Couple of days ago Irish Independent devoted its attention to a massive number (about 1000) of applications to the Police Service of Northern Ireland by young Poles. It is well welcomed by PSNI and due to the fact that almost all Polish emigrants are catholics it would fit perfectly a PSNI 50 ?Äï 50 recruitment policy. Employ 1000 Polish officers would raise an overall percentage of Catholics in the service from 21 percent at present.
It is a good opportunity for many of Polish emigrants, and former policemen to be still in the service and to earn at least 4 times more than in Poland. The need to employ Poles to the police service is quite obvious due to growing number of our community in Northern Ireland (which is now estimated to be about 30 thousands). The same need exist in the Republic, but I am a little bit afraid about that idea in the Northern Ireland.
Due to the agreement there must be an equal number of protestants and catholics in the PSNI, but it is far to be done at present. There is many reasons of that, i.e. there is a problem with MI5 involvement in PSNI and I guess there can be still lack of confidence to the police among the catholic communities and their experiences with RUC. For the British and Northern Ireland authorities employment of huge number of Poles can be a solution. They can say that everything goes fine, due to the growing number of catholics in the service. But Poles are a foreign element, not linked to the problems, memories and sensitives of the local catholic communities. In my opinion they can’t be a good representatives of the Irish catholics in the North and they probably won’t be a regarded by them as let me say ?Äúour people?ÄÌ.
Apart of a real need to recruit Poles to PSNI, there is a danger of political involvement, and in my opinion Poles won’t be a good replacement for the Irish catholics in the service. I hope that the number of Poles employed will be appropriate to the size and needs of Polish community’ and won’t be treated by the NI authorities as part of the 50 ?Äï 50 recruitment policy.
About 3 months ago I was invited to the live debate on the air of RTE radio on the question: what can Irish Media do for the growing number of Polish emigrants. Unfortunately I couldn’t go because of the workday and distance between Nenagh and Dublin. Regardless of my absence that problem is still up to date.
The more important question arises, if the Polish emigrants want anything more from Irish Media? So far Poles have had about 6 or so Polish magazines, weekly newspapers and so on. Some of them have been published as a supplements to Irish newspapers and some others have been independent or probably a part of non Irish media group. In any case, Polish every emigrant has wide selection of Polish press. Moreover, in Dublin one can buy today’s Polish press imported from Poland and many of us have Polish digital TV receivers. The other important fully independent medium is the Internet, over that we can listen to Polish radio stations or we can read the breaking news on Polish Internet portals. Well, of course - a Polish public television and radio channel broadcasted by RTE would be excellent, but in my opinion that wouldn’t integrate Polish community into Irish society. It would made many of my compatriots so comfortable, that they wouldn’t learn English at all. The attitude of Irish community to Polish TV or radio public channel would be questionable as well.
Many of the emigrants are completely cut off from the Irish present issues and problems. They are not interested in Ireland at all, due to their plans to stay only temporarily in Ireland. Others, who want to stay for a long term, usually they have Polish media and many of them learn English.
So, what can the Irish Media do for Polish emigrants?
In my opinion our communities - both Irish and Polish are still cut off from each other. Irish people know something about Poland and Poles, but usually not so much to understand everything that seems to them so strange or even mad, and Poles can provide a fresh independent outlook on Ireland and its issues or problems, showing the Ireland from a Polish perspective. During conducting my blog a couple of time I was asked to give an interview or opinion to both Irish press and radio, and considering that, I am of the opinion that the best what we can do for each other is to let Polish columnists or journalists present our point of view in Irish media more often.
Polish rulling parties are chalenging in the race which one will be more ridiculous and absurd.
LPR (League of Polish Families) - far right ultra catholic (more than Pope I guess) party is thinking about wipe out Darvin’s theory from the biology school program and to replace it with theory of God’s creation.
That are the problems and cases in minds of Polish parties in rulle.
Polish internet group: Gazeta.ie have described a problem of Polish bulders at Finglas. They have taken their Polish boss to court. He is accused of swindle. In their opinion: the wages he paid to the workers were lowered (1 thousand Euro taken off each wage roughly) and the numbers of working hours in the payslips were contrary to the real number of hours. The former workers claim that the timesheets were not available very often and they couldn?Äôt control them. The boss admitted that there were mistakes during estimating the wages. For the couple of weeks the construction site has been inspected by the union and labor court inspectors.
In advance of the letter that Gazeta.ie to the boss, his firm threat Gazeta.ie to go to court. Afterwards the Polish firm sent a letter form the crew biased to firm?Äôs favor and describing the fired builders as indolent drunks.
Recently on Polish community internet forums the question of publisher of Polish monthly magazine ?ÄúSzpila?ÄÌ (after Millennium Spire) has been discussed.?? The DTP setters ?Äï a party to a dispute ?Äï claim, that the publisher has drawn dud check, and the editorial stuff has been sending to them uncorrected materials. DTP setters were trying to talk with the publisher and get money they should get after the work they done, but they failed.?? As they claim: the publisher said that they would get money at the end of the year or they wouldn?Äôt get it at all.
Despite open internet letters to the Publisher he hasn?Äôt responded to those accusations so far.
The DTP setters are going (or they have done it already) to bring a suit against publisher to the Irish court.
It is a pity that such problems appear in Polish community, and especially between the organizations and Polish press that should serve whole Polish community.
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