Zeitgeist

Voting with their feet: the Brazilians in Ireland on why they’ve made it their home

With about 70,000 Brazilians estimated to be living in Ireland, the Business Post Magazine talked to some of them about why they came and how they find living here

Renata Albuquerque Gillen: the Brazilian has been living in Ireland for ten years and compared to her hometown of São Paulo, says that Dublin feels relatively safe. Picture: Fergal Phillips

It’s early October and thousands of people are waiting to cast their vote in the Brazilian presidential election. Queues snake up and down the street, and chants ring out in Portuguese: “Fora Bolsonaro” – Bolsonaro out. This is not Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo, but North Great George’s Street in Dublin, where a single polling station has been set up for the 11,946 people eligible to vote here.

Of the 7,688 people who turn ...