Political Parties ignoring immigrants because they think they are unlikely to vote in local elections
Report: Inclusive Politics for a Diverse Republic
The perception among political parties that immigrants are unlikely to vote in the upcoming local government elections has undermined commitments to integration within political parties, according to a new report.
In the last local government elections (2009) more than 40 immigrant candidates stood for election. About half represented political parties. About half were African in origin and about half were from Eastern Europe with most of these being Polish.
At the time, within a number of political parties there seemed to be a rising enthusiasm for integrating migrants into the political system.
Today, in the run up to the local government elections on 23 May 2014, some political parties seem to be making less of an effort to integrate the immigrant community.
“Very few immigrant candidates have been selected by Irish political parties for the upcoming local government elections,” said Professor Brian Fanning, UCD School of Applied Social Science who co-authored the report, Inclusive Politics for a Diverse Society.
“Efforts to engage with immigrant communities appears to have declined. Debate about integration has dropped off the political radar and from the programmes of political parties.”
The new report highlights that there is no longer a Minister of State for Integration. It claims that Ireland’s large immigrant communities – who comprise one in eight of the population – are all but invisible within the political system.
This especially holds for the Polish community that, a decade after EU Enlargement, has become Ireland’s largest immigrant community and linguistic minority. According to the 2011 census Poles now make up more than two and half percent of the population of the Republic of Ireland.
“The likely outcome of the 2014 local government elections is that only a small number of immigrants will be elected as councillors. Immigrant political representation in the Dail seems a long way off,” added Professor Fanning.
“It is crucial that immigrants turn out to vote in order to challenge the prevailing perception within a number of political parties that they can be ignored.”
Barnaba Dorda of Forum Polonia, the immigrant-led organisation that commissioned the research said: “There are considerable challenges in engaging the Polish community in the political process and the likely long term marginalisation of Ireland’s largest immigrant community from the political system is a matter of grave concern. Beyond encouraging immigrants to vote it is crucial that mechanisms are put in place to ensure that local government is responsive to Ireland’s diverse communities.”
Agnieszka Wieczorkowska, an Independent candidate standing for Dublin City Council, said: “In my opinion, diversity is a value and it is absolutely necessary to build an open and modern community. I would like to see more women and migrants involved in Irish political life. It is our civic duty to participate in the electoral process and people should be aware of their voting rights. We should and we need to participate in the decision making process that affects our local community. As a councillor I want to represent all citizens of our area. I would like to respond to our local needs and concerns, improve the general development in our area and make our local community a better place to live in.”
Rafal Kornatka (also standing as an independent candidate for Dublin City Council) said: ‘I want to work to create a better life for my local community. My aim is also to build a positive image of the Polish community in Ireland. I believe that as a councillor I will have a real impact on the life of my community and the city as well. I want to utilize my skills and experience to provide help and assistance on individual and community issues’.
The conference entitled GO to VOTE – Mobilising the Migrant Community to Vote will be held at the European Parliament Dublin, 43 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2, on Saturday 15th March from 10:00 am to 3.00pm.
The Objective of the seminar is to facilitate and develop strategies with Migrant community representatives in order to ensure that they mobilise the migrant community to come out and vote on Election Day.
Four Migrant led organisations, AkiDwA, Africa Centre, Forum Polonia and New Community Partnership will hold a seminar to develop strategies for mobilising the migrant population to vote. The four organisations also express their concerns on the need to have support in place for immigrant’s men and women that have declared intension of running for local election, to ensure they get elected.
The seminar is a follow up to a conference that was held by the organisations in October last year on Democratic Participation of Immigrants in Ireland. Participants at this conference acknowledged the importance of involving immigrants into political and civic life in Ireland as the 2011 census clearly indicated that 12% of the Irish population are immigrants. Many immigrants are involved in religious and community organisations but have yet to see their involvement represented in the political realm in Ireland.
Date: 15th of March
Time: 10:00am – 3.00pm
Venue: 43 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2
Please RSVP to info@akidwa.ie or call Egide Dhala at 01-8349851
Project and event Supported By Dublin City Council and European Parliament Office in Dublin.
South Dublin Mayor, Cllr Dermot Looney, Ambassador of Republic of Poland, Marcin Nawrot and the Head of European Parliament Office in Ireland, Francis Jacobs will be among the honourable guests who will address the participants during the opening of the event on Saturday the 30th November at 11:30am in the Green Isle Hotel, Dublin.
AGENDA ENG
The conference will summarise the first phase of the ‘Vote! You are at home ’ campaign and will help planning its next stages that strive for encouraging greater participation of Polish minority in forthcoming local election 2014, both as candidates and voters. The meeting will also encourage initiatives on the local level and promote the Polish community leadership in active citizenship. The organisers are awaiting 50 Polish activists who have been taking part in the campaign as well as individuals and organisations who work with the Polish community in Ireland.
‘We aim at building a strong Polish community in Ireland; the community that is engaged and has a leading role in taking actions and participating in our new home. We were positively surprised by the fact that so many Polish media, organisations, Polish activists, community leaders, priests and Polish weekend school teachers got involved in the campaign. We will continue to e
ncourage the Polish living in Ireland to register to vote in the 2014 local elections. Poles now want to take responsib
ility and play a vital role in developing local communities’ says Barnaba Dorda of Forum Polonia, campaign coordinator.
To inspire the Polish activists to organise themselves into a strong and active community, an expert on Diasporas, Kingsley Aikins of Diaspora Matters will give a presentation to the participants.
DilWickremasinghe, the host of the Global Village show on Newstalk, is another eagerly awaited guest who will give a talk on the second day of the conference.
The event will last two days (30th November -1st December) and will consist of a series of talks, presentations and workshops.The Sunday session is open to all Polish activists, not only those taking part in the campaign but also to everyone who is involved in work on various levels with the Polish community in Ireland. There will be space for networking and building cooperation for future actions.
For more information on the event or similar projects please contact:
Dominika Topolska – dominika.topolska@forumpolonia.org
Barnaba Dorda – barnaba.dorda@forumpolonia.org; 087 291 5591
Artur Banaszkiewicz – artur.banaszkiewicz@forumpolonia.org; 0833 833 426
(ENG) We would like to invite you to attend our conference entitled “Improving Migrant Democratic Participation in Ireland” which will be held at the European Parliament Dublin, 43 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2, on Saturday 19th October 2013 from 10am to 4.30pm.
AkiDwA, Africa Centre and Forum Polonia are working together to increase the democratic participation of immigrants. AkiDwA promotes the equality of migrant women in Irish society, supports migrant women’s greater participation in Irish society, and develops migrant women’s capacity for participation and representation in their communities. Africa Centre‘s mission is to facilitate the meaningful inclusion of African people in all social, political and economic aspects of life in Ireland. Forum Polonia is a cooperative platform that brings together representatives of various Polish community organisations, the media, and individuals involved in projects relating to the Polish minority and its links to Irish society as a whole.
In order to assess the current state of migrant participation in civic and political decision-making in Ireland, AkiDwA conducted a baseline research on democratic participation of immigrants in a variety of organisations throughout the 26 counties of Ireland.
On 19th October we would like to share and discuss the outcome of the research. There will be high-profile leaders to speak and highlight the importance of democratic participation of immigrants and provide models for other countries whose integration was improved through immigrant participation.
Date: 19th of October
Time: 10:30am – 4:30pm
Venue: European Parliament Office, 43 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2.
Please RSVP to info@akidwa.ie or call Ida Segota at 01-8349851
The perception among political parties that immigrants are unlikely to vote in the upcoming local government elections has undermined commitments to integration within political parties, according to a new report.