THE NEW IRISH: Many of them arrived to fill posts in the health service. Now Ireland's Filipinos have been joined by their families, reports Carl O'Brien

The room is small and crowded, but the sound of Filipino teenagers singing at the top of their lungs is rattling through the old house. Facing the group is 17-year-old Cora Galang, who closes her eyes tightly as she sings and claps in time to the music. Then she opens them momentarily, looks around at the other trendily dressed teenagers and smiles.

It's Saturday afternoon at City Quay parish house, in Dublin, and the Youth for Christ group, whose members are aged between 14 and 18, is practising for a concert to mark its first year in Ireland. "It's been quite easy for us to adjust to life here," Galang says confidently once the singing is over. "In the school they are all very nice to me. It's easier to adapt; my classmates are very friendly.

"There are differences. The churches in the Philippines are all packed. There are a lot of young people in the church. You don't see that here. We try to invite Irish friends to our meetings, but they don't come. I don't know: maybe they think we're very religious or something. But this is normal for us."

Galang and her friends are part of the new generation of Filipinos in Ireland, mostly sons and daughters of the 5,000 nurses who now account for about a third of the country's nursing staff. Whereas four years ago they were seen as a temporary solution to a staffing crisis in the health service, these days there are the telltale signs of a community beginning to establish itself.

The Government has begun to allow more spouses and families of nurses to move to Ireland in the face of growing international competition for trained nurses. Many Filipino nurses are now choosing to make Ireland their home, their children are entering the education system and mixed marriages are becoming increasingly common.

In places like City Quay, where Filipinos have established a choir and numerous religious groups, they are bringing a new energy to the Catholic Church, which has been suffering from dwindling attendances. "They bring life to the liturgy when they get involved," says Father Paul St John, who is based at the City Quay parish house. "They are bringing a new dimension to the Church that locals might not have seen before."

The Philippines, whose healthcare system has limited job opportunities, effectively educates nurses for export. It turns out almost 27,000 more nursing graduates every year than it needs. English is one of its official languages, and Filipino nurses typically take a four-year degree before being sent to work in hospitals in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, the US, Britain and elsewhere.

The Republic, a relative newcomer on the scene, is a lucrative location, paying about three times more than the likes of Saudi Arabia.

A significant number of Filipinos have also arrived in Ireland on work permits, mostly in the hospitality and catering industry, bringing the overall Filipino population close to an estimated 7,500.

But the good money also has its drawbacks. Many workers who arrived with the hope of saving significant amounts have been shocked to see their money whittled away by the soaring cost of living.

Nurses also complain about discrimination and lack of promotion in the health sector, while many experienced nurses find themselves playing menial roles.

More widely, reports of exploitation among migrant workers are still widespread. Don Brennock, a recruitment agent and chairman of the Filipino-Irish Association, says stories of mistreatment in all types of jobs, whether in hotels or as au pairs, are shocking. "I have stories that would make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, like a nurse in Limerick who was given an attic for a room and no holidays for 15 months.

"A significant portion of workers are not treated the same as Irish workers, but because their earnings are relatively good they often don't have a problem with it."

Noemi's story is one example. She came to Ireland from the Philippines a year ago to mind the three children of two doctors. "I was receiving a low wage. I didn't know what the minimum wage was. Then I found out about a group called the Migrant Rights Centre and collected leaflets from it."

When she complained to her employer she was eventually given back pay, and she now works a 40-hour week. But she still has serious reservations about the way the work-permit scheme operates.

"We are bonded by the work-permit scheme. We are limited in what we can do, we can't take courses and we are limited in our social activity."

Nurses overall have had a positive experience in Ireland, according to Fidel Taguinod, one of the first wave of nurses that arrived four years ago, who is now involved with the overseas unit of the Irish Nurses Organisation.

He says the lack of promotion among foreign nurses is worrying, however. "If you take a closer look at the 5,000 overseas nurses, how many have climbed up the ladder? How many are clinical managers? It's very frustrating for us. People say we are lovely and that we work hard, but very few have reached any management level." He blames this glass ceiling on institutional ignorance rather than discrimination or racism.

"There is a feeling, I think, that the nursing profession knows what's best for overseas nurses. They tend to patronise us. I don't think nurse managers have come to terms with integrating us in to the system. I don't think they are ready to see us as managers or climbing up the ladder."

The Government's restrictions on the rights of spouses to work in Ireland also angered many and contributed to a feeling of instability for themselves and their families. It took loud protests from hospital managers, along with warnings that hundreds of overseas nurses would move to countries with more liberal approaches to spouses' working rights, before the Government announced plans to relax the law.

Next month's referendum on citizenship is also adding to a feeling that Filipino workers, and others, are expendable economic units rather than valued members of the community, according to Michael Anecheta, a Catholic missionary who also edits the Filipino Forum, a community newsletter.

"It does make people feel less wanted," he says. "Many Irish may think we are just workers, but we are not. We want to be part of the community and to be part of Irish society. Many nurses arrived here with the intention of leaving in one or two years. But for most that did not happen. They have their children, their spouses here. A community is being created."

Cora Galang, meanwhile, is brimful of confidence as she looks to the future. The 17-year-old, who attends St Mary's Holy Faith secondary school in Dublin, is studying for her Leaving Cert and already knows exactly what she wants to do. "I'd like to stay here and take up nursing. My mum is a nurse. It's something that's in demand. A lot of countries need nurses. I'd like to try it."

Having arrived in Ireland just two years ago, she says she is happy here. "We had mixed feelings about coming here, leaving our family, friends, relations behind, but people have been very nice to us here. We have adjusted well. I think I'm going to stay for good."