Funding to alleviate hardship for emigrants Britain is to increase to €5 million, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, announced today.
Announcing an additional €1 million allocation in London today, Mr Cowen said the money would assist those who find themselves "vulnerable".
He said most of the money would be distributed on the recommendation of the advisory committee which runs the Dion [shelter] grants scheme.
At least 65 projects involving 57 organisations stand to benefit in Britain's largest cities and projects in Nottingham, Sheffield and Sandwell, Warwickshire, will be funded for the first time.
A new unit will be set up in the Department of Foreign Affairs from September to co-ordinate assistance to emigrants, Mr Cowen also announced.
He recognised the contribution of emigrants to the Irish economy over the years, saying, they retained strong links with home and "sent remittances which were a valuable support for families at the time.
"At the same time, the experience of emigration has not always been a happy one. A minority of our people have not been able to make their own way and now find themselves, through no fault of their own, in a vunerable and disadvantaged position." Mr Cowen added.
The move was welcomed by Fine Gael's Mr Michael Ring, who has highlighted the issue of poverty and deprivation among, particularly, ageing emigrants who left the country in the fifties and sixties.
"These are people who supported the Irish economy when it needed it most, sending a remarkable €30 million of their wages home in the 20-year period from 1949 to 1969.
"It is only right that the Government should offer them the support necessary to relieve the tragic circumstances in which many of them are now living," Mr Ring said.