Over 20 parliamentarians of different parties joined us on Monday in parliament to mark St Patrick’s Day.
This included the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Hilary Benn, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Fleur Anderson, and SDLP leader Claire Hanna.
Irish in Britain hosted a drop-in event in Portcullis House, where we shared details of our work with MPs and Peers.
We provided information and resources on the work we do around improving health outcomes, undertaking research on issues pertaining to the Irish community in Britain and policy advocacy, including efforts to get Philomena’s Law on the statute books.
"St Patrick’s Day events help us to build relationships with policy makers, planners and politicians. Our work today is focussed on updating and supporting this new parliament with the information and research resources they need to effectively represent our diverse community."
Brian Dalton, Irish in Britain CEO
MPs were very interested in our interactive map of constituencies in Britain. This is based on the 2021 Census data and is a useful resource for politicians, public bodies and local community organisations alike.
We have also retained previous iterations of the map to show how demographics have changed since the 2011 Census.
Our research into the 2021 Census of England and Wales is available online, and the analysis of the 2022 Census of Scotland will soon be available. We also shared information about our 50th anniversary heritage project and the exhibition which is available online.
Many parliamentarians shared stories of their own Irish heritage, and the Irish community organisations and centres that exist in their constituency.
Over 130 Irish organisations around Britain are members of our network.
Thank you to Liam Conlon MP for hosting the event in parliament.