Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

I am very pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I thank the Labour Party for moving this thoughtful motion. It allows all of us pause for reflection to think of other times and of what can now be done. Senator Mooney proposed the amendment in my name, but it was moved on behalf of Fianna Fáil. It described how the Minister for Foreign Affairs has begun to introduce over two thirds of the 71 recommendations of the task force he established. I read the report of the task force which was published about a year ago and was struck by the clarity of its language and the manner in which the recommendations were set out.

I was very interested in Senator O'Meara's family reminiscences. A motion such as the one before us causes one to think like that. My brother Paddy emigrated, having been in college here. While it is a different story of emigration, it is quite a telling one. While studying agricultural science in Dublin, the wanderlust got at him and he went to work in the mines in Worksop, a town in the north of England. He stayed there for about ten years although he used to come home every holiday. He would not return to work here although there were plenty of opportunities of which he could have taken advantage. Of course, my parents were heartbroken. He was the second eldest and I was the youngest and I remember thinking of him down in the mines. He worked very hard, which had an effect on his health later although he is alive, well and thriving as a farmer. On one particular holiday, he met a nice woman from Connemara and, after ten years, he returned to marry her and have a family.

My mother used to be in floods of tears at the tales he told us about the pure hardship experienced by people in the mines when he came home but, of course, he did not tell her the half of it. I know the term "pure hardship" sounds funny, but it is the phrase we use down the country. The mines are somewhat sanctified now and there was a series recently on BBC television about them, Arthur Scargill and Mrs. Thatcher. That involved only the glory days but the work was grinding, unhealthy and sapped one's youth and energy. Certainly, it would rid one of any illusions. I quote the example of the mines as it is one with which I am very familiar from the days and tales described by my brother. He was lucky in that he met the woman he wanted to marry when he came home one summer.

The hardship experienced by people who emigrated in the 1950s and 1960s was significant. My brother is in a different category as he was educated to the extent that he had obtained a leaving certificate and attended first year in college. However, he did not want to travel the straight path which is what took him abroad. While we should pay tribute to people, we should also make practical contributions. Less fortunate emigrants left on the boat train with their cardboard suitcases and, on arrival in England, travelled for six hours to London. If they were lucky, they had the name of a rooming house written down at which they could obtain lodgings. Some were lucky and were able to pull themselves up and move on, but many others were not because they did not have an education.

As always in the United Kingdom, the cut and thrust of society was sharper and more difficult to deal with. However, there were no jobs in Ireland and people who stayed faced stagnation. Unfortunately, many who left faced stagnation also. Many who worked in the years they had the physical ability to do so found in later years that the toil they undertook and the deprivation through which they lived had effects bodily, spiritually and mentally upon them. They are mainly men and many of them are in a sorry state. While there are some women among them, women tended, whether it was the right thing to do, to marry and establish alternative lives. I had a long conversation with the Minister for Foreign Affairs on this very topic and I am aware that he is very involved in the issue. He is very aware of the experiences of these people who left from every townland and village in Ireland. The people who go now do so of their own free choice. There is a considerable body of people still there.

The Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs recently discussed the idea, proposed by Deputy Gay Mitchell, of travelling to London, Liverpool and Manchester. We propose to advertise the visit in the press and meet those working with the Irish community to determine what they want. We expect to hear more about this matter shortly. The diligent and hard-working unit within the Department of Foreign Affairs can make a change. While I do not mean to castigate the motion, I do not know if we should get wrapped up in the idea of having an agency. The matter requires hands-on treatment and a keen ear.

I approve of what the Minister is doing. I know from talking to him that he is fully acquainted with this issue. After all, people left Offaly just as they left Westmeath and Roscommon. The Minister is keen to do the best he can for these emigrants. Approximately two-thirds of the 71 recommendations are now under way. I would be happier if the unit was already established. While it is about to be set up, this is another matter altogether. Will the Minister of State ask the Department to give us a progress report on what the unit is doing and what contact it has already made with emigrant organisations in Britain? While such emigrants reside elsewhere, such as in the US, most of them are resident in Britain. Many of them only had enough money to get as far as Britain. I commend the Government amendment to the House.