This article is from page 12 of the 2013-06-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
AT LEAST four Kilrush families have emigrated en masse and another young family with two children under the age of 10 are packing their bags this week for Canada.
The plight of families with no option but to leave the country was highlighted by Cllr Ian Lynch (FG) at Thursday night’s meeting of the council.
He said that in many cases these families are arriving in foreign soil with no immediate prospects, just a little more hope for a future.
However many of these families have no work organised in advance and in many cases are working off hearsay that there will be work available. There have been cases where the opposite has been discovered when they arrived in another country, leaving them homeless and penniless.
Cllr Lynch said he does not want to see the people of West Clare suffer the same fate as the homeless man who died on the streets of Ennis last month.
Adding to the plight of this generation are those that are now arriving home on the completion of their visas to a country here nothing has changed.
“When they come back they aren’t entitled to anything. There is a long wait for social welfare,” said Cllr Lynch.
The former mayor of Kilrush called on the Taoiseach to establish a department of emigration that will assist the thousands of emigrants leaving every day.
This office would ensure a central point to obtain information in relation to the new destination they hope to travel to.
The office would also assist those returning home by ensuring they have appropriate and correct information on social welfare entitlements and provide further direction on introduction back in to the work force.
Cllr Marian McMahon Jones (FG) said she was aware of one family that returned to Kilrush and although they were not entitled to any social welfare, they were looked after by the Government due to their circumstances.
Not all councillors agreed that people were misinformed about their decisions, as Cllr Christy O’Malley (FF) argued, “The youth by their nature are idealistic” and will travel.
Cllr Lynch added, “I always say young people should go and travel when they are finished their education but when you see young families forced to leave that is different.”
“It is a sad indictment that we are here discussing that not only our best and brightest emigrating but that when they come back that there is no hope for them, and the only thing we can see for them is social welfare,” said Cllr Liam O’Looney (FF).