Funding for Irish emigrant welfare groups must increase by 500 per cent to cope with mounting social problems faced by those who left Ireland in the 1950s, according to a report going to the Government shortly.
The recommendation will be one of a number to be made by the Government-appointed Taskforce on Emigration later this autumn, though a late draft of its report has been seen by The Irish Times.
Emigrants who left Ireland in the 1950s and who are now nearing retirement age are in need of "immediate assistance", particularly in the UK, where many are living in poor conditions, it warns.
Many of these ended up in insecure, manual jobs and are now "unable to cope without support".
The UK-based Irish suffer "disproportionately" from poverty and experience "higher than average levels of mental illness, alcoholism and social exclusion", the report warns.
The Government was urged to put pressure on the British authorities to ensure Irish exiles get a better share of local authority housing, and put "an Irish dimension" into all of their racial equality policies.
"The experience of the Irish welfare agencies in Britain is that many Irish prefer to speak 'to one of their own' and that they require a 'culturally sensitive' service to meet their health and welfare needs," the report declares.
More funding should be found to help older emigrants return home, though the taskforce believes the numbers who would do so are quite small in relation to the overall total. However, elderly Irish could be brought home on holiday visits.
Funding for welfare groups should rise to approximately €15 million immediately, it says, while the Department of Foreign Affairs should set up a new body, a €3.5 million Agency for the Irish Abroad, to control all emigrant issues.
The agency should work closely with welfare bodies abroad and local and other government authorities at home, it says. "None of these measures will achieve their desired effect otherwise," the report cautions.
The recommendations will require significant changes in Government policy. This year, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment allocated €2.7m to UK-based Irish welfare groups - up €1m on the 2001 figure.
Meanwhile, the Government was urged to continue efforts to persuade the US to ease tighter post-September 11th immigration rules.
Primary and secondary school pupils should be given advice about emigration under the social, personal and health education programme that will begin to be rolled out in primary schools from the autumn, it adds.
"For too long, there was a reluctance to put in place comprehensive pre-departure services because of the fear that this could be perceived as encouraging emigration," the report says.
The programme should first try to educate young people about "the complex and multi-faceted world that exists beyond our shores", and this would have the added benefit of encouraging multi-culturalism at home.
