Ten years ago, people contacting the Irish community care centre in Manchester might be looking for information about diaspora cultural events or help applying for benefits. Now the phones “haven’t stopped ringing” about how to apply for Irish passports, Martin Connolly says.
Chairman of Irish Community Care Manchester, Mr Connolly said the small organisation has been inundated with calls from British people looking for help with their applications after Brexit.
“You wouldn’t believe, the telephone hasn’t stopped ringing for a year,” he told The Irish Times.
Mr Connolly said most of those calling for help filling out passport applications would likely never have considered themselves Irish before, but qualified as they had an Irish parent or grandparent. “That’s been horrendous the last two years, the phone doesn’t stop ringing,” he said.
“I always considered myself to be Irish, since I was a child … My parents came over from Galway and Leitrim and met here in the best traditions of Manchester and I was born here,”
“When I was young I had an Irish accent from my parents. I had a very acute sense of my identity.”
More than 90 members of the Irish community in Manchester were attending a reception for Taoiseach Micheál Martin on Thursday afternoon. The Fianna Fáil leader later travelled to Blackpool for a bilateral meeting with British prime minister Rishi Sunak, ahead of the British Irish Council summit on Thursday and Friday.
Some of the old diaspora networks for young Irish emigrating to the north-west of England had died off in recent times, Mr Connolly said. “There was certain pubs where you would go to to get work, all that is no longer here,” he said.
“The biggest change is since 2008 is there is less Irish coming over, because they’re staying in Ireland because there’s jobs and work in Ireland.”
The 65-year-old said the community care organisation worked to keep older, more isolated members of the Irish diaspora connected to others, by checking in on them and organising social events.
Mags McGagh, secretary of the Council of Irish Associations Manchester, said younger emigrants were more interested in nightclubs and life in the city, rather than Irish cultural events.
“We’re losing a lot of our clubs,” she said. Our cultural clubs, they’re closing left right and centre, it’s sad to see. But I think it’s the older generation, they’re dying off, some of them are retiring back to Ireland.”
Ms McGagh, whose parents were from Longford and Mayo, said she was “born and bred” in Manchester.
“I’ve got a place in Longford. I work for a school so I’ve got the school holidays, so I get back and forth,” he said.
While Ireland and the UK have a Common Travel Area, Brexit has caused huge issues for her husband, whose work involved trade with the Republic.
“My husband works with the Irish in exporting and importing, they’ve found it to be the biggest nightmare,” she said.
[ Irish in London in 2022: A vibrant new generation amid an ageing populationOpens in new window ]
Among the group of 90 people attending the reception in Manchester, not all were long-term members of the Manchester Irish community.
Ronan Walsh (33), from Co Offaly, moved to the city with his wife two years ago, stating that the northwestern city was “much better value” than somewhere like Dublin.
“Irish are very welcome in Manchester. The north of England, not that it’s anti-English, that’s the wrong way to say it, but it is very pro-Irish,” he said.
Mr Walsh works for the GAA encouraging children of second or third generation Irish in Manchester to try Gaelic football and hurling.
From his perspective, there are still “so many” Irish people living in the city, including younger emigrants working as physiotherapists or in the National Health Service, he said. “Someone is always related to someone,” he said.
