Sir, – Niamh Mulvey ("There's not much I like about Ireland, so I live in London", July 25th) believes the "new" Irish in London to be nothing like their predecessors and paints a rather judgmental view of those who came before her.
As the daughter of two Irish emigrants, raised in the vibrant Irish community of Cricklewood in the 1980s, I can safely say the picture painted of older Irish emigrants by Ms Mulvey is inaccurate.
Ms Mulvey believes her generation to be the first to have “Ryanair weekends at home”. My own father worked tirelessly to ensure his own family could make trips back home, with many a happy childhood holiday spent by my siblings and I in Ireland. Ms Mulvey believes her own “educated” generation to be different from those past. My own mother was a primary school teacher and she, like many Irish women of her age, made a significant contribution to the education of children living in northwest London in the 1970s.
It was the ambitious, industrious and committed nature of the “old” generation of Irish in London that makes it such a welcoming city for young Irish people today. Rather than distancing herself from them, Ms Mulvey should be embracing and congratulating her predecessors that paved the way so successfully for her and her generation. – Yours, etc,
ELISA O’DONOVAN,
Rathkeale,
Co Limerick.