Archive for January, 2009
« Previous EntriesSkibbereen and Canada to host Famine Memorial events
Thursday, January 8th, 2009This year’s National Famine Memorial Day will be held on May 17th. The date has been announced by the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Eamon O Cuiv.
Skibbereen, Co. Cork will be the focal point of this year’s commemoration in Ireland, while there will also be an international event taking place in Toronto. Skibbereen was selected as it was one of the worst affected areas; a mass grave at Abbeystrewery holds between 8,000 and 10,000 famine victims.
The National Famine Commemoration Committee was established last year, and had decided to hold an annual event, revolving between each of the four provinces. Last year’s event was in Dublin, and in 2010 Mayo will be the focal point.
The committee will also run a parallel event in Canada; Canada was a landing point for thousands of Irish fleeing starvation. The overseas commemoration reflects the role of the famine in dispersing the Irish people, as the population fell from 8 million in 1841 to half that in the following decades.
Related websites:
- Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs
- Toronto Famine Memorial
- Grosse Ile and the Irish Memorial National Historic Site of Canada
DFA working to assist Irish in Gaza
Thursday, January 8th, 2009The Department of Foreign Affairs is working to ensure Irish citizens in Gaza can depart safely from the bombarded region.
The Irish Times is reporting that as many as 40 people with Irish connections are in the territory, and the Irish embassy has been working to secure exits for a number of these. Among them is an Irish-born child and his family; five-year-old Basil Nateel moved to Gaza with his Palestinian mother and his three sisters in 2007.
The newspaper reports that a DFA spokesperson said:
“There are a number of Irish citizens and individuals with Irish connections in Gaza at the moment and all are being provided with consular assistance through our embassy in Tel Aviv. They are in constant contact with the Department of Foreign Affairs and an exit plan is in place to allow them to leave Gaza when it is safe to do so.
See the entire article on the Irish Times website.
Minister Martin highlights services for citizens abroad
Thursday, January 8th, 2009Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin has highlighted the value of several services provided by the Department of Foreign Affairs to its citizens abroad. In a recent statement on those services, the Minister noted that Irish residents made 8 million trips overseas. He spoke of the assistance offered by the Department, which provides services to those in crisis situations, including national emergencies and bereavements.
He encouraged citizens living abroad to register with the travel registration service that was launched last year. He noted the utility of this service during the recent protests in Bangkok:
Most of the Irish citizens stranded in Bangkok were passing through, many of their way to or from Australia. These were scattered throughout the city and surrounding areas. Under the old system, it would have involved a major bureaucratic exercise to contact and register them all. With the new on-line registration system in place, almost 400 Irish citizens in the Thai capital were able to provide their own contact information, enabling the Department to stay in close contact with them throughout the crisis. Many of the young Irish registered with the Department using internet cafes in Bangkok. It involved the use of simple technology but had a huge effect and enabled the Department to stay in touch with Irish citizens on a large scale. If an evacuation of Irish citizens was required, the data base provided by the system of voluntary on line registration would have been invaluable.
Minister Martin also urged citizens to take out comprehensive medical and travel cover to avoid any kind of burden as they travel abroad. He called attention to the booklet “Travel Safely – Slán Abaile”, produced by the DFA last year, as a useful resource for ensuring a safe visit overseas.
The DFA dealt with around 200 deaths abroad in 2008 – a 33% increase on the 150 reported in 2007.
See related websites:
- Press release from the Department of Foreign Affairs
- Travel Registration page on the DFA website
- Consular Services Charter on the DFA website
- PDF download of Travel Safely – Slan Abhaile
Calls for greater care of elderly follows death of man in NY
Wednesday, January 7th, 2009The death of a 72-year-old Irish man in New York has resulted in a new focus on the needs of elderly Irish emigrants in the US.
Tony Gallagher, originally from Ballycorrick, Co Mayo had died perhaps as long as a week before his body was found in his Queens apartment. Though some press reports have depicted Mr Gallagher as being socially isolated, other reports have noted he was an active member of his local community and, though he lived alone, had close contacts with family members. Mr Gallagher’s Leitrim-born wife, Josephine, is in a nursing home with Alzheimer’s Disease. His brother lives in Massachusetts, where Mr Gallagher had visited him to celebrate Thanksgiving weeks before he died. In mid-December he apparently suffered a heart attack and died; his body was not discovered until firemen broke into his apartment as much as a week later, after a caretaker noted Mr Gallagher’s absence.
Ciaran Staunton of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform in New York has described the need for a census of the Irish community there. Calling Mr Gallagher’s death as a wake-up call, he said, “No one knew he existed. That’s the problem. That’s what we intend to change.â€? Work on the census has already begun, with volunteers knocking on doors and community leaders registering the elderly.
Mr Staunton also called for the opening of drop-in centres in the Queens area to discourage isolation and build a sense of camaraderie. He said that the community would be looking to successful models in England as examples for work in Queens, naming the Leeds community as one such example. Â The Aisling Irish Centre in Yonkers also has a well-established programme for the elderly, and there are other programmes throughout the New York area.
Mr Staunton is asking both the Irish and the Northern Irish governments for support in funding the programme. Mr Staunton praised the work of the Irish government, telling the Irish Times,
“Not too often does a Taoiseach get praised, but when Brian Cowen was minister for foreign affairs he was instrumental in funding services here. Now that Micheál Martin has stepped into Mr Cowen’s shoes we have been met with nothing but a positive response.”
The Evening Herald reported that Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin would look at funding an outreach worker to visit emigrants in their own homes.
See related articles:
- Death sparks call to help emigrants – Irish Times
- Mayonman’s death ‘a wake-up call’ – Mayo News
- Immigrant’s death spurs call for census of Irish seniors – NY Daily News
- NY Irish left shaken by immigrant’s lonely death – Herald.ie
36.5 million US residents claimed Irish ancestry in 2007
Wednesday, January 7th, 2009As it does annually, the US Census Bureau has issued its fact sheet in preparation for the observance of Irish-American Heritage Month. Irish-American Heritage Month takes place every March. Â In the fact sheet we learn the following statistics:
- 36.5 million US residents claimed Irish ancestry in 2007; only Germany can claim more descendants in the US.
- 24% of Massachusetts residents are of Irish ancestry; 12% of the US population is Irish.
- 32% of Irish-American adults over 25 have at least a bachelor’s degree, while 92% have at least a high school diploma. This compares to 28% and 85% for the national average.
- US imports from Ireland totalled $26.2 billion from January to October 2008, while $7.4 billion worth of goods went from the US to Ireland.
See the full press release from the US Census Bureau.
See last year’s Presidential proclamation of Irish-American Heritage Month.
108-year-old Irish woman dies in SA – 18 years after emigrating
Wednesday, January 7th, 2009A 108-year-old Irish women who emigrated to South Africa at the age of 90 died there this weekend, according to the Irish Times. Kitty Ball was born in Skerries in 1901 and moved to South Africa to be with her daughter and grandchildren. Mrs Ball had a rich and active life full of travel and sport, refusing to enter a nursing home as she believed they were for old people. She attributed her longevity to her habit of a glass of sherry every morning at eleven.
Read the full story at the Irish Times website.