Young Chinese and Polish immigrants are so isolated from the wider Irish community that many were unaware of the recent Census, according to the authors of an ongoing study on "New Irish Lives".
Rebecca King O'Riain, a sociologist at NUI Maynooth, told a conference in Sligo that many young immigrants are so homesick that their only exposure to media is the newspapers from home which they read on the internet.
"Contrary to what many Irish people think, they are very orientated towards going home and see themselves as staying in Ireland for a very short time, long enough to learn a language or make some money," she said.
"We found, for example, that young Polish workers have Polish television piped into their homes, they read Polish newspapers on the net and they are in constant e-mail and text contact with home."
Ms King O'Riain told the 33rd annual conference of the Sociological Association of Ireland, which continues today at Sligo Institute of Technology, that because the young immigrants do not listen to RTÉ or read Irish newspapers, "many were unaware that there was a census going on here".
The Maynooth-based sociologist has, with two student colleagues, interviewed 40 immigrants aged from 18 to 30 from China and Poland for a project funded by the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism. The students and young workers, who were interviewed in their native languages, told researchers they were very well aware they were perceived in Ireland as being "a cheap and docile labour force", according to Ms King O'Riain.
Researchers concluded that the Chinese immigrants were more vulnerable because most were on student visas, while Polish workers, who tended to be older and better educated, felt more able to switch jobs because they are from an EU state.
Ms King O'Riain said some of the young foreign workers interviewed were being paid less than the minimum wage.
Most of the Chinese respondents were students of language schools or third-level colleges, who were entitled to work 20 hours during term and 40 hours a week during holiday periods.
One young Chinese student said: "We Chinese, yes, we are hard workers and we don't complain. But I want to tell the bosses that we are not stupid".
While both ethnic groups reported that their Irish colleagues were friendly, there was little or no social interaction outside the workplace.
