Brendan Ryan (Labour)

The Minister of State might be missing something. I spent two summers abroad, working in north west London in Harlesden. Even as a young person and knowing I was coming home in September, one could not but notice the gradually ageing isolated Irish community. If one went to Mass on Sundays and saw them dressed up in the style of dress I associated with my youth, shiny Sunday suits, it was clear they were going to Mass for one main reason, among others, and that was to meet other Irish people. If one walked into a pub in Camden town, as I did, with three people from Connemara and discovered that all the others there were from Connemara, then what we know at this stage about Irish emigration is as follows. We abandoned perhaps 500,000 people and of that number, perhaps a quarter in Britain are in extremely difficult circumstances and are ageing. Every new agency set up has more demands on it.

The Government responded in a way it is good at, by setting up yet another task force. That task force reported and made its recommendations and the Government abandons two of its most basic recommendations. An agency and money are the two items that will prove we are serious about saying "Thank You" to people who by leaving and by their transmission of funds bailed out this country and who now need us to give them dignity and support in their old age. On both issues, prioritising their problems through an agency and providing funding that will make a difference to them, the Government has failed them.