We Irish are renowned for our storytelling. Raised on songs and stories, the 80 million people of the diaspora have brought these tales to the world.
The story the Irish Government has been telling over the past few years is one of recovery. A booming economy, job growth, returning migrants: the good times are back. And people are starting to listen, particularly here in New Zealand.
When I emigrated to Auckland with my now wife, Carla, in 2013, I wasn't an economic refugee in the purest sense. I was one of the lucky ones who didn't suffer the hardship of unemployment, but I was mentally drained by five years of austerity and the struggle it brought.
Working as an economic consultant between Belfast and Dublin, I watched the bottom fall out of the Irish market and saw a firm that was based in Northern Ireland but had in 2003 become an all-island business retreat back north and turn its eye to London and Brussels for business. More hours, less pay became the norm.
I found in New Zealand a generation of Irish who had been through a similar experience and many who couldn’t face competing in a brutal job market. They left for work, for respite or just to check out from real life for a year or two.
We collectively brought stories of a homeland that was ruined. Even if you had the luxury of a job the Government was going to tax you so hard you’d hardly be able to afford a few pints come a Friday.
The world knew our story, too. Ireland was one of the failures of the euro zone, on a par with Greece, Spain and Portugal. Not as smart or efficient as the Scandinavians or the Germans, we were passengers in the EU bus – those awkward standing passengers, just taking up room.
In New Zealand there was opportunity. A growing economy fuelled by increasing Chinese dairy consumption, the Christchurch earthquake recovery and a population and construction boom in Auckland meant jobs aplenty for those who wanted them. But New Zealanders learned the story quickly, too, their dark humour sticking the knife in, with comments about the “mob of Irish refugee builders in Christchurch”. A truth, but a hurtful one for some Irish.
But in 2015, as the tide began to turn back home, a visiting Irish minister, Alex White, arrived in New Zealand with a good-news story in his back pocket. “Growth, jobs: we are back” was the message from Leinster House, delivered at a St Patrick’s Day event.
But with the hard times still fresh in the audience’s minds, many bit back. He got savaged. It was too soon for that message.
Since then Government agencies have done a great job of telling the story of recovering Ireland. The dulcet tones of Liam Neeson on Tourism Ireland videos, the slick infographics of the IDA and the lure of the Wild Atlantic Way have tugged on the heart strings.
International experts are starting to take notice of Ireland again, just as they did in the early 2000s. Growing, booming: the “Cel-tech tiger” was the latest one I heard. At an economic symposium here in Auckland last month a leading international economist highlighted how New Zealand could learn from other small economies such as Ireland’s.
A business delegation from Australia and New Zealand is heading to Ireland in September to learn about the Irish innovation ecosystem, and New Zealand is establishing an embassy in Dublin to strengthen trade and investment links.
No longer a passenger but up front, seated beside the driver of the EU bus: Ireland is hot, even here in the south Pacific.
In 2017 another visiting Minister, Patrick O'Donovan, brought a similar message to White's. "Come home: jobs, growth, and we are even bidding for the 2023 Rugby World Cup! "
The rawness has subsided, so he was better received, but while the crowd may forgive, they won’t forget. The questions this time were more measured, and focused on issues such as emerging inequities and the Dublincentric nature of the recovery.
Now married, and with my first child born in New Zealand, I and many like me have a choice to make. In answering the eternal question for Irish immigrants – to stay or return home – do we believe this story?
Perhaps it is our natural cynicism, or, as Behan said, “our wonderful lack of respect for everything and everybody”. Or just that we have learned that we may not believe, just yet anyway.
John Lavery is originally from Belfast. An economic and policy adviser, he works for Auckland's economic growth agency and is a committee member of the Irish Business Network of New Zealand (ibnnz.com) and a trustee of St Patrick's Festival Auckland
