Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)

I want to make another point regarding supports available to survivors who are not living in this jurisdiction. I recently visited the Coventry Irish centre, which provides all the supports for survivors in the English west midlands. Unfortunately, the Government only commits to funding schemes. The centre has difficulty in that it funded its own premises, which is on Eton Square near the railway station in Coventry. The London Irish centre and the centres in Leeds and Liverpool have better premises which allow for private consultations and survivors can speak with greater privacy when this great work is being done outside the jurisdiction. The Coventry Irish centre has had to move five times in the past ten years. It helps survivors and older Irish people to whom we owe a great debt. They are the people who emigrated, particularly in the fifties. One of the workers in the Coventry Irish centre is a survivor herself. The centre has no funding, or very limited funding. I ask the Government to consider giving it some extra funding and supports so it can have a secure home for the people who need help or are getting counselling and other supports. The centre needs to have a permanent or semi-permanent place where it can speak to clients in a confidential manner. It needs some extra supports for a building, a capital project.

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