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Protestors march through the streets of Dublin, December 9, 2005, in support of the Irish Ferry workers. More than 10,000 labor union members protested in Ireland's capital and other cities over Irish Ferries' plan to replace its workers with low-paid Eastern European immigrants.
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Not all Irish are pleased by the changes. Between the increase in the cost of goods, the meteoric rise in housing prices, and competition for jobs from new immigrants willing to work for cheap, many in the working class think the Tiger has benefited the rich only. Statistics bear this out, in part: a United Nations survey ranks Ireland among the top 10 nations in the world to live in, but with Western Europe's highest percentage of people living below the poverty line. Ten years ago, the average cost difference between a house in Dublin and one outside of Dublin was just € 10,000 ($12,600). Today that figure has grown to some € 130,000 ($164,300).
A large part of Ireland's economic revitalization resulted from making the conditions more favorable to corporations, a dynamic which has ramifications for workers accustomed to the protection of powerful trade unions. There is an increasing disparity between the market-friendly private sector, with its eye on attracting foreign investment, and the large public sector, focused on stability and a tradition of workers' rights. Tensions have increased between trade workers and immigrants, whose willingness to work for a cheap wage is seen increasingly as a threat to a whole way of life.
Credit: AP/Charlie Collins
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Briefing
Read about the lifestyles of the "Full-On" nation in this excerpt from the book, THE POPE'S CHILDREN.
Handbook
Learn about the past, present and future of North-South economic ties.
Filmmaker Notes
Go behind the scenes with the program creators.
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