Immigrant Integration – Central to Ireland’s Future
Last week’s census figures show that Ireland’s population is growing, that immigrants are not all leaving as was assumed and that Ireland is still experiencing net inward migration albeit at a slower rate than at the height of the boom.
Killian Forde, CEO of The Integration Centre, said “These facts have a number of implications for Irish society and state. Contrary to the popular rhetoric of late that Ireland does not need to plan for integration as most immigrants were leaving, Ireland must accept that it is the host to a changing demographic; one that handled correctly could have limitless potential.”
Maajid Nawaz, former militant and executive director of the Quilliam Foundation, a counter-extremism think-tank based in London, came out yesterday (4/06/11) saying that Ireland needed to learn from Britain’s mistakes so to avert a violent sub-culture from forming.
Mr Forde said “I believe Ireland is well positioned to be the leading example of how to do integration in the world”.
“This new government needs to capitalise on the opportunities new communities offer to Ireland. There have been a number of positive pointers so far that this government understands the importance of immigrants to Ireland’s future – the proposed reforms to citizenship procedures announced by Minister Shatter and the new immigrant scheme for entrepreneurship announced by Minister Kathleen Lynch.”
“Ireland has become, and will continue to grow further into a multi-cultural nation. We can either work together to create a nation we can all be proud of or allow social injustice and segregation to prosper.”
The Integration Centre is committed to the integration and inclusion of people from immigrant backgrounds in Ireland. The Centre specialises in planning, monitoring and advocacy at city, local, national and international levels, and it also provides regionalized information, advice and training services. Evidence-based research influences positive change in legislation, policy and practice. We have more than 250 affiliated organisations as part of our network.
Kategoria: Uncategorized