Joe O’Brien, Policy Officer for Crosscare Migrant Project.

admin October 9, 2014

Joe O’Brien, Policy Officer for Crosscare Migrant Project, joins Mark Finnegan on Northside Today.Recently, Crosscare Migrant Project staff made a number of proposals in a presentation to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade urging the government to move with the times and connect more directly with its diaspora and in particular recent emigrants.Since April 2008 ,a quarter of a million Irish people have left the State. Joe explains, “What is unique about this wave of emigration is that it is the first in the internet age and in many respects, the current Irish emigrant is more connected with home by using social media and internet video calls. However, the Irish government has not moved with the times and in our experience, emigrants abroad continue to feel neglected by the Irish State.” Crosscare Migrant Project is supporting, very simply, the creation of an e-mail database of Irish emigrants abroad – the Irish Emigrant Register. You can get more information on Crosscare Migrant Project and their proposals here.