Some people from disadvantaged ethnic minorities living in Dublin's inner city are being forced to take jobs with low pay and live in poor quality accommodation even though they have high levels of education and good standards of English, according to research to be published today.
The community-based study of 101 "hard to reach" members of ethnic minorities living in Dublin's north inner city also found that four out of five live in private rented accommodation, much of which is of a poor standard.
Just 3 per cent of respondents were living in publicly-provided local authority housing. On average, respondents had moved residence at least once in the preceding two years, indicating a high level of mobility.
According to the non-governmental agency Cairde, which produced the report with the help of funding from the HSE, this could have significant implications for the roll-out by the HSE of its national primary care strategy.
Since they are a mobile group, it says, they require a specific response from health planners to their needs rather than a "one size fits all" approach.
Of the 30 per cent of respondents who were in employment, most worked in low-pay, insecure jobs such as cleaners, general operatives/labourers, and elsewhere in the services sector.
However, the same number again were unemployed but seeking work, while just over one-fifth were not entitled to work by the State.
Three-quarters of those who were unemployed were long-term unemployed.
Those surveyed had been in Ireland for an average of 2½ years. Two-thirds had some form of third-level education, while a further 26 per cent had a secondary level education.
As part of the study, 13 members of ethnic minorities were trained as assistant health workers to conduct the surveys, meaning they could encourage "hard to reach" ethnic minority members to participate.
The research is due to be launched today by the director of the Combat Poverty Agency Helen Johnston.
One-fifth of those who had been granted the right to work in Ireland are being discouraged from seeking employment due to the loss of social welfare entitlements, the report also shows, since many of the jobs are low-paid. This means they are effectively caught in a "poverty trap", something which is made worse by lack of access to affordable childcare and other supports.
Over half were unsatisfied with the standard of their accommodation, with the most common complaint being size and overcrowding, followed by issues such as dampness, a lack of central heating and a lack of privacy.
Most of the respondents were African (54 per cent), while 23 per cent were eastern European and 12 per cent were from the new accession countries such as Poland, Lithuania and Estonia.