Letter from Frederick H. Boland to Seán Nunan (Dublin)

One of the functions of this Mission, as of other missions abroad, is to watch over the interests of Irish citizens within its area of accredition and to safeguard them so far as possible. The number of Irish citizens in this country is so large that the Embassy’s discharge of this function must be, even at the best, rather haphazard and inadequate. From time to time, however, cases do arise in which action is urgently necessary and reasonably practicable, and such a case, I submit, is represented by the enclosed report on the conditions of life of Irish immigrant workers in the Birmingham area – a report for which I would request the serious consideration of the Department.¹

2. For some time now, the bulk of the emigration to this country from Ireland has been concentrated on the cities of Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry. These cities are centres of the light engineering trades which are now swamped with rearmament orders and, in order to fulfil them, are prepared to go to almost any lengths to recruit the labour force required. One consequence of this is that by dint of vigorous advertising and the prospect of high earnings made possible by unlimited overtime working, the population of these cities has been increased by thousands regardless of the fact that the accommodation required to house them properly is lacking.
3. What this means in the case of Irish immigrant workers you will see from the enclosed report which was compiled as a result of personal investigation by a Mr. Maurice Foley of 106 Clapham Road, SW9, a whole time investigator in the employment of the Young Christian Workers’ Association. This is a Catholic organisation for social work which enjoys considerable repute and prestige in this country. Mr. Foley, who is the English born son of Irish Catholic parents, is a trained social investigator, and I think it can be assumed – on the basis of what I have been told by local priests who know Mr. Foley personally – that what he says in his report is objective, trustworthy, and not exaggerated in any way.
4. Among the salient facts which Mr. Foley records are:-
   1. That about 108,000 people have flocked into Birmingham in the recent past of whom about 50,000 are Irish.
   2. That even before their advent, the accommodation situation in the City was bad, there being about 60,000 families on the waiting list for houses.
   3. That the accommodation available for Irish workers coming to the city is ‘grossly over-crowded, ill-kept, dirty, and the cost exorbitant’.
   4. That the statements made to Irish workers before they leave Ireland about the availability of accommodation are frequently grossly false and misleading and cases of people wandering about at night and sleeping in the open for several nights before they can find accommodation are not infrequent.
   5. That many Irish workers are employed in small firms of which there are 10,650 in Birmingham, are employing less than twenty people, and in many of these firms, the working conditions are ‘shocking’.
   6. That the degrading conditions under which Irish workers in Birmingham live and work has a grievously lowering effect on their prestige and morale and has grave consequences from the health, moral and religious points of view.
   7. The high wages which many Irish workers earn are largely due to overtime working which is willingly undertaken as a means of escape – either because the workers concerned ‘have nothing else to do’ or because their living quarters are so unattractive that they prefer to spend as little time in them as possible.
   8. That neither the Ministry of Labour nor the employing firms appear to take any interest in the welfare of Irish workers in the area who are shamefully exploited by extortionate boarding-house keepers who profit from the severe scarcity of accommodation.
5. The whole picture is a most depressing one. It leaves one with the feeling that if anything can be done to ameliorate the lot of the Irish people working in Birmingham, no time should be wasted in taking the necessary action.
6. I have discussed informally with Mr. Foley and with Father Woods, who is a friend of Mr. Foley and associated with him in the work of the YCW, the lines which possible remedial action might take. They agree with me that the first and best step would be to give the situation due publicity in Ireland. To my mind this is important and desirable for two reasons. In the first place it seems to me most important that people in Ireland who are thinking of accepting employment in the Birmingham area should know the kind of working and living conditions which confront them if they go there. The Minister may possibly feel indeed that he is under some element of duty to the people concerned in this regard. In the second place, I feel that the giving of publicity to the matter in Ireland will prove as effective a means as we are likely to find of getting the Ministry of Labour and the employers in the Birmingham area to realise and fulfil the responsibilities in this matter which they have hitherto so shamefully neglected. Mr. Michael Foot, MP.² to whom I mentioned this matter informally, told me that he would be willing to publicise it either in the ‘Tribune’ or in the ‘Daily Herald’ of which he is political correspondent. Remembering, however, that the first object must be to open the eyes of people who may even at this moment be thinking of leaving Ireland to accept employment in Birmingham, it seems preferable that the matter should be publicised, in the first instance at least, in the home press.
7. If the Minister agrees with this view, he will, no doubt, decide what is the best method in which to give the matter publicity. If I may make a suggestion, I would think that a series of two articles in the ‘Sunday Press’ on two successive Sundays would meet the case admirably. If the ‘Sunday Press’ were interested, they might prefer to send an investigator of their own to Birmingham. An alternative would be to ask Mr. Maurice Foley himself to write articles. I gather from him that he would be quite prepared to do so.
8. The enclosed copy of Mr. Foley’s report is the only one I have. If it is being copied in the Department, I should be glad if a copy could be sent to me for the Embassy file.