Working With Diversity, Northern Ireland Section 75 Equality Scheme Advice

The word 'Filipina' refers to women from the Philippines. 'Filipino' may refer to the people in general, or to men in particular.

Filipinos first began to arrive in Northern Ireland in the 1970's. Many came for personal reasons, where they married a Northern Irish person. Some had settled in England and then decided to come over to Northern Ireland. Some people were sponsored to come over, whilst others have settled here as a result of writing to pen pals. The majority of Filipinos who have settled in Northern Ireland are female and they live all over Northern Ireland in Bangor, Belfast, Portadown, Omagh, Enniskillen, Newtownabbey, Banbridge, Derry, Lisburn, Coleraine, Kesh, Newcastle, Saintfield, Newtownards, Ballynahinch, Carrickfergus and Glengormley. English is medium of instruction in schools.

The places people have come from in the Philippines are Manila, Bagouio and Pangaifinan. Filipinos are continuing to settle in Northern Ireland. In 1994 the Northern Ireland Filipino Association (NIFA) was formed with twenty-five members. Its initial aims were to provide support for each other. In September 1995 the constitution was written and the organisation was formed into a charity in September 1996. It has been difficult for Filipinos to retain close contact with the Philippines. The main reasons for this being the distance, the expense of flights, and being able to coincide trips home with school holidays. Filipinos work in a variety of professions from nursing and computing. It is estimated there are around 600 Filipinos in Northern Ireland.

International nurses from the Philippines have recently increased the size of the NI Filipino population. Since 1999 the shortage of nurses in Northern Ireland has led to the granting of work permits for several hundred nurses both in the NHS and in private nursing homes.

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