Ireland's Catholic bishops are to launch a nationwide campaign from St Patrick's Day to raise awareness about the plight of Irish emigrants in difficult circumstances.
Titled "Support the Irish Abroad" (SIA) it will raise money throughout Ireland to support emigrant chaplaincies abroad run by the Irish Bishops.
All members of the Oireachtas and members of the Legislative Assembly will be sent a badge with the SIA symbol on it so that they can, if they choose, ex- plicitly support the plight of emigrants by wearing it. It is also hoped that Ministers will wear the badge when officially representing Ireland at St Patrick's Day celebrations abroad.
The awareness campaign will involve the distribution of posters and information newsletters to churches throughout the island, while the singer Ms Josephine McAvenna has recorded a song. The campaign has been planned by the Irish bishops since June of last year.
Details were announced at the Irish Centre in Camden, London, at the weekend by Most Rev Dr Séamus Hegarty, Bishop of Derry and chairman of the Bishops' Commission for Emigrants. He did so at a dinner to honour Father Paul Byrne OMI "for his outstanding contribution to emigrant services on behalf of the Catholic Church". The approximately 250 guests included the Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster, Most Rev Bernard Longley, and the Irish Ambassador to Britain, Mr Daithí Ó Ceallaigh.
Bishop Hegarty said: "RTÉ's Prime Time programme of December 22nd last gave public attention to the long-standing problems facing generations of Irish emigrants who have fallen on hard times and who are largely forgotten by those at home and by the Government. The Prime Time programme brought the plight of the aging Irish community abroad back into our homesteads in an arresting, vivid and explicit way. We can no longer be allowed to forget the needs of the emigrant."
He recalled that after that programme was broadcast he had called on the Government to establish - "as a matter of priority - an Agency for the Irish Abroad. I repeat that call again tonight. We must become more aware of the plight of our fellow compatriots. The Government, especially in this time of relative wealth, has a responsibility in this regard.
"The establishment of an Agency for the Irish Abroad was recommended by the report of the Task Force on policy regarding emigrants, to the Minister for Foreign Affairs in August 2002. As of yet this important re- commendation has not been implemented. It should be ex- pedited and, in my opinion, ought to be led by a dedicated minister of state for emigrants," he said.
He also drew attention to the circumstances of Irish prisoners in England and Wales, now the second largest ethnic group (to Jamaicans) among inmates in those countries, and said that of the 1,200 Irish nationals in custody worldwide, 900 were incarcerated in 140 penal institutions in England and Wales. Many of these institutions were "administratively inimical to the welfare of prisoners from Ireland," he said, while suicide levels among Irish prisoners were "alarming". He called on the Government to, "at a minimum, facilitate the repatriation of prisoners".