[L]IMERICK, Ireland — Journalist Fintan Walsh recalls the moment last spring he learned this city was working on a plan to welcome 100 Syrian refugees.
“I heard through the grapevine what was going on,” he says, “and I asked if it was true.”
The reporter for the Limerick Leader soon confirmed that local officials were quietly finalizing efforts to host a tiny yet tangible fraction of the nearly 5 million people fleeing the war-torn Middle East some 2,500 miles away.
“I am absolutely sure,” one official told Walsh, “that the families that are coming to Ireland, in particular to Limerick, will be incredibly relieved to be able to start a new life in a safe country, in a safe place.”
Readers weren’t as sold.
“Great news!” a commenter named Mark noted under the story “100 Syrians to Be Resettled in Limerick” before adding the Gaelic greeting for 100,000 welcomes, “Céad míle fáilte!”
“Don’t let your hearts rule your head,” another named Terry posted soon after. “Ireland has an awful lot of problems of its own already. Thousands are homeless, many are unemployed, the health service is struggling …”
If Vermonters think it all sounds familiar, it is. Rutland has proposed hosting the same number of Syrians — with residents voicing similar divided opinions. But while the community still awaits a federal ruling on its resettlement plan, its Emerald Isle counterpart received half its refugees in the spring, with the last expected by the end of the year.
“They’re getting along very well,” says Seamus O’Connor (no relation to this writer), director of social development for the Limerick City and County Council.
Walsh confirms at the newspaper: “So far there doesn’t seem to be any issues.”
So much so, the reporter has written only one other story about refugees since their arrival four months ago, and that was to note resettlement so far has been “successful.”
Walk about this Irish city — known to many Americans as the setting of the late Frank McCourt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir “Angela’s Ashes” — and you won’t encounter any problems or protests, just an occasional stack of United Nations bookmarks picturing a 9-year-old Syrian girl fleeing home on her father’s shoulders.
“Stand together #WithRefugees,” a caption says, “and read a refugee book today.”
Or perhaps simply ruminate over Limerick’s story.
‘An issue that divides voters’
Separated by five time zones and nearly 3,000 miles of Atlantic Ocean, Rutland, population 16,495, and Limerick, population 58,319, nonetheless share many connections.
Both are historic, hardworking and occasionally hardscrabble municipalities surrounded by pastoral landscapes. In Rutland, City Hall is just off Merchants Row. In Limerick, it’s just off Merchants Quay (which coincidentally is just off Rutland Street). In both, the local newspapers — each founded in the latter 1700s and now printing four days a week — report on citizen complaints about high taxes and the need to boost population and prosperity.
But while Rutlanders are split on whether Mayor Christopher Louras should have sought public approval before asking the U.S. State Department for the chance to host refugees, neither Limerick residents nor leaders had much say in the matter.
Some 5 million Syrians have been displaced since the start of a civil war in 2011, leading to the worst global refugee crisis since World War II. A few nearby countries have faced so many asylum seekers, the European Union approved a plan last fall to spread them across the continent.
The effort is mandatory for all members except Ireland and two others with prior permission to opt out. But Irish Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said her republic would participate and, by December 2015, promised to accommodate 4,000 refugees over the following two years.
Unlike the United States, where many governors have told the federal government they won’t accept Syrian refugees, Ireland is directing counties and communities in a more top-down manner.
“What we want to see all over the country,” Fitzgerald told the Irish Times, “is everyone playing their part.”
Nearly 70 percent of Irish residents support the government’s commitment to host refugees, a survey by the Dublin political polling firm Red C has found, although the same number don’t believe such newcomers should automatically receive social welfare money, and almost half fear resettlement efforts will result in increased crime.
“It is clear that immigration is an issue that divides voters in Ireland,” Red C CEO Richard Colwell concludes. “However, if assured by proper vetting the majority of Irish citizens retain their legendary welcome for outsiders.”
That said, Limerick residents were divided when their local paper first reported the Irish Department of Justice and Equality had asked the city to welcome 50 Syrians in May and another 50 by the end of the year.
‘Remember our own history’
Commented a reader named Jan: “It would be better for all concerned if these people would be resettled in their own country, culture and religion instead of in any Western society.”
And Peter: “How do you know Jan or are you just making assumptions because you don’t want to integrate with these people? Just want to know where you expect these families to go within Syria (when) the whole country is an active war zone.”
And Ruairí: “This country can’t look after its own homeless, never mind 50 refugees. We have enough money for only one group … and we should put Irish citizens first. Even if we could help the refugees it would do absolutely no good for the country.”
And Shane: “These kind of narrow-minded responses are negative towards Limerick’s name. Maybe if the people and council used these rehousings to help show what a great city it is, Limerick could attract new business into the area.”
In Vermont, the mere possibility of Syrians resettling in Rutland has sparked interest from not only local and state media but also regional and national outlets ranging from The Boston Globe to Bloomberg.com. But in Limerick, their actual arrival has generated comparatively little press coverage.
A week and a half after the initial news, Limerick’s Catholic Bishop Brendan Leahy voiced a public plea for compassion.
“We need to support migrants in whatever way we can and by our solidarity,” Leahy told the Limerick Leader. “We need to remember our own history of emigration.”
A week and a half after that, Limerick officials confirmed the first 50 Syrians had arrived from refugee camps in Lebanon and Jordan with the help of nearly a dozen local public and private social service agencies.
“I can only imagine,” said then-Mayor Liam Galvin, “how good the Syrian families feel right now.”
Locals could only guess, too, because leaders didn’t invite the press or public to meet or greet the refugees.
“We’ve had people ask to have welcoming events,” says Laura Ryan, the city’s head of communications.
But officials explain they were encouraged to limit publicity to ensure privacy and confidentiality and avoid inciting fears.
“We were conscious the families themselves want to keep it low-key,” O’Connor says.
“They were traumatized where they came from,” Ryan says.
‘Everyone’s interest to monitor’
In Vermont, a lack of full public transparency has led to months of scrutiny by residents and reporters. But in Limerick, most politicians and members of the public and press don’t question the motivation (“Ireland is one of 25 countries that is participating in this important humanitarian programme,” the 190-word sole official statement concludes) and consider such discretion simple common courtesy.
“Everyone has a right to their privacy,” Walsh, the reporter, says of the refugees.
Not that journalists are avoiding the larger issues. Pick up the Irish Independent, the country’s largest-selling daily newspaper, and you’ll see half of a recent front page devoted to a photo of a 5-year-old Syrian boy dazed and bloodied after an airstrike in his homeland.
“The little boy who captured the conscience of the world,” the headline reads.
Locals also speak of their responsibilities as members of the United Nations and can cite specific provisions of the 1951 Geneva Convention that define the term “refugee” and outline the rights of displaced people and legal obligations of surrounding countries.
“It’s our civic duty to help, but it’s in everyone’s interest to monitor it closely,” Walsh says. “What’s happening with resettlement so far is very positive. The fact that things are silent is good.”
A Vermonter can see the difference in public reaction at Limerick’s Frank McCourt Museum, where an older volunteer who greets visitors says she knew the author personally.
Born in Brooklyn in 1930, McCourt was considered an outsider because his parents had come from Ireland. When the family relocated to Limerick when he was 4, his classmates viewed him as an American — or, one Christmas Day, an African after he and his brother scavenged coal off the streets (and got it all over themselves) so their mother could fuel a cooking fire.
“Malachy makes faces at them and wants to throw coal at them,” McCourt wrote in “Angela’s Ashes,” “but I tell him if he throws coal there’s less for the pig and we’ll never get our dinner.”
Upon the memoir’s publication 20 years ago, many Limerick residents privately questioned if the author should have revealed so many intimate stories.
“You don’t talk about it,” the guide sums up their feelings.
Ask about Syrian refugees and you hear a similar response.
“You have to help other human beings,” she says, “which is a good thing.”
But what about the locals who are reticent to fully express their reservations?
“That fear is there at a certain level,” she replies. “Let’s hope it stays where it is.”
So far that’s the case. In his memoir, McCourt tells of a Catholic priest tearing up a black-and-white Limerick Leader to create practice wafers for Communion.
“He shows us how to stick out the tongue, receive the bit of paper, hold it a moment, draw in the tongue, fold your hands in prayer, look toward heaven, close your eyes in adoration, wait for the paper to melt in your mouth, swallow it, and thank God for the gift, the Sanctifying Grace wafting in on the odor of sanctity.”
Today, people who walk a few crowded blocks from the museum to the newspaper office pass by a world of different skin tones before seeing the latest issue whole and colorful in the window.
The headline: “More Syrians on the Way to Limerick as Families Reunite.”
“It’s working,” says O’Connor in Limerick’s social development office, “but it does need support. There are advantages in diversity. We would like to think we make progress as a city with what everyone brings.”
The Facebook comments soon follow.
Posts Philip: “That’s great news. Good to see our city helping out people fleeing a war torn country.”
And David: “Need more job creation so people can get back to work and support themselves and their families.”
The refugees may have arrived, but other things remain unsettled.
