Minute from William P. Fay to Liam Cosgrave (Dublin)

This is an important file concerning the welfare of Irish emigrants in Britain. I am marking it to you to see in view of the fact that the problems raised, particularly by the presence of young Irish girls in Britain have not yet been solved in any adequate way and constantly give rise to new difficulties; and also because active steps have been taken at the initiative of the Department and the Embassy in London to try to do something about it. You will, accordingly, wish to know the present state of the case. At the moment no special action is required.

The emigration of women and young girls to Britain has, of course, been proceeding over the past twenty years but raised an issue of some magnitude owing to the great increase in the numbers of girls emigrating during the war. The Department and the Embassy in London have had the matter under constant consideration since early in the wartime period. While emergency restrictions continued in force in Great Britain it was feasible to impose restrictions on the emigration of various classes of persons to Great Britain. Everybody had to have a travel permit to enter Great Britain and also to possess a British visa endorsed on the travel permit. Restrictions were, therefore, imposed upon the emigration of persons under twenty-two and so far as is known this restriction was operated in a reasonably satisfactory manner. Since 1951, however, the British Authorities have dispensed with the necessity for Irish citizens to hold travel permits or passports when entering Great Britain. Accordingly it is now completely impossible to check emigration by any official means, apart from ourselves imposing an exit permit on all persons leaving the State. Apart from the fact that such a drastic restriction of the right to travel, (which we did not find necessary even in wartime) would probably be unconstitutional, it is obvious that public opinion would not support it; and it would also be an excessive restriction to meet a limited problem. Official intervention, therefore, at this level must be ruled out as impracticable.

Since 1951 our aim has been to secure some method of mitigating the worst effects of the unrestricted emigration of young women and girls. Various suggestions have been made to this end. These suggestions may be grouped under the following categories:-

1. the appointment of a welfare officer in the Embassy in London;
2. the raising of money – either by a grant from the Irish Government or by an appeal to the Irish public – for the assistance of the Irish communities in Great Britain (with the object of providing increased amenities in decent surroundings so as to keep young Irish people in particular from getting into evil associations);
3. various forms of restrictions on unscrupulous employment agencies in Ireland.

The first of these proposals has now been approved after much controversy with the Department of Finance and steps are being taken to appoint a welfare officer in the Embassy. In the Ambassador’s intention, the duties of this official will be primarily to stimulate local initiative amongst Irish communities in Britain, amongst which there are to be found ample funds for all welfare purposes; rather than the issue of doles or the giving of subsidies from Irish sources.

The raising of a fund for the Irish communities in Britain has been the subject of much controversy and the last word has not yet been said on the subject. You will see from this file that various suggestions have been made whereby the foundation of ‘an Irish Community Trust Fund’ might be established. The original proposal came from the Ambassador in London who had discussed it with the Cardinal-Archbishop of Westminster.¹ The scheme was subsequently discussed by the former Minister, Mr. Aiken, with certain English priests who called upon him in the Department. The scheme, as Mr. Aiken saw it, would involve a call for a voluntary subscription e.g. at all churches on a special Sunday for the purposes of welfare in England. It was then suggested on the initiative of the former Taoiseach that it would be preferable to place the emphasis on collecting money in Great Britain and for that end to go ahead with the organisation of Irish communities in England and the holding of representative meetings there. After discussion, however, this latter suggestion was taken to be impracticable and the scheme as originally envisaged was proceeded with. The comments of the Archbishop in London on the two proposals already mentioned are set out in his minute of the 30 January, 1954, flagged A² and are worthy of special consideration. Since then nothing of importance has occurred but the Ambassador has, with the former Minister’s approval, seen the Cardinal-Archbishop of Westminster once again and the result of the interview is recorded in his report of the 10th May, 1954, flagged B.³ Finally, we have a report from him flagged C, dated 9 June,⁴ from which you will see that the Archbishop of Dublin⁵ has also taken action of an independent character in this respect. I have discussed this latest development with the Ambassador while he was recently in Dublin and we were in agreement that until we hear of the results of the confidential investigation undertaken by the Archbishop of Dublin, it might be better to postpone further action on the Community Trust Fund.

With regard to the control of employment agencies, I refer to my minute of the 15th June to Mr. Berry of the Department of Justice,⁶ which states our latest view on this matter. I am satisfied that we should induce the Department of Justice to take whatever feasible steps may be open to us to control the more disreputable types of employment agencies engaged in the English traffic. As you will see, I am awaiting their agreement to hold an interdepartmental conference.

[handwritten note]

Mr. Fay

I would like to talk to you about this matter.

LC 23/6