Prologue

I didn’t approach this book with a formal methodology. There was no prescribed selection process. I came upon people in the day-to-day course of my life, and asked them for their stories. Or one person would pass me onto another. I did have certain questions in mind, but mainly allowed the conversation to progress the way each individual allowed it to. It was more interesting to keep things open-ended, to be receptive to what they wanted to tell me. There is something hypnotic about the ebb and flow of a narrative, and I don’t believe in being too intrusive, especially when people are trusting you with their stories. So only where there was a pause, did I ask a question.

Some people I asked, of course said no. They didn’t want their private lives to be exposed to the public, something I respected. Others didn’t want the tape recorder on for certain parts of their story. Or I would meet them and spontaneously get to hear about them without the benefit of a Dictaphone, so I’d have to report it later in my own words. Then I’d meet them another time for the second part of their story. It’s quite difficult to get people to repeat a narrative, especially if it’s close to the bone. Some got emotional and asked for sections of their story to be deleted. There were also those whose English was so limited, they couldn’t relate their stories extensively. In those cases, I strung their monosyllabic answers together, to create more of a flow.

Foreigners living in Ireland include settlers, contract workers, professionals, undocumented workers, international students, asylum seekers and refugees (i.e. those who have received asylum status.) For the purpose of this book, I have only interviewed people who expect to be living here for some years at least, or who have settled here.