A STUDY into the needs of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in Co Clare has found that Roma girls as young as 14 and 15 years are sent home to the Czech Republic to marry.
The report by the University of Limerick’s centre for peace and development studies found that Czech and Slovak Roma communities “seem to be especially isolated” in Clare.
The authors found that Roma girls were erratic school attendees, with the girls leaving school to marry and “despatched for this purpose by their families to the Czech Republic at very young ages, 14 or 15 sometimes”.
The study – the most in-depth to date on the estimated 8,000 migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Co Clare – found that “despite an impressive record for developing locally-based social networks, a significant minority of Clare’s new residents often feel unwelcome”.
It found that “a large majority of the refugees and asylum seekers consulted complained about hostile or discriminatory treatment and culturally condescending perceptions directed at them”.
It said: “Africans and eastern Europeans alike perceived that they were resented for taking up local employment, subjected to rude treatment in shops and explicit racist abuse in streets and public places, and more occasionally, experienced racist officials.”
