asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of Irish emigrants in the United Kingdom who are officially listed as homeless persons; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Irish Emigrants in UK.
14.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of Irish emigrants to the United Kingdom who are listed as unemployed in that country; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 and 30 together.
The UK authorities do not maintain central statistics broken down on the basis of nationality for homeless persons or for persons receiving unemployment benefit or assistance. Consequently there are no official UK figures for the number of Irish in Britain that might be homeless or unemployed.
I should say however that the absence of official figures does not mean that we are unaware of the problems encountered by our emigrants in Britain. We are concerned for their welfare and our Embassy is active on their behalf in London and elsewhere.