DUBLIN Ireland has long been known as a nation of emigrants, sending its sons and daughters across Europe, Australia, Canada, the United States and Latin America in search of a new life for much of the past 300 years.

Times have changed. Once forced abroad by the ravages of economic hardship, famine and political turmoil, the Irish are now staying home. Many are even returning from abroad. The reason: Ireland is booming.

For the last four years, Ireland's Gross Domestic Product the measure of all goods produced in the country has grown from 8 percent to 9 percent annually. This is at a time when most of the world's major economies have experienced growth of 2.5 percent or less.

But Ireland's stunning economic surge - fueled by high tech industries, Ireland's stunning economic surge has brought with it a new phenomenon: immigrants. For the first time in Ireland's history, economic and political refugees are arriving hoping to reap the benefits of the Celtic Tiger as Ireland has been nicknamed in reference to the robust economies of Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan, dubbed the Asian Tigers in the 1980s.

In the last month alone, Irish police caught scores of Romanian refugees trying to enter the country illegally, most hidden in tractor trailer haulage containers arriving in Irish ports.

Exhaustive media coverage of the Romanians' plight and the fact that Irish tax money supporting them while the government decided whether to grant them asylum has raised fears in some quarters of a possible flood of refugees descending on the country of 3.6 million people to crash the economic party.

A poll published Aug. 9 by Dublin's Sunday Independent newspaper indicated that 70 percent favored limiting the number of refugees entering Ireland. And 53 percent believed limits should apply to all immigrants - even those from other European Union countries.

Statistics regarding the turn around in inward migration versus outward migration are impressive. In 1989 70,600 Irish emigrated from Ireland for abroad a number almost 44,000 greater than the
roughly 26,700 that entered Ireland the same year.

Throughout the 1980s tens of thousands of Irish immigrants settled illegally in the U.S. each year, most escaping high unemployment and a sluggish economy back home.

By contrast, last year 44,000 people immigrated to Ireland, while only 29,000 emigrated. And of 44,000 immigrants entering Ireland in 1997, the vast majority were from Britain and the U.S. many of those being Irish nationals returning home.

The 1990s have seen the number of refugees seeking asylum in Ireland increase dramatically from 39 in 1992 to 3,883 in 1997. But the increased number still pales in comparison to the number of refugees that entered most European countries during the 1980s.

"It's amazing how you don't really see too many immigrants over here." said Lorenzo Rizzi, 26, who moved from Italy to Ireland in to work for Microsoft. "Ireland is the last place you would reach if you wanted to emigrate from a north African country. So you don't see as many black people here."

Rizzi, speaking English with a Dublin accent, added, "In Milan there is a lot of poor immigration people who would wipe your windshield at traffic lights something you don't see too often
over here."

He said that given Ireland's role as a world leader in exporting software, "you have a different kind of immigration which is job oriented, and higher end type of immigration a completely
different kind of immigration."

In fact, of the 4,497 work permits granted to foreigners in 1997, most went to citizens of developed countries coming to take high tech jobs - with Americans receiving 1,226, Japanese 249, Australians 218 and Canadians 192.

Still, there is a growing perception that asylum seekers from developing African and Asian countries make up the bulk of immigrants. In some areas, particularly the inner city Dublin neighborhoods, this perception has resulted in a rise in racial tension.

"There has been a very big change in recent years," said John O'Neill of the Irish government's Refugee Agency, charged with assisting asylum seekers. "There has been the negative perception that refugees are a burden and that they are costing us a fortune."

O'Neill stressed that refugees received "a very positive response from most people," but acknowledged an "element of racial tension and worrying growth of xenophobia" was developing in some inner-city Dublin neighborhoods.

He said that the fact most refugees settled in "inner city areas already disadvantaged and experiencing considerable competition for public services has exacerbated the problem."

Kensika Monshengwo, 31, a Congolese refugee working with the Association of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Ireland (ARASI), said the group had documented 18 attacks on blacks in Dublin since April - including one in which a 17 year old black teenager had a bottle broken over his head, was knocked to the ground and kicked by a gang of Irish teens.

Monshengwo produced hand written fliers which he said were slipped under doors of blacks living in inner city north Dublin and areas such as Rialto and Clondalkin. One read: "GO BACK TO AFRICA. WE DON'T WANT BLACKS IN IRELAND. YOU BLACKS ARE ANIMALS. YOU DESTROY EVERY COUNTRY WITH CRIME AND VIOLENCE."

Another, typed flyer entitled "BLACKS" was targeted at Irish audiences, reading: "There are black men in Ireland now ... They will outpopulate us and take over, as they have done in England and America. ... Young Irishmen do something for our country get blacks out now before it is too late. KEEP IRELAND GREEN AND WHITE."

The amateurish nature of the flyers meant they were likely the work of teenagers not part of a widespread movement. Still, many find the fliers cause for concern.

"Our cozy self image of being a friendly welcoming nation is under severe strain at the moment," said Pat Guerin of the Anti Racism Coalition, "How we treat asylum seekers, immigrants, and refugees in the coming years, will test whether we deserve that image."

"It has nothing to do with racism it is all money." said Mizra Catibusic, 31, one of 840 Bosnians living in Ireland. Catibusic said if the Irish government ended its prohibition on refugees
working while awaiting judgment on their cases, "there would be no problem. Ireland has thousands of people from other countries working in Microsoft, Intell, Hewlitt Packard, etc."

"Nobody is leaving home because they want to leave," he added "Most people are coming because they have nowhere to go not because of the economy."

Bamidele Taiwo, 34, who fled Nigeria last Spring with his wife and two young children to escape political persecution from the ruling military dictatorship, said he didn't know he was coming to Ireland it's just where the refugee pipeline out of Nigeria landed him.

Taiwo, using a false name and declining to have his face photographed for fear of being tracked by Nigerian authorities, said he experienced some racial hostility. "If you look at the Irish people generally, on a one to one basis, they have nothing against you. But what they are reading in the papers that refugees are coming to live off welfare is raising racial tension. The government needs to educate people. The government is not defusing this."

Taiwo said that while he was grateful for all assistance rendered by the Irish government so far, "We are in the jet age now. Most countries in the world are used to multi cultural societies.
Ireland happens to be one of the last to have to accept that."

In general, most immigrants interviewed stressed racial tensions were an annoyance but as yet not a serious threat. Others had only positive experiences.

"Of course I am a foreigner. People can look at me and see that I am a foreigner," said Ana Maria Costa Soares, 31, a Brazilian who relocated to Ireland in 1996 to work for Microsoft, said, But I don't feel any negativity. I have never felt any negativity. I feel very welcomed."

Dr. Luo Jin Shang (58), a former Vietnamese refugee who settled in Ireland in 1990. said that although he has experienced racial insults, "it was nothing serious just a few kids. Nothing too worry about. For our family, our lives are more peaceful here."

"We find the people of Ireland very friendly, much like the Vietnamese people. We will live here forever."

Software Biz Gets Irish Up
by Jim Dee
Boston Herald, Monday, December 7, 1998

DUBLIN - Ireland is renowned for its pastoral beauty: a land where flocks of sheep and herds of cattle can still clog rural country roads at rush hour and morning radio programs carry exhaustive reports on farm and livestock prices.

But it's not grain, beef or lamb exports which have fattened the economically surging Celtic Tiger to its position as Europe's hottest economy. The Celtic Tiger has grown strong on very modern business fare: computer software.

Ireland is Europe's largest exporter of software, second in the world only to the U.S. Last year, more than 40 percent of all European personal computer software - including 60 percent of that used for business applications - was produced in Ireland.

The nation has become prominent in the field because some 100 American companies - Gateway, Digital, Dell, IBM and others - accept Irish government grants and tax incentives (a 10 percent corporate tax rate, opposed to a 35 percent U.S. rate) to set up shop in the Emerald Isle.

Microsoft's European headquarters in Dublin alone posted more than $1.7 billion in European sales last year.

But Irish software companies such as Baltimore Technologies, Trintech, Iona Technologies, Cunav and Vision Computing have blossomed as well.

When President Clinton and Ireland's Prime Minister Bertie Ahern made history by digitally signing a communique on electric commerce in Dublin on Sept. 4, they used technology pioneered by Dublin-based Baltimore Technologies.

"A lot of this is good luck and being in the right place at the right time with the right minds," said Vance Gledhill, a professor in Computer Science at Dublin's Trinity College, discussing the reasons for the Irish software boom.

He also credits Trinity professor John Byrne with building an advanced computer science program in the 1960s, and the Irish government with providing a strong educational framework on which universities have built a program called Education is an Irish Thing.

"It's been seen as critical," he said.

Of the Irish government agency which promotes Irish business, Iona Technologies' Colin Newman said, "The Industrial Development Authority used to monitor high-tech companies in America on the Stock Exchange. If one was doing well, they'd call them up and say, `Have you thought of setting your European operations up here in Ireland?' That has been really successful."

He said when Iona formed in 1993, it recognized its isolation from California's Silicon Valley necessitated a more creative marketing strategy.

"We couldn't really afford - every time someone was interested in our product - to hop on a plane with 10 consultants to sell it to them," he said. "So we designed a product that was very easy to use. That kind of took the competitors by surprise."

Fran Rooney, CEO of Baltimore Technologies, cited a focus on exports, particularly to the United States, as a key to expanding the Irish software industry. Equally important is the close-knit nature of Ireland's software sector.

"Everybody knows everybody in it," Rooney said. "So there's plenty of opportunity through various conferences and things for people to learn from each other and brainstorm."

Like Iona's Newman, Malachi Briody of Cunav Technologies said Ireland's distance from financial hubs in Europe and America gave rise to new styles of business development and strategy.

"The whole venture capital model - where someone comes up with a great idea, goes to a venture capitalist, gets funding and rushes off to build a product - is certainly not as common here as in Silicon Valley," she said.

Briody said companies in Ireland are more prone to tailor-making products to suit a buyer's needs. She also said that, while a competitive work ethic underpins the software industry, Ireland's world-famous social life helps keep the work force sharp.

"What is it: `All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy'? If you work too hard and don't play enough, you burn out," she said. "It's not healthy, just looking it from a business point of view."

Newman agreed, recounting once working long days with little recreation in New York.

"Work doesn't take over your life here in Ireland," he said. "In Dublin there's always somebody calling saying, `Would you ever stop working and come out to the pub?' And it creates a very nice atmosphere where you can switch off and not think about work."

Job Cuts Bring Holiday Heartache
by Jim Dee
Boston Herald, Friday, December 25, 1998

RAPHOE, Ireland - As in most of Ireland, festive Christmas decorations adorn the triangle-shaped center of the tiny Donegal village of Raphoe: neon Santas and strings of multicolored lights glistening in the frosty night air.

Despite the abundance of Christmas spirit evident in the town of 1,000, a dark cloud has descended on Raphoe since news broke two weeks ago that its Fruit of the Loom plant will be closing its gates in the new year. All 375 jobs will be lost.

"It's going to have a devastating effect on Raphoe, because everybody's depending on those jobs," said Olivia Doherty, 30, a 9-year Fruit of the Loom veteran with an 8-year-old daughter. "There is nowhere else for people to go."

In all, 770 jobs will be cut from FOL plants across Donegal. The jobs will move to Morocco, where workers will earn one-fifth of the roughly $300 weekly wage paid at the Raphoe plant.

The town of Milford, population 816, will lose 165 jobs. Malin, a windswept village on the rugged Inishowen peninsula with under 500 inhabitants, will lose 120. Fruit of the Loom's main plant in Buncrana will stay open another year, but 120 support staff will be laid off.

Announcing the plant closures on December 9, the US-based firms' chief executive officer Bill Farley said the company had "resisted making this decision even though the economics of the situation indicate clearly that we should have done so a long time ago."

In the end, while offering apologies for the timing of the closures, Farley said "If we are to continue to market our products competitively, this means moving certain jobs to regions with substantially lower wage costs."

"I suppose I'm angry" said Olivia Doherty, "He's just a shrewd businessman at the end of the day. Saying that, I was glad for my job the nine years I was there. I really enjoyed working for the company. But at the end of the day we're just numbers to him, we're not people."

Doherty said when Fruit of the Loom located in Raphoe, "it was what everybody wanted. We never thought we would get anything like that in this town. It was just brilliant watching it grow from 100 people to 200 to 300. We had nearly 500 people at one stage."

Fruit of the Loom has been in Donegal for 10 years, lured by generous Irish government grants and tax incentives totaling $15 million. Now the government now wants the money back, accusing FOL of reneging on employment commitments. Less than half will be returned.

South-Carolina-sized Donegal - in Irish "Dun na nGall," or "Fort of Foreigners" - seems aptly named, with its 190,000 residents heavily dependent on foreign tourists and foreign investment.

Mathew McNamee, 26, a 5-year veteran of Fruit of the Loom's Buncrana plant - who describes news that Buncrana jobs are secure for another year as "a suspended sentence." He said workers know today's global economy means jobs gravitate to countries with the lowest wages.

"To tell you the truth, nobody blames the man for doing what he's doing," said McNamee, a father of two. "It's just the way he went about it."

"By announcing the cuts in the mouth of Christmas, Bill Farley ruined Christmas for many people," said McNamee "Even if you are a billionaire, it doesn't give you the right to be a jerk."

McNamee said the closures exposed the continued vulnerability of rural areas, whose link to the Ireland's much-heralded Celtic Tiger economy is fragile. "The Celtic Tiger is in Dublin, Limerick; it's centered around the center of Ireland. There is no Celtic Tiger up here in Inishowen," he said.

Donegal's beauty is legendary. Its meandering, often jagged, coastline is lined with oceanside mountains, including Europe's highest sea cliffs at Slieve League. They tower 1,700 feet above the ocean below.

"This is a great place to live," said Raphoe's Olivia Doherty, who is facing an uncertain future, "but we can't eat the scenery."

Return To Ireland Becoming A Less Sentimental Journey
by Jim Dee
Boston Herald Monday, September 6, 1999

DUBLIN, Ireland - Some of the Irish who left their native land in the hardscrabble '80s and are now coming home in better times have become strangers in a strange land, with the Ireland of their youth rapidly disappearing and their time abroad marking them as outsiders.

Reversing years of outward migration, Ireland's thriving economy is luring home the prodigal sons with financial prosperity and security the island has never known before.

But, for some, there is a rude awakening.

"I had a very sentimental view of a homeland from which I was being exiled," said Brenda Malley, who immigrated to the United States weeks after marrying an American in the mid-1980s.

During 13 years in Texas and North Carolina, she collected Irish music records "which I never did when I was living here. Any PBS special on Ireland, I'd watch. Any film that had an Irish setting, I'd go to and hunger for it."

But when she returned to Dublin last fall, memories of an Ireland where "summers were long and warm, fields were green and seas were blue" didn't match the reality.

"I was driving around the rather dingy suburbs of Dublin, finding myself dismayed at what still appeared to be a . . . dreary . . . way of life," said Malley, a Dublin-based artist.

To her, the Celtic Tiger economy exists in Dublin's trendy Temple Bar section "with new restaurants, banks, shops and offices, and flowers in all the window boxes. But five miles out, on the north side of Dublin where I was living, people seemed to me more downtrodden than ever."

From the Great Famine of the 1840s until 1921, 4 million people left Ireland to escape starvation, disease and poverty. From 1920 to 1970, 2 million more departed.

The 1980s saw hard times once more sending tens of thousands a year abroad, reaching a height of 70,000 in 1989, from a country of 3.6 million.

The current economic upsurge, with the Celtic Tiger posting annual economic growth in excess of 7 percent the last four years compared with the 2.5 percent growth rate of most of the world's major economies, has changed all that. An economy dogged by a decade of double-digit inflation, peaking at 17.1 percent in 1986, now boasts a 5.8 percent jobless rate. As a result, 115,800 Irish have resettled in Ireland since 1993.

"The Celtic Tiger has created opportunity permitting people to come home. But it is also eroding the very things people dream about coming back to," said Dr. Mary P. Corcoran, professor of sociology at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth.

She said many left the fast pace of London, New York or Boston holding romanticized images of Dublin, only to find soaring property prices and streets choked with traffic, beset by the same myriad urban problems of the world beyond.

"Now Dublin more closely resembles London and New York than the romantic image that fired their dreams," Corcoran said.

Donal O'Leary, who hit Boston in 1985 "for two years" but stayed 13, said, "I think one's picture of Ireland gets more romanticized the longer one stays away."

O'Leary, who's set up a Returning Emigrants Network aimed at smoothing the return, said, "Ireland has become fashionable around the globe, with Riverdance, Irish music, the Commitments and all that."

In Boston he found "a very positive attitude toward Ireland, even among those who are not Irish American." O'Leary said he missed the "transparency" of U.S. society, which featured "less innuendo, less double-speak, less beating-about-the-bush. What you see is what you get."

Mary Delargy, who spent 12 years in the United States and now owns paint-it-yourself ceramic studios in Dublin and Galway, said, "I didn't particularly want to come back."

She admired America's " `can-do,' very positive outlook" and said the Irish seem "passive-aggressive a lot of the time."

"They've never been taught how to deal with problems with people without falling out with your neighbor," said Delargy.

She finds casual civility between neighbors is suffering because, with prosperity, "Ireland has become so bloody status-conscious.

"It's all about what you earn and what you drive, and how much property you have," she said. "People aren't slowing down to think: `Am I going to be fulfilled by having all this stuff?' "

Cathy Edwards, back from a two-year stint in New York, ending a total of 10 years abroad, said, "People here don't want you to say that you liked things better in America, or to criticize Ireland."

But Edwards, a computer consultant, said there are definite advantages to returning, the foremost being "you can get work. God, when we left there were no opportunities for women at all unless you were a nurse."

Despite all that had changed in their native land, some of the returnees are glad to be back.

Helen McVeigh, an information technologies editor who, like Edwards and Delargy, hails from Northern Ireland, said after eight years in Britain, Canada and the United States, Ireland offers "a more relaxed way of life. There's just more of a buzz here than in London."

McVeigh, living now in Skerries, 20 miles outside Dublin, said when her husband's job took them back here, she was wary because of childhood recollections that the South was "quite insular" and southerners "didn't like northerners."

"And none of those things are true. I'm really glad we live here now," McVeigh said.

At the end of the day, said Mary Delargy, the tensions of modern life are universal. "I don't see vast differences in the problems, and I don't see vast differences in the advantages, of living here or in America.

"We're more alike than we are different basically," she said.