Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

Deputy Kitt further stated:

The Minister has decided, therefore, at least as a first step, to establish a dedicated unit in the Department of Foreign Affairs, when staff resources become available after the EU Presidency.

That just sums it up. That means that when staff are less busy they will be asked to do something about the Irish abroad, because of the problem with the Opposition giving out yards on how the Irish abroad are not being taken care of. When our turn comes to host the Presidency of the EU again, or some other big issue arises, will the staff be asked to forget about the welfare of the Irish abroad? Is that a dedicated unit?

It was the Government that set up the task force, which made a very clear recommendation for the establishment and need for an agency. The Minister has made the best argument of all for the establishment of an agency.

The task force was very clear on the amount of money required. It set out clearly that things cannot be done overnight, a point made by the Minister. It was stated that there needs to be a phased allocation of resources because it recognises that it will take time to expand capacity in the voluntary sector to use these resources effectively to meet the needs of the Irish abroad. It suggests an initial allocation of €11 million in 2003, building to €21 million in 2005 and sets out how those amounts should be distributed: €8 million for services in Britain in 2003 increasing to €12 million in 2005; €2 million for services in the US rising to €6 million in 2005 and €1 million for services in the rest of the world rising to €3 million in 2005, which are not major sums by any means. However, the money would make a substantial difference to the lives and experiences of the Irish abroad and in particular to the community to which the Minister refers, but the targets have not been reached.

In the words of Eavan Boland, which were recently quoted by Fr. Alan Hilliard, director of the Irish Episcopal Commission for Emigrants in an article in The Irish Times, "Like oil lamps we put them out the back of our houses, of our minds". Clearly, older Irish people abroad were at the back of our minds. Thanks to "Prime Time" they have been brought to the front of our minds, where they remain, although we must ask for how long that will be the case. Obviously, it will be for as short a time as possible for the Government. Fr. Hilliard also quoted Catherine Dunne, author of a book called "The Unconsidered People". She pointed out that in 1961, the entire education budget for primary and post-primary schools was the equivalent of £14 million. The same year, the contribution of emigrants in remittances was estimated at £13.5 million. That illustrates the extent of the country's reliance on emigrants and the significance of their contribution which has been estimated in billions of euro.

My Labour Party colleague, Deputy Stagg, spoke in terms which will go down in history of the experience of poverty in the west of Ireland and the experiences of so many people who left in the 1950s. There is hardly an Irish family which has not been touched by emigration. An aunt of mine who is now in her 80s went to work in the hospitals of London during the blitz and was on duty on D-day when the bodies were being returned from the beaches of Normandy. She recalls her experiences in a TB hospital in Ireland when she had the task of cycling around on night duty to count the bodies of those who had died. That is the country she left.

I recall visiting a friend of mine in London who is a museum curator. He devised a project to recreate the 1950s experiences of the Irish in Wembley, the particular part of London in which he worked. He reconstructed a room in a digs which was so miserable that I still recall it after ten years. The room featured a mean, small cot with thin blankets, the inevitable cardboard suitcase under the bed, bits of old linoleum covering the floor, a single burner in the fireplace to boil water for tea, one good suit hanging on the back of the door and the inevitable letters to and from home. This was the experience of many thousands of Irish people who went to London and other parts of Britain as well as to other countries. It is an experience which, like oil lamps, we put out the back of our houses and into the back of our minds.

The hypocrisy of the Government and its attitude to this issue are disgraceful and deplorable. I ask the Government to reconsider this matter. It is not too late to establish this agency and it is never too late to recognise that not enough is being done. I disagree with Senator Mooney. It is possible to reach a point at which we can say we are doing enough, but we must aspire to more than we are currently doing. We must aspire to at least recognising and thanking people for what they have done.