The chairman of the Irish Episcopal Commission for Emigrants (IECE), Bishop Séamus Hegarty of Derry, has called on the Government, "as a matter of priority", to establish an agency for Irish abroad to be the specific responsibility of a Minister of State. Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent, reports.
He was responding to the Prime Time documentary, "Ireland's Forgotten Generation", broadcast on RTÉ last night, which highlighted the poverty of many post-war Irish emigrants in London.
Dr Hegarty said Ireland must now give "more than just lip service to our emigrants". As emigration touched every Irish family, political will was now needed for results, he said.
"Over many years, Irish emigrants have demonstrated their commitment to this country in the form of remittances (estimated at £3.5 billion during the 1950s and 1960s) and this income constituted a substantial part of our macroeconomic earnings in those leaner days," he said.
The report of the Task Force on Emigration in 2002 offered hope to emigrants and those working with Irish communities across the world. However the implementation of its recommendations "has been slow. For example, the recent budgetary provision of €1 million for emigrant services falls far short of the €8 million advised in the original task force recommendations."
The Irish chaplaincy in Camden, jointly operated by the commission and Westminster archdiocese, had lobbied for many years on behalf of the vulnerable and marginalised Irish in London and assisted in providing accommodation, meal services and counselling to our clients, he said.
"The findings of this Prime Time programme mirror our own research and experiences of the Irish in London," he said. They pointed to "alarming rates of mental illness, the highest mortality rates of all ethnic groups in the UK, an above-average suicide rate compared to other ethnic minorities and high levels of alcohol abuse".
The episcopal commission was calling on the Government to establish a review group without delay to oversee the implementation of the task force's 19 recommendations. It further called for an agency for the Irish abroad to be set up, as recommended by the task force, to co-ordinate services for the diaspora. It was of particular concern to the commission that the Irish abroad, especially those who were marginalised and vulnerable, would be central to future planning and policy and that the €8 million recommended should now be provided for and expedited to support service-providers in Britain.
The commission also supported a suggestion by Mr Eoin Ryan TD in The Irish Times last Saturday that the Custom House be used as a museum to honour the achievements of the Irish diaspora. It should also be the home for the new Agency for the Irish Abroad, he said.