St Patrick’s Day and Northern Irish Affairs

Andy Slaughter Excerpts

Thursday 27th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Adam Jogee]

I thank my neighbour, in whose constituency my mother was born, for her timely and important intervention. I could not agree more.

Many people from the island of Ireland moved to Newcastle-under-Lyme, to Staffordshire, as my hon. Friend said, and to coalfield communities up and down our country to work in our mines and in our metal manufacturing industries, settling with their families and bringing with them a sense of culture, new ideas and, of course, great craic. But many Irish women came to England in particular to work in our national health service. I want to acknowledge Louise Ryan, who, alongside Gráinne McPolin and Neha Doshi, has written a wonderful book entitled “Irish Nurses in the NHS”, which I read over the weekend, and which gives such voice to the contribution of Irish nurses in our beloved national health service.

Many businesses and organisations in my constituency would not exist without people from the island of Ireland, and many of my constituents—some of my staff included—are proud to have strong Irish roots. I think of people like Rosi Monkman, who works at Keele University and lives in the Westlands, and my Labour predecessor, the former Member of Parliament, Paul Farrelly. I was out door-knocking in Clayton the other day when in quick succession I met Shannon, Maura, and then, of course, the wonderful Bob Bell and many more. I think of the Irish staff in this House, from Catherine Jackson, the restaurant manager, to the lovely Betty Thompson in the Terrace cafeteria downstairs: strong Irish women keeping this place going.

Irish Heritage described the contribution of the Irish to cultural life in the United Kingdom as incalculable. The cultural contribution of both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland is beyond doubt.

[Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith and Chiswick) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is right to highlight the unique contribution that the Irish diaspora has made to cultural life in the UK. For 30 years, the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith has served the population of west London and far beyond. Under its current team of centre director William Foote, culture director Ros Scanlon and chairman Peter Power-Hynes, it has gone from strength to strength in its cultural, community and education programmes. I count myself lucky as a Member with one of the largest Irish populations to represent such an outstanding venue for the best of Irish culture. My hon. Friend and, of course, all hon. Members are welcome there at all times.

[Adam Jogee]

I have been to Hammersmith’s Irish Cultural Centre many times. My hon. Friend speaks rightly of the contribution that it makes to people of Irish descent not just in London but up and down the country. There are also Irish centres in Birmingham, Manchester and other parts of the United Kingdom. He makes a good point, and I congratulate all those at that centre on the work they do.

In Northern Ireland we have great wordsmiths such as the poet Seamus Heaney, the playwright Brian Friel, and Anna Burns, the author of “Milkman”. All of them have achieved international acclaim in both the English and Irish languages. We also have musicians such as Van Morrison—although he was a little bit mean to my friend the hon. Member for South Antrim (Robin Swann), who has the pleasure of representing the community that my wife was born in and where my parents-in-law live—and, notably, the Ulster-Scots folk music movement, who have had real popularity right across the United Kingdom and indeed the world. Of course, much-loved TV shows such as Channel 4’s “Derry Girls” and even “Game of Thrones” owe Northern Ireland a great deal. Anyone who has been to Northern Ireland will have seen its natural beauty up close. It is the home of the Giant’s Causeway, the Ring of Gullion, Slieve Donard, which towers over Newcastle, County Down—an act of solidarity with God’s own constituency of Newcastle-under-Lyme.

I must also mention the island of Ireland’s contribution to one of our most beloved institutions: the great British pub. From Ballycastle to Bletchley, Coalisland to Camden, Fermanagh to Falkirk, Portballintrae in the constituency of the hon. and learned Member for North Antrim (Jim Allister) to Pembrokeshire, Templepatrick to Tyneside, Ballybeen to Golders Green and everywhere in between, who does not like a good pint? Whether it be a pint of Guinness, Guinness 0.0 or Guinness Clear—otherwise known as water—the approach and culture have deeply influenced our pubs, and we are all the better for it. Pubs across Newcastle-under-Lyme, whether it is the Westbury Tavern in Westbury Park, the Potters Wheel just up from Bradwell Lodge, the Sneyd Arms in town where I was last Saturday having a cold drink or the Hand and Trumpet in Wrinehill, pubs across my part of the world, as I know in many others, know how to pour a good pint of Guinness.

It was in Belfast shipyard and particularly at Harland & Wolff where many vessels for the Royal Navy and the merchant fleet were built, including the famous HMS Belfast. In both world wars, Irish volunteers fought in the British Army, the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy. Men and women from across the island of Ireland helped build the earliest tunnels for the London underground, as well as more modern works, such as the Victoria line, which gets me from Euston station on a Monday morning to this place. Many Irish people continue to move to our United Kingdom to work in our national health service, education system and, more widely, our public services. I take this moment to pay tribute to them for their hard work and their contributions to our country. Does my hon. Friend want to give way?

St Patrick’s Day: Irish Diaspora in the UK

Andy Slaughter Excerpts

Thursday 14th March 2024 Westminster Hall

[Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith) (Lab)]

It is a real pleasure to be here and to have you chairing this debate, Dame Siobhain. I compliment those who have brought the debate forward—I think it is important that we do this every year. It is a privilege to represent one of the largest and longest-established Irish communities in England, and indeed one of the most talented. From W. B. Yeats to the Pogues, Hammersmith has represented the best of not just literature and music, but many different forms of arts and science.

I want to talk a little about the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith, which is rightly recognised as one of the centres of Irish culture in the UK. I pay tribute to the current team: William Foote, the director; Ros Scanlon, the artistic director; and Peter Power-Hynes, the chair of trustees. It is rather invidious to name people going back over the 30 years that the centre has existed, but I cannot not name the previous director, David O’Keefe, who sadly died tragically young in 2019; Ivan Gibbons, Hilda McCafferty, Mary Walker—people who have made the centre a lasting success—and, last but not least, Jim O’Hara, who for 13 years was the chair of trustees.

The centre runs a brilliant arts programme all year round, particularly in the weeks of St Patrick’s day and St Brigid’s day, and it includes not just music and theatre, but painting. Members should go to the centre if only to see the paintings illustrating the text of “Ulysses”, which are fantastic and a day out in themselves, in one of the best libraries of Irish books in the country. Just to prove that they do not just do administrative tasks, a couple of weeks ago I went to see Brian Friel’s fantastic play, “Lovers”, which some may be familiar with, and William, the director, starred, and Ros, the artistic director, directed.

A lot of what we do at the centre is home-grown. On Friday afternoons and evenings, there are music sessions. Anybody can come along with an instrument and join in—that is an open invitation to Members present, but it is surprisingly melodic and harmonious, so maybe they should check their level of ability. It is fantastic. Any member of the public can wander in and just sit for three or four hours every Friday and listen to some of the most beautiful Irish music.

These things do not happen by accident. My association goes back to when we first commissioned and built the Irish centre back in the early 1990s, when I was deputy leader of the council. It was principally the project of the then leader of the council, Iain Coleman, who was my predecessor as MP for Hammersmith and Fulham, and the councillor Sean Reddin. That was a time of austerity as well, but they found the site and the money, they put it together and they built the Irish centre. It was opened by the then Tánaiste, Dick Spring, and it was hugely successful.

Unfortunately, that centre did not survive—for political reasons I will not go into, the site was going to be sold—but a group of people who wanted it to survive came together. That included, in the end, the local authority, then led by Stephen Cowan, and Shepherd’s Bush Housing Association, led by Paul Doe. They bought the site, knocked down the existing centre and built an even better centre, which is there today, with about five floors of social housing on top of it. It is a real tribute to the community that that all came together in the way it did.

The key parties to that happening were the Irish embassy and the Irish Government, which, even during a time of great austerity, was able to find the resources to support it. I pay tribute to not just Martin Fraser, the current ambassador, but his predecessors, for everything they have done to support Irish culture and the Irish diaspora in the UK. They really understand the importance of that. They do not just pay lip service to it; they put in their money, resources and enthusiasm. I hope that will long continue. We have had the privilege of welcoming a number of Irish Prime Ministers, Deputy Prime Ministers and Cabinet Ministers, and I think we will again this week. I am indulging myself a little bit, Dame Siobhain, because the centre is a very important institution for not just the Irish community, but the whole community, and not just in Hammersmith, but in all of west London.

I will finish by touching on one other aspect. My seat is changing: if I am successful in the next election, I will keep Hammersmith but gain Chiswick. There are many links between Hammersmith and Chiswick, and one of them is Yeats. Anyone who has not done so should go on the Yeats walk, which begins in Hammersmith and takes you on a journey down the river and into Chiswick, because Yeats lived for a number of years in Bedford Park and composed some of his most famous works while he was living there. Chiswick Eyot is the model for “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”. That is my contention; I am not sure that everybody would agree, but that is certainly what we believe in west London.

Cahal Dallat, himself a very well-respected poet, has championed the cause of Yeats. We not only have the Yeats walk and a wonderful sculpture called “Enwrought Light”—people might recognise the literary reference there—in the grounds of St Michael’s church, but we have the Yeats app, so people can go round and visit all the sites that Yeats made famous as part of his life there. It is something that we treasure and a hugely important part of our culture. It is great that some of the greatest artists in the world have come and shared that with us in west London, but that is just so typical of the Irish diaspora, which has brought joy as well as talent across the world. That is what we should pay tribute to today.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andy Slaughter Excerpts

Wednesday 21st June 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

That is why we need to stop the boats so that we can relieve the unsustainable pressure on our asylum system and accommodation, which is costing British taxpayers over £3 billion a year. Our new Bill will ensure that anyone arriving illegally will be detained and swiftly removed, but in the meantime we will take action to address the unacceptable cost of housing migrants in hotels. We recognise the pressure this places on local areas. That is why the Government are providing further dispersal financial support, but I will ensure that my hon. Friend gets a meeting with the Immigration Minister to discuss her specific local concerns.

[Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith) (Lab)]

Q8.   Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust described the Government’s recent decision to delay the rebuilding of Charing Cross, Hammersmith and St Mary’s Hospitals as “hugely damaging for the health and healthcare of hundreds of thousands of people.” Will the Prime Minister keep the promise made to me by his predecessor one year ago from that Dispatch Box and guarantee completion of new hospitals on those sites by 2030?

[The Prime Minister]

The Government remain committed to two new hospital schemes for Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust at Hammersmith Hospital and Charing Cross Hospital, and for St Mary’s Hospital as part of the new hospital programme. We have expanded the programme, as the hon. Gentleman knows, to include buildings with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete and we need to address those as a priority for the safety of staff and patients. However, we still expect the majority of schemes in cohort 4 to be in construction before 2030. I know that the Department will continue to keep him updated on progress.