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Volume 9 1948~1951

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No. 151 NAI DFA/6/408/218

Draft Department of External Affairs Memorandum for Government 'Emigration of Irish Girls for Employment in Britain'

Dublin, 30 September 1948

  1. The continued emigration of large numbers of young women is a disquieting feature of our national life and one which gives rise to serious concern on moral, social and demographic grounds. The outward flow of female workers which reached a high level during the war years still persists, as is shown by the following figures:-
    Year No.
    1941 3,272.
    1942 14,448.
    1943 19,003.
    1944 5,890.
    1945 10,609.
    1946 19,205. (including 249 to places other than Great Britain and the Six Counties).
    1947 18,727. (including 1,123 to places other than Great Britain and the Six Counties).
    1948 10,271. (including 1,992 to places other than Great Britain and the Six Counties). (Jan. to June 1948)
  2. The moral aspect of the problem is very serious. Files in this Department and confidential reports obtained by the Minister reveal that a great many of the young girls who emigrate to Britain become pregnant; many of the reports are tragic and alarming in the extreme.

    Girls frequently go in response to advertisements to find that the work is not suitable and drift from town to town in search of employment.

  3. Ample proof is furnished by clergy in contact with emigrants and by Protection and Welfare Societies of the distressing consequences of the impact of a largely materialistic and alien way of life on young girls from Irish rural districts. Boredom in surroundings often remote and friendless, the lack of the restraints of home environment and the possession of more money than their experience would enable them to apply to their own advantage are some of the other factors which usually operate to the moral detriment of immature girls who emigrate to Britain. It may be argued that responsibility for the welfare of young girls rests primarily with the parents, but it is very doubtful whether even the parents in many cases are aware of, or appreciate, the moral problems involved when permitting their children to emigrate.

    The greater part by far of the present movement of female workers to Great Britain is actuated by the attraction of seemingly better conditions of employment and of life as well as by the spur of economic necessity. Of the total of 18,727 women who emigrated in 1947, 13,166, or about 70% were domestic servants, for whom there is no shortage of employment in Ireland. The abnormal emigration for domestic service in Great Britain is largely due to the lure of the higher money wages and the more favourable working conditions which the English housewife is obliged to offer due to the dearth of native domestic help in England. On the other hand, an extraordinary position has developed where Irish housewives have to seek domestic help abroad.

    Since the 1st September, 1947, approximately 700 employment permits in respect of alien domestics have been issued by the Department of Industry and Commerce - an anomalous palliative. Domestic help for household duties and the care of children is an integral part of the pattern of Irish home life and it is clearly unwise to allow a situation to develop where it is necessary to import alien labour to replace that streaming from the country. In certain other spheres of employment - the making up trade of the clothing industry, for example - the Irish labour market is also being robbed of its rightful supply by outside competition.

  4. There is an obvious objection on demographic grounds to the present uncontrolled emigration of females. Of all female emigrants for employment in 1946, 1947 and the first six months of 1948, the percentage under 21 years of age was 43, 33 and 35 respectively. Many of these emigrants will marry and raise their families outside Ireland. The loss being reflected in our population statistics. Paragraph (11) of the memorandum prepared for the Government by the Department of External Affairs, in consultation with the Department of Justice, on the 30th August 19471 should be noted in connection with the question of the emigration of young females.
  5. Having regard to the moral, social and demographic considerations involved the Minister for External Affairs proposes that the present flow of emigration of females be restricted, by the prohibition of the emigration of persons under the age of 21. It is proposed that the following categories be excepted from the prohibition:-
    1. persons attending schools or colleges;
    2. persons accompanying or rejoining their parents;
    3. married persons or persons going abroad to be married;
    4. novices and postulants;
    5. persons going for bona fide holiday visits or business purposes;
    6. persons travelling for urgent compassionate reasons, such as the illness or death of a near relative or for medical treatment.
  6. Nothing in Irish law makes it compulsory for an Irish citizen to have a travel document in order to go to Great Britain but the British authorities require Irish persons entering Great Britain to be in possession of a travel document such as a Travel Identity Card, a Travel Permit Card or a Passport. The only means by which control can be exercised over persons leaving the country at present is by restricting the issue of travel documents. It may not be possible to secure a one hundred per cent effective control by this means and such a control would cease to be effective if the British authorities were to withdraw their requirement that Irish persons should possess a travel document when entering Great Britain.
  7. From informal conversations the Minister has had with members of the Hierarchy, the Minister feels that such a proposal would secure the warm approval of the Hierarchy.
  8. In the event of this proposal being approved, the necessary administrative measures to give effect to it should be worked out between the Department of External Affairs and the Department of Justice.

1 See DIFP VIII, No. 393, which is a summary of the memorandum referred to.

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