Bishop seeks Government help for emigrants

The Bishop of Derry, Dr Seamus Hegarty,  has called on the Government  to act to help tens of thousands of elderly Irish emigrants living abroad.

Dr Hegarty released a statement last night after  an RTÉ Prime Timedocumentary that highlighted the difficulties faced by thousands of Irish men who had fallen on hard times in Britain.

The programme showed the high rate of poverty, mental illness, homelessness, suicide and alcoholism among some of the 400,000 Irish people who had emigrated to Britain in the past 50 years.

He called on the Government to stop "paying lip service" to emigrants and establish an "Agency for the Irish Abroad".

"Ireland must now give more than just lip service to our emigrants, they must feel supported," Bishop Hegarty, who chairs the Irish Episcopal (Bishops') Commission for Emigrants (IECE) said. "As emigration touches every Irish family, political will is now needed for results.  The effects of post-war emigration are still with us."

Dr Hegarty noted that these emigrants sent an estimated £3.5 billion home to their families in Ireland during the 1950s and 1960s. "This income constituted a substantial part of our macroeconomic earnings in those leaner days," he said.

The Government has allocated €1 million towards helping Irish emigrants in the recent Budget. This "falls far short" of the €18 million that was advised by the Task Force on Emigration report of last year, the bishop said.

The task force made 19 recommendations to help emigrants in Britain. Dr Hegarty called for the establishment of a review group to oversee the implementation   of these recommendations.

He also demanded the Government appoint a Minister of State with responsibility for the Irish abroad, allocate  €8 million towards helping emigrants in Britain and consider the  suggestion by Fianna Fáil TD Mr Eoin Ryan that the Custom House be used as a museum to honour the Irish Diaspora.

The director of the London Irish Centre, Mr Jerry Kivlehan, said that for many years, successive Irish governments and many Irish people "have failed to understand or appreciate the difficulties and the levels of exclusions experienced by Irish emigrants".

The Labour Party leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said it was "embarrassing" to listen to the Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  Mr  Cowen, on the programme  "claiming  that  the  €2.5 million"  towards  emigrants in Britain somehow represented animprovement", considering the prosperity of the Celtic Tiger era.

"The  inaction  on the principal recommendations of the Task Force on Emigration, published  in  August  2002,  is  a  permanent  stain  on  the  performance of a government  fortunate  to hold office during our period of greatest wealth," he said.

Mr Rabbitte joined Bishop Hegarty in demanding the establishment of a welfare agency for emigrants.