Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yes. We were in Coote Street and Woodlawn. I was in Britain in the early 1980s. I was involved in a number of Irish organisations in the north of England that focused on some of the issues we are talking about. The witnesses will be pleased to hear that Laois library sent books to the book project. I hope they will be of some benefit.

I wish to refer to the status and welfare of the Irish community. I did not live in London but I was there on a number of occasions. In the north of England and in cities such as Coventry and Leeds – Manchester is not too bad because there is critical mass, as is the case in London – I found that it was very difficult for Irish emigrants. In some places there was not even an Irish centre. The Federation of Irish Societies, as it was, tried to reach out to as many people as possible. How intact is the network now?

I was part of a group at the time that focused on trying to get ethnic minority status on the agenda because we felt very strongly that, to put it crudely, the Irish community was not getting a slice of the action compared to other ethnic minorities. We felt that we did not have the lobbying power, coherence or status of other ethnic minorities. From what was said it seems the witnesses believe that minority status has been achieved.

The other issue I wish to ask about is voting rights. Sinn Féin introduced a Bill in the House yesterday to extend voting rights in presidential elections to Irish people living abroad. We know there are logistical challenges in that but we feel they should be overcome in the interests of the diaspora. I agree with what Mr. Barlow said about Mary Robinson earlier. To her credit, she went to a lot of places that no President ever went before, including in this country. She was the first President to push the boundaries in that regard and President Higgins is continuing in her footsteps, thankfully. Indeed, Mary McAleese played her part too. Apart from being symbolic, the role of President has a global reach and status and we feel that extending voting rights for presidential elections would be a very positive step in terms of embracing and reaching out to the Irish community abroad, particularly in England, Scotland and Wales.

There has been a lot of talk recently about reform of the Seanad, following the turbulent referendum campaign. Do the witnesses feel that extending voting rights for the Seanad would be of benefit to the Irish community in Britain?