As an Irish citizen living in Dubai, I have often been struck by the similarities between the Republic of Ireland and the UAE: comparable populations (between 4 million and 5 million), living alongside a dominant neighbour (Britain and Saudi Arabia), and both living off their wits as commercial entrepreneurs in a competitive global business environment.
The histories of Ireland and the UAE also demonstrate the importance of migrant labour, but in rather different ways. For many years after independence 90 years ago, Ireland’s biggest export was its people. Hundreds of thousands of Irish left the country to seek their fortunes abroad, as my parents did in the 1940s when they went to England, and helped sustain their families by sending some of their hard-earned money back – what we call “remittances”.
The Emirates, on the other hand, has been a magnet for migrant labour since its inception in 1971. The armies of workers that helped build Dubai and Abu Dhabi into world-class cities are the direct equivalent of the Irish navvies who rebuilt Britain after the Second World War. The UAE workers, too, have helped sustain their families at home by sending cash back to Kerala, Karachi and Guangzhou.
No comments:
Post a Comment