Kerry’s Polish community feels right at home

Monika Mikolayczuk and her husband Adam wondered if they had chosen the right name for their cafe and catering business when they opened seven years ago on Ashe Street in the heart of Tralee, Co Kerry.

In the end they picked Chopin's in honour of the Polish composer. Today some locals call it "Choppings", others opt for the pronunciation a la Francaise, while Poles pronounce it without stressing the end.

However, all, both local and immigrant, agree on the popularity of the cafe which has become a haven for those bustling in and out of the town’s courthouse on the Victorian street.

All the staff working for the couple are Irish. This weekend Chopin's is sponsoring one of them, Carly Holden, to seek the Kerry nomination for the Rose of Tralee competition to be held later in the summer.

The couple – they have two children Kuba (10) and Mateusz (6) – are from Boleslawie in southwestern Poland near the German and Czech border. They came to Tralee in 2004, and worked for four years before setting up the business.

Ireland, says Monika, has allowed them to complete their dream of having their own restaurant and catering business. She believes she might have been able to do that in Poland, but the bureaucracy would have stifled her.

“I am not pretending that I am not Polish. But I am not in Poland. I am here. I am very happy here,” she says.

“Irish people from my point of view are friendly and open and helpful. They make us feel at home.”

Five-year-old figures put the number of Poles in Killarney at 1,320 out of a total of 14,219, but births and further immigration, along with those who come for temporary jobs during Kerry's tourist season, means today's total is higher.

The community is settling. Three large supermarkets are Polish, there is a Polish tailor, a Polish restaurant, Polish hairdressers, a Polish tyre centre and Polish beauty salons with an increasingly mixed clientele.

Integration is happening, as the parents of young children get to know each other on the way to schools or on the sidelines of pitches.

Deepening ties

Tragedy has accelerated the deepening of ties as illustrated by the death of 11-month-old

Karol Rozycki

. His father died from self-inflicted wounds days later.

He and his wife had worked at the Aghadoe Heights hotel. A Mass at St Mary's Cathedral drew over 500 people. Flowers and candles were left and money donated.

"The tragedy brought home the level of fantastic integration there is in Killarney," says Supt Flor Murphy, who led the investigation into the baby's death.

“There was huge public sentiment and support from the local community.”

Klaudia Cygal had lived next door to the tragic family. Like others in the Polish community, she was deeply touched by the congregation that turned out for the special Mass for the dead baby.

Now living for nine years in the town, Cygal returned to Poland after three years, but returned after 10 months. Now she sees Killarney as home.

“We stay here. We don’t want to go back. We start new life here.”

Adopting Irish habits when they returned to Poland, they found themselves frozen out when they asked strangers how they were. In Poland you must know someone very well before you ask this.

“The Irish are very nice and friendly,” she adds.

Young Polish men once figured “significantly” on court listing for drink-fuelled offences, says solicitor Padraig O’Connell, but this number has dropped considerably, reflecting the way that people are bedding into their new society.

Polish chaplain

Fr

Piotr Delimat

, a Polish chaplain seconded to the

Kerry Diocese

from the Archdiocese of Krakow at the request of the Bishop of

Kerry Dr

Ray Browne

, said he now finds it difficult to tell Polish children from Irish.

Typically, the children build ties quicker than their parents, as happens with all immigrant communities.

Parents with children are the next best category to integrate. Singles are doing the worst.

Fr Piotr Delimat says many feel isolated. They watch Polish TV through satellite and their English remains poor.

“They are between countries, and are not really connected to the community here. Having children really helps in that situation.

“Polish Masses help people to have a connection with Polish practice and prayers. Especially in prayer people want to use their own language. But outside of that they should speak English.”

Some Poles who have struggled to settle down have returned home only to find that they no longer fit in there. Having decided to come back to Kerry they have put down stronger roots the second time around.

“This is their home now,” says Fr Delimat.

However, if some Poles have left and come back, some Irish are heading to Poland for the first time.

Local travel agent Sol Travel is currently organising an autumn pilgrimage to Krakow for Tralee parishioners.

The list is nearly full.