarometer question in 2003. However, almost 79 per cent felt that there was a “limit” to this, and just over 67 per cent felt that this limit had been reached.

This suggested that people may be giving “politically correct” answers to certain questions, the conference heard.

In an analysis of questions relating to myths and misinformation, the study found extreme “lack of clarity” among respondents about the difference between an asylum seeker and a refugee.

Only 15.4 per cent of the sample cited “safety” as a reason why people seek asylum here, with more than twice as many believing it was related to “employment or social welfare”.

Most respondents overestimated the number of asylum seekers who had come to Ireland the previous year, and nearly 40 per cent thought that the direct provision allowance was over €100 a week.

Over 90 per cent of respondents believed reports about immigrants in the media, and the negativity of much of this coverage is reflected in reports of which respondents remembered details.

Also speaking at the conference, Claire Dorrity of University College Cork (UCC) said there was an urgent need for an “ethnic-led” umbrella group at national level to help influence policy. Minorities also needed to be represented by members of their own ethnic group at political level to avoid misrepresentation.

Research on the Brazilian community in the south Galway town of Gort by Brian McGrath of NUI Galway found that a lot of people with undocumented status lived in fear and an “informal economy” worked on the basis of trust. However, this can allow for exploitation.

Up to a third of the town’s population is Brazilian, since the first small group arrived to work in the former Duffy meat plant almost 10 years ago. A number of those interviewed in Portuguese for the research said that while strong family networks made it easier for more recent migrants to settle, a “dominant majority” from Goias in south central Brazil is seen as “closed” to those from other parts.

“They don’t pass the jobs . . . nobody wants to help the others,” one interviewee said.

The arrival of more Brazilians in later years had eroded a sense of obligation to compatriots, and there were instances where jobs were being “sold” and where people were paying compatriots for basic language services and assistance.

Children of Brazilian migrants provided a key towards integration, and national policy should include far greater support for the school network in facilitating integration, said Mr McGrath.