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No Irish need apply: Polish builders get their own back

Friday, 2 January 2009

Republic's Celtic Tiger governments acted like lottery winners, says Adams

'No Irish need apply' - the signs are already going up on building sites abroad in a throwback to the grim days of the the last century.

But this time they are starting to appear in Poland as that country takes its revenge for the way in which some unscrupulous Irish contractors treated their countrymen during the years of the Celtic Tiger.

Trade union official Michael Kilcoyne - also president of the Consumers Association of Ireland - said it had recently been brought to his attention that the 'No Irish' signs had appeared on a couple of Polish building sites where workers were being sought.

Mr Kilcoyne said: "The reality is that our international reputation as employers has been sullied. Many foreign people who have worked here, especially during our boom years, have had bad experiences.

"The evidence of this is in the number of cases taken before the Labour Relations Commission over the last year or two in respect of unpaid wages or holiday money that was not paid.

"Ireland's name as a good place to work has been badly damaged by such contractors who held onto the money of their workers."

Mr Kilcoyne, who is a SIPTU trade union official in the west, revealed that he had personally won 14 such cases in Galway, while he believed there were hundreds, if not thousands, of similar awards made countrywide against employers and in favour of non-national workers who had been short-changed.

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its a real kick in teeth to all the good irish men and women who lost their jobs because of the foreign invasion,i know of alot of these immigrants who came here got treated well and fair we dont hear much about that also alot of them learned new skills especially in the building trades and are goihg back home with there children educated new homes built and better off than the majority of the irish so for signs to go up saying irish need not apply would make any man angry its about time the borders were closed and tighter restrictions put in place to leave it that the irish man will have job preference in his own country. at least when the irsh worked away we always put the money we made back into that economy

Posted by really fed up | 23.02.09, 18:06 GMT

I worked with the Poles in Belfast our employer started lots of them and the Irish workers got the boot.And when i worked in England i couldn't get a job until my papers came over to say i had a trade, these people can come here and say they can do anything and there told they can start with no papers. They worked for less money and even took photos of work that we had done and used it as advertising. I do blame the government for all of this they let to many in. Now Dublin got it right a all out strike if i work for £5 a hour the man beside me doing the same work should get the same no matter were he is from. Employers here don't care about anything else but making as much as they can . The Union is the only thing that can help here both for the Polish and for the Irish or Northern Irish

Posted by ulstish | 12.01.09, 20:07 GMT

What about the Irish workers who are still being discriminated against in Ireland from Irish employers favouring Eastern Europeans?

Posted by fedup | 11.01.09, 00:43 GMT

What about the Irish workers who are still being discriminated against in IRELAND from Irish employers favouring Eastern Europeans?

Posted by fedup | 11.01.09, 00:42 GMT

My Grandmother Saw Those Signs When She CameTo "america"... I'm a Hip Hop artist and I promise I will scribe about this and build awareness worlwide to the enth degree. It's unacceptable on every level and issues that pertain to Irish people both past and present I hold near to my heart.So through what I do I build what's needed the most above any agenda...Dialogue!!!!

Posted by Kevin Patrick O'Brien Jr. http://www.myspace.com/shaymin | 10.01.09, 23:12 GMT

This is a falsified story, it never happened. Precisely where were these signs located city? Street?. The authors need to look at their sources more carefully.

Posted by Freddman | 08.01.09, 17:56 GMT

What action if any is the EU taking against the owners of these construction companies. Did the EU not force the eastern european countries to adopt western standards for anti discrimination legislation before allowing them to join, does this not include national origin. I don't hear any outcry from the remaining Polish community here either. Some people were treated badly here but they were a minority and they had the same legal mechanisms as the rest of us to complain. If an Irish company had posted a No polish hiring sign the dept of equality & law reform would have been all over them. I always defended the right of other nationalities to come here being a former emigrant myself but this open racism and the lack of any consequence has made me think twice. Mr Kilcoyne is yakking about taking 14 cases for Polish workers against Irish employers. What is he doing for any Irish person who may want to work in Poland. Michael are you a defender of workers or just Mr politically correct

Posted by Fred | 05.01.09, 15:56 GMT

Facts in this story are as hard to come by as Irish construction workers in Poland. Who decided to author this anonymous story and where did they get their information from.

Posted by JMac | 04.01.09, 00:03 GMT

Why on earth would any Irish person try to find a job in Poland?

cause everything is much cheaper there. if u make 1000e/month it is enough to do whatever u wanna do. thats why.

Posted by huhuhu | 03.01.09, 21:38 GMT