Mr. Martin Murray:

Those questions could be dealt with very effectively if there was a senior political administrator co-ordinating all of this with the right resources to support him or her. As the Deputy says about joined-up thinking, we need someone who can engage with NAMA, who can deal with the demand on the education side and the accommodation and supply.

We do not have a significantly large Irish diaspora in Asia. In Japan there are approximately 1,000 Irish people and slightly more in China. I recently spoke in a personal capacity to a colleague from the US who suggested that the US should redirect some of its embassy locations in Europe to Asia because it is seriously refocusing on Asia. That would be important. One of the practical worries about building partnerships through educational exchange and trade is that some of our relationships were started by the missionaries even before Ireland had embassies there. Some missionaries did amazing educational work, training some of the current leaders, but many of them are elderly and their goodwill and relationships could pass away with them. I am not suggesting there should be a census per se but there should be some way of undertaking engagement with elders who are respected in those communities and happen to be Irish. The UK does many things well but particularly through the British Council it promotes British education and culture, in the UK and elsewhere. I have always felt that there is a gap in the Irish embassies where very good people work at promoting culture but we do not have an organisation which might amalgamate education in Ireland, and Culture Ireland. Ireland, almost uniquely, gets permission from almost all Asian governments to close off a main street and have a parade, on St. Patrick's Day. That and many other important events are organised by volunteers on the ground. There is a need for someone to co-ordinate that work.