Ireland is a united nations of cultures
Sunday May 06 2007
IF AMERICA was once the great melting pot of the world, the new Celtic Tiger is close to matching it.
The once mono-cultural society of white Caucasian Irish Catholics is now home to over 150 diverse nationalities, according to figures supplied by the Department of Enterprise and Employment.
Figures supplied to Labour TD Tommy Broughan indicate that of the 54,430 from non-EU countries who secured work permits, inhabitants from the Philippines topped the list, with 8,709 migrants.
India was in second place with 4,612, while 3,855 South Africans are also active in the workforce.
The next biggest group of workers from outside the EU come from the former Soviet non-EU states. The Ukraine has 3,895 permits, Russia 1,220 and Belarus has 1,151 migrants. Other countries that have a high presence in the workforce were Pakistan 1759, Malaysia 1,847, Bangladesh 1,746 and Thailand 1167.
As might be expected, China is well represented with 2,751, but there is no shortage of Brazilian sambas in Ireland, courtesy of the presence of over 2,746 Brazilians.
The Irish workforce now includes inhabitants from every land from Algeria to Angola.
In the new Ireland, the man from Bolivia mingles with the socialist from Cuba, and inhabitants from the distant Kingdom of Bhutan will meet the strong men of Tonga and the good inhabitants of the Republic of Togo. There are workers from both sides of the Korean cold-war sponsored divide and even Mongolia.
