During
The TroublesThe Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
, the levels of immigration to
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and it is situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
were low. However, there has been an increase since the power sharing agreement brought an end to official terrorist activity.
Most ethnic minorities live in the
Greater BelfastGreater Belfast is an area surrounding and including Belfast in Northern Ireland.It includes Belfast and parts of the North Down, Lisburn, Castlereagh and Newtownabbey district council areas. Greater Belfast is the largest urban area in Northern Ireland, and second largest in Ireland...
area, although certain groups are focused on other parts of the province.
Chinese
The first ethnic minority to arrive in significant numbers was the
ChineseChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
. There are 4,200 speakers of the language (as of 2004) and although this is dwarfed by the numbers able to speak
IrishIrish is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now only spoken natively by a small minority of the Irish population but also plays an important symbolic role in the life of the Irish state, and is used...
and
Ulster ScotsUlster Scots generally refers to the dialects of Scots spoken in parts of Ulster. Some definitions of Ulster Scots may also include Standard English spoken with an Ulster Scots accent – where lexical items have been re-allocated to the phoneme classes that are nearest to the equivalent standard...
, it was said for many years that Cantonese Chinese is the second most widely spoken "first language" in Northern Ireland after
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
.
Chinese people first arrived in Northern Ireland in the 1960s. Chinese is the largest non-native restaurant genre in Northern Ireland, as many of the initial immigrants set up food outlets in order to make a living.
South Asian
Apart from the Chinese, there are a number of other ethnic minority groups from Asia. Most came from
CommonwealthThe Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the Commonwealth and previously as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-three independent member states. Most of them were formerly part of the British Empire. They co-operate within a framework of common values...
countries such as
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia...
and
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
. The influx has led to the building of a
MosqueA mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. Muslims often refer to the mosque by its Arabic name, masjid, —...
,and a
Hindu TempleA Hindu temple or Mandir is a place of worship for followers of Hinduism. It can be a separate structure or a part of a building. A picture of most temples is the presence of murtis of the Hindu deity to whom the temple is dedicated. They are usually dedicated to one primary deity, called the...
to cater for spiritual needs. There is also an Asian Supermarket on the
Ormeau RoadThe Ormeau Road is a road in south Belfast, Northern Ireland. Ormeau Park is adjacent to it.-History:Having previously been the home of George Chichester, 2nd Marquess of Donegall, a road was first built in 1815, when it was known more commonly as the New Ballynafeigh Road before eventually taking...
in
BelfastBelfast is the capital of and the largest city in Northern Ireland, a constituent country of the United Kingdom. It is the seat of devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly. It is the largest urban area in the province of Ulster, and the second largest city on the island of...
.
Portuguese
There are over 1,000 speakers of Portuguese in Northern Ireland. This wave has been more recent, having started in the 1990s. Northern Ireland's Portuguese population is located primarily in
DungannonDungannon is a town in County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. It is the third-largest town in the county and a population of 11,139 people was recorded in the 2001 Census. In August 2006, Dungannon won Ulster In Bloom's Best Kept Town Award for the fifth time...
,
County TyroneCounty Tyrone is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Ulster and is part of Northern Ireland....
(where many work in the Moy Park factory) and
PortadownPortadown is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It has an estimated population of 32,000, and is situated on the River Bann, in the north of County Armagh. It is within of the Craigavon Borough Council area....
,
County ArmaghCounty Armagh is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Ulster and is part of Northern Ireland. It was named after the town of Armagh....
.
Polish
There are now believed to be 30,000
PolishPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
people living in Northern Ireland. This influx has been relatively recent, and has increased since Poland joined the
European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
, with many coming on a short term basis for work. A recent report showed that in the
Police Service of Northern IrelandThe Police Service of Northern Ireland GC is the police service that covers Northern Ireland...
's most recent recruitment drive, nearly 1,000 Polish people applied to become officers.
Other
There are a number of other ethnic minorities, primarily from Eastern Europe. These include most recently the immigration of people from Hungary in many smaller towns in the west of province.
Famous people
There are a number of famous people from Northern Ireland who are from an ethnic minority background. These include broadcaster Lata Sharma (who is Asian),
Andre Shoukri-Background:Andre was born in 1977, the son of a Coptic Christian Egyptian father and an Northern Irish mother. He was alleged to have taken over the north Belfast UDA leadership...
, a loyalist whose father is from
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
and the recently elected
Alliance PartyThe Alliance Party of Northern Ireland is a political party in Northern Ireland. It has long sought to bridge the gap between the province's two main communities and is avowedly non-sectarian, being relatively moderate on matters concerning Unionism over Irish nationalism, and on religious matters...
assembly memberThe Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive...
for South Belfast,
Anna LoAnna Manwah Lo, MBE, MLA is an Alliance Party politician in Northern Ireland. Born in Hong Kong, of Chinese ethnicity, Lo was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for South Belfast in the 2007 assembly election...
MLA, who is from
Hong KongHong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a highly autonomous territory of the People's Republic of China, facing Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to the east, west and south...
.