There is a compelling moral case for the implementation of the main recommendations of the Report on Ireland and the Irish Abroad. The task force on policy on emigrants was presented to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, on Wednesday and he has signalled already that it will be considered within the financial framework of the Estimates.
The headline recommendation of the task force is that an annual budget of €18 million should be allocated to support services for emigrants next year; rising to €34 million in 2005. There are other practical and pragmatic proposals also. The Department of Foreign Affairs should have overall responsibility for emigration policy and for the co-ordination of support services to emigrants and Irish communities abroad. A new structure, the Agency for the Irish Abroad, should be set up to administer these services. And there are the bones of an Action Plan to provide services at the pre-departure stage, co-operation between statutory and voluntary agencies in Ireland and overseas, and assistance to returning emigrants.
The protection of the interests of Irish citizens abroad and the strengthening of links with the Irish diaspora is a much greater resource for this State than mere consideration of money alone. There is hardly a corner of the globe that does not have an Irish population. Some 20,000 people continue to emigrate every year despite increasing levels of prosperity in recent times. The task force estimates that of the three million or so Irish citizens abroad - not many fewer than those at home - almost 1.2 million were born in Ireland, the equivalent of 30 per cent of the present population.
The Government should remember the context in which this report has been presented. The new Article 2 of the Constitution, inserted in the referendum on the Belfast Agreement, defines the Irish nation as the Irish abroad and as well as at home. Furthermore, the phenomenon of Irish emigration has been examined at a time of substantial inward migration to Ireland. The more we appreciate the needs of foreign nationals coming to Ireland, the better able we will be to respond to the challenges facing Irish emigrants abroad. The task force points out that, conversely, we can learn from the successes and failures of the emigrants how best to assist the integration of foreign immigrants into this society.