THE VOICE OF THE IRISH IN BRITAIN SINCE 1970
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DECEMBER 14, 2013 £1.30 | Eurozone €1.95
Move over Mrs Brown
BOTTLER’S BACK ST BRENDANS Brendan Grace on his return to Britain TAKE A BOW See Rí-Rá
Midlands GAA special
WHO’S THE BOSS? Ronan Early on why Enda Kenny trumps Westminster’s fresh faces Page 14
Pages 44-45
Thousands of Irish among the 450,000 older people who face being…
ALONE FOR CHRISTMAS BY NIALL O’SULLIVAN
THOUSANDS of older Irish people are facing the unpalatable prospect of spending Christmas Day alone this year. According to polling data from Age UK, 450,000 over-65s are at risk of being alone on December 25. The British charity’s Director Caroline Abrahams described the finding as “chilling”. She said it was particularly alarming that the majority of those affected are over the age of 80. One-in-10 Irish people in Britain today are in this high-risk over-80 age group, compared with one-in-20 people in the
general population. The warning comes as one community leader dubbed isolation one of the “most important” challenges facing the ageing Irish community in Britain. Tom McLoughlin, manager of the Leeds Irish Centre, called for the creation of Irish-only care homes to tackle the problem from a culturally-sensitive perspective. He said he sees the effect of loneliness every week at his Tuesday lunch club. He also warned that isolation during the holiday season will be a problem for Irish men in particular. “A lot of them came over here to work on the buildings but now find themselves on their own because they have no immediate family and did not marry,” Mr
McLoughlin said. “The problem is that they are very proud people and will not go cap-in-hand to others.” The Leeds Irish Centre will try to tackle the problem this winter by opening on Christmas Day and sending out hampers to isolated people they are aware of. But Mr McLoughlin warned that the problem has become so endemic that radical action is needed. “I think the Irish community, because it is getting older, should look to having our own care homes,” he said. “I am not just saying Leeds, I think one is needed in every city because loneliness is one of the most important challenges we face as a community.”
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Sectarian comments condemned in Glasgow BY NIALL O’SULLIVAN
FORLORN: James Gray, 85, has spent the last 10 Christmases alone. Full story on page 4.
UGLY divisions within Scottish society have been exposed by a spate of sectarian and racist remarks following the Clutha Bar helicopter crash. Anti-Irish and anti-Catholic comments were among those to appear online as thousands came together to mourn the nine people who lost their lives in the tragedy. Scotland’s senior prosecutor called for a “hard line” to be taken against those behind such statements and promised to issue guidance this week. Meanwhile, local Dublin-born councillor Feargal Dalton said the people who posted vile comments were “half-wits” who belong to “an extremely small minority”. “They make their comments from the secrecy of their homes and it’s easily done,” he added. “They don’t represent anyone except themselves and they do not represent Glaswegians.”
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