Ean Chair visits Australian Irish
Sunday, September 30th, 2007Ean Chair Alan Hilliard, who is also Director of the Irish Bishop’s Commission for Emigrants, visited Australia this month for family reasons, but while he was there he visited with members of the Irish community. He spoke of how in a strange way their object was to be idle, but that their hands-on support is in fact vital to ensure that difficult situations do not deteriorate.
“There is no formula other than human goodness, focused motivation, common sense and a cultural sensitivity that offers support and ultimately makes a difference,” he said. He also spoke of the “tyranny of distance” that can be lessened by better communication and interaction.
Depression among emigrants rooted in Ireland, say researchers
Sunday, September 30th, 2007The origins of depression among many Irish emigrants in Britain are located in Ireland or in difficult life circumstances, rather than the experience of migration, according to recently published research.
The researchers behind “Explanations of depression among Irish migrants in Britain” said they had hypothesised that the explanations for psychological distress may have been related to unprepared or spontaneous migration. After interviewing Irish-born migrants living in London, they found that this theory was not supported.
The article’s abstract is online at sciencedirect.com, where the whole article may be purchased.
Irish Episcopal Commission for Emigrants: November 2007
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007The Irish Episcopal Commission for Emigrants marks 50 years of the Irish Chaplaincy in Britain with a conference called, “Pastoral Care to Public Policy – Journeying with the Migrant”. The conference will highlight the value of a sustainable pastoral care response to the phenomenon of inward migration in Ireland. A panel of international speakers will examine the global context, as well as current cultural and policy deficits in Ireland.
Speakers will include:
- Members of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference
- Peter Sutherland, Chairman of the UN Global Commission for Migration
- Bishop Nicholas Di Marzio, Bishop of Brooklyn and former Executive Director of Migration and Refugee Service for the U.S. Catholic Conference
- Desmond Cahill, Professor of Intercultural Studies at RMIT (Melbourne Institute of Technology)
- Francis Davis, Von Hügel Institute, University of Cambridge
The conference will take place on 21 – 23 November, 2007 in the Dunboyne Castle Hotel in County Meath.
Contact the conference office at +353 1 5053055 or by email at migrantconference@iecon.ie. For more information, visit www.catholiccommunications.ie.
Emigrant film an Oscar nominee?
Thursday, September 20th, 2007A film featuring the experience of Connemara emigrants in London has been nominated by an Irish jury to be put forward for the Oscars. The film, produced and directed by Tom Collins, is a bilingual Irish-English production. It is the first Irish-language film to be nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film category.
Kings is a heart-breaking depiction of a group of young men who leave Galway in the 1970s for London. Thirty years later, the men, in varying states of homesickness, hopelessness and addiction, meet up for the wake of the youngest of the group.
Director Collins told the BBC that it was “a universal story – it’s not just about Paddies… I know it is always dangerous to have messages in films, but I hope people will watch Kings and empathise with the whole experience of emigrants in a foreign land and how hard it is for them to find their way home.”
The film has already won Ireland’s Directors Finders Series; it will be screened in Los Angeles on 28 September to an audience of potential US distributors.
Trinity hosts Migration Research Fair, Sept 2007
Wednesday, September 12th, 2007Trinity’s Immigration Initiative will host its Migration Research Fair on 24 September at Trinity College, Dublin.
The aim is to showcase, map and share academic research on migration in Ireland through a gathering of academic and other researchers, state, public sector and NGO stakeholders and migrant organisations.
The day will be divided into five thematic workshops:
- Migration and the labour market
- Migration, language and education
- Migration and social policy
- Migration and community relations
- Migrant networks
Among the speakers will be Ean member Caitriona ni Laoire from the Department of Geography, UCC, who will speak on “Irish Return Migration – Complicating Host-Newcomer Dualisms?”. Other speakers include Minister for Integration Conor Lenihan and representatives from ICTU, FAS, IBEC, the Immigrant Council of Ireland, the National Economic and Social Council and academics from a wide range of disciplines.
Visit the Trinity Immigration Initiative website.
Should Ireland welcome its diaspora home?
Monday, September 10th, 2007Irish commentator David McWilliams is calling for the Irish diaspora to be welcomed to a “New Hibernia” in his upcoming book, The Generation Game. He is calling for descendants of Irish emigrants to be welcomed back for the economic and cultural health of Ireland.
In an excerpt from the new book published in yesterday’s Sunday Business Post, McWilliams says,
There are 3.5 million Irish citizens living outside the country. But the greater diaspora is considerably bigger. In economic terms, the 70 millionstrong Irish tribe is the 21st-century equivalent of a huge oil deposit.
In the same way as oil guarantees Saudi Arabia’s future, the Irish tribe could be the key to Ireland’s prosperity in the next century. Unlike oil, because the tribe exists inside the minds of millions of Irish people around the world, if we cultivate it properly, it is a resource that won’t run out.
It is time to see the island of Ireland in the 21st century as the cradle of a global nation.
This nation extends all over the world, gelled together by the shared experience of previous generations.
We should institute a ‘‘right of return’’ policy and extend citizenship to people of Irish descent, extending beyond the present cut-off point of two generations. This would create a strong bond between the tribe and the mother country.
McWilliams says that Ireland’s diaspora are a “soft power” that will give the nation competitive advantage while reinforcing cultural identity. Noting Ireland’s long tradition of emigrant remittances, he calls it “the right thing to do” – but this human resource could become “the largest sales force in the world, selling Ireland first to themselves and then to others”.
He believes that tapping into the economic might of the diaspora and its potential workforce could develop the economy while allowing Ireland to retain a sense of cultural uniqueness. Ireland would still be open to other European workers, so “the idea threatens no one”.
He notes that the opportunity will dissipate if Ireland does not move quickly. With emigration on the decline, Irish communities abroad are no longer being replenished: “Without active guardianship from the home country, the tribe will not flourish, and in a few generations, this extraordinary opportunity will dissipate”.
He concludes with Article 2 of the Irish Constitution, which says, ‘‘the Irish nation cherishes its special affinity with people of Irish ancestry living abroad who share its cultural identity and heritage”. McWilliams adds, “Let’s make this ‘special affinity’ a reality by calling them home”.
Read the article on the Sunday Business Post website.
« Previous Entries Next Entries »