The Irish Chaplaincy in Britain has said it is expecting to see the
demand for its services “grow during these difficult times for Ireland’s
economy” and has said it will make every effort to “continue to help
the most vulnerable Irish emigrants who turn to us for support.”
Dr Philomena Cullen, Director of the ICB, told ciNews that many elderly Irish emigrants living in Britain are “facing isolation and severe poverty.”
She explained that many of them came to England in the 1950s and are
now elderly and vulnerable.
The ICB currently runs an outreach to 176
of these isolated older Irish people though its Older Person’s Project.
While the ICB has “yet to really experience the emigration surge that
is expected in terms of new 2011 emigrants”, last year was the
chaplaincy’s busiest year ever.
“The increased demand on our services has come from the existing base
of Irish people who are already here,” Dr Cullen said. “With our
tightly focused projects working with Irish Travellers, Irish prisoners
and older Irish people, what we have found is that as we have grown and
improved capacity in our service, we are finding that there is no end of
unmet existing need among our three traditional client groups,” she
said.
“All our clients are vulnerable and marginalised and many emigrated
from difficult backgrounds to try and make a fresh start in the UK.
This means they are particularly susceptible to any downturn in the
economy because they are starting from the bottom rungs of the ladder in
the first place,” Dr Cullen explained.
According to official statistics, Irish people became the second
largest group of foreign nationals in the British prison system in
September 2010 (official figure of 683), just after Jamaicans and ahead
of Nigerians.
According to Dr Cullen, “Counting foreign nationals in a host
population is notoriously difficult and we know that official figures
are only at best rough estimates. Last year, while our prisoner
project, ICPO, worked with 588 Irish people in prison here both through
direct and indirect contact, helpline, letters, via families, and third
parties, our outreach service was able to have face-to-face contact in
only 48 prisons out of the 142 prisons across England and Wales, and so
we know that we are still only managing to work with approximately half
of all Irish people who end up in our prisons.”
“The same scenario of demand outstripping our capacity to provide
applies in our existing work with Travellers and older Irish people
too. So while we know we make a positive difference for approximately
1,000 vulnerable Irish people each year, we are acutely conscious that
this is still only scratching the service of existing need”, she said.
Currently the Irish Government funds 54 per cent of the chaplaincy’s
budget, but the ICB is concerned that the recession may force it to cut
back on its current level of funding.
“Previously, supportive funders like the Ireland Fund of Great
Britain, who would have given us a grant of £25,000 to help run our
outreach service to vulnerable older Irish people, last year only gave
us £2,000. This was they told us, no reflection on the quality of our
bid or work, but because their own budget had been reduced”, Dr Cullen
explained.
“Given that we expect to see demands on our services grow during
these difficult times for Ireland’s economy, we are appealing to those
within the broader Irish community to join us in this mission. We are
looking for supporters to join our CAIRDE scheme where just £2 a month
will help make sure that we continue to provide our much needed
services," Dr Cullen said.
Referring to her own family history, Dr Cullen told ciNews,
“As a second generation Irish person, I know that the opportunities I've
enjoyed have been a result of my parent's earlier struggles. We owe a
huge debt of gratitude to that previous generation. So we are appealing
to all those in the Irish community who have prospered, to remember
those Irish emigrants, for whom the migrants dream has not been
realised.”
She added, “The generation of those who came in the 1950s were forced
economic migrants, who not only made huge contributions to the host
country, but who, through remittances, kept the fledging Irish Republic
going in testing times. It is impossible to over-emphasise the debt
that is owed to them.”
One ICB client, ‘Patrick’ who is assisted by the Irish Older Persons Project explained
the impact of the outreach on his life.
“I was in a really bad way
when the chaplaincy knocked on my door. I hadn’t left the flat in
months and when they got the doctor round he told me I had scabies. I
was depressed and the social weren’t doing anything to help because I
was a 'drinker'.”
Though he “didn’t really trust them when they first came” because he
“didn’t think anyone could help me,” the people from the ICB “just kept
coming back.”
“With their support, I got a new home and stayed off the drink, they
even took me home to Ireland; I hadn’t been back there, or seen my
family since my father died in 1989. I never knew there was such
kindness in the world,” he said.
“At the ICB we believe that ‘people live in one another's shelter’,”
Dr Cullen said and she urged the Irish community to sign up online to
support the ICB’s CAIRDE/FRIENDS scheme at www.irishchaplaincy.org.uk