I move:
The Seanad considers that in view of the large number of Irish citizens who have been working temporarily in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, especially during the past six years, the Government should renew their efforts either by direct approach to the British Government or through the machinery of the International Labour Organisation to secure the entitlement to unemployment insurance benefit of Irish citizens who may have unemployment insurance contributions to their credit in the Insurance Fund maintained in Great Britain or Northern Ireland.
At this late hour, I shall not take up much of the time of the House in dealing with the question to which this motion is addressed. The Parliamentary Secretary will observe that it is not submitted in any acrimonious spirit. It is submitted primarily to secure from the Government a statement as to what is the position in regard to insurance benefits to persons who left Ireland temporarily during the past six years. These people may, on their return to this country, find themselves without employment. Of course, this question is not new. It has been raised in one form or another over a period of 20 years. In the main, previous discussions related to the position in Northern Ireland. Clearly, the position of workers in Northern Ireland differs materially from that of our workers in Great Britain. During the past six years, a large number of people left Ireland to work in Great Britain.
In reply to a question in the Dáil on the 18th October last, the Minister for External Affairs stated that travelling permits were issued to, approximately, 193,000 persons to take up work in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Of that number, about 6,000 went to Northern Ireland. That is a large figure but it does not cover the whole field of migration. I can illustrate that by saying that, whereas we issued travelling permits to only 6,000 persons for the purpose of entering Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland authorities say that they issued residence permits to 20,000 persons, the great majority of whom are now being told that they must get out and come back here.
So far as those who went to Great Britain are concerned, it is difficult to know what will happen. Many of them believe they will be asked to return to Ireland. I do not want to detain the House by quoting correspondence which I received from persons on the other side but the impression conveyed to me was that many of them, particularly those who are not skilled in any craft, will be repatriated in large numbers in the immediate future. They will not be entitled to unemployment benefit, in most cases, on their return. On the other hand, they have contributions to their credit in Great Britain and of course, in Northern Ireland. I have been trying to make a calculation as to the sum involved and I have come to the conclusion that, if you take the contributions paid by workers and the contributions paid on their behalf by employers, the sum involved would be not less than £3,000,000. While that sum is to the credit of our people in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, they have no claim to it once they cease to be resident in Great Britain or Northern Ireland.
I do not want to go into the question to any considerable extent beyond urging that we ought to give some indication to these people of what their position will be and what will be done for them when they return. I desire to draw attention to a statement, published recently, indicating the attitude adopted by a number of persons in Great Britain, including a large number of the workers concerned. This is contained in the London Letter of the Irish Independent of the 28th November:
"Nearly 80 people, described as certain British Irish and Anglo-Irish citizens', are signatories to the memorial presented to the Prime Minister, requesting him to take steps to avert hardship on Irish men and women who would forfeit unemployment benefit rights when they returned to Eire. The memorial points out that Irish men and women who entered the British armed services or engaged in civilian war work are believed greatly to exceed 300,000. On demobilisation, they are entitled to full benefit under the United Kingdom unemployment insurance code. If, however, they return to Eire, they forfeit these rights, which they became entitled to as a condition of their service and by reason of their own contributions".
What affects me most in that connection is that the persons concerned, who are citizens, are being asked to turn to the British Government to protect their interests when they return home. Mainly for that purpose, I desired to have a very brief discussion here, so that we might ask them to turn their attention to this Government and this country to protect their interests. While I do not expect the Parliamentary Secretary to say much on the subject now, because I understand that discussions are proceeding between the different bodies concerned, I do hope he will be in a position to give an assurance to the 300,000 people concerned, who are our citizens, that their rights will be amply protected if they return here and find themselves unemployed. So far as the position in Northern Ireland is concerned, there is, in my opinion, a very strict legal right to secure an improvement in the conditions of our insured persons in the Six Counties. This question was raised by Senator Campbell and myself at international labour conferences in the past. We based our claim on the unemployment convention ratified by the British Government, on behalf of Northern Ireland, and by our own Government. I shall read the relevant provision of that convention. Article 3 of the Unemployment Convention of 1920, which was adopted in Washington that year, makes this provision, which is, I think, very important:—
"The members of the International Labour Organisation which ratified this convention and which have established systems of insurance against unemployment shall, upon terms being agreed upon between the members concerned, make arrangements whereby workers belonging to one member and working in the territory of another shall be entitled to the same rates of benefit of such insurance as those which obtain for the workers belonging to the latter."
While it is true that the agreement is observed, so far as the British Government are concerned with Irish workers in Britain, it is definitely not observed in relation, to our citizens working in the Six Counties. There is a complete violation of that convention by the Government in that area. In the constitution of the I.L.O., Article 411 confers on our Government certain rights to secure the enforcement of the convention so far as it applies to Northern Ireland. I do not think they have utilised the provisions of that article of the I.L.O. constitution. At least, so far as I am aware, the Government representatives who attended the conferences of the I.L.O. have not on one occasion intervened to assist those of us who desired to ensure that the I.L.O. would bring pressure to bear on the British Government to secure respect for the convention from the Government of Northern Ireland.
I do not intend to detain the House any further on this question, but I hope to secure from the Parliamentary Secretary an assurance that the matter is receiving immediate attention and that advantage will be taken of the position, so far as I have referred to it, in relation to the workers in the Six Counties, and that an early effort will be made to secure agreement between the Governments concerned so that this very large sum of money lying to the credit of our workers in England and Northern Ireland will be made available to provide the benefits for these men to which they are entitled on their return to Ireland.
