Spotlight on a nation- The Polish in Ireland

Aneta Antczak with a copy of Polska Gazeta


The Polish are the biggest non- Irish group living in Ireland numbering in the region of 130,000. In the first of a series of features on Irelands new communties, Show Racism the Red Card co-ordinator Garrett Mullan visited the offices of Polska Gazeta on Dublin’s Parnell St to speak with Aneta Antczak of Ireland’s first Polish weekly newspaper.



Polska Gazeta

The Polska Gazeta now has a circulation of 7,000 per week and it is not sold in one major newsagent. It has had to rely on its own network of street sellers, stalls and Polish shops. Noticing the increasing presence of this newspaper, I was interested to find out what articles Polish people living in Ireland like to read.

The paper founded in May 2005, by seasoned newspaper professionals in Poland Monika Wieczorek and Marius Garski enabled them to give up their jobs in construction and work in the professions they trained at in Poland. The paper serves the needs of Polish living and working in Ireland. I asked Ms Antczak to show me what articles are in the current issue of the paper from front to back.

Show Racism the Red Card

She was keen to show me articles from previous issues about the Show Racism the Red Card campaign launch at Tolka Park and also an article on the anti-racism campaign being established by the Polish players union showing that the message is reaching both Irish and Polish in this country.

Advice

In the current issue there are features on the multilingual Drive Safety campaign leaflets inside the front page feature on the new radio station Sunrise FM which broadcasts 5 hours of material of interest to the Polish community living in Dublin. There are articles on a workers rights conference organised by SIPTU and the ICTU in Cork alongside legal, finance and tax Q&A columns assuring readers of their entitlements. There is also an article detailing the procedures for opening a bank account. There is a column from the Polish chaplaincy alongside a feature by two Polish Dominicans who climbed Croagh Patrick on March 17th. In addition to all this the paper keeps its readers informed of major events back home.

Problems

In the letters page there is a complaint by a reader that he went to a FAS job centre looking for work and was given the details of an employer. The reader turned up for interview and was advised that there was work but that he would have to pay 800euro up front to get the job.

Antczak says “Polish people now are finding it more difficult to get jobs in Ireland as compared to one year ago. Then it would take on average one or two weeks but now it is taking one or two months”

Living in Ireland

While there are large numbers of Polish working in construction and catering there are also significant numbers in the finance sector in Ireland. When they arrive many stay in B&B accommodation or in hostels while they look for work before renting accommodation. Some have bought their own accommodation as they plan to stay for longer. They are evenly distributed through the country though the number of Polish shops, pubs and clubs in urban areas allows the community to thrive.

There is still a sense of dislocation from home in that no video library stocks Polish films and no public library stocks Polish books. Yet there is massive demand for Polish culture as evidenced by the classified and feature adverts in Polska Gazeta. Upcoming are gigs with Polish comics at the Laughter Lounge on Eden Quay and in the Garda club in Dublin, while elsewhere are music gigs at the Village in Wexford St.

While most Polish are happy to be living in Ireland there are some who are unhappy particularly about their treatment at work and the difference between Polish and Irish wages for the same work. I asked what readers thought about the recent Irish ferries dispute where the company laid off 500 Irish workers to replace them with Latvians at minimum wage levels.

Antczak says “The Polish like Latvians would like absolute equal treatment as members of EU. Our readers feel that it is not fair or legal to discriminate. There is no difference between consideration of employees for a terrestrial job and a marine one.

Sport coverage

The Paper covers the Eircom League and has an article in a previous issue about the efforts of Bohemians to win a non-Irish support base through its multilingual website. As for GAA, Ms Antczak says “We believe it is a fantastic game. With time you will see Polish people laughing and making idiots out of themselves in parks, soon after that they will be proud to play them. The Poles love new experiences”.
This thought leaves me with the view that encouraging foreign nationals to play GAA is far more likely to support the internationalisation of the sport than Compromise Rules.

Overall the paper and the pub Zogloba below its offices left me with the view Polish migrants are well served by the Gazeta as it provides great access to job searching, concrete practical advice as well as information about Polish cultural life in this country. Of course I have not yet spoke to Sergey Tarutin editor of NASHA GAZETA, Ireland’s Russian paper who will appear in next weeks spotlight on a nation in Ireland.