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HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of Irish people living in England and rest of the UK woke up this morning to countries getting ready to leave the EU.
The United Kingdom has voted to leave the European Union in an historic move set to have wide ranging implications for Ireland and the rest of the world.
The dominant feeling being conveyed right right now is one of great uncertainty – as people scramble to figure out what exactly a ‘Brexit’ will mean for the world.
For the tens of thousands of young Irish emigrants living and working in London and the rest of England, their livelihoods and status could be on the line.
TheJournal.ie spoke to some Irish community representatives as well as people living and working in London to sample the mood after the result.
‘We just don’t know what will happen’
Ian Mclintock of the London Irish Centre told TheJournal.ie that at the moment the dominant sentiment in the Irish community was uncertainty.
Ian said that he hadn’t had time to properly gauge the Irish reaction but that in terms of the future “nothing is guaranteed”.
“We did testing prior to the referendum and the Irish here were primarily pro staying in the EU,” he said.
For younger people, the biggest concerns were the UK and Irish communities and jobs.
However, reflecting the wider voting trends, Ian said that of the older Irish people surveyed, two thirds wanted to leave the EU.
Ian said that only time will tell what the situation of the Irish in England will be once the UK has properly left the union.
While many believe that Ireland and the UK’s common travel policy between countries will remain, Ian said that “nothing is guaranteed”.
“It’s a different world we’re in now” he said.
Our hope is that things will just stay the same, but you can’t know.
However, he said that the relationship between the UK and Ireland was a longstanding one and he saw no reason why either country would want to change that.
“The UK has such a longstanding relationship with Ireland. I can’t see why they would damage that – but the truth is we just don’t know,” he said.
Whatever happens our job is to deliver the best we can for the community and we will continue to do that no matter what happens
“Rough seas ahead”
For young Irish immigrants living and working in London, fears over jobs, immigrant status and what it will mean for families back home are occupying their minds this morning.
“There’s an uncertainty around what’s going to happen – no really knows what the situation is,” Emmet Langan (26) told TheJournal.ie.
He moved to London in February and works in a photography studio. A large percentage of the workers aren’t from the UK, and Emmet wonders what their status will be once the negotiations are complete.
His primary worries rest on the plummeting value of the Pound and the uncertainty over what’s going to happen next.
“The Pound is losing all its value – Scotland are saying they want to leave and there’s talk over the border in Northern Ireland,” said Langan.
Whatever happens, there’s going to be rough seas ahead for the foreseeable future.
While he isn’t necessarily worried about his own position in the UK, Emmet Langan thinks that tighter border controls could well be introduced.
“I’m sure most people will be fine but I’d imagine there will be tighter immigration laws in the future,” he said.
“It’s very disappointing”
Hannah Little, a 26-year-old from Dublin working in freelance marketing in London, has concerns about Northern Ireland, family back home and what the vote means for UK politics in general.
“It’s very disappointing,” she told TheJournal.ie.
“There was a lot of anti-establishment votes – people just not knowing where to place their anger.”
In practical terms for Ireland, worries about costs over moving home, the decline in value of the Pound and the Northern Ireland border are at the forefront of her mind.
I don’t think we’re going to see effects for maybe a year or two years – but then again you really just don’t know.
However, aside from economic worries, concerns over what the vote means for the social and political fabric of England worry her most.
“I’m more worried about what kind of government people will vote for in the future,” she said.
“Looking at this referendum vote, there’s a lot of xenophobia, a lot of Islamophobia and that’s just not the country that I want to live in.
If there’s anything that will make me want to leave, it’ll be more societal problems rather than economic ones.
Are you living in the UK and are you happy or sad about the referendum result? Get in touch – cormac@thejournal.ie
I am struggling to remember a single thing this government have managed properly.
Apart from their numerous pay rises.
@Andrew Martin: working day and night to legitimise the pay rise for working day and night to legitimise the pay rise.
@Andrew Martin: errrr how about Ireland ranked 20th highest in full vaccinations? And a working tracking app, how about us not going the way of the UK. We ate doing a lot of right things. Sorry to ruin your massive failed whinge
@Paul Furey: Your opinion is in the minority now unfortunately
… People want the country opened up.
@Paul Furey: ha, a tracking app that chewed through battery power and didnt work 100%, 20th while vaccinating a relatively small population and what way are the UK going? Fully open soon and more vaccinated than us?…… I get that you’re pro govt in the majority of your posts but in reality they’ve handled this crisis very poorly on many levels. Poor communication, leaks, conflicting info, not protecting the elderly in the first wave, afraid to lock down initially while watching everyone else lock down(26th in europe to do so), not engaging with heavily impacted sectors, nearly a year in level 5 and not managing the economy through the whole thing, rules that dont make any sense, taking ages to enforce masks for a airborne disease, not making use of rapid testing. And theres prob more.
@Paul Hedderman: the UK also had 50 deaths today, the highest number since April. Do you want that here too?
@Paul Furey: The only thing this inept government can agree on is on how to F..k things up.
@Sam Harms: Adjust for population. Thats like 3 – 4 deaths here…. And they had 6 yesterday. Thats why 7 day moving averages are better stats to look at to get a more accurate picture.
@Paul Hedderman: in the past 7 days they have had 213 deaths
@Sam Harms: thanks sam. Thats an average of 30. This time in their second wave when they had slightly higher daily cases they were getting around 600 deaths a day. Big difference….. Thankful the vaccienes are being rolled out
@Sam Harms: Thanks also for proving my point. 50 is way worse than the 7 day average of 30. 66.6% more infact.
@Paul Hedderman: so you don’t think an average of 30 people a day dying from covid is bad? How many people are you willing to sacrifice?
@Sam Harms: in the UK, no, thats very good in regard to fighting the virus. Thats like 2 people a day here…… Around 2 people die a day here during flu season. Never any restrictions for that and most people go on with their daily lives unaware. While any death is sad for the loved ones humans get sick and die all the time. We live beside viruses and illness every day of our lives, unrestricted pre covid. We’ll get to a stage with covid where we’ll live unrestricted, hopefully limiting deaths as much as possible, but there’ll probably still be deaths. People need to realise that.
Typical..right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing….
@Paul Somers: typical….moaner
@Paul Furey: is ‘whinge’ your favourite word, Paul?
@JedBartlett: He seems to have an extremely limited vocabulary:)
@Paul Furey: i never tire of seeing you whinge about other people whinging.
Do they ever talk to each other before telling the public stuff?
@Ballybough Marcus: no they haven’t the intelligence
Misunderstanding something they are brilliant at
@Keith O Hanlon: Yes exactly, this is what the email says:You can use your certificate to facilitate travel across EU member states during the Covid-19 pandemic and on the actual cert it mentions that this is not a travel document
@Keith O Hanlon: Yes exactly, this is what the email says:You can use your certificate to facilitate travel across EU member states during the Covid-19 pandemic and on the actual cert it mentions that this is not a travel document
@d: Well thats actually a contradiction in terms as they are saying you must have it, or a pcr / antigen test, to travel.
So if you do not receive the covid passport by email having been vaccinated in June, and are flying on the 19th of July…..and there is no call centre no to contact ? you seriously could not make this up….
@Linda Oreilly: Well wouldn’t that be a little bit silly, booking for the very day the restricitions are up? In Ireland. Where nothing runs on time.
@Tom Tom: And its that sort of attitude that contributes to these shortcomings. “Ah shur we’ll be grand” instead of saying get your overpaid asses into gear get it done properly.
@Linda Oreilly: Is it not going to be available on the Covid tracker app as well? You’d have that to show?
@Fiona Fitzgerald: yep I got my Covid Vaccine Passport via email late last night. No more PCR tests!!
All i can think of anytime one of these eejits make a statement is a chant you would here at a foitball match ” You don’t know what you’re doing”
@Derek Lyster: just waiting and hoping for a slight slip up by theGovernment and the Shinners and lefties are out of the woodwork…the rest of us agree that a good job is being done in extreme and unprecedented situations.
@john gavin: I’m neither a Shinner nor a Leftie as you so condescendingly put it. I would just like our vastly overpaid representatives to do their jobs properly. Not try to rush through legislation that has in no way been thought properly through so they can go on holidays. I for one don’t agree that they, have or are, doing a good job.
@Franny Ando: But that’s exactly what a Stalint-Trotskist-Marxist-Lefty-Commie would say!
Seriously though, it self expires in 3 months and they can’t do it the right way anyway because it’s constitutionally *very* sketchy and likely wouldn’t pass muster. They are lucky they have Michael D to sign it tbh. I doubt some of our previous presidents would.
So, yeah, it’s rubbish, but at least it will put itself in the bin in October so I don’t see the need to stress it.
@John Considine: But remember they are also saying it can be extended beyond Oct. So let’s hope it is put in the bin:)
Michael Martin looking a bit unwell these days
Ahh the good old “GANFYD” approach: “Get A Note From Your Doctor”.
Doctor’s notes waste huge amounts of time and aren’t as valuable as most folk believe. Waste of your own money and your doctor’s time in many cases.
We need to move away from this business of medicalising everything. Why would you need a doctor’s note to eat out, go on holiday etc? Surely that’s the Dept of Health’s decision.
Tried to ring the number today as my cert has the wrong name on it. Rang once then disconnected. This happened 10 times. Looks like they’re getting paid not to answer the phone.
The Mrs. Received her cert today but is disappointed that it can’t be laminated due to the glare from the paper which prevents the digital machine from reading the QR code.
So what’s the phone number then ?
I got mine through my gp but at a hse vaccination centre. God only knows if or how I’ll get one. I better call the helpline. Oh no wait, its not set up yet.
Got phizer in a country outside the EU. I wonder will they accept my covid vaccination certificate!
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