Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste for his contribution and for updating us on the growing list of conflicts around the world that Deputy Smith alluded to. I will focus on the issue of the 50,000 undocumented Irish in the US and the meetings the Tánaiste has had on this matter. Congressman Kevin McCarthy has been promoted and I hope he may be elevated further in the US House of Representatives after the election in November. The Tánaiste correctly pointed out that the opportunity still exists to assist the 50,000 still living in the shadows. The members of this joint committee have proposed to travel to the US to lend our weight to the effort, if appropriate.

Thousands of Irish graduates have benefited from the intern work and travel, IWT, programme in the US in recent years. The programme was initiated in 2008 but is to cease in October 2014. Can the Tánaiste update the joint committee on the Government's attempts to ensure the IWT programme will be extended? Universities have contacted me on this issue.

I thank the Tánaiste for the work he has done to assist those who discover their passports are out of date shortly before they are due to travel. This has been beneficial for Members of the Houses. The Tánaiste has helped ensure travel plans are not disrupted.

Members of the Oireachtas often must contact Irish embassies abroad but are told the mobile telephone number of the relevant ambassador or consul cannot be provided.

I was recently obliged to contact the Irish consulate in Perth, Australia. We do not contact embassies or consulates because we want to have a chat with the ambassador or the consul in order to discover how things are going. We need direct contact but we are informed that it is not possible for us to be given the mobile numbers of ambassadors or consuls. The Tánaiste, other members and I have the numbers of various such individuals because we asked for them directly. I do not believe it is too much to ask that when members contact the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in order to obtain the mobile numbers and other contact details of duty officers, etc., these should be supplied. Given the time differences which often apply and the fact that we might be trying to contact someone out of hours, it makes our job in following up on representations we have received from people who are in dire circumstances that bit more difficult. In such circumstances, I request that the Department put in place a system whereby Oireachtas Members might be given direct access to our consulates and embassies abroad.