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Jews In IrelandJews in Ireland, although tiny in numbers (1,790 according to the Republic of Ireland census of 2002), have a long history. The earliest reference to the Jews in Ireland was in the year 1079. The Annals of Inisfallen record "Five Jews came from over sea with gifts to Tairdelbach [king of Munster], and they were sent back again over sea."http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100004/text001.html They were probably merchants from Normandy. It was four centuries after this visit before there was a permanent settlement of Jews in Ireland. Following their expulsion from Portugal in 1496, some Jews settled on Ireland's south coast. One of them, William Annyas, was elected as mayor of Youghal in 1555. Ireland's first synagogue was founded in 1660 near Dublin Castle, and the first Jewish cemetery was founded in the early 18th century in the Fairview district of Dublin. There was more Jewish immigration to Ireland during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This immigration came mostly from Eastern Europe (in particular Lithuania) in the wake of the Russian pogroms. As Ireland was part of the United Kingdom at this time, the Jewish community benefited from the British government's emancipation laws. The anti-semitic boycott in Limerick in the first decade of the 20th century is known as the Limerick Pogrom. Ireland's behaviour towards Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust is also controversial. It is estimated that Ireland accepted as few as 60 Jewish refugees before and during World War II. In a notorious speech to the Dil in 1943, independent T.D. Oliver Flanagan advocated "routing the Jews out of the country". Despite all this, only one Irish Jew, Esther Steinberg, is known to have died in the Holocaust. Prominent Irish Jews External links Ireland Ireland
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