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    Returning teacher “sad and frustrated”

    Tuesday, June 5th, 2007

    A 71-year-old emigrant who has returned home after five decades in the US is “sad and frustrated” with life back in Ireland, according to the Irish Independent. Journalist Shane Hickey reports that Vincent Lavery returned home after a 35-year career in teaching in Fresno, California; in the US he was highly active in his community, as a soccer coach and actor, and was active in the Democratic party. In addition, he founded the “Children’s Committee 10″, a charity that brought children from Northern Ireland (and later Lebanon) to holiday in the US.

    He cited the employment indicators for teaching, as well as the positive words of President Mary McAleese and programmes such as Safe Home, which assists older emigrants in returning home, as factors in his decision to return to Ireland.

    “I left Ireland when I was 20 but Ireland never left me”, he said. I came back every year. I came back permanently after giving two years of deliberation, under the impression that I could get work teaching.”

    His teaching credentials, however, are not recognised here, and he has only worked 14 days in schools here since he returned nine months ago. Moreover, although he is the author of four books on soccer coaching, his attempts to coach youth football have been met with “a blank wall”, reports the journalist.

    “People would look at me and I’d think, ‘What might it be about me?’ and the only thing I can say is my age…The Celtic Tiger Ireland has looked at this person without even giving him a day in court to see what he can offer. I had a lot to offer in America. I am absolutely sad and frustrated”.

    Read the whole story on the Irish Independent website.

    Enterprise the answer for older car renters?

    Monday, January 15th, 2007

    Maximum age limits on car rentals can be a major impediment to older emigrants who would like to return home for a visit, Sheila Gleeson of the Coalition for Irish Immmigration Centers in the US has told your correspondent.

    Éan has done some research on this, and it seems that this type of discrimination is actually legal, as insurance companies may discriminate on an age basis as long as they can claim it is for commercial reasons.

    We have discovered, however, that Enterprise Rent-A-Car has no upper age limit, and does not impose an insurance surcharge on older renters.

    Hertz will rent to drivers up to the age of 79 if the driver has:
    - a letter from a doctor to say he or she has been in good health for the last year
    - a letter from the driver’s insurance company saying he or she has not been in an accident for the last five years.

    Alamo and National rent cars to those up to 74.
    Europcar rents only up to 70.
    Avis age limits range from 65 to 74, depending on the type of car.

    More information on maximum car rentals is available at about.com.

    Emigrants’ NY memoirs published by Aisling Center

    Thursday, December 7th, 2006


    “While Mem’ry Brings Us Back Again” is a volume of memoirs by Irish emigrants who moved to the U.S. between 1927-1964. Compiled by Frances Browner, organizer of the Aisling Center’s “Young at Heartâ€? group, the book details the experiences of 35 different individuals from 18 different counties.

    “Far from their families, friends and everything they were used to. Every one of them overcame homesickness and the challenges of a new world and built fine lives for themselves in this great country,â€? said Tim O’Connor, Consul General of Ireland, at the launch of the book on November 28. “These stories will delight, absorb and uplift you. They also underline again the amazing story of the Irish in America and just how good this country has been to millions of our people.”

    Browner says of the emigrants’ recollections: “I was transported back 50 years and plunged into a place that was already forgotten by the time of my own arrival in 1987. Why did I not know all this before? Putting this book together may help keep these memories alive for future generations of Irish Americans to know what it was like to be a new arrival.â€?

    New York’s Daily News carries a report on last week’s launch, in which it profiles Frank Bergin, an 82-year-old who moved to NY just before the 1929 stock market crash. He recounts being shot in Alsace in 1945 while fighting in World War II; he went on to become the president of the Irish Business Organisation of New York and still works selling real estate.

    Order the book at the Aisling Center website.

    There’s a 30-minute documentaryon the project and its launch available on YouTube. (Well worth watching!)

    President lauds extension of Centenarian’s Bounty to Irish abroad

    Wednesday, November 8th, 2006

    A strong interest in the centenarian’s bounty was highlighted during a recent members’ conference call with the Coalition of Irish Immigration Centers in the US. People who reach their 100th birthday are entitled to an award from the President; the scheme has been extended recently to allow people born in on the island of Ireland but resident outside the state to be eligible. On reaching his or her 100th birthday, the recipient receives a letter of congratulations signed by the president and a cheque for €2,540.

    President McAleese has paid tribute to the success of a scheme’s extension to the Irish abroad. In her most recent newsletter, she says,

    “This year the Centenarian’s Bounty scheme has been extended to Irish centenarians living abroad and I am absolutely delighted to say that already it includes over one hundred centenarians who previously didn’t qualify. Almost half of those live in the USA, one quarter in Northern Ireland, almost another quarter in Great Britain and a small number elsewhere throughout the globe. What a wonderful thing it is for this very successful Ireland to remember in such a real way those who were born and raised in much harder times.”

    Download the application form.

    Free travel still under discussion

    Wednesday, August 9th, 2006

    Minister for Transport Seamus Brennan said that the Government was considering the introduction of a free travel scheme for the elderly and the disabled between Ireland and Britain; he made the comments as he revealed that the current peak time restrictions on the use of travel passes for public transport would be lifted. There was apparently no further discussion today on the issue of extending the free travel programme to emigrants.
    http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2006/0809/breaking35.htm

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