The hard-working Irish

I am a 44-year-old woman. For over 20 years I have worked in the same building with different employers. I have worked hard and with loyalty to each employer, and like many of my friends, could be relied upon to go the extra mile when things were tight. There are no words to describe the anger and hurt that I, and my colleagues felt when we read the article in the Kerryman last week stating that according to local business people, the Irish don't work hard enough. It is difficult to cope with being the victim of such a racist generalisation in black and white in your local newspaper.

Not long ago a young eastern-European colleague with a media-fed superiority complex told me blatantly that I “should be ashamed that I work in a factory when Ireland has so many opportunities”. She continued that “European money built Ireland”. I wanted to slap her face, but I would be charged with racist assault.

Instead, I explained that Ireland was not always so affluent. In the 1980s and 1990s, PAYE workers (including me) paid up to 60p/£ tax on their wages to a well documented corrupt government. Much of this money was squandered, but the remainder went to build the so-called Celtic Tiger. Ironically, it was members of the business community who were the majority of offenders with the off-shore accounts, ie they were sending their money out of the country in order to avoid tax.   

I now work to pay for third-level education for my children. I want them to have the opportunities that passed me by as I worked in a dingy factory. My hips, knees and ankles ache from over 20 years walking concrete floors. My heart aches from the low, cowardly remarks of the local business community. If such remarks were made about anyone else but us, there would be outrage.

Congratulations to Martin Ferris for having the courage to highlight the fact that we Irish are being discriminated against in our own country. Congratulations to Simon Brouder for having the courage to tell us what is really thought of us by our employers. These employers would do well to remember that the thriving economy did not emerge overnight. It was built up gradually on the backs of people like my family, my friends and me.

Our so-called union, SIPTU, has remained deadly silent. Therefore on behalf of every Irish worker, especially of my generation, to the cowards in the business community who hid behind anonymity in order to call us lazy, I say “HOW DARE YOU?”

Geraldine Nolan, Tralee, Co Kerry