Tendai Madondo of the green party lives in Tallaght, a town located south west of Dublin, Ireland

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Tendai Madondo. Tuesday, 29 September 2009.

Should immigrant communities care about the future of the Lisbon Treaty?

Lisbon debate
The question of whether immigrant communities should care about the future of the Lisbon treaty is an interesting question which I would like to respond to as the Green Party\'s Spokeperson on European Affairs. There are many immigrant communities living in Ireland and in other EU member States at present. While debates about EU treaties may seem very far removed from the everyday concerns of immigrants, it would be a mistake to think that they are not relevant to your lives. I want to argue in this article that current and future developments within the European Union will have a very important bearing on the lives of immigrant communities. For this reason I would encourage all of you to take an interest in the current debate in this country about the Lisbon Treaty and its future.

There has been a lot of debate in Ireland about the benefits and disadvantages of the Lisbon Treaty . Irish people are very divided in their opinions. Some are very supportive of the kinds of changes that the Lisbon Treaty is trying to bring about, and others (a majority) seemed concerned about the proposed direction in which the European Union is heading. The Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty that was held in June of this year resulted in a No vote. The Irish rejection has raised questions about whether the Lisbon Treaty will come into effect at all, or whether the powers of the European Union will remain as they are under the existing Nice Treaty for the forseeable future. Another possibility is that the remaining EU Member States might try to move ahead with ratifying Lisbon, leaving Ireland behind. The next few months will be decisive as the Irish Government tries to identify the core reasons why the Lisbon Treaty was rejected by the Irish people. The other European Member States have said that they will give some time to see whether the Irish concerns can be responded to, without opening up the treaty to any fundamental re-negotiation. The possible future of the Lisbon Treaty will be much clearer by the end of this year.

The Green Party view
The Irish Green Party was divided over whether to support the Lisbon Treaty or not. In January 2008 63% of our members voted to support the treaty while 37% voted against. The party therefore was not in a position to officially campaign in favour of the treaty as our constitution required a 66.6% majority. However, the feeling amongst m

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Tendai Madondo (Nee Mandingwa) has lived in Tallaght, a town located south west of Dublin, Ireland since 2002 and has witnessed the amazing demographic growth and infrastructural development. Tendai is married to Farai and lives with her two girls Tatenda, Britney and younger sister Ravie. Her husband Farai works in Tallaght and her girls attend local schools in the locality.

Tendai once worked for Tallaght Partnership as a consultant on the migrant workers project then subsequently worked for Tallaght hospital before joining Cairde as a Development Officer. She established a women’s group in collaboration with Tallaght Intercultural Action where she continues to be an active member. She is also a member of Tallazens.

Tendai in Afghanistan 2007.

There is no doubt that the face of Tallaght has significantly transformed into being a rainbow place with hundreds of migrant families living and working there. However, a lot remains to be done to ensure that

children – who are the future generations are adequately educated,
child care services adequately cater for the local families,
disabled and elderly people have quality care and support,
our infrastructure matches the local growth and that
Tallaght is an all inclusive community.

This website site is dedicated to highlighting the work of Tendai Madondo, born in Zimbabwe and now living in Ireland. We hope you will find it informative and enspiring especialy her dedication to community work and to helping those members of our communities that are marginalised.