December 13, 2005
LATVIANS NEED NOT APPLY:
For Irish, Latvians fill role of bogeymen (Brian Lavery, DECEMBER 12, 2005, International Herald Tribune)
When nearly 100,000 people took to the streets of Ireland to protest the hiring of cheap East European labor for Irish Ferries, they gave voice to old familiar fears about job security that many thought had been forgotten.
The last time similar crowds demonstrated here over industrial issues was 1979, when young people left the country in droves to find work and Ireland's unemployment rate hovered around 20 percent.
Today, the Irish economy is no longer expanding at the double-digit rates of the 1990s, when it was dubbed the "Celtic Tiger," but it is still the fastest-growing in Western Europe and enjoys nearly full employment. [...]
Sean Barrett, a professor of economics at Trinity College Dublin, said, "The Latvian sailor will become like the Polish plumber in Paris." He was referring to the jack-of-all-trades bogeyman invoked by French politicians to try and keep the labor market closed to foreign workers.
Or the Irish fleeing the potato famine? Posted by Orrin Judd at December 13, 2005 7:50 AM
The real test is whether, 50 years on, all the Irish pols will be fighting for invitations to the St. Roland's Day parade.
Posted by: David Cohen at December 13, 2005 8:08 AMI think France has some Algerians they can spare.
Posted by: erp at December 13, 2005 8:14 AMObviously, in a country of nearly full employment, they're in need of their own Tom O'Tancredo in the politcal arena to stop people from coming in from foreign countries to do the low-paying jobs most of the natives balk at taking on.
Posted by: John at December 13, 2005 8:57 AM
"No Latvians Need Apply"
Sorry, I meant to say that I wanted to see "No Latvians Need Apply" signs in Irish pubs in Boston, to illustrate dictionary entries on "irony."
Fear not. Pat Buchanan (AKA "Patty the Mick")will take care of those dastardly Latvians
Posted by: ghostcat at December 13, 2005 3:09 PM