Aberdeen: Irish and Scottish Migration. Feb-June 2008
Monday, January 28th, 2008The University of Aberdeen is hosting a series of three one-day conferences called “Irish and Scottish Migration and Settlement: Intellectual, Political and Environmental Frontiers”. The conferences will be held in the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies.
Organisers say:
Overseas migration has conventionally been understood as a process that leads migrants to cross a variety of literal and metaphorical “frontiers� in order to settle into new societies. This series of three one-day conferences invites participants to reconsider this issue, looking instead at the varied ways in which the exploration of intellectual, political and environmental “frontiers� by Irish and Scottish migrants and their descendants generated new ideas, discourses and modes of life. Participants are also invited to consider the significance of this dynamic process for overseas Scottish and Irish communities, for the broader societies within which they lived, as well as for the Irish and Scottish homelands.
The conferences are scheduled as follows:
- Intellectual Frontiers – 23 Feb
- Political Frontiers – 3 May
- Environmental Frontiers – 21 June
See the programme for “Intellectual Frontiers”.
The Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen is an interdisciplinary centre offering taught master and doctoral programmes in the history, literature and culture of Ireland and Scotland, and carries out research across these disciplines. It is host to the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies, funded by the Art and Humanities Research Council.
See the website for the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies.
DFA launches charter, registration facility
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008The Department of Foreign Affairs has launched two new services on its website, aimed at those travelling or resident overseas. The two services are:
- a Consular Services Charter for citizens, called “Travel Safely, Slán Abhaile” – a document setting out the range of services provided by embassies and consulates abroad, as well as advice on steps to take before travelling abroad.
- an online travel registration facility for Irish people resident or travelling abroad – aimed particularly at those travelling to remote or dangerous locations, and at improving the DFA’s capacity to locate Irish citizens caught in a major crisis or family emergency.
In launching the services, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said,
As people travel more frequently, the demand for our Consular services has increased….This new service will significantly improve our capacity to locate and connect with Irish citizens caught up in a crisis and to get assistance to them. It also will improve our ability to provide timely and accurate information to their relatives in Ireland.
He added that the DFA’s approach to consular assistance
is interventionist and places the welfare of Irish citizens in need at its core. Officers of the Department at home and abroad repeatedly display a willingness to go the extra mile and deliver on that commitment. I know from my own direct dealings with people in difficulty and their families that this is greatly appreciated. Last year alone, the Department of Foreign Affairs provided direct assistance in over 130 cases of deaths abroad.
Irish people made nearly eight million trips abroad last year. ‘Travel Safely, Slán Abhaile’ will be distributed widely through public libraries, schools, universities and colleges, travel agents, citizen information centres and at missions abroad.
See the press release for more information.
See the Travel Registration page on the DFA website.
See the Consular Services Charter on the DFA website.
Seeking “Over Here” video
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008We’ve had a request for the video “Over Here”, which was produced by Emigrant Advice some time ago. The Crosscare Migrant Project (formerly Emigrant Advice) no longer has a copy. If you or your organisation has a copy, perhaps you might let me know at noreen@ean.ie.
Actress at odds with US-Ireland Alliance on visa campaign
Thursday, January 17th, 2008Actress Fionnuala Flanagan has refused to appear at an event sponsored by the US-Ireland Alliance because of the stand the organisation has taken regarding the Irish undocumented in the US.
US-Ireland Alliance director Trina Vargo wrote an opinion piece that appeared in the Irish Times in October, where she criticised the efforts of those who are campaigning for a special deal that would allow the undocumented Irish to stay in the US. Some immigrant advocates had moved toward working toward such a special arrangement following the defeat of comprehensive immigration reform earlier last year.
When Ms Flanagan heard of the article, she pulled out of a previously scheduled appearance. She wrote to Ms Vargo that she muse “respectfully decline to be honoured by your organisation which appears to have taken such a strong position against the most vulnerable of my countrymen”, according to the Irish Times.
She further added that Irish immigrants had resorted to organised lobbying on their own behalf because they were disillusioned by the repeated failure of governments to solve the issue.
Ms Vargo told the Irish Times, “Ms Flanagan supports a special deal for illegal Irish immigrants. I support legalisation of all immigrants”.
See the article in the Irish Times (registration required).
“Human Agency and an Irish Diaspora”: Centre for Migration Studies, January 2008
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008The Centre for Migration Studies at the Ulster-American Folk Park will host its annual MSSc in Irish Migration Studies Reunion Lecture on Saturday, January 26. Professor Don MacRaild of the University of Ulster will speak on “Human Agency and an Irish Diaspora”. Prof. MacRaild is the author of Culture, Conflict and Migration: The Irish in Victorian Cumbria, Irish Migrants in Modern Britain, 1750-1922, and Faith, Fraternity and Fighting: The Orange Order and Irish Migrants in Northern England, c.1850-1920.
For more information see the Ulster American Folk Park website, or contact Christine Johnston at 028 8225 6315.
Free travel a no-go, says Minister
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008Extending free public transport to elderly emigrant visitors to Ireland is not currently possible, according to Social and Family Affairs Minister Martin Cullen. The Irish Independent has reported that the Minister said that despite a Government pledge to work toward free travel for emigrant pensioners, the minister said:
“Legal advice indicates that it would not be possible to extend entitlement to free travel to Irish-born people living abroad, as to do so would be contrary to European legislation, which prohibits discrimination on the grounds of nationality”.
Labour Party chief whip Emmet Stagg, however, says the Government is actually opposing a complaint made to the European committee on Social Rights, investigating whether the current denial of free travel breaches the EU’s social charter. “The Government have fought against that tooth and nail to prevent them having to grant free travel. This flies in the face of their statements in the Dail, where they are saying the EU won’t allow them to do this”.
See the report by Michael Brennan in the Irish Independent.
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