Ballinrobe to the Bronx: Emigration in the 1980s
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An extract from a ‘Today Tonight’ report on emigration from Ireland to America. Reporter Jerry O’Callaghan visits the town of Ballinrobe in county Mayo.
In the Leaving Certificate class at the CBS school in Ballinrobe Brother Edward Deeney principal, asks how many see their future in Ireland? Only 10 out of 43 say they will stay. Brother Edward Deeney says he is not surprised to see so many say they will leave the country.
In a classroom of the girls secondary school. Vice principal Kathleen Ryder asks the pupils how many of them intend to stay in Ireland. Only 8 out of the 55 see themselves staying.
There is a new community school under construction.
Reporter Jerry O’Callaghan “Beside the convent a new community school is going up for all the town’s third level students but will it be needed by the next generation?”
A number of young people from Ballinrobe give the reasons why they will probably have to leave.
Tony Walkin a travel agent in Ballinrobe says he expects that most of the young people who will leave school this year will leave the country.
An IDA supported factory in Ballinrobe which was been unoccupied for six years. Michael McDarby a solicitor in the town says a hundred jobs would make a huge difference to Ballinrobe.
In the north Bronx, New York. there is a huge influx of Irish emigrants. There maybe 100,000 undocumented Irish in the USA without legal status. Nobody knows exactly. There are no less than 20 Irish pubs in this stretch of Bainbridge Avenue.
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