Everyone living in Clara is ‘local’

CLARA is a small village in Co Offaly, 11km from bustling Tullamore. It has the smallest ethnic minority population in Ireland, with 92.1pc of the town’s population describing themselves as ‘white Irish’ on the Census form.

Local people don’t realise there is anything different about their area until the statistics are presented. Residents are visibly startled, with one young shop worker explaining that, while he hadn’t realised there were so few ethnic minorities in the village, he understood why.

“People who move country would want to go to a place where there is lots of work and that isn’t Clara,” he said. “I’d imagine Dublin would be the obvious place for a lot of people from different countries. Down here, we are kind of off the beaten track, away from the tourism industry even.”

Fewer than 40 people describe themselves as Asian or Asian Irish, or black or black Irish. One Eastern European woman said she’d moved to Clara some years ago after marrying a local man, and she could understand why there were so few ethnic minorities.

“I came here by chance,” the woman said. “I live here for a very good reason, because the house prices are cheap. It may be quiet but I don’t mind that and there is some work here. But it wouldn’t be the obvious place for people from another country to move to.”

The owners of the Chinese and Indian takeaways were not available to discuss what it’s like living in a majority white town. Residents insist anyone living in the village is just considered local and nothing else, so really it wasn’t a matter of concern.

“I guess we don’t think about it because they’re just people from Clara like us,” one older man said, as he enjoyed a cup of tea. “Clara is a nice place, a good community and we’re all part of that community.”