The Forgotten Irish

Does anyone really care about these people....Could the goverment do more to repatriate some of these people...I spent along time in the UK and came across many of them all over the UK...These people hold on to there heritage with large amounts of pride yet we forget them..


I often wonder if it wasn't for the Gaa in London would i have drifted into the world of the forgotten Irish....

Aye I agree with you. Theres a good film on now on TV3

Watched a programme on this on YouTube last year, TV3 showed it originally but they wouldn't stream it from their site to the UK for some reason but like all these shows they end up on YouTube thankfully!!!! Not sure if you have seen it or if it is this you are referring to.

I found the programme very sad, just how lonely all the Ex-pats were really struck me, one point that really got to me was burying of the poorest dead in graves with no markings other than a wooden cross!

A staggering amount of money went back into the Irish economy from these workers (estimated at £3 Billion STG) so mullins i agree with you massively that the Irish Government should offer to re-patriate them. There was shocking figures shown about the health problems suffered by elderly Irish as well as second and thrid generation Irish, they said it was the only ethnic group whose health problems got worse in the second and third generations!!

It's something that i often think about too, but England has been good to me, better than Ireland ever was and i don't see myself moving back "home" anytime soon, i can see how it could be easy to slip into the world of the Forgotten Irish though.

bald eagle wrote:Watched a programme on this on YouTube last year, TV3 showed it originally but they wouldn't stream it from their site to the UK for some reason but like all these shows they end up on YouTube thankfully!!!! Not sure if you have seen it or if it is this you are referring to.

I found the programme very sad, just how lonely all the Ex-pats were really struck me, one point that really got to me was burying of the poorest dead in graves with no markings other than a wooden cross!

A staggering amount of money went back into the Irish economy from these workers (estimated at £3 Billion STG) so mullins i agree with you massively that the Irish Government should offer to re-patriate them. There was shocking figures shown about the health problems suffered by elderly Irish as well as second and thrid generation Irish, they said it was the only ethnic group whose health problems got worse in the second and third generations!!

It's something that i often think about too, but England has been good to me, better than Ireland ever was and i don't see myself moving back "home" anytime soon, i can see how it could be easy to slip into the world of the Forgotten Irish though.

Yes bald eagle it was the same programme very sad really..They were great men and women that went away to work hard- just to send money back to help there familys..I suppose by all the replys this thread got it tells you that they really are forgotten...We Are a nation of im oright Jack pull up the ladder..I remember the days when this island was a community..

To Work till your dead for a room in a Bed was the reason i left..

mullins wrote:
Yes bald eagle it was the same programme very sad really..They were great men and women that went away to work hard- just to send money back to help there familys..I suppose by all the replys this thread got it tells you that they really are forgotten...We Are a nation of im oright Jack pull up the ladder..I remember the days when this island was a community..

To Work till your dead for a room in a Bed was the reason i left..

Strange really mullins as i thought this thread would produce more debate than it has, very strange that no one has views on it that they would care to share, especially as the money these people sent back helped to keep Ireland afloat (words from the documentry, not mine!)

I've met a few of these people on my travels and they are fasinating, many are struggling to get by now even though they worked hard then to send half their wages back to their loved ones.

The fella in the documentry who's sister and brother didn't recognise him when he went on a surprise trip back home really stuck with me, i think he hadn't been able to get home for about 15 years beforehand!

I think their struggle is best summed up by the words of Dominic Behan -

'Twas in the year of 'thirty-nine
When the sky was full of lead
When Hitler was heading for Poland
And Paddy, for Holyhead
Come all you pincher laddies
And you long-distance men
Don't ever work for McAlpine
For Wimpey, or John Laing
You'll stand behind a mixer
And your skin is turned to tan
And they'll say, Good on you, Paddy
With your boat-fare in your hand
The craic was good in Cricklewood
And they wouldn't leave the Crown
With glasses flying and Biddy's crying
'Cause Paddy was going to town
Oh mother dear, I'm over here
And I'm never coming back
What keeps me here is the reek o' beer
The ladies and the craic
I come from county Kerry
The land of eggs and bacon
And if you think I'll eat your fish 'n' chips
Oh dear then you're mistaken

As down the glen came McAlpine's men
With their shovels slung behind them
'Twas in the pub they drank the sub
And out in the spike you'll find them
They sweated blood and they washed down mud
With pints and quarts of beer
And now we're on the road again
With McAlpine's fusiliers

I stripped to the skin with the Darky Finn
Way down on the Isle of Grain
With the Horseface Toole I knew the rule
No money if you stopped for rain
McAlpine's god is a well-filled hod
Your shoulders cut to bits and seared
And woe to he went to look for tea
With McAlpine's fusiliers

I remember the day that the Bear O'Shea
Fell into a concrete stairs
What the Horseface said when he saw him dead
It wasn't what the rich call prayers
I'm a navvy short, was the one retort
That reached unto my ears
When the going is rough you must be tough
With McAlpine's fusiliers

I've worked till the sweat it has had me beat
With Russian, Czech, and Pole
On shuttering jams up in the hydro-dams
Or underneath the Thames in a hole
I've grafted hard and I've got my cards
And many a ganger's fist across my ears
If you pride your life don't join, by Christ!
With McAlpine's fusiliers

Simply a brilliant piece of descriptive songwriting!

I didn't see this documentary but did do 4 years in London. I just went over for the craic though in the early half of the naughties not because of circumstance which is what forced so many to leave Ireland throughout the decades. The Irish lads there are some of the best for sure and I would agree that they have been largely forgotten. Would be interested in seeing that documentary if ye'z have a link Eagle or Mullins man.

mossbags wrote:I didn't see this documentary but did do 4 years in London. I just went over for the craic though in the early half of the naughties not because of circumstance which is what forced so many to leave Ireland throughout the decades. The Irish lads there are some of the best for sure and I would agree that they have been largely forgotten. Would be interested in seeing that documentary if ye'z have a link Eagle or Mullins man.

It was on tv 3 mossy monday night- i don't have link, bald eagle said it was on You Tube.........its on next monday tv3 from london Irish

mossbags wrote:I didn't see this documentary but did do 4 years in London. I just went over for the craic though in the early half of the naughties not because of circumstance which is what forced so many to leave Ireland throughout the decades. The Irish lads there are some of the best for sure and I would agree that they have been largely forgotten. Would be interested in seeing that documentary if ye'z have a link Eagle or Mullins man.

Here's the youtube link Mossy

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2 episodes, around 10 YouTube clips in all i think.

I haven't seen the programme (and don't have the time to watch it right now) but when you say forgotten Irish do you mean the people that went over and never came back?

It always breaks my heart to think of the many Irish people who are sad and lonely in cities in England. As you wander around Camden town the pubs are full of stooped old men with nothing to comfort them but alcohol. Years of hard heavy work and years of abusing the beer. Alone and depressed and with nothing to look forward to.

Thats them Rmd they are all over the UK living in bedsits and homeless shelters an forgotten by our goverment...

RMDrive wrote:
It always breaks my heart to think of the many Irish people who are sad and lonely in cities in England. As you wander around Camden town the pubs are full of stooped old men with nothing to comfort them but alcohol. Years of hard heavy work and years of abusing the beer. Alone and depressed and with nothing to look forward to.

There is a large contingent who fit this summary neatly enough but in my experience most of the Irish had a great buzz going on, at least there was in Ealing where I lived for a couple of years, heavy drinkers..yes but also hard workers great gamblers, unreal characters full of life who looked forward to every day. The community spirit the Irish had for each other was something else as well, wasn't as strong when I was there as it probably was back in the 80s and beyond but was still something that really held people together and is probably picking up again now I'd say.
Another thing worth mentioning however was how the Irish abroad would have no qualms whatsoever about exploiting their fellow Irish and often would treat them like they belonged in the gutter, If the brits were doing it we'd have them in court but Paddy has often been his own worst enemy away from these shores.

bald eagle wrote:

mossbags wrote:I didn't see this documentary but did do 4 years in London. I just went over for the craic though in the early half of the naughties not because of circumstance which is what forced so many to leave Ireland throughout the decades. The Irish lads there are some of the best for sure and I would agree that they have been largely forgotten. Would be interested in seeing that documentary if ye'z have a link Eagle or Mullins man.

Here's the youtube link Mossy

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

2 episodes, around 10 YouTube clips in all i think.

Thanks Eagle, much appreciated. I'll have a look at this over the weekend

the irish government do have some programme set up to help with this but it is to little to late as this problem has been going on for years

I'm not sure if it has been mentioned earlier but the film "Kings" is well worth a look. I think there may have also been a stage version of the play also as "Kings of the Kilburn High road". I was in London in April '09 and spent the most of a day wandering around Kilburn thinking of the many forgotten Irish.

I had three uncles (brothers) that went to London 50 odd years ago and all stayed - 2 are still there and one died there a few years back. There are programmes to assist those in need but I am curious here as to what would people like to see done for them - its not clear. Also maybe a lot of them do not want to come back - a lot wanted away for various reasons. Also many have families here - should they not be the first to help?

What should be done for them?

Jayo Cluxton wrote:I had three uncles (brothers) that went to London 50 odd years ago and all stayed - 2 are still there and one died there a few years back. There are programmes to assist those in need but I am curious here as to what would people like to see done for them - its not clear. Also maybe a lot of them do not want to come back - a lot wanted away for various reasons. Also many have families here - should they not be the first to help?

What should be done for them?

Your dead right Jayo, not all of them would want to come home but at least they should have the option with Irish Government assistance.

The main people i'm writing about are the Irish pensioners living in a type of squalor, just about getting by and surviving after working hard to support their families in Ireland and getting ripped of by employers who took advantage of them and now find themselves alone in a city where they don't know anyone.

There are programmes yes, mainly set up in th UK to help them like this one [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] the work they do is brilliant in helping the at risk Irish elderly.

There is an Emigrant Support Programme run by the Government - the link re Britian is here [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]