Cowen launches website service for diaspora

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has launched an Irish website during his St Patrick’s visit to the United States.

Actress Vanessa Redgrave and Mark Burnett, the mastermind of reality TV shows like Survivor, were among the 200 dignitaries at the event in the American Irish Historical Society headquarters in New York.

IrishCentral.com founder Niall O’Dowd said the Taoiseach displayed a deep sense of the common links and bonds that join Irish America and Ireland.

Mr O’Dowd, who also founded Irish America Magazine and Irish Voice newspaper, said Mr Cowen showed, “how easy and familiar he is with Irish America”.

“As a student he worked on construction sites and played Irish football in Gaelic Park. He has many direct relatives in New York he keeps in touch with.”

Northern Irish Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness also attended the launch and in reference to recent attacks by dissident republicans said there would be no return to violence in the North.

Mr O’Dowd said: “Despite the economic climate we have reached our target for launch.

“We have found a community in search of a portal, not the other way around. The support from leading Irish-Americans and indeed from the Irish Government for the concept behind this site has been tremendous.

“I think at times like this we need to look to our strengths. There is no question in my mind that the global Irish network is a huge advantage to Ireland.”

Meanwhile records of forgotten Irish emigrants turned away from the US during the Great Famine were uncovered yesterday in an online archive.

It is hoped the documents will help solve mysteries for thousands of families tracing their roots, where ancestors simply disappeared from official records.

The often distressing stories of thousands of needy Irish people stranded in New Brunswick more than 150 years ago were gathered over several years by a local historian.

Olivier Van Calster, of Ancestry.co.uk, which has launched the archive, said it pieces together the tales of more than 7,000 emigrants “lost” after being declared destitute, stowaways or deemed mentally or physically unfit.

“These records tell tragic and often harrowing stories, but without them, so many of the names included would have remained lost to history,” he said.

The records were gathered from workhouses, hospitals and asylums where the Irish emigrants were sent to after arriving at the port town of St John, in Canada.