Inclusive
Practice, Excluded Irish?
We
do not really differentiate between White Irish and White
British. Our priorities for developing ethnically sensitive
services lie elsewhere. We probably have much bigger
population of Irish extraction that is hidden in White
British (Social Services Director).
Within social work and social care in Britain, the dominant
approach to ‘race’ and ethnicity has often failed to
incorporate an Irish dimension and this risks undermining
services for many of those with learning difficulties and a
range of other service user groups. It is, therefore, now
time to challenge this omission and to examine how social
workers and related professionals are engaging with Irish
users of social work and social care services. At present,
professional debates on ‘inclusive practice’, for example,
often fail to incorporate and Irish dimension because the
dominant approach to questions of ‘race’ and ethnicity has
tended to view ‘black’ and ‘minority ethnic’ as
interchangeable.
According to the Government of Ireland’s Task Force on
Policy regarding Emigrants, which reported in 2002, the
largest Irish-born community in the world outside of
Ireland is in Britain. Although it is likely to represent
an undercounting, statistical data relating to the 2001
Census revealed that 1.2% of the population of England and
Wales identified as ‘White Irish’. Furthermore, the Irish
community is complex and diverse. The problem, however, is
that social work, as constellation of ideas and practices
rhetorically founded on safeguarding and promoting the
welfare of the vulnerable, have largely failed to recognise
that there may be any Irish dimension to theory and
practice. Moreover, this oversight is particularly
problematic given the vulnerability of certain groups of
Irish people in Britain who might need to seek out the
assistance of local authority Social Services Departments
(SSDs). Across a range of indices, the life opportunities
of many Irish people in Britain continue to be impaired,
yet this is infrequently taken into account in most
mainstream approaches to ‘race’ and ethnicity. Related to
this, the resilience of anti-Irish racism in Britain is
rarely acknowledged. Furthermore, anti-Irish Traveller
racism, recently stoked once again by prominent politicians
in Britain, continues to blight the lives of many families.
Clearly, there is a
need to scrutinise how social work is currently responding
to Irish people and new research has begun to examine how
social work has engaged with Irish people in Britain, both
historically and to the present day (1).
This research provides, for example, an overview of SSD
Directors to a survey that invited them to investigate
their organisations’ operational attitudes to Irish
children and families. As well as the ‘view from the top’
there a chapter which includes the Irish social workers,
based in London.
As for the future, some areas seem to warrant particular
attention:
• Given the ‘evidence-based practice’ agenda, there needs
to be more research undertaken with Irish people who are
engaging with social work and social care services Britain.
• SSDs and other social work and social care providers need
to improve their monitoring of Irish ethnicity. This
monitoring needs, moreover, to enhance service provision
and should not become ‘an end in itself’.
• There should be improvements in the area of education and
training for social work and social care and at the level
of theory and practice, recognition of Irish people in
Britain. Irish social work staff are likely to be an
invaluable resource and SSDs need to recognise this and
draw on their experience and skills.
References
I. Garrett, P. M. (2004) Social Work and Irish People in
Britain: Historical and contemporary responses to Irish
children and families, Bristol: Policy Press.
Dr.
Paul Michael Garrett, Department of
Political Science & Sociology, National University of
lreland, Galway & the Adviser on Social Services to the
All-Party Irish in Britain Parliamentary Group in the UK
Parliament. He can be contacted at: PM.Garrett.nuigalway.ie
