Ireland's Forgotten Generation - RTE One documentary London Irish Homelessness

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  • Опубликовано: 7 июл 2020
  • 2001(?) RTE one documentary about the Irish who had emigrated to London in the 50s/60s/70s in the search of work and the troubles that befell them. Many of these emigrants ended up marginalised by society and some became alcohol dependent with little or no recourse to return to Ireland. Feature Brian Cowan (whilst Minister for Foreign Affairs - Ireland - Fianna Fail) and John McDonell (UK - Labour MP). Sections also include Cricklewood, Camden Town, Arlington House. Uploaded for historical purpose (we had on video tape and have converted to MP4).
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Комментарии • 148

  • @roger_melly5025
    @roger_melly5025 7 месяцев назад +9

    Unfortunately alcohol probably plays a big part in these stories. I found myself homeless after the break-up of my marriage which occurred at the same time as the 2008 recession. I had to leave Ireland and haven't returned since. I have since lived in some dodgy places. These stories are so sad.

  • @jimmieoakland3843
    @jimmieoakland3843 3 года назад +39

    My grandparents generation immigrated to the US from Ireland, and most of them prospered. Some of them didn't, like these men. I used to see the same type of guys in Irish bars in San Francisco, and had one great uncle who ended up pretty rough. They were good, hard working men, but often with no education nor the ability to adapt. We all know people like this, sometimes family members, who may need a little extra help and encouragement. But without family around, it's really tough, especially as you get old.

    • @MichaelOBrien71
      @MichaelOBrien71 2 года назад +1

      Same with mine they came to Chicago

    • @MichaelOBrien71
      @MichaelOBrien71 2 года назад +1

      I should say my mom and dad did

    • @joepower1368
      @joepower1368 Год назад +1

      😮

    • @patrickglennon7058
      @patrickglennon7058 8 месяцев назад

      Geary blvd and irelands 32, one of the world's great cities, worked with the plasterers Union there for 3 years. A unique city.

  • @Luky_Hands
    @Luky_Hands 3 года назад +47

    These men sent millions back to Ireland when we were on our knees economically in the sixties and seventies. Where’s the thanks?

    • @dmcg6074
      @dmcg6074 3 года назад +2

      How did it all go so wrong though...some poor decision making going on too

    • @MichaelOBrien71
      @MichaelOBrien71 2 года назад

      So what ? It’s money they earned

    • @seamusburke9101
      @seamusburke9101 2 года назад +7

      There is no thanks, and when any if them came home and tried ro settle in they were treated like lepers and told to go back ti where they came from.

    • @grlfcgombeenhunter2897
      @grlfcgombeenhunter2897 Год назад +1

      @@seamusburke9101 sounds like Ireland 🇮🇪

    • @phillipmorris4555
      @phillipmorris4555 Год назад

      The ira army

  • @kevos65
    @kevos65 5 месяцев назад +2

    I lived and worked in England in the early 80s and early 90s..the pub culture was a very easy trap to fall into when you were young and felt invincible..but for a lot of people it was a case of being one paycheck from the street..thankfully i got out but i had near misses..plenty didn't. Im back in Ireland 30 years this year and life is good but I don't forget those days..the good and the not so good..great credit to the good people that try to help the forgotten..they're good people

  • @andrewconnolly7169
    @andrewconnolly7169 Год назад +11

    Back in 2003 as a young lad I did a semi skilled training course, there were two men in their 50's over from London and had been in silimar situations. I admire those who dealt the cold face coming home and starting again. Those men who remained deserved better, life isn't fair either

    • @mjh5437
      @mjh5437 10 месяцев назад

      You poor lamb,boo-hoo.

    • @andrewconnolly7169
      @andrewconnolly7169 10 месяцев назад

      @@mjh5437 You profile would present that you had a very privileged upbringing, all those exotic locations in the 60's and the modeling mother. When I think of you commenting like this, I hope you're okay and you get out and about and meet someone that makes you smile in the near future.

    • @roger_melly5025
      @roger_melly5025 7 месяцев назад

      You are too kind to that twat@@andrewconnolly7169

  • @LeahysLads
    @LeahysLads 5 месяцев назад +4

    I have circled back to this documentary after 2 years and wondered where these men are today. I understand the reasons why these men haven’t returned to Ireland but think the time has come that the Irish government get seriously involved in opening their arms and resources to bringing these men back to Ireland. The current Irish government is taking money from the EU to give welfare and accommodations all over Ireland to non Irish migrants and refugees yet appear to do very little to help the Irish born men and women like the ones depicted here. If I was an elected Irish politician, I would be asking why the government have turned their backs on their own kind and continue the virtue signaling to the world that Ireland is fashionably helpful to other emigrants to Ireland.

  • @LeahysLads
    @LeahysLads 3 года назад +27

    How old is this documentary? It’s not just the drink but the fact that after so many years being away from Ireland, there was nary a friend or relation left to return to. I’m sure they had the boat fare in their kick many times to go home. Just no one left in Ireland for them to visit.

    • @user-tz8kz1cl3i
      @user-tz8kz1cl3i Год назад +2

      Thinn it’s around 2001

    • @user-tz8kz1cl3i
      @user-tz8kz1cl3i Год назад

      Think *

    • @mjh5437
      @mjh5437 10 месяцев назад

      Irish families were huge in those days because they were so old-fashioned religious they were still hung up about contraception,they had plenty of relatives to go to

  • @lulusmith4877
    @lulusmith4877 7 месяцев назад +5

    Con seems like a very caring man saving his bacon and sausages for his dog This is awfully sad thst these men live like this

  • @garryfitzgerald6233
    @garryfitzgerald6233 3 года назад +22

    Excellent doc, good people. Deadly alcohol.

  • @michaelcox7633
    @michaelcox7633 7 месяцев назад +3

    God bless these Irish men, they went to London in search of better times. May God bless them and protect them.

  • @anthonymcnamara4002
    @anthonymcnamara4002 7 месяцев назад +6

    I volunteered to help out at Arlington House in Camden, one year over Christmas in the mid Nineties. It broke my heart every single day. A lot of the men said they never went home, even though they had family there, because they were ashamed at how life had turned out for them, like they'd failed somehow. So sad. Even now, nearly thirty years later, it brings me to the verge of tears just thinking about them.

  • @missadda8890
    @missadda8890 10 месяцев назад +6

    The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to convince him he is not in prison ,the drink is the culprit here as well as childhood trauma especially those from industrial schools the man who longs for Daithi Lacha should just go home as well as the rest they have nothing to lose just sign on the dole and tell social services they are homeless they would be much better off than the limbo they are in.

  • @noelmaher4633
    @noelmaher4633 3 года назад +20

    The Subcontractors were Irish and rarely paid on time, the Englishman always paid on Friday. Me and my extended family all did very well in the UK. Families raised and educated, housed and in employment. Alot of Irish I met in London that emigrated in 60/70s never made any attempt to integrate, their own, usually publicans and landlords kept them impoverished..

    • @johnjohns8166
      @johnjohns8166 2 года назад +9

      I spent a short time on building sites in London. I worked for a contractor called Mulvaney. Mulvaney paid £21 a day for labourers. It was nothing but abuse. I left London for USA and never worked in London again.

    • @tommitchell1826
      @tommitchell1826 2 года назад +6

      spot on mate worked in London in the 80's always was treated by English contractors better.its a Irish thing they love to take advantage off people you ask any eastern European people who came to Ireland during the boom

  • @carolinehaley3528
    @carolinehaley3528 2 года назад +14

    These men have severe depression issues.

    • @mjh5437
      @mjh5437 10 месяцев назад

      But do they return to Ireland where they like to pretend life is better?... No,they don`t.....Because it`s easier to be a lazy scrounger in England.

    • @dr.richardkimble6780
      @dr.richardkimble6780 7 месяцев назад +1

      Sure how could they be any other way , God , some ,God love them 🙂

  • @scoyle1750
    @scoyle1750 3 года назад +31

    Poor men I feel sorry for them as I am a Irish man who works in England difference is I keep my money and my self out of the pubs and bring my money home every fortnight and spend it on my kids and missus and house in beautiful Ireland bollicks to England its no place for a irishman but there's money to be made there👍🇮🇪

    • @aaroni5074
      @aaroni5074 3 года назад +2

      What city are you working in bud what is it like?

    • @scoyle1750
      @scoyle1750 3 года назад +3

      @@aaroni5074 South East where the money is

    • @scoyle1750
      @scoyle1750 3 года назад +1

      @Big Wints South East

    • @dannykelly7159
      @dannykelly7159 3 года назад +4

      Fond of the queens head then paddy

    • @scoyle1750
      @scoyle1750 3 года назад +8

      @@dannykelly7159 I am fond of taking money out of that shite house and putting it into Irelands economy and don't be calling me paddy you dosser

  • @simonyip5978
    @simonyip5978 Год назад +5

    A lot of the comments give the impression that the Irish are hated in England, that might have been true in the 70's when the Troubles were happening, but not really true now.
    Maybe the Irish travellers are not liked by many British people but the average Irish person probably doesn't have much trouble nowadays.

  • @linleysmith4528
    @linleysmith4528 2 года назад +6

    Why don't Coventry council look after these houses and fix them up it's their responsibility they should be ashamed of letting this man live in these conditions or just condemn the houses

  • @lythalls
    @lythalls 5 месяцев назад +2

    Why should the Irish taxpayer support an Irish community that lives in a foreign country ? These people worked in the UK , primarily ENGLAND paid their taxes , paid their NI , paid their dues .. the BRITISH GOVERNMENT should help these people .

  • @jimbobjimjim6500
    @jimbobjimjim6500 2 года назад +8

    England on its own is about twice the size of the Republic of Ireland, but when you get there it seems like 20 times the size of the Rep of Ireland, there is so many people and big cities.

    • @freebeerfordworkers
      @freebeerfordworkers Год назад

      That's true people don't understand it's not a matter of geographic size but population. Recently someone said it was easier for the devolved Scottish Government to do things because the entire population of Scotland was less than some English cities. I remember my first visit to Blackpool in the summer of 1956 and my surprise at the number of people packed on the beach I'd never seen so many people in one place before.

  • @paddyman2796
    @paddyman2796 10 месяцев назад +4

    Work is the curse of the drinking man

    • @mjh5437
      @mjh5437 10 месяцев назад

      Ever the victim.

  • @Post-Beak-Break_Ortega
    @Post-Beak-Break_Ortega 5 месяцев назад +2

    💔🍀💔

  • @adrianmadden
    @adrianmadden 2 года назад +7

    Thank God, I never ever drank in my life. What a fucking waste.

  • @tiakore7524
    @tiakore7524 3 года назад +19

    Is there not more than 1 Irish
    generation 'forgotten' as they like putting it? There is a housing association in London called Innisfree supposedly for Irish. They are giving housing to refugees and migrants.

    • @cody8513
      @cody8513 3 года назад +10

      im irish and have been with innisfree for 10 years. they house at least 80% irish. they can only do so much. they have been great tbh. im open to talk

    • @mjh5437
      @mjh5437 10 месяцев назад

      @@cody8513 So you`re happy to be a scrounger forever anyway.

    • @lythalls
      @lythalls 5 месяцев назад

      Which shows the generosity of the Irish people rich or poor they’ll help unlike some we can talk about.

  • @Del-yv1qy
    @Del-yv1qy 2 года назад +11

    Brian Cowen is a disgraceful individual.

  • @MrKieran48
    @MrKieran48 3 года назад +13

    I'm Irish and I live in England where did ye find these people most Irish people that I know have done well for them selves

    • @cody8513
      @cody8513 3 года назад +6

      pure ignorance

    • @jimbobjimjim6500
      @jimbobjimjim6500 2 года назад +6

      The men were found in the missing part of your soul.

    • @opinionday0079
      @opinionday0079 9 месяцев назад +2

      To be honest I'm not sure how the Irish government can be responsible for all the people that leave Ireland an end up in difficulty

    • @lythalls
      @lythalls 5 месяцев назад

      I bet you were part of the problem which took advantage of these people, I’ll go as far to say you were a gang man …..yes I have Irish parents first generation who would of only wanted to help these compatriots not look down on them ….your comment says …black and tan .

  • @lentilgirl158
    @lentilgirl158 2 года назад +1

    any clues on how we could get information concerning individual Irish people who migrated to England in the 1940s?

    • @DazFurey
      @DazFurey  2 года назад

      Contact aisling.org.uk/ they should be able to help

  • @dylantierney6407
    @dylantierney6407 3 года назад +16

    Interesting video. Alcohol is a dangerous drug.

    • @user-tz8kz1cl3i
      @user-tz8kz1cl3i Год назад +1

      True that

    • @davidschley8773
      @davidschley8773 Год назад +1

      These men fell on desperate unfortunate hard times , they worked hard, lost friends, no union no , union pension paid into, unlike usa or ireland , no help no safety net , Maggie privatised everything , go to a coal mining town you will get similar stories , its just that they were at home and did not have London rents to pay . They moved country and rolled the dice and felt they had no where to go .

    • @lythalls
      @lythalls 5 месяцев назад

      @@davidschley8773They also had a lot of vultures whether they were Irish or English taking financial advantage of these young men …..they deserved better.

  • @snowedman2993
    @snowedman2993 3 года назад +5

    Blame the state for the dirty rooms Yet

  • @finoladerwin1570
    @finoladerwin1570 2 года назад +4

    LOTS OF GUYS COME OVER FROM IRELAND in 80s thire had jobs .some of them was very heavy drinkrs

    • @davidschley8773
      @davidschley8773 Год назад +3

      And 99.9% of the hardest drinkers, were the hardest toughest workers that worked in all weathers . Blood sweat and tears . They would do more work in one hour than the putting in the hours careful boys would do in a week . There for the grace of God go I

    • @davidschley8773
      @davidschley8773 Год назад +1

      Yes 99% of hard drinkers were the hardest workers real grafters and done more in one hour than the clock watchers done in a week I was proud to work with these kind of men . And they all knew how hard it was to get out there in all weathers and take any job, in order to pay their way , and I never looked down on these poor lads here in this program except Brian Cowarddd whom paid the English banks 700million on interest alone to bail them out , and he's talking about pocket money from 50k in the 80s to 1.5 million and were refused and was cut , And plus all them leeches talking rubbish , when these ordinary lads, you can see who's more human , they still have a sense of humour after all their horrors of depression, after tragedy and accidents , They took the crap and they ... paved the way for a job... when we landed there, people knew one thing ...if your Irish you will work hard , when they travelled home and told everyone, there's jobs over there , that is where they spent their holiday money three or four times a year , when there was not too many jobs in Ireland .

    • @lythalls
      @lythalls 5 месяцев назад

      @@davidschley8773Great comment…never a truer word …….from a child of Irish migrants👍

  • @1Lansing1
    @1Lansing1 3 года назад +10

    When I went back to college.. pre med..
    The anatomy and physiology teacher and chemistry teacher would implore the young students to not go drinking on the weekends as alcohol is a poison..
    Years ago, I quit drinking and was educated that I was an ACA, Adult Child of Alcoholic parents, I tried to break the cycle but my brother killed himself on Vodka and last year my son 39 killed himself on Vodka and Fentynal. My son grew up with his mother who's family used alcohol too.
    Let's get honest!
    Now I hang around my church group or AA friends.
    You are who you hang around...

    • @johnjohns8166
      @johnjohns8166 2 года назад +1

      Few care, mate, if their friends are alcoholics. Also, success is given and nobody owes anyone a living in life.

    • @silverfields4091
      @silverfields4091 2 года назад +1

      Sad story god rest your sons soul and brother 🙏🙏

    • @hara3435
      @hara3435 Год назад +2

      yes you are 100% correct !
      sorry for your troubles 🙏

  • @user-nt3jo5ck1v
    @user-nt3jo5ck1v 8 месяцев назад

    ❤❤❤❤❤

  • @user-fp7rc6sp5t
    @user-fp7rc6sp5t 24 дня назад

    Harrowing!

  • @tommcinerney7641
    @tommcinerney7641 3 года назад

    What happened??

  • @anthonybrennan5908
    @anthonybrennan5908 Год назад

    So sad

  • @JerkerDahlblom
    @JerkerDahlblom 3 года назад +6

    How did Irish women fare in England?

    • @christopherwalsh4703
      @christopherwalsh4703 2 года назад +3

      Married English most of them saved money Irish lads we don’t look after ourselves drinking betting women catches up

    • @davidschley8773
      @davidschley8773 Год назад

      @@christopherwalsh4703 the Trans one's married the English men😂🤣

    • @emmetsweeney9236
      @emmetsweeney9236 Год назад

      Women fared much better. Often married English men.

    • @philtoner2621
      @philtoner2621 10 месяцев назад +6

      Not true that we all married English men, it was lonely and tough for women too and drink was a major factor also, destroyed life's 😥

    • @mjh5437
      @mjh5437 10 месяцев назад

      Most of them soon spread their legs and got up the duff with brown babies because they identify with other "communities" who spend their whole life sitting around blaming everyone else for their own problems.

  • @danielmccabe8992
    @danielmccabe8992 Месяц назад

    Dont mock these people,knew everyone of these people,they had their personal reasons

  • @mattb1951
    @mattb1951 2 года назад

    A grt life

  • @johndoe-ss9bz
    @johndoe-ss9bz 3 года назад +8

    In America, they created an Irish Society with Marriages Homeownership Educated Children Irish Middleclass Communities and not seeking handouts.

    • @aaroni5074
      @aaroni5074 3 года назад +6

      Yeah that was the 1800s pal

    • @LeahysLads
      @LeahysLads 3 года назад +1

      @@aaroni5074 it still goes on to this very day.

    • @lythalls
      @lythalls 5 месяцев назад

      @@LeahysLadsgot a link to that ?

  • @1066ukjoseph
    @1066ukjoseph 3 года назад +24

    I'm Irish but I do not drink alcohol I don't even go to pubs . These guys created their issues . I work and save

    • @johnsmith-bx4rn
      @johnsmith-bx4rn 3 года назад +8

      how much have you saved ?

    • @dmcg6074
      @dmcg6074 3 года назад +10

      I tend to agree, it doesnt add up, Con is unemployed sine the 80's...the fact that people have since came in their droves in the last 20 yrs says there was always work, no savings either, his was the generation that could buy a house cheap and watch i its value skyrocket. Life is about choices...alot of these men probably made the wrong ones

    • @Gommerell
      @Gommerell 3 года назад +15

      I would agree with you to an extent, they are clearly alcoholics and I was told at the time when I worked in London in the 80s " If you drink when things go wrong, you will only make it worse".
      And without knowing them personally I can assure they have met misfortune, and drunk their sorrows away.
      They came over from Ireland and were flogged by the Irish Sub-contractor and no doubt paid in the Pub at night, long hours and hard work drove them to the Pub and after a while a drink problem developed and they were good for nothing else.
      When you are doing long hours and have no home into which you can invest-I don't mind solely a mortgage, you can rent a place and make it a home, do a garden have a hobby.
      This is hard to do when you are working on the Buildings and moving from place to place , you cant put roots down.
      Everyone of us can make poor decisions and end up down a dead -end track.

    • @Jungleland33
      @Jungleland33 3 года назад +3

      Aren't you fucking brilliant. Give yourself a big pat on the back.

    • @dmcg6074
      @dmcg6074 3 года назад +2

      @@Jungleland33 thanks for your valuable contribution

  • @elzorro7of9
    @elzorro7of9 5 месяцев назад +1

    Brian Cowen the worst of the worst.

  • @wolfthequarrelsome504
    @wolfthequarrelsome504 4 дня назад

    "Era, f... them".
    Irish government policy.

  • @user-ur1ly4uj7r
    @user-ur1ly4uj7r 28 дней назад

    Hi my name is Margaret dunne ilivet in corporation house in Drogheda 10 green lanes co louth on transfer list last 7 years on medical grounds wish someone TD wood help get on want to move out of Drogheda

  • @Waterford051
    @Waterford051 Год назад +1

    Con clean up ffs

  • @Ohmfish
    @Ohmfish 2 года назад +4

    looser always an excuse ...... self destruction

    • @mikewatte4478
      @mikewatte4478 2 года назад +2

      Only a loser can't spell loser.

    • @hara3435
      @hara3435 Год назад

      does it make you feel better to judge others? You are the 'looser' as you put it

    • @healthydee381
      @healthydee381 Год назад +1

      John McKee enjoys pointing the finger and condemning people.

    • @davidschley8773
      @davidschley8773 Год назад

      your probably one of the people that pushed for war in Iraq , even after hearing sanctions killed a million babies 🤠, I bet your pushing for another few million people to go to war in the Ukraine , siege heil ... there for the grace of God go I .... its a long road , good luck.... These are poor desperate men and all you want to do is kick them when they are down , your either a a I troll or an eeejit and in case you don't know what that is in Ireland , its a human donkey 🤣😂

    • @mjh5437
      @mjh5437 10 месяцев назад

      @@healthydee381 Merely stating a fact.

  • @poledancingpaddy6029
    @poledancingpaddy6029 3 месяца назад +1

    a lot of sad tales of the migrants of the 50 /60s in england, ofc its much the same in ireland these days, was in london myself from 1958 ,lots of good fun, work, reasonable rents beer etc was lucky to have a good trade ,a plant fitter work i liked, found my way into overseas work eventually to veryhigh paid oil pipe lines in north america,here almost 55yrs, glad to be away from the wet and cold and wretched housing situation, sooh many treacherous political parasites both england and i n particular ireland ,nothing but contempt for political class andthe so called make believe elite plonkers and parasites all