Ireland sets test for new citizens

[Francis Hult]

Guardian

 

Ireland sets test for new citizens

 

Plans have been laid to assess the English skills of new arrivals in a bid to boost social integration, but concerns are growing that language support will suffer in the economic crisis, reports Henry McDonald

 

Until just over a decade ago the Republic of Ireland was one of the most culturally and racially homogeneous societies on Earth.

 

Yet in a relatively short time a nation that was once almost entirely white and more than 95% Catholic has been radically and rapidly transformed into a multicultural society.

 

According to the latest figures from the Republic's Central Statistics Office, around 18% of Ireland's population are non-nationals, the majority of them from eastern Europe, China and west Africa. This also includes a large proportion of Britons who have settled on the island.

 

Full story:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/nov/14/ireland-english-teaching

_______________________________________________
Edling mailing list
Edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu
https://lists.sis.utsa.edu/mailman/listinfo/edling
List Manager: Francis M. Hult