{"id":1187401,"date":"2026-09-05T06:33:32","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T06:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1187401\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T06:33:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T06:33:32","slug":"the-irish-are-the-brazilians-of-europe-inside-dublins-growing-community-from-brazil-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1187401\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Irish are the Brazilians of Europe\u2019: Inside Dublin\u2019s growing community from Brazil \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hugo Paes Gomes de Souza had wanted to live abroad for years, but growing up in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil<\/a>, where he was raised by a single mother, wanting to leave and being able to afford to were two very different things. He left home at 18 determined to make his own future and, by his mid-20s, that future appeared to be taking shape in Rio, where he and his partner invested everything they had in opening a restaurant<\/a>. They renovated the premises themselves, and opened in 2020, just as the pandemic<\/a> was about to upend it all. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a crazy time. Of course we had to close,\u201d Hugo says. \u201cWe had to sell everything, all the equipment, and I soon realised that I needed to make a new plan.\u201d <\/p>\n

The new plan brought them to Dublin<\/a> in 2023, where his partner returned to restaurant kitchens and Hugo enrolled in an English-language course, only to discover that the English he had studied in Brazil had not prepared him for the version spoken by Dubliners. \u201cWhen I first came to Ireland, I thought, \u2018Oh, my God, how am I going to learn this English?\u2019 I had studied English with teachers in Brazil, but arriving here and trying to understand everybody was completely different. There are so many different accents.\u201d <\/p>\n

Food offered its own, smaller culture shock. In Rio, he says, lunch and dinner ordinarily mean rice, beans and chicken or meat; in Dublin, people seemed to consider soup or a sandwich as a meal. \u201cI like soup and sandwiches, but for me they are more like a snack,\u201d he laughs. \u201cThey do not really feel like lunch or dinner.\u201d <\/p>\n

Three years later, Dublin now feels familiar. Hugo has made Irish friends, a business of his own and a social life that recently included joining a largely Brazilian crowd to see pop star Pabllo Vittar<\/a> perform a sell-out show in the city. \u201cI think Irish and Brazilian people are a very good match,\u201d he says. \u201cWe have the same kind of energy. If you ask someone to go somewhere, they normally say yes rather than no.\u201d <\/p>\n

His first job in Dublin was cleaning. Before long he began taking on private clients of his own, often through Brazilians who passed on his number or recommended him in Facebook and WhatsApp groups such as Brasileiros em Dublin, where more than 100,000 members swap job leads, accommodation tips, recommendations, warnings and practical advice for newcomers. What began as extra work to help cover the rent gradually became HG Cleaning. <\/p>\n

\u201cI started the cleaning business by myself and slowly it just got bigger and bigger,\u201d Hugo says. \u201cThe Brazilian community is very big in Dublin and everybody helps each other. We have to.\u201d <\/p>\n

For Hugo, Ireland\u2019s appeal was not simply higher wages or easier access to the rest of Europe, but a sense that the work he puts in can lead somewhere. \u201cIn Brazil, you can work very hard every day and still struggle to save money or travel,\u201d he says. \u201cIn Ireland, we can have a good life, a good quality of living and travel more easily.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"HugoHugo Paes Gomez de Souza: ‘The Brazilian community is very big in Dublin and everybody helps each other.’ Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill <\/p>\n

His experience is far from unusual. For much of the past two decades, Brazilians have come to Ireland with plans that sounded temporary: learn English, work while studying, travel around Europe and eventually go home. For many, Dublin ended up becoming home instead. <\/p>\n

Census 2022 recorded 27,338 Brazilian citizens living in Ireland, almost twice as many as in 2016 and more than six times the number counted in 2006, although that still misses thousands of Brazilians living here on Portuguese, Italian and other European passports. Recent research commissioned by the Brazilian embassy estimates the community at about 60,000, with more than six in 10 living in Dublin; almost two-thirds had originally come to study English, six in 10 had since changed their immigration status and more than 40 per cent said they did not intend to return permanently to Brazil. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018I tell all my Irish friends that Ireland is the Brazil of Europe\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The change can be seen along Dublin streets that would once have offered little to a homesick Brazilian. Around Capel Street and the north inner city, p\u00e3o de queijo and coxinhas are sold at Padoca, Brazilian groceries fill the shelves of Real Brazil Shop and Made in Brazil Market, while Brazil House, Brasileirinho, Brasa and The Ribs serve everything from feijoada to rod\u00edzio. On Harry Street in Dublin 2, Brazilian chef Viktor Silva\u2019s Amai by Viktor has entered the Michelin Guide, while every September (on Sunday 6th this year), Brazil Day Dublin fills the National Stadium with samba, pagode, forr\u00f3, capoeira, food stalls, artists, families and Brazilian businesses. <\/p>\n

Julio Cesar arrived for a month to study English in 2019 with no intention of staying. He had originally wanted to visit the US, but when his visa application was refused he began looking for another English-speaking country that was easier for a Brazilian to enter. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, I had never heard much about Ireland before that,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I arrived, I felt the energy of the Irish people. Somehow, I felt that this was my home.\u201d <\/p>\n

He had read that Dublin had a large Brazilian population, but the reality still took him by surprise. \u201cI was not expecting that big of a Brazilian community, but here we are. There are a lot of us and we are everywhere.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"JulioJulio Cesar: ‘I want to show that it is possible to make a life here, but it takes time and work.’ Photograph: Nick Bradshaw <\/p>\n

For the month he was studying, Julio tried to avoid other Brazilians as much as possible; he had paid to improve his English and did not want to spend his short stay speaking Portuguese. The stranger experience came after he returned to S\u00e3o Paulo. \u201cWhen I went back to Brazil, I didn\u2019t really feel at home there any more,\u201d he says. \u201cI thought, \u2018Maybe I need to go back.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

When Julio returned in 2022, Brazilian students had to show access to \u20ac3,000 in savings. The requirement for a standard eight-month English course has since risen to \u20ac6,665, before course fees, flights and the cost of finding somewhere to live are taken into account. For somebody earning and saving in Brazilian reais, he says, the total can make the move seem impossible. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people first see the final amount they need to save to move to Ireland, they get scared,\u201d he says. \u201cBut then you break it down step by step. You save the first amount, then the second and then the third. It takes time, but it\u2019s manageable with a good plan.\u201d <\/p>\n

That experience has since become something of a second career. Alongside his work as a carer, Julio has built an audience of 70,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok, many of them Brazilians considering the same journey. He posts about English and Dublin expressions, college, home-care work, employment permits, driving licences, wages and the cost of living, and has even created a downloadable worksheet to help his followers work out where their money is going and how long it might take them to save before the big move. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe first step is always money,\u201d he says. \u201cYou need control over your finances. You need to understand what you are spending money on and where you can reduce your spending.\u201d <\/p>\n

Some of the messages he receives come from younger followers who want the process to move much faster than it realistically can. \u201cThey do not want it tomorrow; they want it yesterday,\u201d he laughs. \u201cI did not have much money when I moved. I was not rich, and I\u2019m still not rich. I want to show that it is possible to make a life here, but it takes time and work.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Brazilian man subjected to \u2018mistaken identity\u2019 deportation order gains Irish citizenshipOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Julio\u2019s next goal is an Irish passport. \u201cSomehow, I feel Irish inside,\u201d he says. He says Brazilians sometimes call the Irish \u201cthe Brazilians of Europe\u201d. \u201cWe have the same energy when it comes to going out, being friendly and being welcoming. And I\u2019m not only talking about beer.\u201d <\/p>\n

His mother, Sandra, was approaching 60 when she travelled outside Brazil for the first time to visit him, getting a passport because her son had made a life thousands of kilometres away. \u201cImagine if I had not been here,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen would my mum have travelled abroad? Maybe she never would have because there would not have been a reason.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you live abroad, particularly in Ireland, you are not only creating opportunities for yourself,\u201d he says. \u201cYou are also creating opportunities for your relatives.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n

I\u2019d like to see [Ireland] continue removing barriers so that talent, ambition and potential, not a person\u2019s country of origin, determine a person\u2019s educational opportunities<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Paula Castro<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At Tia Maria on Dublin\u2019s North King Street, red-and-white checked tablecloths sit beneath a mural of samba musicians and Rio\u2019s Lapa arches, while the words N\u00e3o deixe o samba morrer (don\u2019t let the samba die) run across the wall above them. The menu offers picanha with rice, beans, farofa and vinaigrette, feijoada with pork and black beans, coxinhas, fried cassava and Parmigiana; a caramel-topped pudim sits in the display cabinet and, at weekends, there is live Brazilian music. <\/p>\n

The premises was a Mexican restaurant when Tatiana Arag\u00e3o began working there; after the pandemic it became Tia Maria, and the change in menu brought a different relationship with its customers. Irish regulars have acquired a taste for the picanha, feijoada and Parmigiana, she says, but many Brazilians come for something more familiar. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven if somebody isn\u2019t earning very much, maybe they\u2019re doing deliveries or working as a cleaner, at some point during the week they want a home-made meal,\u201d Tatiana says. \u201cThey want the food they grew up with.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"AlbertAlbert Oliveira and Tatiane Esporte at Do Chef Oliveira in Portmarnock. ‘We had great, great support from the locals.’ Photograph: Tom Honan <\/p>\n

On a sunny Saturday in Portmarnock, Maria Gad\u00fa\u2019s Ne Me Quitte Pas is playing through the open doors of Do Chef Oliveira as customers move between the tables outside and a counter crowded with coxinhas, p\u00e3o de queijo, brigadeiros, chicken pies and thick slices of corn-and-guava cake. <\/p>\n

The corn cake tends to provoke the most questions from locals. \u201cThey look at it and say, \u2018Corn is a vegetable. Why is it in a cake?\u2019\u201d laughs co-owner and chef Albert Oliveira. \u201cThen they try it and they are surprised. The cake is very moist, and the guava works very well with it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Albert grew up working in his family\u2019s restaurant in Mogi Gua\u00e7u, in S\u00e3o Paulo state. After moving to Ireland with his wife, Tatiane Esporte, seven years ago, he began supplying Brazilian savoury dishes to businesses in Dublin. \u201cI said to Tatiane, \u2018Why don\u2019t we open a coffee shop?\u2019 My dream was to create something like what my family had in Brazil, but here in Ireland.\u201d <\/p>\n

Tatiane had been a personal trainer in Brazil and was working as a childminder for an Irish family in Portmarnock when she noticed the empty premises nearby. The family she worked for encouraged them to take the chance. \u201cI saw the \u2018To Let\u2019 sign and said, \u2018Let\u2019s try.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Their earliest customers were mainly local, with Brazilians taking longer to discover a cafe well outside the concentration of Brazilian businesses in the city centre. \u201cWe had great, great support from the locals,\u201d Tatiane says. Word has since spread and they now have Brazilian customers travelling across Dublin and, on occasion, from as far away as Wexford. <\/p>\n

Albert says he has no interest in making the cafe exclusively Brazilian, preferring to put foods familiar to Irish customers alongside things they might never have encountered. \u201cWe want Brazilian people to find flavours they recognise, but we also want Irish people to feel comfortable coming in and trying something new,\u201d he says. For a first taste of Brazil he recommends a coxinha (a common street snack made of shredded, seasoned chicken wrapped in dough and shaped like a teardrop); p\u00e3o de queijo (cheese bread) and chicken pie are among the most popular choices with Irish customers. <\/p>\n

The business has already grown beyond the original space, with more tables outside and a larger kitchen upstairs. Other cafes have approached them about supplying food or teaching them how to make some of their products. Catering is also in the plans. \u201cWe have lots of plans and dreams for the future,\u201d Tatiane says. \u201cWe love being here. We are living our dream.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"PaulaPaula Castro in Trinity College Dublin: ‘You meet engineers, veterinarians and other professionals working as delivery drivers or in hospitality because they\u2019re starting their lives over again.’ Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill <\/p>\n

While the Brazilian food people leave behind can be reproduced in a Dublin kitchen, the professional lives they leave can often be harder to recover. Research commissioned by the Brazilian embassy found that 85 per cent of Brazilians arriving in Ireland had third-level qualifications, even though many spent their first years in Ireland doing work far removed from the careers they had trained for. <\/p>\n

Paula Castro arrived in Dublin from Pelotas in southern Brazil in 2014 with a degree in English teaching and several years\u2019 classroom experience. After completing the Cambridge qualification required by language schools here, she found work almost immediately, although her hours could range from full time one week to just two or three the next. <\/p>\n

Seeking greater stability, she moved schools and rose from teacher to director of studies over four years, only for the pandemic to close the school three months after her promotion. She went on to complete a master\u2019s degree in educational leadership at Trinity College Dublin, returning to a place she remembered walking through during her first weeks in Ireland more than a decade ago. \u201cI remember thinking, \u2018Imagine studying here one day,\u2019\u201d she says. After graduating and working at the National College of Ireland, she eventually returned to Trinity, where she now teaches and contributes to curriculum and assessment design. <\/p>\n

\u201cNow not only have I studied there, I\u2019m employed there as well,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s surreal.\u201d Her journey has made her wary of judging migrants by the work they do on arrival. \u201cYou meet engineers, veterinarians and other professionals working as delivery drivers or in hospitality because they\u2019re starting their lives over again,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

\u201cIreland offers many educational opportunities, and many Brazilians have built successful careers here. At the same time, access is not always equal.\u201d The obstacles can include language, financial pressure, unfamiliarity with the Irish education system, visa issues, limited access to financial support and difficulty in having Brazilian qualifications recognised, as well as what she calls \u201cthe psychological impact of starting over in a new country\u201d. <\/p>\n

Paula became an Irish citizen in 2024, although she still describes herself as \u201c90 per cent Brazilian and 10 per cent Irish\u201d. \u201cMaybe that percentage will grow over time,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to see us continue removing barriers so that talent, ambition and potential, not a person\u2019s country of origin, determine a person\u2019s educational opportunities.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018I work with a lot of Irish people around my age. Sometimes they ask me questions that are a bit weird\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Louise Abr\u00e3o first walked into Brazilian Aesthetics in Dublin\u2019s north inner city carrying her CV. The salon had only recently opened and there was no position for her. \u201cI\u2019m so sorry I can\u2019t give you an opportunity now,\u201d owner Priscilla Becker told her, \u201cbut I\u2019d like you to be on my team.\u201d <\/p>\n

Louise returned the following month as a customer and continued coming for treatments until, about 10 months after their first conversation, Priscilla called her. Louise now manages the salon. <\/p>\n

Priscilla had worked in beauty in Brazil but began again in Ireland with babysitting and cleaning, eventually offering eyebrow treatments and micropigmentation from a room in Swords. When the room became too small, she chose to spend her savings on a salon rather than put them towards a house. Brazilian Aesthetics opened in December 2023; six months later she opened a doorway into the adjoining unit and rented that too, while a second branch has since opened in Portugal. <\/p>\n

Irish, Spanish, Ukrainian and African customers now settle into the velvet-green chairs alongside Brazilians, while the staff have taken their work to Grafton Street, offering pop-up eyebrow treatments, haircuts and colour to passersby. \u201cOur idea from the beginning was to bring Brazilian treatments and Brazilian beauty here, to make people feel better about themselves and also to make Brazilians feel a little bit at home,\u201d Louise says. <\/p>\n

The clientele has broadened as the business has grown, but inside the salon the Brazilian character remains strong. \u201cWe always say our team here is like a family,\u201d she says. \u201cWe feel like we\u2019re together and we support each other, both at work and outside work.\u201d <\/p>\n

Louise had not expected to find such a large Brazilian community when she moved to Ireland three years ago. \u201cEspecially in summer, I feel like I\u2019m at home here,\u201d she says. \u201cSometimes I literally feel like I\u2019m in Brazil. It\u2019s crazy because the community is so, so big.\u201d <\/p>\n

For her, the attraction of Ireland has always been as much about people as work. \u201cI would say Ireland has its doors open,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s like a warm hug when you come in.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"ThaisThais Gimenes Tambalo: ‘Ireland will always be the place that gave me an opportunity and showed me how big the world is.’ Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill <\/p>\n

Thais Gimenes Tambalo came to Dublin four and a half years ago with her Brazilian husband, having never lived outside Brazil and wanting, as she puts it, \u201canother point of view on life\u201d. Two years later the marriage ended, and because her immigration status had depended on her husband, she wrote to the Minister for Justice explaining that she wanted to remain. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven when I got divorced here, I never felt that I wasn\u2019t home,\u201d she says. \u201cI never thought, \u2018I need to go back to Brazil.\u2019 I was already home. My life was here.\u201d <\/p>\n

She was allowed to stay and later met Burak Rencberoglu, who had moved to Ireland from Turkey. Their daughter, Melanie, was born in Dublin six months ago. Her experience of the Irish maternity system was entirely positive. \u201cI would give it 10 out of 10. Everyone was very kind to me and I felt protected throughout the whole experience.\u201d <\/p>\n

After years working in hospitality, motherhood changed how she spent her time in the city. Summer days now involve picnics and playgrounds, while Melanie has Brazilian, Turkish and Irish friends. English has become the official language Thais and Burak speak to one another at home, although neither arrived in Ireland speaking much of it. <\/p>\n

What Thais misses most is not Brazil itself but the family life she knew there. Her mother now lives in Portugal, but in the Brazil of her childhood grandparents and relatives shared the everyday work of bringing up a child. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn Brazil, we tend to raise children together as a family,\u201d she says. \u201cHere, I feel very alone.\u201d <\/p>\n

Burak has been offered a job in Portugal and they are now preparing to leave Dublin. Thais hopes to look after Melanie herself until she is four or five, something she cannot see them affording comfortably on one income in Ireland. <\/p>\n

\"ThaisThais Gimenes Tambalo, from Brazil, with her partner Burak Rencberoglu, from Turkey, and their six-month-old daughter Melanie. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill <\/p>\n

\u201cIf my partner wanted to support the whole family here alone, he would need to work two or three jobs,\u201d she says. \u201cHe would never see his daughter.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIreland will always be the place that gave me an opportunity and showed me how big the world is and how much your life can change,\u201d she says. \u201cMy daughter was born here, so I will always have good feelings about this place.\u201d <\/p>\n

She laughs and sounds, for a moment, unmistakably like a Dubliner: \u201cI hate Dublin, but I love it too at the same time. That is the feeling.\u201d <\/p>\n

For Julio Cesar, the clearest measure of Dublin\u2019s influence comes whenever he returns to Brazil. \u201cEvery time I go back, people tell me: \u2018You have changed.\u2019 I say: \u2018Thank God I have changed. Imagine if I were the same person I was four years ago.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hugo Paes Gomes de Souza had wanted to live abroad for years, but growing up in Rio de…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1187402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2106,21111,2000,299,5187,40,18753,2599,187823,596],"class_list":["post-1187401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eu","tag-brazil","tag-dublin","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-immigration","tag-magazine","tag-restaurant","tag-trinity-college-dublin-tcd","tag-work"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117217043351600064","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1187401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1187402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1187401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1187401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1187401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}