"The Forgotten Irish"

In the late 1940s, 1950s, 1960’s and early 1970’s, many thousands of Irish people arrived in Britain. They worked as casual labour on building sites. They built the motorways and the London Underground. They worked in domestic service and the NHS. The savings or “remittances” they sent home to Ireland on a weekly basis have been described as the bedrock of the Celtic Tiger economy. Indeed, one estimate puts the sum sent back to Ireland by these Irish workers at a staggering £2.5 billion.

At the end of their working lives, some of these workers had a family and a community to return to in Ireland, and the means to do so. But, sadly, some are still here – if we care to look – living in poverty and deprivation for what remains of their lives in cities like Birmingham, Coventry, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and London. In spite of the enormous contribution they made to Ireland in some of her darkest days, these elderly and vulnerable Irish people now run the risk of becoming the “forgotten generation”.

In 2006, a Compton study recommended a major fundraising campaign to address the “Forgotten Irish” issue, and went on to work with IFGB Trustees, management and volunteers to manage its initial stages. With nearing £2 million raised to date from just over a dozen commitments, today’s generation is responding to help the now elderly and vulnerable Irish who gave so much to rebuild the UK and Ireland.