Dublin People - Report reveals changing face of Ballymun

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Report reveals changing face of Ballymun

Friday, 04 April 2008

OVER seven per cent of Ballymun’s population are now immigrants a new report has revealed.
The study, commissioned by the Ballymun Intercultural Group (BIG), found that Polish people make up the majority of foreign nationals living in the area.
The report showed that three quarters of the immigrant population of Ballymun are from the EU.
“Most are from the 12 accession states,” the report states.
“Polish immigrants account for the largest individual group. In fact, 50 per cent of the survey respondents were Polish.”
Almost 80 per cent of those surveyed revealed that they had moved to Ballymun in the last two years and the majority of migrants are renting private apartments in the area.
“The fact that the majority of immigrants appear to be living in just a small number of different locations [i.e. the new apartment complexes] may give rise to concerns in the future regarding the lack of diversity and therefore integration between Irish and immigrant communities in those particular locations,” it was revealed.
“The immigrant community in Ballymun is also overwhelmingly young as 90 per cent of the survey respondents were aged between 20 and 44 years of age.”
According to the report, two per cent of the total seven per cent of immigrants were asylum seekers.
Of the remaining five per cent, three quarters of those were in full or part-time employment while the rest were unemployed but ‘actively seeking employment’.
The report also revealed that many immigrants were working within the same sectors.
“The retail, hotel and security industries were the most common areas in which they were employed,” it was revealed.
The report makes a number of key recommendations for supporting immigrant communities such as the provision of information for both the immigrant community and service providers.
Other recommendations included the need for flexible, affordable and accessible English language classes, the establishment of a ‘drop-in clinic’ and the need to recognise the educational and training qualifications of migrants.
The report was officially launched in Ballymun last week and among those who attended and praised the work of the study was Ann Scully of BIG.
“This report and its recommendations provides a perfect opportunity to learn from other areas and plan services in the community to support and develop positive integration,” she said.
Ciaran Murray of Ballymun Regeneration Limited (BRL) said the findings of the report reflected a changing society.
“Who would have thought that in 2008, seven per cent of the population of Ballymun were born outside of Ireland,” he stated.
“Ballymun and BRL are keen to embrace this diversity and see this as an opportunity and this report is an important tool in framing and developing policy going forward for the area.”

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