Sir, – The tragic death of Yves Sakila (35) in Henry Street in Dublin is to be deeply mourned, with condolences to his family and community. Yves was from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and had lived in Ireland since 2004. He was homeless, with previous convictions (“Congolese community mourns and calls for justice at vigil after Henry Street death,” May 20th).Yves’s story may be part of the issue of the second-generation immigrants. International research suggests that, where the second generation have skills, they tend to assimilate into the “mainstream” segments of their host society. However, where they do not have skills, some may assimilate into the “low stream” segments.Compounding this is their relative isolation from the social connections of both their origin society and their host society, with a sensation of being doubly marginal. This can give rise to challenging and conflicted behaviour in some cases. An example are the anecdotal stories of the Irish in Britain in the 1950s – the “drunken Paddies”.Assimilation of the immigrant is not an easy challenge. – Yours, etc,BRIAN CALLANANEnnis Road,Limerick.
Yves Sakila’s tragic story a reminder that immigrant assimilation is not an easy challenge
Democratic Republic of Congo native who died in Dublin had lived in Ireland since 2004
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