'All this will enrich the culture'

The New Irish: Whether they own a business or work in a factory, how do Ireland's 3,000 Brazilians find their new home? Carl O'Brien reports

Tulia Lopes laughs as she compares her small jewellery shop, off Grafton Street, to an unofficial advice centre for Ireland's burgeoning Brazilian community. "It's true: I get new faces coming in regularly, be they students or migrant workers, asking about things like where to meet other Brazilians or starting work here. I suppose they ask me because I'm known in the embassy, I've set up a business and have been living here a few years."

In many ways the shopkeeper, who is from Goiânia, in southern Brazil, and has been living here for 10 years, finds herself dealing with two Brazilian communities in Ireland. The smaller and more established one is made up of highly skilled professionals and postgraduate students. The larger and more recently arrived community is made up of legal migrants, who typically work in meat factories, on mushroom farms and in shops across the country.

"They are very different groups," says Lopes, who organises numerous Brazilian and Latin American music nights in the Dublin area. "There is a big class divide in Brazil, which isn't as strong in Europe. I suppose we are groups who would rarely mix at home, because of the different social circles. But here we are all foreigners and there are stronger links between us."

The Brazilian community has tripled to about 3,000 people in the past five years, and it now accounts for one of the largest groups of migrant workers in the country. "Most of them are going to go back. They don't plan to stay for more than a few years. It really depends on how difficult it is to renew a work visa," says Carlos Leal, vice-consul at the Brazilian embassy.

The migrant workers began to arrive in the Republic when staff-strapped meat factories began searching abroad for skilled workers. One firm was Duffy's of Gort, in Co Galway, which found a ready supply of Brazilians accustomed to working in large meat factories for less than a quarter of the Irish pay.

"They're a very decent crowd," says Seán Duffy, the founder of the company. "I was talking to the local superintendent some time ago, and he told me they have never caused an ounce of trouble since they arrived. They get about their business, they work well. You can be sure of them in the morning, especially on a Monday."

Most of the 35 Brazilians whom Duffy employs are married men or women who have come alone. They plan to spend about two years here, sending their spare earnings home. Duffy's pays Brazilians the same as it would pay Irish workers; it also provides English classes for anybody interested in improving their language skills.

"If you don't treat them well you can't expect them to work properly," says Duffy. "Some of them have picked up a lot of English and are in charge of various departments. Good people are scarce these days."

Lucimeire da Silva, a 27-year-old from Anápolis, a city close to the agricultural heartland of Brazil, was one of the first to arrive in Gort. With no English, and thousands of miles from her three-year-old son, Savio, and her husband, Marcel, life was extremely difficult at the beginning, she says.

"I used to think, my God, will it ever stop raining? I'd get out a picture of my son and cry and cry," says Lucimeire, a cleaner at the meat factory.

At first some locals seemed to react coldly to the large number of migrant workers who had arrived in the town, according to da Silva. But their initial frostiness melted in to a warm welcome once they got to know the new arrivals, she says.

Communication was also difficult at first. Da Silva used to hold up pictures of rice or beans to shopkeepers, because they could not understand her. Now, after a huge effort, she has progressed to the point where she is teaching her friends English.

Family life is also easier. Her husband and son have joined her in Gort. Savio goes to the local national school; Marcel, a butcher, also works at Duffy's.

Although da Silva is positive about her reception in Gort, she says weekends are very dull compared with the family gatherings back home.

"On Sunday here we just sit at home and sleep. The weather doesn't help. You get a DVD and stay quiet."

But da Silva's main concern is whether her work permit will be renewed, given the likely sharp increase in demand for jobs from European workers since the enlargement of the union. "Now people will come from the EU and Eastern Europe, and I think we may need to leave the jobs for them. I don't think that's fair."

There are signs, however, that after five years the town's Brazilian community is beginning to establish itself, even if it does feel threatened by competition for work.

The workers organise Brazilian concerts and festivals from time to time. The Assembléia de Deus, a Pentecostal congregation, has set up a church, and many of Gort's Brazilian workers crowd in to the dining area of the local leisure centre three times a week to pray.

"I think it is very important that we are here, because many of the people are alone, their families are in Brazil, and they can find people to talk to here in the church. That is very important," says Pastor Marcelo Nunes, who arrived in Gort two years ago.

Savio is not the only Brazilian at his school; it has also accommodated several of his compatriots.

Seán Duffy believes it would be a shame if Brazilians were unable to stay much longer in the area given their contribution to the community.

"I'm very, very fond of the Brazilians," he says. "We have a great rapport with them. It would be a great pity to lose that."

Pastor Nunes is confident that his church is here to stay in Ireland, even if the Brazilian community does begin to dwindle. "I don't know what will happen for sure, although I believe we are always going to have a Brazilian church here, but I don't know if there will be as many people there."

Tulia Lopes, meanwhile, is busy organising another Latin party for Dublin's growing community of Brazilians and other South Americans. "It's great to be able to share our culture. It's good to show the positive aspects of our culture," she says.

The carnival started six years ago and has been growing ever since.

Preparations are well under way for a big party in the Garda Club next month, and a range of other events are planned for later in the year.

"I enjoy passing on the good aspects of our culture. We're also going to start salsa dancing, and it will be nice to see Irish people learning this. . . . I think at the moment maybe some people are still a little frightened with all these colours around. In the end all this will enrich the culture."