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This week, an article that purported to describe the life of Polish woman ‘Magda’ on the dole in Ireland sparked a storm of controversy – and accusations that her situation had been misrepresented.
Here Anna Pas, a Polish journalist living in Dublin, describes the complex attitudes she encounters – and how things have changed since the recession.
MAGDA, HAVE YOU got your boarding card yet?
From ‘hardworking people’ to ‘welfare tourists’ – it only took us one recession, two years, and a few badly-researched articles to change the perception of Poles living in Ireland.
How does it feel when a complete stranger compliments you on your “decent English”, and inquires about your personal life, marital status, your wages and where do you do your grocery shopping? Or how about that deeply concerned job facilitator in your local Social Welfare Office who suggests a one-way ticket back home instead of an upskilling course? And let’s not forget about all these insightful conversations with your work colleague about that lovely cleaning lady who used to work for them and has never been in a pub because she is saving up, poor thing.
After having lived here for seven years now, I have had endless conversations like this. And no, I am not going home any time soon, thank you very much. Being Polish in Ireland doesn’t mean I have some sort of a Ryanair loyalty card to fly there on a monthly basis. Home is here, and hopefully so it will be for my family and kids, if they ever happen.
Why then, if we only make a remark on some bad weather, a poorly-staffed health system or yet another tax, we hear ‘Go back to Poland if you don’t like it in here.’ Some more generous people would even offer to pay for our plane ticket.
Sadly, a bad mix of inaccurate journalism, a pinch of sensationalism, and a few irresponsible comments from the Irish politicians accompanying the story of ‘Magda’, an unemployed Polish waitress who was said to be abusing the social welfare system, provoked an avalanche of reactions towards the Polish community in Ireland earlier this week.
Suddenly, from being a nation of ‘hard-working people’, ‘highly-skilled professionals’, and ‘a pool of new talent’, we became poster-children for the ‘unskilled labour force’, ‘migrants sending millions of euro back home’, and the masterminds of welfare scams. As no one can imagine a politician or a publicist using that sort of language towards the African or Asian community for fear of being accused of racism, it is acceptable to illustrate every story about migrants in Ireland with a quote from some ‘Polish worker’. An example of a Polish professional appearing on prime-time TV to discuss some general issue concerning today’s multi-ethnic Irish society is yet to be witnessed. Some day.
So are the Irish racists? No. Not in general. But there is a level of veiled, indirect xenophobia and racism present in everyday life. In all these small chats about going back home often, and unspoken expectations on migrant workers to make room for young Irish people who are being forced to join the emigration story as their fathers and grandfathers did in the past.
These are challenging times we are living in, and fighting to get Ireland working again is our common agenda here. Blaming foreigners for the Irish crisis is only adding to the existing social tensions and may backfire badly. The distance from the society of a hundred thousand welcomes to the nation driven by populist propaganda is probably less than that from my Polish home town to my Dublin home here. It all starts in your head.
Anna Pas is a Polish journalist based in Dublin.
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I was at a blindboy gig last Friday in naas and colm O’Gorman pretty much said on the topic of vulture funds that we can legislate for this. We don’t need a referendum. We just need to give our (landlord) politicians as much hassle as we can until they listen and legislate to halt vulture funds buying up housing
@ChuckE: pretty much single decision maker and td here is a property owner. They don’t have to be a landlord to want rising prices !
@Shane Murphy: TDs should be forced to sell all investments, at market rate with tax exemption, prior to taking the role. The role is well paid and has a pension. If they want to make further investments they can do so when they relinquish the role.
Fairly simple.
@Mushy Peas: They would just transfer to family members.
People saying well move 2-3 hours outside whats the big deal. Big deal is why should they have to move outside? These people work in Dublin, their siblings their parents their kids are born there, their network is in Dublin. Why spend 6 hours a day travelling to and from work. Any working citizen should be able to afford to live in our capital city. Because it’s possible to commute huge distances doesn’t mean it should be normal. From studios to penthouses, all budgets and needs should be catered for. At least in German cities there are places for top dollar for those who want, and then also places as low as 300-400 for those who can only afford that. And thats just the private German market, they have massive amounts of social housing too. Now we have a situation in Dublin where the dingiest dirtiest 1 room kip is renting for 1600 pm, with furniture pulled from a skip in the 80s. Not right at all.
@TimBuck2: no one has addressed the fact that the writer only needs a single bedroom unit, and like every other millennial working couple, they are looking for a three bedroom house, pushing up the competition with those with 2+ kids for “future potential bigger family”. if they want the German model don’t ever put aside savings and be happy to splash out now on a luxury 1 bed in the city, and get used to higher rent for when you need to upgrade.
@TimBuck2: no one mentioned a 6 hour commute. You can find a new build, 2 bed in kilcock going for 275k at present. 45mins on train to Connolly. Can’t go wrong with that.
@TimBuck2: Limerick and Galway are 2-3 hours away, maybe a bit of an exaggeration? The problem as well as housing is insufficient transport infrastructure, if you could get to you family in 20 minutes that would be plenty close enough? Well if transport was sorted out all the surrounding counties would be options. In a free-market (lol!) capitalist society you cant expect preferential treatment, you just wont get it. Unless you’re rich or to a certain extent poor.
@TimBuck2: sorry to disappoint you but not everyone who wants to love in Dublin is going to be able to there aren’t infinite amounts of space. And Dublin is no different to any other capital city, if you want to live near a capital city you are going to pay a premium for doing so.
@Renton Burke: only needs a single bedroom unit?? Did you miss the part where he said he was paying crèche fees?
@Renton Burke: Ignoring the fact that this couple have kids and you obviously did’t read the article. Do you think that young people should lock themselves down in 30+ year mortgages and spend obscene amounts for a one-bed shoebox which will pretty much guarantee they’ll never have room for children? These couples aren’t 20 the average homebuyer in Ireland is in their 30s how long do you think they feasibly have if they want to start a family? They’re thinking long-term and besides the idea of a starter home needs to die, especially when most millennials can’t afford a home. Period.
@TimBuck2:
Since the year dot there has been a premium placed on more desirable properties. This applies at every level, whether it’s the most desirable property in the street, the most desirable street in the neighbourhood, the most desirable neighbourhood in the city or the most desirable city in the country.
Like it or not we live in a system where supply and demand is king, and you’ll always be competing against someone else’s money for a desirable resource.
Government could certainly do more to legislate though.
Plenty of new builds for sale outside of Dublin that are within your price range.
@Simon McGrath: Shut up.
@Dr. X (Official Continuity Faction): Why should he? He is, in my opinion, pointing out a valid option. You on the other hand, have nothing more intelligent to say than “shut up”. I’d love to have a 3 bed gaff in Dublin 4, or even Dublin 12 for that matter, but I don’t. Instead of writing articles moaning about it, I made do with a commuter town. I’ve had to alter my hours and make a few lifestyle changes, but I’m taking the positives out of it, and maybe in 10 years I will have the money to move to Dublin 12.
@Mick paisley: likewise Mick. As much as I would have preferred to live in Dublin my budget and other factors dictated where I bought in the end. Such is life I’m afraid. I have no complaints about this decision.
@Mick paisley: Or we may all get the transport options we deserve and you can be there in 30 minutes.
@Dr. X (Official Continuity Faction): That was a fairly comprehensive argument fair play.
@thesaltyurchin: why don’t people fight for better transport then rather than housing in Dublin?
@Sam Harms: It would make more sense. If everyone that wanted to live in Dublin could afford it, there would be a huge shortage of houses. Maybe 100k or more people moving back from kildare, Louth, Meath, Wicklow and further. Dublin couldn’t cope. Go to the new estates in these counties, and the majority aren’t from the area, they are there because its were they can afford. Ironically this pushes the locals further down the country in a lot of situations.
@Sam Harms: there is colossal amount of land in Dublin. There are bloody farms within the m50 for god sake. Dublin port could be used for housing. Have you ever flown into Dublin ? This nonsense about a lack of land is comedy. !
A simple solution would be to allow the planners to grant planning permission with a stipulation that the properties can only be sold to owner occupiers. London has this.
We can introduce laws overnight to halt the rise of Airbnb so why not introduce these planning clauses here. ???
It’s absolutely disgusting. Turn the most basic human need, into a cash machine. People will slash all other expenditure to pay for a roof over their head , including food. They wish to create a society of renters they can control and extort their entire life. Fg claiming they represent the working man is an insult!
Just be sure to keep voting ffg because ah sure “they’re are no alternatives”
@Sarah: what is your alternative?
@Barry Somers: the only party that stands a chance realistically is SF. Do I agree with everything they say? Of course not. But continuing to vote ad nauseum for FF/FG in a never ending cycle will continue this open contempt they appear to have for the average Irish citizen, they will continue to push policies that benefit no one but an elite cohort because sure the sheeple will always continue to vote for them, as if by divine decree they have an inherit right to be in power. I think the greatest damn trick FG and the Irish Media have pulled in the last decade is convincing the Irish people that “things could get worse” and “there are no alternatives” so keep voting for more of the same..
No doubt FFG will be opposed… Most sold already anyways..
@Willy: Of course they will oppose the mess they created…..No money for their mates to make if every family actually owns their home….
Why not buy a large house in Mullingar. Just an hour by train from Connolly Station. At your budget you will a have huge selection of properties to purchase.
Best of luck.
@James Rhatigan:
A client just bought a 3 bed semi in a town less than 50 mins on the train from heuston (population about 10,000) for €140k
@James Rhatigan: commuting from down the country though, you have to also factor in the time to get to the station. Then depending n where you work in the city maybe another 30 minutes to get to your job. Plus of course factor in any extra time required due to delays and/or cancellations. And then do it all again in the evening.
Some people like the idea of actually having time to spend in their new home rather than commuting.
@Kendra Jackson: but they have no problem comparing East Germany (or Berlin, where you would not be able to buy a 3 bed semi for anywhere as low as the current stock in D12/D16) or else renting a shoebox in a bleak tower for those low prices. everyone is so blinkered by anti FFG rhetoric, they don’t get that to get “affordable living” in a 2 bed box, and reduce the pressure on 3 bed semis in the suburbs, we need vultures to flood the market with cheap apartment blocks. this article is just a moan with no viable solution.
@Kendra Jackson: Drogheda, Newbridge and Wicklow Town are all an hour from Dublin on the train. The number 16 bus from Rathfarnham into Town takes about 45 mins on a good day, over an hour on a bad day.
@Kendra Jackson: they do it in every country though. Why should Ireland be any different? Why does everyone HAVE to live in Dublin? Are Irish people too good to commute or something?
The problem is the asking price advertised is false , you can put another 20-100k on top of it if the demand is high for that property . There is no transparency in the bidding, you just have to take the estate agents word for it that you have been outbid . The whole system is broken and has been since around 2001-2002. Unfortunately I cannot see anything improving until Ireland is prepared to revolt.
@Stoneybroke: that the purpose of it – it’s trying to get the absolute maximum for the person selling, not to do a favour for the buyer! just remember that for every purchase there is a seller, and they are usually people who want to cash in.
One big piece of information missing in the Dublin v Berlin agrument. Irish take home pay is higher because of lower taxation. Also if you compare how much the average family (2 children) in Ireland receives in children’s allowance etc. then the differential with a German family’s income is even bigger.
@John Horan: I have German family and friends in Hamburg and Berlin and even some in Luxembourg. Do you know what they’ve NEVER said that? “Gosh it’s so much cheaper here! Cost if living and take home pay really make life easier” what they DO say is “Jesus Christ, WHY is everything do expensive here! How do you afford it?”
@John Horan: their transport system is amazing and affordable. No need to own a car there. One or two Berlin sized apartment blocks would probably solve the housing crisis in this city. They are huge not high rise. We have muppets running the place.
@Anne: the ballymun experiment fecked that up. we made the mistake of infrastructure less blocks before, and there is zero chance of our politicians risking infrastructure when we don’t know what developers will build.
@Renton Burke: Ballymun failed because it was all social housing, Not because it was high rise.
@Rob Cahill: now they’re doing the same thing in St Michael’s Estate, 500 units with no amenities whatsoever. It’s a slum, just a shiny new one and by the time it all goes belly up in 20 years our beloved leaders will be long retired with multiple pensions. 100 years of FFG rule has brought us to this. The indepents have shown their true colours. Maybe, as one previous poster said, its time to vote Sinn Fein and see if there is an alternative as we can’t get any worse than we are now.
@Sarah: Sorry Sarah…I think you actually need to read the comment. To paraphrase myself…yes Ireland is more expensive….but our take home pay is so much higher than in Berlin, especially when you consider the added benefits of the benefits of the welfare payments families in Ireland receive. I would very happily pay 3k in rent if I earned 6k, much better than paying 2k and earning 4k. The article does not compare apples with apples. Another example…Singapore I paid rent there of 7k EUR per month, but I was earning 15k. Would you complain in that case?
New homes in Kells Co Meath ,one hour from O’Connell Street on the 109x from 230k .
The book is even moving ack from trinity.
As a person who was born and bred in the north inner city Dublin. My city has lost all its character and Old architecture. You can keep the new Dublin for me. I hate what it’s become. I am off as soon as I possibly can. Do not buy a house in Dublin. Go to the west coast and see what you can get there for your money. At least the country people still have some resemblance of what Ireland is. Dublin is more like London than it has ever been in the past.
@sean slipper: Much like every capital city in the world, we were just a little late to the party.
Our idiot FFG politicians bankrupting the country, passing the state debt onto the people, then encouraging the vulture funds to come in to buy all the property to keep the country afloat, exacerbating the problem. Its just a continuous shambolic trend of our govs effing up, then taking action which is sacrificing the public to save themselves. Then its vote for us again in the next election. Seriously how much longer can we take of these FFG idiots effectively raping the people of their resources to save themselves while making themselves multimillionaires in the process.
I went for Naas, much more affordable than Dublin and quite a pleasant place to live.
Plenty of houses for sale less than 400,000, the couples budget, Drimnagh, Inchicore, Crumlin!
I have a house for sale in Dublin 12 for 300k. It did me for 20 years. I’m only moving as I need more bedrooms.
23 Bunting Road.
Check out this property I found using Daft: https://www.daft.ie/12074830
@Derek Kearney: Unfortunately, a man like Brian Connolly and his wife wouldn’t live in gaff like that. Brian wants plush surroundings, a house with a certain wow factor, he wants somewhere where his work is right at his doorstep, everything at this beck and call, ultimately what Brian wants is a place where his massive ego can fit in the doorstep.
@Derek Kearney:
Best of luck with that.
@Seamus Hanratty: dead right
Conflict of interest does not apply for these criminals called politicians. They are all in the same boat
You can buy a lovely house in Portlaoise 3 bed €180k 4 bed €200k aprox. Why do business’s continue to provide jobs where there is no affordable housing. And end up having to pay higher wages or suffer a high staff turnover.
I have a house for sale in Dublin 12 for 299k in near perfect condition. It did me for 20 years. I’m am only moving as I need more bedrooms:
Check out this property I found using Daft:
23 Bunting Road, Dublin 12
https://www.daft.ie/12074830
@Derek Kearney: Fair price, good luck with the sale.
Does anyone know why the Capital Dock development got the exemption for social housing. Will Montrose get a similar exemption or Eglinton Road? I thought the social housing % was set in stone.
This article reads like a similar scenario for many people circa 2002 to 2006. No matter how difficult this may be, do not buy property that has been artificially inflated to levels that we are now at. Everybody follows the trend, until the bend at the end! (Bend coming in 3 years)
The state needs to take control of this basic citizens right to a home, not necessarily to own one, by directly providing a significant proportion of homes at cost, on state land, by CPO if necessary.
Significant should be 25% for 20 years, until the public housing stock is restored to that level, & the private market is cooled down for those above the income levels for public housing.
It has been done very well by this state when resources were much scarcer, it’s just a matter of voting in the people who will redirect priorities to that end. Note that for the local elections.
Keep the foreign offshored funds out by forcing the state to buy the Cairns & similar developments.
If billions can be spent on one hospital, & on interminable public enquiries, then billions can be spent on homes.
I inquired for the new Grand Canal apartments. Starting is 500,000 for a one bed.
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