Sir, – As an Irish lady living in Jersey it saddens me greatly that someone in the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs has seen fit to remove our consular representation in Jersey.
Jersey is many miles from Ireland and we have a strong Irish community living here. Not just holidaymakers or tourists. We feel that we have been abandoned by Ireland in taking away our consular representative.
Mrs Pamela O’Neill has been our consular representative for many years in Jersey. She has been more than a consul. Your readers may not know that this is an honorary position. She has not only looked after our business affairs, she has also been very active in being the backbone for the Irish community in Jersey. Many Irish people in Jersey consider this position as like a “mother” or “father” figure, someone to turn to if a difficult situation should suddenly occur. This could be anything from repatriation of an Irish citizen who may have died suddenly while travelling to Jersey, to sorting out a lost passport.
If anyone from the Department of Foreign Affairs reads this, could you please reconsider this decision and make us feel less abandoned.
I would also like to take this opportunity on behalf of all the Irish people living in Jersey to thank Pamela O’Neill profusely for all her hard work and support for over 30 years. – Yours, etc,