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The Forgotten Irish Campaign
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Who are The Forgotten Irish?

In the decade following World War II, hundreds of thousands of Irish men and women migrated to Britain.

© Brendan Farrell The Irish Post

Economic circumstances forced then to leave their families and communities and so, they took the boat to England in search of work. Many worked as casual labour on building sites building the motorways and the London Underground. They also helped to clear and rebuild bomb-damaged towns, many worked on the land, in domestic service and in healthcare.

These people did not have a loving family or caring community to leave behind. They sought an escape from the misery, and often the abuse, of institutional life; raised in orphanages and institutions, they had little or no information about their family origins Their attempts to create a life and an identity for themselves were often hampered by hostility and rejection in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Their combined efforts however, helped to rebuild Britain, and helped Ireland to emerge from one of the darkest and most poverty-stricken periods of it's history. Their labour built the foundations of the Ireland we know today. We should not forget them.

Where are they now?

• 2008 update >

At the end of their working lives, many had a family and a community to return to in Ireland, and the means to do so. But some are still here, if we care to look, living out what remains of their lives in isolation, poverty and deprivation in cities like Birmingham, Coventry, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and London.

In spite of the enormous contribution they made to Ireland in her dark days, many of these elderly & vulnerable Irish people now run the risk of becoming The Forgotten Irish.

Video - The Forgotten Irish
New 2009 video

Original 2007 video

Links

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Projects We Support

 • London Irish Centre >

Campaign Brochure

 • The Forgotten Irish Campaign >
(PDF - coming soon...)

Information

 T - + 44 (0) 845.872.5401
 E -
forgottenirish@irlfunds.org