Irish Emigrants from Ballinrobe to the Bronx, 1989

The ever present problem of emigration the effect it has on the town and people of Ballinrobe. How the Irish in the Bronx, New York are coping.

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. At the local 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.

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?

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.

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.