Connection with diaspora ‘starting to waver’, forum hears

The connection between Ireland and its diaspora is “starting to waver” and there needs to be “big engagement” to maintain that close relationship, a global forum on the topic has heard.

On Thursday, the third Global Irish Civic Forum began in Dublin Castle, an event which seeks to strengthen ties between Ireland and the diaspora.

Speakers at the forum overwhelmingly said that the diaspora has changed in recent years, with Hilary Beirne of the NYC St Patrick’s Day Foundation, describing the current diaspora as “highly educated” and not as involved in the traditional organisation.

Mr Beirne cited statistics that 85 per cent of the young Irish diaspora aged 18 to 35 years of age in the United States are not engaged with any Irish organisation.

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“Ireland has benefited tremendously from its ancestral diaspora in the United States, for example the Good Friday Agreement, the President’s visit recently and in 1914, New York Irish gave the equivalent of $3.7 million to support volunteers and so on and so forth,” he said.

“But down through the years, and in recent years, because of an ageing Irish population, that connection is starting to waver. In 10 or 15 years, unless there’s some big engagement with particularly the younger generation and more real engagement here with the diaspora ... Some sort of real engagement with either voting rights in a presidential election or some kind of representation here, the ability of Ireland to have access to the White House on its national holiday may disappear.”

Alan Humphreys, president of the Irish Support Agency New South Wales, said from an Australian perspective, the younger generation of Irish immigrants are “very self-sufficient”.

“They’re making a community for themselves. It’s that connection back to Ireland for those that stay that probably is lacking,” he added.

In his opening address at the forum, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said Irish people “truly are all over the world” and praised the GAA in particular for connecting people worldwide.

“You can find place names like Belfast and Clonmel in Jamaica. Surnames like Ofarril and Odonojú can be heard across the Andean region and in Mexico. Argentina is home to the largest Irish diaspora outside of the English-speaking world, as well as long-established hurling and Gaelic football clubs,” he said.

“Across Europe, the traces of the Wild Geese are to be found, in Irish colleges in Spain, in Belgium, in vineyards in France, in military histories, and stories of pilgrims such as St Killian.”

Mr Martin said Irishness at home is being “enriched by inward migration”.

“Almost 18 per cent of the population of Ireland was born abroad. Ireland is a place that is now a more open and diverse place immeasurably enriched by what they add to our national story,” he said.

“It is imperative to maintaining the strong bond between our diaspora and our people at home that each reflects the other and each remains recognisable to the other, and that is very much the case today.”