Madam, - John Carty, TD (December 23rd) accuses me of doing nothing for emigrants when I was a Junior Minister from 1993 to 1997. He is absolutely right; and if he had attended the first ever substantive debate on a Labour Party motion on the needs of the Irish abroad in the Dáil on January 27th and 28th last, he would have heard me apologise to our emigrants for our collective neglect of the hundreds of thousands of our citizens who were forced out of our great Republic by economic necessity. I fully accepted, and still do, my full share of responsibility for that historic neglect.
Mr Carty will be fully aware that Fianna Fáil (his party) was the senior partner in the coalition government of 1993 to 1994 and that the present Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, was Minister for Finance. Mr Carty is right: not a penny was provided and only when Ruairí Quinn became Minister for Finance in the Rainbow Coalition was any attempt made to meet the needs of our citizens abroad. He set up the Díon Fund; and while the amount was small, it was at least a move in the right direction. An 850 per cent increase in that small amount is still well short of the amount required and promised.
During my recent visit to Irish organisations in England with my colleagues Willie Penrose, TD and Kathleen Lynch, TD, we found everywhere from Coventry to Birmingham to Luton to London the same crisis: voluntary Irish organisations trying to provide a variety of badly-needed services to a large and elderly population on shoestring budgets. It is clear that they cannot cope with the massive problems without outside help and they need it now.
In Coventry the recently provided Centre for the Aged Irish can open only two 2 days a week because of lack of money. In Luton the newly installed Tory council proposes to sell the building where the Irish Centre is located. Money for an alternative premises is needed urgently. In London, where 60 per cent of all homeless are Irish, the needs and shortages are obvious. ICAP (Immigrant Counselling and Psychotherapy) is operating out of the annex of a house. It has a new building but no money to fit it out or to hire professional staff.
The Government, to its credit set up the Task Force on the needs of the Irish Abroad. It reported in 2002 and the Government accepted and endorsed the report. It is a road-map of the actions required to meet the needs involved and identifies the funding needed. For 2005 the minimum required is €34 million. The Government has provided €8 million, which is a huge increase on previous years, and I welcome it as others have, but it is only a quarter of that required and promised.
Hence my complaint. Hence my charge of continued neglect of a group of people who sent home some €3.5 billion over two decades when it was badly needed.
To Mr Carty I would say again that I accept my part of the responsibility for the neglect and would plead on behalf of the hundreds of thousands involved that we join forces to maximise the "thank you" that we owe them. If we can afford to ring-fence €500 million for the horse-racing industry, we can surely afford the relatively insignificant €34 million promised to our people abroad.
The matter is urgent. If we don't act now, many will die without the benefit of our "thank you". - Yours, etc.,
EMMET M.STAGG, TD,
Labour Chief Whip,
Straffan,
Co Kildare.