Extract from a letter from Frederick H. Boland to Seán Nunan (Dublin)

In case it should not otherwise have come under your notice, I would draw your attention to the article entitled ‘Service for Emigrants’ by Henry J. Gray¹ which appears in the ‘Furrow’ for July, 1954.

2. The Catholic Social Welfare Bureau in Westland Row was, of course, set up by the Archbishop of Dublin and I know that Mr. Gray enjoys His Grace’s trust and confidence. I have little doubt that what is said in this article has the approval of Dr. McQuaid.
3. Although no one would challenge the value of Mr. Gray’s suggestions as far as they go, it would be over-sanguine, in my view, to regard them as providing a complete solution for the difficulties which arise in connection with young Irish boys and girls coming over here to work. Regrettable as it may be, the fact is that advice bureaux, social facilities and similar provisions operated by parochial clergy or Catholic organisations, tend to be resorted to most by those who need their help least and least by those who stand most in need of guidance and safeguards. That is the whole problem of our people in this country. It is worth referring in this connection to the series of articles entitled ‘The Irish in Britain’ which appeared in the ‘Furrow’ for April, 1954. As was pointed out by one of the contributors to that series, among the principal reasons which bring our young people to England are motives such as to see the world, to be independent of family control and public opinion, to earn more money and to experience the novelty and excitement of city life. People of such a bent of mind are on the whole unlikely to make use of the particular type of facilities referred to in Mr. Gray’s article, even when they are easily available. If they were, there would be no problem. The essence of the problem is to keep some sort of hold on the people who deliberately avoid making use of such facilities, with a view to preventing them from becoming irretrievably lost.

[matter omitted]