[LINK] The new Irish-Argentines

[rfmcdonald]

The Irish Times's Tom Hennigan writes about a new sort of Irish-Argentines.

The city probably never featured prominently on lists of where older generations went to escape previous Irish slumps but then, this time around, the traditional recessionary outlets are also down on their luck.

Friends who had visited raved about one of the world’s most exciting cities. First-time visitors from Ireland are often surprised at just how sophisticated the city South Americans consider their continent’s most urbane capital actually is.

The boulevards remind you of Paris or Madrid, while the social life compares easily with London or New York. But the buzz in the air is Latin and the prices are far lower than anywhere near to home, even in these deflationary times.

For recent Irish émigrés planning to spend some time here while waiting for the tide to turn at home, this cut-price cosmopolitanism is a welcome attraction, as they look for somewhere to make savings and severance packages last longer.

Probably not since the 1860s and the arrival of Argentina’s original Irish community has this South American country with a dubious economic reputation been seen as a bolthole for those looking to escape hard times at home. “I love it here. The locals are very friendly, the standard of living is great and the weather is fantastic,” says Slattery.

Another recent arrival is Niamh Haughey, who decided to take a severance package from a failing bank back home. She had visited Argentina in 2004 and always thought about coming back to learn Spanish. “Some time out is good for you. I had a job in the boom and now have decided to do some travelling during the recession,” she says.

While some, such as Slattery and Haughey, are open to the idea of work experience to help make the euro they have brought with them go farther, few are planning a permanent move – perhaps just as well, as Argentina’s chaotic economy and stifling bureaucracy makes finding regular jobs a challenge.

For these children of the great Irish bust, goals such as learning Spanish and seeing some of the continent while the recession at home works its way through the job market are more important than carving out a foreign future like their predecessors did in London and Boston in the 1980s.

This migration by Irish seems fairly typical to me of a post-recession tendency to travel to Argentina for extended periods of time, to enjoy high living standards and low prices.