Portraits of Irish emigrants go on display in Dublin

A PORTRAIT exhibition of Irish emigrants who have fallen on hard times in London has gone on display at the Molesworth Gallery, in Dublin.

The five men and one woman receive help from the Aisling Return to Ireland Project, based in Camden Town, north London.

The charity has been involved for 14 years in bringing long-term Irish emigrants to Ireland, many of whom have not been back to their homeland in decades. It also helps those who cannot make it back to Ireland.

The images are by Dublin-based artist Cian McLoughlin who spent six months observing the people which Aisling helps out.

A portrait of Johnny Connors, the Traveller singer, who was the subject of a song by Christy Moore, and now lives in a hostel in north London, will be sold, and the proceeds will go to the Aisling project.

Two portraits of Johnny Connors done by Mr McLoughlin, who won critical praise for his exhibition in connection with the Beckett centenary two years ago, sold for €5,200 each.

The larger portrait which is going for the charity auction is expected to sell well in advance of it. All other paintings in the exhibition have sold for between €2,200 and €5,200.

Mr McLoughlin said: "The five men and one woman who agreed to sit for the Aisling project series of portraits are the faces I've brought back to Dublin to stand as representatives for the scores of others I was fortunate enough to encounter, many of whom had similar histories and lived in similar predicaments.

"There were big personalities, shy characters; some active, some bedridden. Some healthy, some ill. Some drinking, some in detox, some fully recovered."

Johnny Pops Connors 1 will be sold through silent auction and the public are invited to make bids while it is being exhibited at the Molesworth Gallery and the deadline is 5.30pm on Friday, November 27th.

The Aisling project received £97,010 (€120,000) in funding and was one of 135 Irish organisations based in Britain who have benefitted from the Irish government grants, according to figures released yesterday by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

In total, more than €10 million was distributed. The biggest recipient was the Federation of Irish Societies, the an umbrella group for Irish organisations in Britain, which received £621,770, (€772,000) while the Manchester Irish World Heritage Centre received £474,180, (€590,000), the largest allocation for a capital project.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said the allocation amounted to a record amount of money sum despite the economic downturn at home. He also said the Government will seek to maintain funding for the Irish diaspora at just over €15 million in 2009.

During his visit to London yesterday, the Minister opened a new Government-funded day centre for elderly Irish emigrants at the London Irish Centre in Camden and visited the GAA facilities club in Ruislip which has benefited directly from the Government funded a GAA Coaching and Development Officer programme in the UK.