A national newspaper today admitted mistranslating a Polish article on a Polish waitress living in Co Donegal as the woman herself spoke out for the first time.
The Irish Independent today dedicated two pages of its compact edition to running the entire article. They also published a letter from the Polish ambassador to Ireland.
It’s understood the original article for the Independent was filed by a freelance journalist in Poland, but that her translation was wrong.
A local reporter was asked to file a reaction from Donegal but had no other involvement in the story.
The woman herself ‘Magda’ told The John Murray Show on RTÉ Radio today that she had been told by friends of the controversy the Irish Independent translation of the article had caused.
She told the programme: “At first I was completely shocked. You don’t know what to think. How is it possible for anybody to publish something that is just not true, completely not true and it’s not just misinterpretation, you know, or mistranslation – it’s just a completely different story.”
She said things had been added to even the Polish version of the story but said most of it was about her actual life in a town near Letterkenny in Donegal. ‘Magda’ said that when she read the Irish Independent article she was “very worried”.
The trained nanny revealed that she has lived in Ireland for the past six years and has been on the dole for the past year-and-a-half having previously worked in a hotels, hostels, and waitressing.
“The thing is that jobs are scarce here. It is difficult, especially as I don’t drive so I can’t go to bigger towns.
“The other thing is that I worked in the hospitality industry and qualified as massage therapist and that’s something I wanted to do for a really long time and I decided that’s an option to start my own business, to do what I really want to do.”
‘Magda’ said that she has done a number of FÁS courses to help her set up her own business which she hopes to set up by Easter.
Of her actual lifestyle on the dole she added: ”My needs are not very high. That is in the article, I really try to live as cheap as possible. I don’t spend money on clothes, cosmetics, going out to the pub.
“I don’t have money for that. I have money for basic survival and that’s okay with me.”