The New London “Irish”

Originally Posted on Reddit

——

I was visiting a friend's house here in Galway and we got speaking about the Irish in London. He told me a story of a friend of his who worked in one of the NHS trusts as a liaison for Irish people who were living in poverty in London; And he told a story of this 80 year-old man who was admitted to hospital and was pretty much answering all questions with a yes and no. So she was called to see him as the hospital staff weren't able to get any history from him, and she discovered pretty quickly that he spoke Irish, and in fact he was an obligate Irish speaker from Connemara and had pretty much no English over all those years. He was living alone at this point with basically no support. Apparently this meeting had taken place only four or 5 years ago.

Last year I would have found that story hard to believe; only to have in fact met a number of patients in hospital in Galway who only spoke Irish - and who relied on their family for translation.

Today I met a young man, probably in his late 20s sitting outside a lidl with a 30 kg airport carrier and a sleeping bag. He looked to be in reasonable health. I was struck by how he was the same age as me, and he didn't seem as weathered as a lot of the poor people that unfortunately we frequently see on the street. So I popped out of lidl and gave him a few protein bars for the weather - which he said was too much. And I asked him where he was from, and he said that he was from Moldova. I left and I wished him well and regretted the limits of my generosity.

And coming away I'm just struck by how these "economic migrants", these young men, now on the streets resemble our London Irish, who far too often fell on hard times and hard ground. I know if that fella had a to room to sleep in and 3 - 6 months he would be in work, and we would all be the better for it. He might even be able to help build a few houses.

I'm posting this because for all the talk of migration it's challenges and the difficulty it poses at this time - we are all migrants and are a migrant nation. We shouldn't forget that. Thanks for reading and goodnight.