A Plan To Repatriate The Poles

For a time, Ireland was an emigrant magnet. People came from all over Eastern Europe, as the Irish had once gone to Australia and America, in search of work.

For a time, the Irish were alarmed at the strange faces and foreign tongues in their midst. They feared that the Poles and Lithuanians were only there to take advantage of social welfare and would become a burden.

How to get rid of them all? So many foreigners, so much change. Could they be paid to go home?

Dell is considering a move out of their facility in Limerick. The computer maker has indicated an interest in relocating to Lodz, Poland, where labor costs are lower. Of late, Dell has been struggling to compete and they have to decrease expenses. Cheap help and an educated work force can be found elsewhere and 2000 jobs in Limerick are on the line.

So the work is going to Poland. The workers can follow, and leave Ireland to the Irish.

Not quite what anyone had in mind when they complained about the immigrants in their midst. Not at all what anyone had in mind when minimum wages were raised, with a promise that the workers would find prosperity on the back of the Celtic Tiger.