SURVEY SHOW BRAZILIANS IN GORT FEAR FOR THEIR JOBS

Date Published: 12-May-2008

A new survey of the Brazilian community in the town of Gort has shown that many people with an undocumented status fear losing their jobs.

Today’s Irish Times reports that the informal employment agreements between employers and the Brazilians can lead to exploitation.

The research was carried out by Brian McGrath of NUI Galway and was presented over the weekend at the Sociological Association of Ireland conference which also took place in Galway.

According to the survey many Brazilians work in an ‘informal economy’ on the basis of trust.

A number of Brazilians interviewed said that while family networks make it easier to settle in the town, a dominant majority from Goias in south Brazil ‘closed’ the area to other people.

Over a third of Gort’s population are now Brazilian since the first small group arrived almost 10 years ago