Irish emigrants left out in the cold, says Labour

IRISH emigrants were left out in the cold by the Government in its 2005 Estimates, the Labour Party claimed yesterday.

Deputy Emmet Stagg said an €8 million allocation to emigrant services abroad was less than one-quarter of the amount recommended by a Government task force two years ago.

He said the two key recommendations of the task force, set up to formulate new policies regarding emigrants, were the establishment of an agency for the Irish abroad and a substantial increase in funding for emigrant welfare.

“The Government has rejected the proposal for the agency and has failed to increase funding on the lines set out in the report which recommended a figure of €34m by 2005,” the Kildare-based TD said.

“With more than €40 billion to allocate in the Estimates, the Finance Minister would hardly have missed the extra €24m required to meet the task force’s recommendation.

“Increased allocation would have made a huge difference to those organisations working with Irish emigrants abroad, particularly those in Britain.”

But Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern said the allocation represented an increase of 63% in funds.

He said this reflected the strength of the Government’s commitment to Irish emigrant communities. He added the funding would be “built on progressively over the coming years.”

A new Irish Abroad Unit in the department will administer funding to groups providing frontline services to emigrant communities in Britain, especially vulnerable Irish people there. Mr Ahern said there would also be substantial increases for emigrant groups providing similar services in the US and Australia.

Mr Stagg, however, claimed Mr Cowen had missed the chance to begin repaying the debt owed to emigrants. “There are many of those, whose contributions from abroad helped to keep the country afloat in dire economic times of the 1950s and 1960s, who have now fallen on difficult times,” he said.