An extra €1 million in funding for emigrant services and the establishment of a new unit to deal with emigration issues was announced by the Government yesterday.
In September a dedicated unit will be established in the Department of Foreign Affairs to co-ordinate the provision of assistance to emigrants. Mr Seán Farrell, Ireland's Ambassador to Estonia, will be returning home to head up the unit.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, also announced grants totalling €3.26 million for organisations working with less advantaged members of the Irish community in Britain, under the Díon scheme.
The grants, one-third more than last year, will provide support to some 65 projects involving 57 organisations.
Speaking at the Irish Embassy in London, the Minister said the majority of those who travelled to Britain in the 1950s made good lives for themselves.
However, the experience of emigration has "not always been a happy one".
"A minority of our people have not been able to make their own way and now find themselves, through no fault of their own, in a vulnerable or disadvantaged position," he said.
The announcement has been broadly welcomed by Fine Gael TD Mr Michael Ring who called on the Government to "negotiate with the US administration to regularise the status of illegal Irish immigrants in the States".
The Labour Party spokesman, Mr Emmet Stagg, said the funding was well below the level recommended by the Task Force on Emigration in August 2002.